March Means Maple Sugaring ...

And chilly wet days just like this!

At winter's end, there comes a spell of fine weather, maybe several weeks of it if we're lucky. During the daytime, the sun shines brightly (warmly you might even say) and the temperatures rise close to 50 degrees. But the nights, they stay cold - and bitterly so. As the saying goes, March is a tease, but there is a method to the madness. Because the combination of mild days and freezing nights works pure magic on our maple trees (or I should say, within), and that's where the payoff begins ...

Maple sugaring is a time-honored tradition in New England, a rich and interesting part of our history. But its more than just tradition and history - the long journey from sap to syrup is truly part of the year's natural rhythm. And so of course, this all made a timely topic for our Nature Study Club; our March meeting, organized by my friend Cherice, took us on a tour of a real maple sugaring operation.

I hope you'll join me in a quick review. :)

We began at the Sugarshack ...

Inside the shack we watched and learned about the evaporation process, which over time, turns sap into syrup. The machine you see pictured below does most of the work - fired by wood heat, it boils down the sap (which looks, and even tastes, just like water) into syrup. The nice man who explained it all to us, showed us each part of the process and the tools used along the way.

The green barrel in the picture below represents how much sap it takes to make one gallon of syrup. Actually, it's one and a half barrels, Bookworm just reminded me!

Generally speaking, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, but the red maples which populate the area actually require even more to do this - anywhere from 75 to 100 gallons! (The maples that achieve the best sap-to-syrup ratio are the ones that turn day-glo orange in the fall - my favorites!)

This pile of firewood filled the whole side wall of the shack. Needless to say, the whole place was filled with steam, and the scent of woodsmoke. What a nostalgic smell!

After the shack, it was on to the tapping ...

The two rangers pictured below spent a good deal of time explaining to the children about the tapping process. They described the weather conditions necessary for sap to begin running, and they showed the kids how to tell maples from other trees when there are no leaves to compare (hint: look at the branches and buds).

They also let the kids taste the sap, listen to it "ping" inside the buckets ...

... and tap a tree on their own!

(This is the practice tree, lol. It's seen its share of taps, I'd say!)

Next it was on to the history portion of the tour ...

We learned how Native Americans discovered sap in the first place (about 8,000 years ago!) and how they boiled it down with wooden cookware ...

(They added hot stones to the sap and brought it to a boil in this way!)

The children were also shown how taps have developed over the years ...

Taps through the ages, from left to right ~ crude slashes made in the bark, a tap and bucket made from wood, the same made from metal, and the newest method which involves plastic tubing that runs from the trees down to a larger and central storage pipe. This last method is quicker, less labor intensive and eliminates animal interference.

Our second to last stop - woodcutting!

The kids were shown several methods of woodcutting - a two-person handsaw, a wedge and sledgehammer, a maul, a large gas-fired splitter and finally a chainsaw. (Above you see my boys handling the two-person handsaw.) The folks running this portion of the tour were careful to point out that no trees are actually cut down at the reservation - only trees that have fallen by natural means are used for firewood.

The final activity was a wonderful sampling of the syrup itself - poured generously over hot pancakes and popcorn! Oh my, so good! (I don't have any pictures of that part - I was too busy eating!)

It was such a terrific day! We learned so much - about nature, natural resources, and historical New England. And though the weather was a bit drab and uncomfortable, it felt so much like March - wet, muddy, chilly, a few flakes in the air. Getting outside, feeling the cold and smelling the damp woods all around us ... well, Spring didn't seem quite so far off ...

I must admit, it did feel good to get home to a hot cup of tea ~ with a dollop of maple syrup for good measure! ;)

Well, thanks for stopping by and sharing in our Nature Club adventure this month. April's meeting will bring us back into a different Wood, where we'll search, silently, for spring. And I am certain, by that time, we'll find it ..

Have a great night, everyone!

Comments

[Lorri]

Fun post, thanks for the reminder for those of us further south that it's time for maple sugar. I like to read the chapters in "Little House in the Big Woods" about the sugar snow and the sugaring off dance, then we make maple sugar candies. When we were in Korea, we actually got a "sugar snow" - a late snow after a warm up, and that's when our tradition started.

[Susan T.]

What a nice post, Dawn. I love maple-sugaring, too. A friend with relatives in Quebec says they used to make a huge production out of it.

[mrs darling]

My sister used to tap the trees for maple syrup when she lived in New York. They had enough for their family of 14 every year!
I just switched our family over to real syrup. I love it!

[Jamie]

This was fun to read, we are going to a maple syrup festival on Friday here in MN!! I will read your post to my kids tomorrow morning!

Thank you!

[sarah]

The trees up and down our road have sprouted buckets in the past week! Do you know the Gluskabe legend about how maple syrup came into being? I heard the tale once from an Abenaki and haven't forgotten it. http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/GluskabeChangesMapleSyrup-Abenaki.html

[Angel]

For a real treat -- try warm maple milk. :-) Stir a spoonful of maple syrup into a cup of milk, then heat. It's addictive! LOL I'm not sure if we will be tapping our trees when we get back or not, but a nice pancake breakfast at a local saphouse does sound good!

[Renee]

What a fun post! We love real maple syrup, can't beat its taste. Apparently there is maple sugaring around here, being new though, we just haven't tapped into it yet...smile. Thanks for sharing.

[Heather Duncan]

I am so bumed that AOL was acting up and I never got the email to sign up. I didn't even know there was an overflow group until the day before when it said it was full. Oh well. I guess a trip up to the Ipswich wildlife sanctuary for their maple sugar class is in order. (it is where I learned about maple sugaring as a child). Now to find out if they have had it already or not.

[Sarah]

Thanks for taking the time to write all this down! My kids in merry old England loved seeing what they have read about in Little House in the Big Woods! Sarah

[catherine]

I am in MA and wondering if you can tell me where this sugaring operation is?

I don't know any other Catholic homeschoolers so I love reading blogs about other Catholic homeschoolers so I know I am not along!

God Bless you and your family and have a Blessed Holy Week.

[Dawn]

Catherine, please send me an email when you have a moment, and I'll be glad to fill you in. :) (drhaniganATcomcastDOTnet)