About Jennie Williams
Jennie Williams is an Ann Arbor resident and longtime member of the Pear Street Collective.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and we have a naturally sweet conversation for you today. It's about a community project focused on maple syrup. I'm David Fair, and welcome to Issues of the Environment. There's a group in Ann Arbor called the Pear Street Collective. They tap sugar maple trees along their block and not only generate organic syrup but use the experience as an opportunity to educate. Jennie Williams is a part of the Pear Street Collective and on the other end of our phone line today. And thank you for making time for us, Jennie! I appreciate it!
Jennie Williams: Thanks for having me!
David Fair: I've been working in this area for a long time, and I love that no matter how many years go by, I learn new things about our community on nearly a daily basis. And I have to admit. Until the Pear Street Sugar Collective was recommended to me as a point of interest, I'd not heard of it. Are you all intentionally a bit of a secret, or have I just had my blinders on?
Jennie Williams: We're just a group of neighbors who, who get together every spring and tap our trees in the neighborhood, and it's an opportunity for us just to get together pretty informally.
David Fair: I love that there is a sense of community about all of this. As I understand, the collective began about 15 years ago. Was there a particular goal in mind at the beginning?
Jennie Williams: It started as just an opportunity for us to tap the trees across the street at our school when my daughter was in elementary school. And because sugaring is such a large undertaking, it made sense to not kind of do this alone but to bring the community along with us for the ride.
David Fair: How many trees these days are being tapped for syrup each year?
Jennie Williams: Every year, it changes. We have anywhere from 6 to 20 taps out into the neighborhood. So, we tap the trees at the school with the classes and, to make it worthwhile, sugaring. Our whole neighborhood is full of sugar maples. And so, people tap their trees and bring all of that to my house.
David Fair: If I've read correctly, it takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to produce one gallon of finished syrup. Now, I think, if I were involved, you'd be getting about a teaspoon of syrup every year. How much finished syrup is the collective generating each year?
Jennie Williams: We generate anywhere, from low years, a half gallon, which doesn't really seem worth it, to up to, we've done three or four gallons in a year. So, everybody who taps the tree or fire tins or takes part in it, everybody gets a couple jelly jars of syrup, usually, most years.
David Fair: We're talking with Jennie Williams from the Pear Street Sugar Collective in Ann Arbor on this week's edition of WEMU's Issues of the Environment. Now, in undertaking this endeavor, have you had to educate yourself or seek out education on the environment and the health of ecosystems?
Jennie Williams: Yeah. So, we found out pretty early on that City of Ann Arbor does not want us to tap the city trees on the median strip. And any time you puncture or cut a tree or break into the bark of a tree, you do have a chance to introduce pathogens to the trees. So, we are pretty mindful about which trees we tap and kind of where or how often we do tap trees. We try to kind of rotate the trees every couple years, so that we're not tapping the same trees every year. And I have done a bit of Googling to kind learn more about the health of these trees to make sure we can continue to do this in the future.
David Fair: So, does that education that you've given yourself kind of play into which trees are going to be selected on any given year?
Jennie Williams: For sure! With the school, the school has a number of sugar maples on their property. And we have been going back and forth. There's a couple that don't look so well, so we haven't been tapping those. And with them being on the playground, the kids--all of the kids on the playground--are very interested in what we're doing. And so, the ones that are super active or super next to the playground, we try not to tap those too often, just because lots of kids I've seen putting fingers in holes and--
David Fair: They're just being kids!
Jennie Williams: They're just being kids! Yeah, they're very interested in what's going on. We've had with the middle school classes, the seventh grade classes, and so we kind of stay up in that area with those trees. But I do try to move around and not tap the same trees every year.
David Fair: Perhaps this is a question beyond the scope of our conversation, but do you find that it's important to know about and understand the natural cycles of the seasons and things like freeze-thaw patterns in order to best take care of the trees and to produce as much as you can?
