Sugarbush Camp

In the spring, our people would set up camp around maple trees calling it the "sugarbush camp". Maple tree sap was harvested from the tree by pounding sticks into the trunk and hanging mukuks, or birchbark bowls to collect the drizziling sap. Once collected, a man would start the fire and the woman would begin the process of boiling the sap. Once processed, the syrup was stored in birchbark "sugar cones" where the syrup would harden and crystallize. This sugar was excellent for flavoring food and was highly desired by the Europeans for trade.

When the first crow arrived, the Ojibwa moved into the "Sugar bush" to gather maple sugar, which was around the middle of March. The women would go to the camp to get everything ready. Family or friends would stake off a portion of the maple forest for the Sugar bush. A permanent framework of a lodge was covered with bark each year. The lodge was typically round, but if there were a lot of people, a ridge-pole was put up to give more room. Men and women would tap the trees. Each tree had two or three taps, and the whole Sugar bush camps usually had as many as nine hundred taps into the trees. Each day the sap was collected in a bark container, boiled in troughs near the lodge doors with the fire kept up all night. The sap was strained in the following morning with a mat woven of narrow strips of basswood bark into vessels of bark. In later years, the sap was strained with burlap or through a threadbare white wool blanket into iron kettles. After the sap was strained, it was heated slowly and stirred with a maple-wood paddle until the proper consistency was reached. Then, the syrup was poured into birchbark makuks. Sugar maple sap was used to season fruits, vegetables, cereals, and fish. Sugar maple sap was a delicacy when eaten alone. Children enjoyed the little molds and cakes of the maple sugar. During the summer, the sugar maple sap was mixed with water for a drink. (Carrie Alberta Lyford's "Ojibwa Crafts" book; pages 24-25)