Mapleing House is a cinematic research-creation (cineworlding) series that participates in the yearly sugaring-off at 3e (3ecologies project) in northern Quebec. It is an exploration of the interface of cinema verite and ‘Reality TV’ stripped of any capitalist cultural context. Instead of competing and winning, a group of artist-researchers, philosophers, and students live and think together, their lives organized by flows of maple sap, the boiling of syrup,  the fluctuation of temperatures, and collective eating, living, and reading. The sociality that forms around the syrup is the subject of Mapleing House. The goal for 2024 is to follow the making of each batch of syrup and to attach a QR code so that those who receive the 3e syrup can watch the worldings that form around the batch that they have in their home. We believe this kind of education connects conceptual, social, and environmental ecologies. People have the experience of seeing the processes of food making and the conceptual, social, and environmental ecologies that are necessary to make it. Below is the first of four trial episodes made during part of the 2023 sugaring-off season. See 3e for more information about the project.

“Sugaring off,” or the maple syrup production season, is a ritual of the transition from the northern winter to spring. At 3E, it is a time of gathering around the wood-burning furnace where 3E collaborators from Montreal and beyond rub shoulders with local collaborators and learn from their deep knowledge of the forest ecology and land-based practices. This April, more than 20 collaborators participated in the laborious process of boiling down the maple sap to a 1/40th concentration using traditional artisanal methods, and then bottling it for distribution.

It proved to be a challenging season. We were confronted directly with the effects of climate change: for the first time ever, the transitional weather conditions necessary for the sap to run didn’t really eventuate. Early in the spring, the temperature went directly from too cold to too hot. Our production, like those of all of the producers in the region, was down considerably, in our case by 80%. In 2022, we produced 363 liters (96 gallons). This year’s yield was only 79 liters (21 gallons). This will reduce the fundraising we will be able to do for 3E this year (last year we netted $5000 from our maple syrup). In addition, the main boiling pan overheated and was damaged, and had to be replaced (it was 40 years old and due for replacement anyway). This was a major expense that we could not have managed without the reserve funds from the support of our patrons. Thank you!

Diverse activities occur around the central focus of the sugaring off. This year, they included philosophical reading groups and a makeshift tannery set up by a group of 3E collaborators who source waste hides and tan them using natural ingredients in the traditional way. We are looking fowared to next season’s gathering. Preparations in the forest are already under way. A team has been working together this week to remove the taps, disinfect the tap lines, move trees that have fallen across the lines, repair damage to the tubes, and do trail maintenance on the mountain to facilitate access throughout the maple grove.