Jennie Williams: For sure! There's a number of years we haven't tapped any trees. So, often neighbors will come to me in December and January saying, "Are we going to tap trees? Are we going tap trees this year?" or, "I'm looking forward to sugaring season!" And it's middle to end of January, and we haven't t had a deep freeze yet. There's been a couple of years like that, and so I just haven't tapped trees. I figure it's good to give them a break. But, yeah. So, the sap flows when the days are above freezing and the nights are below freezing, and that creates the pumping action inside the tree that moves the xylem and phloem up and down the trees.
David Fair: Once again, our Issues of the Environment conversation continues on 89.1 WEMU with Pear Street Sugar Collective member Jennie Williams. Now, to put these sugar maples in your neighborhood in a larger context: Ann Arbor, of course known as Tree Town. The urban canopy is impressive, and a good amount of time, effort and expense put forth to make sure it's cared for and expanded. As you mentioned, the city doesn't love if you want to approach the trees in the medians. Is there a role for this small neighborhood collective in urban forestry in a larger sense?
Jennie Williams: I think the community aspect of what we're doing really brings forth attention to the trees in the neighborhood. Like, sometimes, we've tapped walnut trees. And so, I've seen neighbors looking around at diversity saying, "Can I have a sugar maple? I have a black maple. I have a silver maple." And it really brings in a new appreciation and awareness of trees in the community and health of trees because also, sometimes in the summer, somebody will say, "Hey, let's tap this tree this in the spring!" And we go and look at the tree in the summer and go, "Oh. Maybe that's not quite so healthy to do. Maybe we should give it another year or something."
David Fair: I love that the kids at the school are so interested and interested in being involved. What is the role of the collective in using what it does and what it's learned to pass along that knowledge and wisdom and create interest in our natural world?
Jennie Williams: We tap with the seventh grade classes at the STEAM school. And the science teacher, Jeannie, really brings this activity into her curriculum. During this time, one of their things that they do is, in their curriculum, one of their labs is to boil sap and to learn about maple syrup. For the students, part of this lesson, the students watched the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist of 2012, which really puts the value of maple syrup into perspective. And they get to see really how much sap a tree produces. They look to see what side of the tree they should be tapping. And then, they get use the maple syrup in their next lesson, which is learning about ancient grains of Africa. When we tap trees, sometimes we'll do a big tree hug before we drill into the tree or some people are, "Look, we talk about the buds at the tops of the trees." And the students kind of look up and they're looking at the bark, and they really are getting to know these trees in this neighborhood. And I feel like having those experiences as a kid, you carry that with you through the rest of your life.
David Fair: I would imagine that it could be quite memorable to watch a child's face the first time they tap into a tree and see what comes flowing out.
Jennie Williams: Yeah. There is always excitement and gasps when we get it right on the right day, when we drill into the tree and the sap starts flowing right away.
David Fair: And beyond that, then they get the finished product. And I would imagine there is a sense of responsibility and accountability of moving forward and into the future when they get to taste the fruits of their labor.
Jennie Williams: For sure! They get to the classrooms. They've made candy before. And again, each class gets a little jar of syrup, and they get to taste it. And also sometimes, they'll bring the sap into the classroom, and I think they all taste it there. Sometimes, they'll boil it down in the classroom for a little bit. And so, they get to taste the sap. They get the taste the sugar. There's the maple syrup afterwards.
David Fair: There is ecological fun to be had by all!
Jennie Williams: Yeah! Yes!
David Fair: Hey, Jennie! Thank you so much for the time and sharing this story of the Pear Street Sugar Collective! I truly appreciate it!
Jennie Williams: Thank you so much for having me! This is quite a fun community event to take part in!
David Fair: That is Jennie Williams. She is a member of the Pear Street Sugar Collective in Ann Arbor. And to learn more about the collective and its work, you can stop by our website at WEMU.org. We'll get you where you need to go. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, and you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.
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