A few weekends ago — luckily a weekend when the sun appeared above the muddy ridges and valleys of western Wisconsin — Martha and I were at the Kickapoo Country Fair, offering to fair-goers a treat that might something of a contradiction in terms: organic maple-syrup cotton candy.
It is something of a tradition for Maple Valley to offer the treat, at this fair. The event focuses upon sustainability, energy innovation, organic foods, and land stewardship. It has music, plentiful food, and events for children. This offers encouragement for entire families to attend.
For some of those families, the Kickapoo fair offers the one time in the year when the children are allowed cotton candy.
The parents say Yes to the idea — because it the candy is organic ... because it is not radioactive pink or blue ... and because, really truly, it is tasty.
You have to eat it quickly. Especially on a humid summer day, it has little staying power — because of the maple sugar. It becomes sticky. Then the strands begin melting together. The billowy stuff can actually start dripping.
The kids at Kickapoo are wise to this, of course. They attack it with abandon. Time for it to melt in their hands? Are you kidding?
The parents, too, are not too shabby in their cotton-candy-eating technique.
Not long after the event we received an unexpected thank-you card, signed by a couple who live in Hillsboro, Wisconsin.
“Dear Unknown Friends at Maple Valley Cooperative,” the note said. “We were so blessed by your representatives at the Kickapoo Country Fair cotton candy stand in LaFarge, this year. We had a large family asking for your delicious treat, and you shared out of your hearts!”
Well, we remember these good people. They did, indeed, have a large family ... and we could see the father steeling himself for the walloping cost of putting cotton candy in everyone’s hands. They had walked by earlier in the day: so the kids were primed for the promised treat. No doubt it was their reward for a day’s excellent behavior.
Martha and I just did what seemed best.
These things are not all about making money, after all.
Cheers ...
Maplemoon
. . . maple leaves, moon, sky . . .
Showing posts with label organic maple syrup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic maple syrup. Show all posts
Friday, August 20, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Why organic ...
We were at the science fiction convention named Diversicon, in St. Paul, just over a week ago; and since conversations between friends at conventions go any-which-way (just as conversations between any friends anywhere have a tendency of doing), the topic of organic maple syrup came up.
One evening, Claudia, who for years has been a conspicuous supporter of my occasional excursions into ink-and-watercolor artwork, told Martha and me what she had been told, once upon a time: which is that all maple syrup is organic.
Well, yes ... such a statement might be made. Trees are trees, and sap is sap; and the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers is relatively uncommon in the sugarbush. So on the face of it, “organic” might seem an appropriate word to use.
“Organic” is an elusive term. For decades, now, people interested in sustainable agriculture have been striving to define “organic” in special terms, even while corporate-industrial food representatives have been striving to undermine those terms.
These corporate-industrial food reps would love for all maple syrup to be ranked as organic. In general, they will encourage any perspective that helps them undercut the efforts of the true, soil-friendly agriculturalists of our time.
In the realm of sustainable agriculture, however, a process of certification for farmers has arisen, which creates a structure and puts strength behind the term. The structure is one that can be investigated, probed, questioned and analyzed.
In other words, it provides substance. “Organic” is a claim. Organic certification provides the substance that bolsters the claim.
“Organic” as a term, in other words, has come to signify more than a broad understanding of what is or is not “natural.”
Organic, in the realm of maple syrup, refers to the sugarbush. The woodlands being tapped must be treated in certain ways. Although certification requirements vary, among the various syrup-producing regions, it seems to be general that in order to gain certification, a woodland must not be a maple monoculture. The use of the land around the trees falls under some related restrictions. The farmer must observe practices meant to encourage not only woodland-ecosystem health but also individual-tree health – which usually means restrictions on numbers of taps, and against tapping trees too early in their lives.
Organic, as a term, also refers to how the food is handled. A bottling and distribution center for organic maple syrup must meet organic certification requirements.
Our own facility, for instance, meets such requirements; and we pursue some regular tasks out of the need to maintain our certification.
Facilities which handle regular, non-organic-certified maple syrup do not share our need to refrain from employing synthetic chemicals in matters dealing, for instance, with the cleaning of equipment, or with pest control.
As to be expected, at the science fiction convention, we mostly talked about matters other than organic food. Yet it was not an odd topic, for the weekend. Another friend, Greg Johnson, blogs about environmental issues, for instance, in addition to being a reviewer of new science fiction books.
Cheers ...
One evening, Claudia, who for years has been a conspicuous supporter of my occasional excursions into ink-and-watercolor artwork, told Martha and me what she had been told, once upon a time: which is that all maple syrup is organic.
Well, yes ... such a statement might be made. Trees are trees, and sap is sap; and the use of synthetic herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers is relatively uncommon in the sugarbush. So on the face of it, “organic” might seem an appropriate word to use.
“Organic” is an elusive term. For decades, now, people interested in sustainable agriculture have been striving to define “organic” in special terms, even while corporate-industrial food representatives have been striving to undermine those terms.
These corporate-industrial food reps would love for all maple syrup to be ranked as organic. In general, they will encourage any perspective that helps them undercut the efforts of the true, soil-friendly agriculturalists of our time.
In the realm of sustainable agriculture, however, a process of certification for farmers has arisen, which creates a structure and puts strength behind the term. The structure is one that can be investigated, probed, questioned and analyzed.
In other words, it provides substance. “Organic” is a claim. Organic certification provides the substance that bolsters the claim.
“Organic” as a term, in other words, has come to signify more than a broad understanding of what is or is not “natural.”
Organic, in the realm of maple syrup, refers to the sugarbush. The woodlands being tapped must be treated in certain ways. Although certification requirements vary, among the various syrup-producing regions, it seems to be general that in order to gain certification, a woodland must not be a maple monoculture. The use of the land around the trees falls under some related restrictions. The farmer must observe practices meant to encourage not only woodland-ecosystem health but also individual-tree health – which usually means restrictions on numbers of taps, and against tapping trees too early in their lives.
Organic, as a term, also refers to how the food is handled. A bottling and distribution center for organic maple syrup must meet organic certification requirements.
Our own facility, for instance, meets such requirements; and we pursue some regular tasks out of the need to maintain our certification.
Facilities which handle regular, non-organic-certified maple syrup do not share our need to refrain from employing synthetic chemicals in matters dealing, for instance, with the cleaning of equipment, or with pest control.
As to be expected, at the science fiction convention, we mostly talked about matters other than organic food. Yet it was not an odd topic, for the weekend. Another friend, Greg Johnson, blogs about environmental issues, for instance, in addition to being a reviewer of new science fiction books.
Cheers ...
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