Ed’s Corner

I’ll bet not many of you said “Cliffside Park, New Jersey”, four miles from the George Washington Bridge.

For the last three years we have been going out to libraries in the metro area to present our Maple Sugaring program. Some of the program is indoors, learning about the history of making maple syrup and the biology of maple trees. It’s interesting to learn about those kinds of things but the most important, critical part of the program is going outdoors and tapping a real maple tree. So, this means we have to scout out the library grounds before the library can even advertise the event. No maple, no program.

On one recent scouting mission to the Cliffside Park Public Library I met the animated, welcoming librarian who had contacted us and we both went outside looking. We first crossed the street in front of the library to a very tiny park, surrounded on all sides by roads, but beautiful. And trees we found!: Sugar Maple, Silver Maple, Norway Maple. And we knew that the temperature was warm enough for the sap to be flowing/moving  inside at least the Silver Maple. How? Looking to the top of this tree we found two of the cutest squirrels, sitting most comfortably on different thin branches, ignoring us, leisurely licking and sucking the sap from places where they had chewed off the buds or where there may already have been a cut or wound. As we watched them we looked up beyond the tree tops and saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky! A better ‘sign’ one could not wish for.The good news – yes, there are maple trees. the bad news – they are in a public park. And we want to stay away from political entanglements. Although the promise of maple syrup could sweeten any town council member’s heart – and palate.