Monday, March 23, 2009

Visiting the Sugar Bush

This week we checked out an authentic maple sugar bush. A family friend near Bancroft has tapped some trees so we all invited ourselves over to go tromping through his woods. It was a great day for it.

We walked back on a trail through the woods to the sugar shack. In many ways it reminded me of our little Jungle Camp home complete with the constant reminders to the kids to steer clear of the blazing stove.

We all got to try handfuls of sap that was coming directly from the tree. It had a mildly sweet flavor and was quite watery. Then our friend let us try some of the sap that had been boiling for awhile. It was a bit sweeter and thicker. Apparently it takes days for it to reduce to syrup.

It was my first experience in a sugar bush. I was impressed that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup. Today Dennis suggested that we tap some trees here on camp- all we need to get is 40 cups of sap for one cup of syrup, he said. I reminded him that in Tech Tips we learned that time is a non-renewable resource.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! Did you get to see it when Gunther's did it here? That was the first time I'd ever seen it! Pretty cool and so yummy =)

Anonymous said...

Your post makes me a little home sick!! I gathered many gallons of sap there and spent many late nights in that sugar shack. Somehow I remember a little complaining going along with it all though...Glad others are still enjoying it!!
Melanie

Jean said...

Very interesting and something new for the kids to experience. No wonder the syrup costs so much when it finally gets to our grocery stores.

Anonymous said...

What a fun experience. Can they continue into April or is there just a small window of opportunity?

Anonymous said...

Looks like lots of fun!! I think that the straight sap is the yummiest!! Mrs. VE the sap runs when the temperature freezes at night but goes above zero during the day (guess that's 32F) so hopefully that lasts a long time for lots of syrup!! Valerie if there are trees there to tap and you have the spiles to do it with you should do it!! A few times we only tapped a few trees and just used the bbq to boil it, it's worth it for enough syrup for a jar, I remember hanging in the hammock just watching sap boil!! Lots of fun!! Sorry I missed out on this field trip!!
Aunt Bee

Dennis and Valerie said...

Erin- I was away last year during that time so I didn't get to see it. :(

Melanie- I wondered if it would look familiar! It was fun to see, but I can imagine that I would have complained about working too!