Maple Syrup
Spring, 2010
Collecting the Sap
The sap collection and storage was one of our biggest concerns this year moving from a single bucket to more than a dozen. Rubby had spent all fall bringing piles and piles of woodchips onto our trail, widening it, raising it in the wet areas, clearing trees, etc. This helped considerably since we had good access to all the trees. while there was still snow on the ground we used the sled to bring our collection buckets through the trail. Once the snow had started to melt we switched to the wheelbarrow.
Our giant water containers for camping were great to collect the sap in and we had extra plastic food buckets to store the sap between the boiling days. In the evenings when the sap was no longer frozen we'd go out to collect it. Some days the buckets would all be full, other days when the night time temperatures didn't get low enough there was barely anything.
The first sap collecting weekend coincided with Samantha's birthday party and we had all the girls from Samantha's class over. First they got a little demo on how to tap a tree and then they all followed Rubby through the woods checking the buckets as they helped Rubby collect the sap. The following day we had a little family party and Oma, Opa, Tante Silly, Helena, Marianne, and her daughter Alexis all got to help out too. And later in the week the brother of one of Samantha's school friends who is just a year older than Christopher came over for a play date and got right into the role of maple farmer. It was a lot of fun being able to share this activity with friends and although the weather did not cooperate to allow for an open house like we'd originally planned, we definitely hope to have more people over next year.
Collecting sap can get pretty heavy work... at 26 litres this should bet the aqua-TRAINER!
Rubby gets the buckets and empties them into the containers secured onto the sled on the path.
The kids like to run ahead to check the buckets for volume and ice content.
Wait a minute... someone else has been tapping our trees. And they forgot to put buckets!
Even from this small hole it's amazing how much sap flows out.
There's the culprit! (This downy woodpecker made the single hole. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers made the rows of holes.)
A trip is never wasted... on days when there isn't any sap to collect, we haul out wood instead.
Christopher thinks hauling out wood is great fun!
Checking buckets is endless fun (and the kids like sucking on the ice pieces)
The bucket checks give Christopher his daily walk...
Christopher helps push the sled.
Beautiful weather makes for fun family walks in the woods.
The girls from Samantha's class join Samantha at her birthday party to become maple farmers.
First the girls listen attentively as Rubby demonstrates how to tap a tree.
Samantha organizes the girls into single file as they walk the trail to collect the sap.
Everyone gets a turn to check the buckets.
There's even a chance to taste some maple ice.
(The kids are convinced it tastes maple-y but in truth the sap doesn't freeze, only the water in it does!)
Christopher feels like the expert as Helena and Alexis join him on a sap collecting tour.
Alexis - blueberry farmer in the summer and now a maple farmer in the winter!
Christopher has a play date with Roth.
Roth takes the sap collecting quite seriously.
A job well done!
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