Saturday morning after Baylor's swimming lesson we headed to Heather's for a visit. When we arrived the kids were not out of their jammies but that was fine. Baylor just wanted to play anyway. The boys took to each other right way and were running around with the new S.W.A.T guns we bought Connor for his birthday. We eventually bundled up everyone and all piled into her new GMC. She had flier about a maple syrup demonstration at a local park we wanted to take the kids and of course see it ourselves. She had never been to the park but a quick Google search and she felt comfortable about getting there. We did not have any problems and we rushed from the car to the building because it was only 30 degrees out there. I love the boys are holding hands.
Baylor and Connor both asked for hot cocoa while Heather bought the tickets. The boys also played by the fire to warm up, although they had both taken off their coats.
Of course they had to be boys and pull some funny faces. I do love Connor's swishy hips!
They did Ring Around the Rosie in front of the vendors. They had a water color artist, a photographer, basket weaver, jewelry maker, Stamping Up, and Pampered Chef. We watched the artist paint a cardinal in the snow. We liked his techniques and when he was done he gave it to Connor. He was selling note cards and I told Heather that my first thought when I saw them was to buy one for Molly. She would have loved one.
Around 1:00 our tour was starting. The boys suited up and played with their play phones. They originally had play walkie talkies but I think Baylor left his in the car. Thankfully he had packed his Elmo phone in case of emergencies.
The guide walked us to pavilion to give us a history lesson of maple syrup, a taste testing of three syrups to guess the real syrup (it was number three), and give us a overview of what we would be doing and the tools we would need. There is legend that an Indian (not PC but that is what we called them growing up) came back from a hunt and was swarmed by children. He did not want to hurt the children with his ax so he threw his ax into a maple tree. The sap dripped into a wood basin all night long. The next day his wife wanted to cook the deer and used the 'water' from the basin. Apparently she made candied deer and he loved it. But the mystery was where the sweet water came from. Of course we will never know the real story but they may have watched the yellow bellied sap sucker tap maple trees. The insects would be attracted to the sap and the bird would eat them. Some how they figured it out but they also had to find a way to get the water out because the sap is only 2% sugar. That is a lot of water to get rid of to make it mildly sweet. One method they used was to let it freeze overnight. The ice could be discarded and the liquid would be a bit more concentrated. They did not have cooking pots until the Europeans arrived so I doubt they made syrup as we know it. Then they passed out small pancakes and went around dotting them with three unmarked syrups. I could tell my the thickness the first two were not real and by taste the third one was. Heather liked the first syrup best which turned out to be Giant brand. The second was Aunt Jememia.
Baylor was interested in the phone of course but when you look around these days, most people are. It amazes me how many people are more involved with their phones than they are with what is going out around them.
She passed out the tools we would need to tap our tree. We sent the boys up and Baylor got the spile and Connor got the funnel. Others had a hammer, awl, bucket, lid, and strainer.
We headed out to our tree.
It was number 19. He showed us a few tips for identifying a maple in winter (rough bark), what side to tap (the south side), and where to tap (look for a big root below and a big branch above).
They started the awl and then let anyone take a turn that wanted to try. We sent the boys up for a spin.
Baylor took the spile up to be put into the hole and as soon as she had it in sap started dripping out.
Each tree will yield about 10 gallons of sap in a season. I don't think this bucket had a whole gallon and they could not remember if it was a day or two that it had been collecting. There was some ice in the bucket too.
Conner had the funnel and another boy had the strainer.
Between the two of them they strained and poured the sap into a collection container.
And then it was back to the sugar shack. Baylor loves bridges so he loved going back and forth over the two.
The creek was quite pretty in its winter austerity.
The first fire we went to was to heat a huge copper kettle. It was the first step in boiling down the syrup. It had some in the bottom already steaming away but we added our fresh sap and it really steamed up.
Once it has cooked down some they move it to an evaporator tray. The sap moves between three chambers while a wood fire burns underneath.
And then we the syrup was ready it was moved to a big stock pot on another fire.
We found out that it takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make one gallon of syrup and 80 gallons of red maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. In PA we have mainly red maples. The concentration must go from 98% water to only 34% water to be syrup. Once it boils down in the stock pot they move it to the small sauce pan to finish down to a proper syrup. She explained the Vermont grading system and got a bit snotty about VT syrup. She cannot help it, I am sure she has never been there and is a bit biased to PA syrup. She passed out popsicle sticks and we all had a taste. It was fine but I mostly could taste popsicle stick.
While all this evaporation talk was going on Baylor was swishing leaves with sticks. It made a lot of noise so I had him move down away from the group so he would not bother anyone. He had a lot of fun with the rocks, sticks, and leaves.
And we had a little fun with the camera.
After that we were on our own. We did not stop an buy any PA syrup but nearly ran to the car to warm up!
This looks like a fun activity! I want to try this sometime!
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