HOPKINS, Mich — The days are getting warmer - for the most part - the nights are still cool, and maple trees all across Michigan are starting to get tapped.
But before that maple syrup gets to your breakfast table the hard work starts out in the woods.
“It ain't just made in Vermont or Canada. You know?" said Gun Lake Tribe Food Tech Junsu Bush. " I just so happen to like ours better than theirs, I know where it came from.”
That place it came from, is Camp Jijak here in Hopkins, Michigan. And Junsun is out here at the Gun Lake Tribe's Sugar Camp for every step of the long process of making maple syrup.
“It's like a second home," Junsun told me. "You know, therapeutic being out on the trail, watching kids we've taught so many other schools that came around through here, taught them how to do it properly, safely.”
It ain't just made in Vermont or Canada. You know? I just so happen to like ours better than theirs, I know where it came from.”
As a food tech with the tribe, Junsun is the one who keeps the fires burning, both literally and figuratively out here.
Now in their 20th season, passing on this knowledge is the main reason Junsun and Tribal Food Sovereignty Coordinator Wyatt Szpliet are out here and doing all this work.
“Knowing what's in your food even, I mean, getting to know the trees and understanding, that time of the year, what they're doing, what they're going through in that period of time," Wyatt told me. "Trying to make leaves and bud and make their flowers and the sugar that's in that tree for that to be able to happen. You know that that connection to your food is a lot more important than just knowing what's in it, as far as ingredients.”
"You know that that connection to your food is a lot more important than just knowing what's in it, as far as ingredients.”
That connection, like the roots of these maple trees, runs deep.
"You'd have to go back about 12,000 years when we lived up by the St Lawrence Seaway, up on the East Coast, kind of at the end of the last ice age. And the way the story goes is the Anishinabek people. We weren't doing very good. We were really struggling. And that maple tree, it offered its lifeblood to us to make sure that we survive," Wyatt said. "So culturally, it's very important to our people. And this time of the year for the Anishinabek people, it's like the new year for us. It's a time of remembrance. It's a time of celebration and gathering."
With the colder winter we had this year, there should be a lot to celebrate out here.
It's really important for us, culturally speaking, to get together and work together in order to have the good things that we need in life.
The typical rule of thumb is 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and at the time of our visit Junsun told me they had at least 300 gallons of sap, with hopefully more on the way, meaning a lot more early days out here in the woods.
“So for us, this time of the year is a reminder for us to do the work we have to do," Wyatt said. "And you know, don't become lazy. Don't take things for granted. It's really important for us, culturally speaking, to get together and work together in order to have the good things that we need in life."
If you are wondering, their syrup is not for sale. Instead, it is given out as gifts to members of the Gun Lake Tribal community. And if you would like to learn more about how the syrup is made check out this link to a previous story here.
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