maple sugaring, part 1

Today was the day I've been waiting for all month -- all winter even! We had a program at our favorite park about Maple Sugaring -- just a small, regular group of us homeschoolers (4 boys -- 3 on the Autism spectrum -- age 5 thru 8, and us 3 mom-pals). It couldn't have been better!!! The small class size gave each child the opportunity to be intricately involved with the class and provided no distractions to take away from the program.

They started, of course, with gathering the sap. Our wonderful instructor (a fountain of knowledge, with a knack for engaging and captivating the kids) started by showing us how to measure maple trees to decide which to tap, and how to determine how many buckets to hang on each tree. We learned that in order for the sap to flow, the tree has to reach a temperature of 40 degrees (F). Then each kid (and mom!) got to sample the sap, which was dripping rapidly this sunny day. Yummy sweet water! Then we collected sap from a couple of trees and carried it to the Sugar House.

My boys wait with the teacher at the Sugar House for the rest of the crew to haul the sap in. There was sweet-smelling steam venting through the roof, on a GLORIOUS early spring day! One thing I keep noting in all these pictures are the smiles on everyone's faces -- we all had SUCH a nice time!

Our teacher showed us how to stoke the fire, test the sap for sweetness, and the temperature at which it would turn to syrup -- 219 degrees. He also told us that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. And he told us that if you pour hot syrup onto snow, it makes a stretchy taffy-like candy. (We definitely want to try that tomorrow if we get the snow they are predicting for tonight!)

Once the sap reaches 219 degrees, it's no longer sap, it's syrup! He opens up a spigot on the boiling table and out pours sticky, sweet, hot syrup! We all got to taste the syrup, too -- SOOOO yummy! He pulled out a bottle of imitation maple syrup (flavored corn syrup) and started to say "some of you may have this in your house", and we all quickly corrected him that we would never have anything but REAL maple syrup in OUR houses! He went on to explains that SOME people use the fake stuff instead. That confused one of the boys in the group, Fluffy, who asked why anyone would even bother making the fake stuff. We all agreed. We also learned that syrup can be made from any type of tree (or plant!), and that in some parts of Canada, Birch Syrup is popular.

Our teacher shows us the different grades of maple syrup, and here was some very interesting news to me -- the first sap of the season produces a very light colored syrup known as Grade A Fancy, which you'll never see for sale as syrup, because it's saved for making Maple Cream (also yummy yummy yummy!). As the sugaring seasons progresses, the syrup gets darker and darker amber. Once it gets to a certain darkness, they know to stop making the syrup (the tree needs that sap for it's own growth and nutrition) and sugaring season is over for the year.


But that was only half our program!! Keep reading for the rest!