March 9, 2015

Do you hear what I hear?




It must be spring!  The birds are singing and the sap is running.  We found out firsthand this weekend with a visit to the forest.  Well worth the 1/2 hour drive, we found ourselves appreciating the forty degree temperatures while we sat on logs around a campfire.  We learned a Native American legend about maple trees and marveled at how hard the early settlers worked to make syrup.  The boys drilled holes into trees and saw the various collection methods.  We watched the sap boil so the water would evaporate leaving maple syrup at the bottom of a giant pot after eight hours. (It takes 40 gallons of sugar maple sap to make one gallon of syrup.)  Everyone sipped the sweet amber liquid before we left the little cabin in the woods.  It was delicious, but possibly an acquired taste as Liam quickly handed his sample to me.


This was my favorite Saturday of 2015 so far.  


Can't wait to find more signs of spring!
















5 comments:

  1. What a cool experience! I remember reading about the collecting sap and making maple syrup in Little House in the Big Woods - though it never occurred to me that maple syrup really comes from maple trees until I saw your pictures. I always imagined it coming from an evergreen. (Silly me.)

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  2. Ah!! Such a great weekend! I have been despising the time change but the thought of spring (and the 50 degree weather here) makes me feel better!

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  3. What a fun activity! I know I always write this, but you always do the best things with your boys!

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  4. I love maple syrup season!! Such great memories of childhood visiting the sugar bush!! As a Canadian, it's a rite of passage.

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  5. I can't wait to do this with my kids. There are tons of Maple Syrup festivals on in the Toronto Area - as Tiara just mentioned, but J is still too young so I'll wait until I can take both kids. Your black and white photos are beautiful.

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