The Sugar Season

by Douglas Whynott

  Thank you also to Mel Tyree for hosting me and for his conversations about the sap hydraulics and biomechanics of the maple tree.

  I want to thank another person who does not appear as directly in these pages as he might have but who also thoroughly informs this book: Arnold Coombs, the sales manager at Bascom Maple Farms and someone who has spent a lifetime in the maple business. Thank you to Arnold for our many conversations.

  A thank you to Robert Poirier for hosting me in Quebec and for our many talks and for taking me out into the woods—for conveying your passion for what you do. If certain wishes come true, then you will be able to read this book in your own language some day.

  The following people were generous in offering information, advice, their stories and their time, or even just a few helpful words: Liz Bascom, Brad Bascom, Greg Bascom, Judy Snow, Nancy Fowler, Sam Bascom, David Bascom, Crystal Bascom, Lorna Bascom, Brooke Adams, Steve Anderson, Mike Bennett, Pascale Boivin, Henry Brennaman, Rhota Brennaman, Real Bureau, Guy Bolduc, Joseph Brent, Jeremy Bushway, Martha Carlson, Bill Clark, David Clark, Fraser Cooper-Ellis, Dan Crocker, Doug Edwards, Anton Elbers, Michael Farmer, Michael Farrell, Brian Tedrow, Cindy Finck, Nancy Fortin, Fernand Gagne, Maurice Gagne, Gary Gaudette, Erwin Gingerich, Serge Gauvin, Anne-Marie Granger-Godbout, Gordon Gowan, Alexandre Gregoire, Bruno Guay, J. Mark Harran, Kevin Harrison, Kathy Harrison, Clarisse Hart, Mark Hastings, Gwen Hinman, George Hodskins, Joseph James, Steve Jones, Haven King, Daniel Lalanne, Vital Lariviere, Nick Lemieux, Doris LeVasseur, Tari Lyndaker, Mario Maheaux, Michel Maheaux, Ira Marvin, Gary Merrill, Lorraine Merrill, Tim Merton, Greg Minard, Mark Mitchell, Claude Morrissette, Suzanne Nadeau, Fernand Nadeau, Frederic Nadeau, Takashi Oshio, Jean-Claude Pare, Michael Parker, Robyn Pearl, Gerald Pease, Mim Pendleton, George Putnam, Marty Rabtoy, Pat Richards, Doug Rose, Carole Rouleau, Kevin Ruane, Joe Russo, Dave St. Aubin, Ben Shepard, Richard Sipitowsky, Randy Sprague, Gardner Stetson, Steve Taylor, Peter Thomson, Jeremy Thompson, Dan Weed, Jennifer Weimer, Marty Wendel, Steve Wilbur, Tim Wilmot, Michelle York, and Tom Zaffis.

  Thank you to Professor Barry Rock of the University of New Hampshire for weighing in on some of the issues of climate change discussed in this book and for your longstanding work on this issue.

  I want to thank Richard Polonsky for his role in creating “Seasons of Change” and for including Alvin Clark, for inviting me to attend, for answering my questions, and for permission to quote from his letter.

  My thanks to Lorraine Merrill, commissioner of agriculture in New Hampshire, for her thoughts on the maple sugaring industry.

  Thank you to Lawrence Elworth, agricultural counselor to the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, for conversation and for articles, and also to Mike Moats for referring me to him.

  Thanks to Alexis Hauk for alerting me in 2009 to the situation of the Asian longhorned beetle.

  Thank you to Eric Bascom Jr. for providing his book, Up Where the House Burned Down, which gave me an understanding of the history of the Bascom family.

  Thank you to Richard Todd for his advice and encouragement in the planning and structure of this book, as it made such a difference.

  Thank you to my colleagues and students at Emerson College for their support and encouragement, and to Lee Pelton for the granting of time to work on this book.

  Thank you to my students at Universidad Nacional de Colombia Sede Bogotá, for their support and encouragement; thank you also to Diana Rojas, codirector of the Centro de Estudios de Estadounidenses de Colombia. Additionally, I owe a debt of gratitude to the Fulbright Foundation for the award of a fellowship to teach in Colombia, which also allowed me time to write drafts of this book.

  Many thanks to my agent, Regina Ryan, for getting behind this project and supporting it so wholeheartedly and for her guidance and advice.

  A special note of thanks to Lissa Warren, my editor and more at Da Capo Press, for your interest, energy, enthusiasm, guidance, and support.

  Importantly, thank you and thank you to Isha Contway and Liz Whynott, to you and yours. And, as always, my gratitude forever to Kathy Olsen, who was there and into this from the very first day, who listened to it all over and over, fell in love with the sugarhouses just like I did, read every draft, walked with me and supported this effort every step of the way, while together and apart.