On the first of February, I began my new job as a Conservation Education Assistant with the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation. Our first project is tapping about thirty sugar maple trees. In a few weeks, we will begin teaching school groups about the magic of maple syruping, but first we need to become experts! Below is a little "how to make your own" for your viewing pleasure.
While looking for the perfect trees to tap, I found this an ancient oak. Not good for tapping but an excellent hiding spot!
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We used a hand drill to make the holes in our chosen trees and then hammered in spiles - similar to spouts - with mallets.
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The buckets look so pretty in the woods, especially as it is a little bit bleak otherwise. We tapped thirty trees of varying ages and elevation. We are collecting data to see which trees produce the most sap and why. Next year we will have a better idea of which trees we should tap.
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Behind me is the Evaporator. We bring gallons upon gallons of filtered sap and boil it down here. It takes about forty gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup-this is a pretty labor intensive business! It took us six days of boiling before it was ready for the next step. In front of me is the Finisher. We boil the sap in here until it reaches the proper consistency, at which point it is ready for bottling!
The finished product: Grade A Maple Syrup!  |
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