We have been intrigued with the process of making maple syrup ever since we read about it in "The Little House in the Big Woods." Last Saturday some of our curiosity was satisfied when we went to Buboltz Nature Preserve to participate in the Maple Syrup Saturday (See post to follow). Today we learned even more! We got to DO it! It was SO cool! Deb (a lady that Jared works with) and her husband Jim live on 40 acres and make their own maple syrup every year. They invited us to join them in the sap to syrup process and we loved it!
Our family in front of their homemade "sap shack". Jim works at an auto body shop and welded extra metal together to create a shelter for their syrup making.
Jacob with Deb.
Deb says she loves to "live off the land" so that is one of the reasons that they spend days each year tapping trees, gathering sap, cooking sap till it turns to syrup and bottling the result. It takes 40-50 gallons of sap and 14 hours of cooking to make 1 gallon of maple syrup...not to mention all the time and expense put into tapping the trees, collecting the sap, chopping wood etc.
Deb giving Nathan a ride back to the house on the 4 wheeler.
Nathan was in absolute heaven the whole time. He loved gathering the sap, playing with the dogs, seeing the fire, finding sticks, riding the 4 wheeler, eating granola bars...everything. He loved everything. As did the rest of us.
Here is some of what we learned:
They tap the trees on the Saturday closest to March 15th. They use a drill and drill a hole with a slight slant upwards. Then they use a rubber mallet to pound in the spile (the spout from which the sap will seep). Then they connect a bucket to the spile either with a blue tube or simply by hanging it underneath. They keep the bucket covered to keep out bugs and dirt.
Then they wait for days when it freezes at night and gets above freezing during the day. When it freezes the sap goes down to the roots of the tree. As it warms up, the sap runs to the top of the tree to make the tree bud. When it freezes the sap goes back down to the roots. So sap comes out the spile when the sap runs up and when it runs back down.
Then when it is time to cook, they go to each bucket to collect the sap. Here Brielle is taking the lid off of the bucket to get to the sap.
Then she pours it into the collection bucket.
Some of the buckets this morning were overflowing! They last collected on Thursday at noon and in the day and a half that followed the buckets filled and spilled over. Crazy!
Mom's turn. Notice the sap shack with the steam coming out in the background.
Look at all this sap!!
Dad and Jacob take a turn. If you look closely you can see the sap pouring into the bucket. It is clear like water, not brown like it is when we eat it.
Carrying the sap back to the cooking shack.
Where we pour it through the strainer...
Once it is strained, Jim pours it into the red 55 gallon bucket that slowly feeds it into the cooking pans. There is a wood fire underneath this 5 foot cooking pan.
Once all the sap was collected, we were enjoying chatting around the fire when Nathan decided to go for a second round. We loved watching him do it all himself.
Taking off the lid...
Taking the bucket down...
To the collection bucket
Pouring it in...
Back to the sugar shack...
And into the bucket by the strainer.
We had to leave after just a couple of hours to get home to listen to conference, but Jim and Deb will be outside cooking all day. After 11 hours outside, they will take it inside to do the final 1-3 hour boil and to put the syrup into jars. What a long day! I would think it would get tiring, but when we were out there this morning, I didn't want to ever leave. I loved the quiet, peacefulness of the woods, the warmth of the fire, the smell of wood smoke, and the feeling of being self-sufficient. It was a little piece of heaven.
They were kind enough to send us home with a jar of their homemade maple syrup. After experiencing a bit of the process, we realize how much love and effort goes into that product. Thank you Jim and Deb for you kindness and generosity! We had a wonderful time and will enjoy the syrup on our ice cream all summer long.
