Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023 - 96
SINGING IN THE GARDEN
A Sweet Time of Year
Sugaring season is the season when you tap the trees for sugar that turns into maple
syrup . . . I like the idea it's the very, very first murmurings of spring. -Beth Orton
Text and art by GINNY NEIL
t's one of those moments. The sun
has just peeked over the rim of
Bullpasture Mountain and suddenly
the heavy frost is gold and
silver and all that glitters. But, the
prettiest thing I see as I drive to
work is clouds of steam rising and
roiling dramatically in the early morning
light.
I
After a winter of long nights and cold days, my soul
rises just like the steam. It's sugaring time in Highland
County, Virginia, and spring can't be far behind. All up
and down our 400 square miles of mountains and valleys,
farmers are at their sugar camps magicking the rising
water of the warming trees into syrup.
It's an industry, a gathering, a celebration and a tradition
rolled into a backbreaking season of hard work and
hope. Will there be a good run, this year? The answer to
that question is weather-dependent. In late summer, the
96 BLUERIDGECOUNTRY.COM
trees stop putting energy into growth
and leaf production and store all the
excess starch they have collected in
their xylem. As winter temperatures
plunge, the starch is held there. Cold
days and cold nights essentially put
the trees to sleep.
Then, the February sun kisses the trees
awake and they transform the stored starches
into sugar which passes into the tree sap. The warmish
days-and the resulting pressure differential between the
trees and the surrounding air-pull groundwater high
into their crowns. The cold nights send it back down the
trunks and it gathers sugar on the trip. We all hope for a
long season of perfect sugaring weather. But, there is no
way to know for sure.
Sugaring is a deep rooted tradition here. There are
families boiling water in pans and kettles passed down
to them from grandparents and great-grandparents. It is
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Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023
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Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country January/February 2023 - Cover4
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