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By: Jim Fitzpatrick |
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Email: jim@nunica.com |
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Local Farmer in Polkton Township writes for the Coopersville Observer. |
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Along Brandy Creek By Jim Fitzpatrick
The Coopersville Observer April 14, 2008- - No. 95 |
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One hundred, 3 gallon galvanized buckets, hung from the sides of maple trees back in the woods along Brandy Creek. At the end of the winding two track road among the maples; stands the old and worn looking sugar shack. Most of the year the place is quiet and has a feel of permanent abandonment. The month of March annually brings renewed life to the seemingly deserted shelter of weathered wood siding and tarnished tin roof. The shutters come down, cob-webs are brushed out of the rafters, and the floor is swept clean of a year’s neglect. Some seasons the snow is deep at the start. Foot prints lead from tree to tree in the well trodden trails used to collect endless gallons of maple sap.
Day after day - sunshine, snow, wind or rain - smoke rolls up into the tree tops from the tall stack projecting above the peak of the roof. Steam rolls out of every window and doorway, crack and crevice; as sap from the sugar maples is boiled down over the fire into a golden sweet syrup. Far into the night the glow of lantern light saturates the steamy work place within. A shadowy figure moves about in the eerie mist; is periodically illuminated each time the cast iron doors of the evaporator are thrown open to replenish the billowing red hot hearth of glowing coals. A small Golden Retriever snoozes on the floor below the low hanging white vapor of fog.
At season’s end the snow has vanished. Last year’s dry leaves flutter across the hillside under warm sunny skies. The maple’s swollen buds predict the official start of spring. The hanging buckets are gone; the shutters of the shack are in place again. No one stirs inside. The girl dog that slept on the floor won’t be back for another year. |
