Why Canadians like their Maple Syrup!

I thought it would be fun to show you a little outing we went on as a family a little while back, something totally Canadian...going to the Sugar Bush.  We went last year, and had so much fun, we had it on our spring to do list....  This particular Sugar Bush is about 5 minutes from our house, a perfect Saturday morning adventure.  


Ok, so here is how it works..... 1st smile at mom as we wait for Hayden and Dad to park the car...  nothing really to the process of making syrup, but still cute!  This place is owned by four different groups, so as you walk down the lane, you can see how others tap the trees.  The smell is to die for, heavenly goodness, yum!

This is the "new" way of tapping trees, these hoses grab the sap and carry it to larger

 hoses, which all eventually lead to the shack where their are boilers making syrup.  Cool to see, but a little modern for me!

Aubrey and Dad were a little slow.... she insisted on walking and using her rubber boots to the fullest by stomping in every puddle along the way, and I mean everyone, including in front of other pedestrians, and sometimes hitting the same one twice....

This process lasted until she fell, got cold water in her boots, then it was on Daddy's shoulders the rest of the way.

 Now here is the "old" way of tapping, good ol bucket and metal spile.  Makes for a cool picture.

This is the kids favorite, maple taffy on the snow.  Once the syrup is made, it can be boiled longer to make taffy.  For two dollars, you can buy a stick, and eat all you want.  They pour it on the snow, and you collect it with your stick, then enjoy.  Yummy and warm.

Then as a bonus, we saw "Joshua" and his parents, along with some other neighbors.  The kids had a blast!

Here are a couple more fun pics - 

and some facts for your gee-wiz file -

A maple tree lasts at least 30 years and is 12 inches in diameter before it is tapped.

As a tree increases in diameter more taps can be added, up to a maximum of four.

Tapping does no permanent damage to the tree.
Only 10% of the sap is collected each year.

Each tap yields an average of 10 gallons of sap per season,
yielding about one quart of syrup.

Warm sunny days (above 40º F) and frosty nights are ideal for sap flow.

The maple season may last 4 to 6 weeks, but sap flow is heaviest for 10 to 20 days.

Sap flowing in high volumes is called a "run".

The harvest season ends with the arrival of warm spring nights and early bud development in the trees.

30-50 gallons of sap are evaporated to make one gallon of syrup.

Maple Syrup is boiled even further to produce Maple Cream, Sugar and Candy.

It takes one gallon of syrup to produce eight pounds of candy or sugar.

A gallon of pure Maple Syrup weighs 11 pounds.

The sugar content of sap averages 2.5%

The sugar content of syrup averages 66.5%