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An Education From Maple Trees

Maple sugaring is a tradition for many people in the Northeast. It's also a custom for Earth Spirit, a Western New York environmental education service.

HAMBURG, N.Y. — Spring is finally on our doorstep, and one of the surest signs is maple sap flowing and the beginning of maple sugaring season.

"Really the spring brings hope. It's the emergence. It's new life. It's beautiful. It's sort of a rite of passage with us and also something that's just a pinnacle of the season, it just says, 'Hey, here we are. We're real close. The gifts are flowing, appreciate it,'" said Scott Lembitz of Earth Spirit.

Earth Spirit's Scott Lembitz Teaches Enthralled Students.

Maple sugaring is a tradition for many people in the Northeast. It's also a custom for Earth Spirit, a Western New York environmental education service.

They use it each year as a teaching tool for scores of lucky youngsters.

Lembitz explains that students are not only learning how to make something delicious, they're also learning about the Native American communities that first mastered this task.

"They're the foundation. They're the rock. This is a big deal in their culture. This provided enough maple sugar and sweetener for the culture, for the people for the whole year, so you work hard for a six to eight month period of time, and you'd be ok," said Lembitz.

The process then was carried out with the utmost respect for Mother Earth. They knew the value of preserving the gifts that were given them.

"There were always thank yous shared. There were gifts given to trees," said Lembitz. "It wasn't taken lightly. You simply didn't drill a hole in a tree and collect, extract more than you possibly should. Yeah, it was done with reverence."

The maple sugaring process, as well as the life in general of centuries past, was very hard work too —considerably more difficult than the modern life, and that's something imparted to the students as well.

Lembitz thinks it's quite an eye opener for them.

"I often ask kids, 'Do you think your lives are easy or hard?' And when they hear this part of the story, when they understand about slashing trees and hauling birch containers and boiling in logs, they laugh, and they go,'Our lives are really easy,'" said Lembitz.

When the students head home after a fulfilling day in the woods, they take with them not only lessons in history but lessons in life as well.

"I think if they could walk away with two aspects of this program, it would be, number one, the sense of community and joy that come from hard work together and succeeding but also the concept of reverence and respect for the Mother. That's the one," said Lembitz.

If you'd like to help Earth Spirit continue their important educational work, you can do so and have a great time while helping. Their annual "Tortoise and Hare" 5K run is coming up at Chestnut Ridge Park on Saturday, April 21, 2018. Proceeds go to help fund the organization. To learn more and register, click here

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