Sugaring is the act of collecting maple sap to make maple syrup, an early-spring endeavor that takes place all around the country - in Vermont, most famously, but also throughout New England, as far south as Ohio, and as far west as Minnesota. It is a time-honored tradition that has changed little since the Native Americans sugared centuries ago. Sugartime is a beautifully rendered narrative about the act of sugaring, a soulful activity that, like the best of outdoor hobbies, slows time down. Interspersed with the book's lyrical account of a season in the sugarbush are separate sections that serve as a primer to guide the beginner through every stage of surgaring, from selecting trees and hanging sap buckets to finishing off maple syrup. For anyone with an interest in taking up sugaring, everyone who has a maple tree, and all those with a nostalgia for the rural landscape Sugartime will be a joy to discover. (43/4 X 73/4, 148 pages, b&w photos, illustrations)
Susan Carol Hauser
www.susancarolhauser.com
BLOG susancarolhauser.wordpress.com
Hauser is an established writer with four natural history books published by The Lyons Press and Falcon Guides (Globe Pequot), a book on memoir writing with Writer's Digest Books, and seven books with literary presses.
Her book on a Mississippi River trip is scheduled for publication June 2011 by the Center for American Places, Columbia College Chicago (George Thompson, editor).
She has published scholarly articles in Scribner's American Writers series and her freelance work has been published in The Sun, the Old Farmer's Almanac and many other magazines and journals.
Her numerous awards and grants include a 2010 McKnight Artist Fellowship in poetry.
She was a commentator on National Public Radio's "Living on Earth" for four years and has been a guest on Garrison Keillor's "Prairie Home Companion."
