3/03/08

8:15 AM. 3 degrees, wind W, light to breezy. Barometer predicts sunny skies, which are partly cloudy at present. It is a pleasant day, but a bit chilly . Glad to still have the flannel lined blue jeans on today. This is the first year I have worn them and I will not be without them again. They are a lot more convenient than longjohns and more comfortable in the house. I remember my grandfather putting on his red flannels sometime in November and removing them the first of May. No wonder he spent a lot of time outdoors!
Howard’s presentation on Ojibwa traditional maple sugaring was well received by about 80 people, and quite entertaining. Except for the use of some traditional elements such as wooden spiles and birch bark buckets the original methods are not much different from what most non-Indians would do, even today. One obvious difference seems to be the use of kettles to boil the sap rather than an expensive evaporation stove, but the end result is the same. The amount of work, firewood, etc. is about the same also. One main difference is that traditional Ojibway use was based on granulated sugar, rather than syrup, the latter being only good for pancakes, and maybe ice cream, the former being used in all sorts of food preparation, including pemmican. Sugar is also much easier to store and transport than syrup.
It is getting light a bit earlier every day, with first light around 6:00 AM. Soon I will have to start going to bed before midnight, as I usually wake up with the light.
I searched in vain through previous journals and didn’t find any previous reference to the blooming of pussy willows, so I don’t presently have any former benchmarks of the event.