Sign in Subscribe

Tapping successful, boiling starts soon

Tapping successful, boiling starts soon

Hey all! If you're reading this, I've managed to send out at least two of these things. Progress!

Sugarbush Updates

We had 12 people come out for tapping yesterday, and we tapped about 17 trees. (We were planning on more, but I forgot to line up enough bucket lids, so the rest will have to wait until after a trip to the hardware store.) The sap didn't start running until late afternoon, but it did start to make an appearance eventually as the sun warmed up the trees.

We expect to have our first boiling day on Tuesday the 25th from 10am-4pm. We'll be boiling on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from now until the end of the season (usually 4-6 weeks.) You can sign up for a shift to make sure you get notified of any cancellations, or you can drop by and take your chances. Boils will be cancelled on days where it rains, the temp drops below 25, or we run out of sap.

If you're interested in tapping your trees at home, we have some extra spiles that we'd be happy to share. We're limiting it to 2 per household to start with, but we might raise that if we have enough spares. In addition to the spiles, you'll need a couple of food safe 5 gallon buckets. The food safe part is important because the sap is going to get 40x more concentrated as it turns into syrup, and that means that any BPA or other non-food-safe chemicals the sap picks up will get 40x more concentrated as well.

Other News of the Commons

We've teamed up with local groups Common Ground and White Lake Area Futures to hold weekly "Dance For Democracy" protests down at the Weathervane on Fridays at Noon. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, you probably didn't vote to let billionaires loot the US treasury, and that means we're on the same side. Come dance with us to work the stress out of your body, and show the oligarchs that we aren't afraid. Afterwards, we'll head over to North Grove and write postcards to our elected representatives.

Three piles of stickers. One shows Elon Musk sitting at the Oval Office Desk while Trump tells him that he can't sit there. He replies "It's my presidency, I bought it!!" Another pile of stickers has a picture of the trans pride flag and text reading "They want you yelling at trans people so that you're not yelling at rich people". The third shows a yellow rectangle with black text reading "Impeach Elon".

Also, I have a ton of these stickers available. If you want some, let me know. Donations towards printing costs are appreciated but not required.

Out In the Broader Movement

Two of my favorite activism-related podcasters teamed up this week! Margaret Killjoy of Live Like The World Is Dying visited Kelly Hayes on Movement Memos to talk about deescalating conflict within our movements and the importance of solidarity in the face of fascism. There's a lot of good info about how to start preparing for emergencies, and it's always great to hear long-time organizers talk shop with each other. You can find the episode here: https://truthout.org/audio/lets-learn-and-live-lessons-in-collective-survival-together/

Solidarity This Week

We have two Native tribes in our part of the state, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians up in Manistee and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band Of Pottawatomi Indians down in Shelbyville. Both of these tribes have called for the decommissioning of the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline, which runs under the Straits of Mackinac and poses a significant threat to the ecosystems of the Great Lakes. Enbridge has been responsible for an average of 71 oil spills per year over the last 15 years. That's more than one a week. You can learn more about the threat posed by Line 5, and what you can do to stop it, by visiting https://www.oilandwaterdontmix.org/

Recommendations Corner

The book cover of Mutual Aid by Dean Spade: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (And the Next)

If you're working towards a reading goal this year and you want a nice short book to pad your numbers, Dean Spade's "Mutual Aid" might be for you. It's a fantastic introduction to the theory and practice of mutual aid, and it's small enough to fit in a purse or a pocket without weighing you down.

This Week's Nails

A picture of a light-skinned hand with elaborately painted nails. On most fingers, the background is a shimmery neon green, with a black stripe down the center and silver holographic dots along the stripe. On the middle finger, the background is a blue/purple duochrome with silver holo sparkles. This nail features a silver holo center stripe with black dots.

I've been trying to integrate newsletter writing into my schedule by doing it while I'm doing my nails. So as a reward for reading to the bottom of the newsletter, here's a peek at my nails this week. They're 10 different kinds of sparkly, so you'll have to come see them in person to get the full effect.