Latest / the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day / Robin Wall Kimmerer - The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone. The other half belongs to us: we participate in its transformation. It is our work, and our gratitude...

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Robin Wall Kimmerer - The responsibility does not lie with the maples alone. The other half belongs to us: we participate in its transformation. It is our work, and our gratitude... · the Daily Quote - Positive Daily Inspiration and Motivational Quote of the Day

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  Podcasthero.com Welcome to The Daily Quote, a podcast designed
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  to kick start your day in a positive way.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Mcgibbon for December 17th.
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  Today is National Maple Syrup Day, celebrating nature's
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  sweetest gift and the patience required to create it.
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  Real Maple syrup is liquid gold distilled from the SAP of sugar
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  Maple trees. The process is ancient, dating
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  back thousands of years to indigenous people who discovered
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  how to collect and boil down SAP into syrup long before European
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  settlers arrive. Making Maple syrup requires
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  patience and timing. Trees must be at least 30 to 40
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  years old before they can be tapped.
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  SAP flows only during a narrow window in late winter and early
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  spring, when nights freeze but days warm above 4.4°C or 40°F.
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  And here's the remarkable part It takes 40 gallons, or 151
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  liters of SAP to make just one gallon of serum, 40 to one.
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  That ratio alone teaches us something about transformation.
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  Something watery and unremarkable becomes
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  concentrated sweetness through time, heat, and human effort.
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  And that brings us to today's quote from botanist and author
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  Robin Wall Kimmerer. In her book Braiding Sweetgrass,
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  She wrote beautifully about this relationship.
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  She once said the responsibility does not lie with the maples
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  alone. The other half belongs to us.
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  We participate in its transformation.
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  It is our work and our gratitude that distills the sweetness.
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  Kimmerer's insight is profound. The Maple tree provides the SAP,
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  but that's not Maple syrup. The tree gives us raw material,
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  potential sweetness. We have to do our part.
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  We tap the trees, we collect the SAP, we tend the fire, we watch
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  the boil. We know when to stop.
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  The transformation from watery SAP to amber syrup doesn't
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  happen without human participation, patience, and
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  care. But notice the second part of
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  Kimura's quote. Gratitude.
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  She's saying that gratitude is essential to the process.
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  We're not just extracting a resource.
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  We're entering into a relationship that Maple gives.
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  But we receive with thanks. We work to transform the gift.
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  That cycle of giving, receiving, and transforming with gratitude.
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  That's what distills the sweetness.
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  This applies far beyond Maple syrup.
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  Every good thing in our lives is part Maple, part us.
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  Talent is raw SAP until we develop it through practice.
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  Relationships are potential until we invest time and care.
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  Opportunities are just SAP until we do something with them.
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  The sweetness comes from participation, work, and
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  gratitude. So yes, today is National Maple
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  Syrup Day. But I don't know about you, but
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  in my house, it's Maple syrup day every day, at least for me,
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  because I like to have Maple syrup with my yogurt after
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  dinner or with my ice cream or on my pancakes and waffles.
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  There's a surprising amount of food that I actually like to
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  have, some real pure Maple syrup.
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  You can call me weird if you want.
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  So today, think about what raw SAP you've been given.
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  What potential sits in your life, waiting for your
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  participation to transform it. Maybe it's a talent you haven't
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  developed, a relationship you haven't nurtured, an opportunity
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  you haven't fully seized, an idea you have not acted on.
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  The tree has given you the SAP. Now you do your part.
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  Tend the fire. Watch the transformation.
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  Participate with gratitude. Because Kimmerer was right.
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  The sweetness doesn't distill itself.
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  It needs your work, your attention, your gratitude.
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  The maples have done their part. The rest is up to you.
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  That's going to do it. For today.
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  I'm Andrew McGivern. Signing off for now but I'll be
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  back tomorrow. Same pod time, same pod station
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  with another daily quote.