Articles for tag: Great Lakes sugar bush tradition

“Drawn from the Wood”: The Indigenous Roots of Michigan’s Maple Syrup Tradition

Before Michigan became famous for roadside sugar shacks and amber bottles lining grocery shelves, the sweetness of maple flowed through the forests as a sacred gift. Long before statehood, long before settlers arrived, native families gathered beneath towering maples at winter’s edge, reading the trees the way others read calendars. What many today see as ...