Gwen's Maple Syrup Field Trip

Just a quick note first: I know that the link on the right side that goes to my craft blog says that I've had it updated for a few days, but I really just updated it today. So if anyone wants to look at all the stuff I've been up to lately (mainly baby stuff for my sister Traci) then feel free to take a look...

K, so last Tuesday Gwen went on a field trip to a local maple syrup "farm" and learned all about the process of how maple sap becomes maple syrup. I went with, and took some pics. I'll let the pics tell the story.

The kids all lined up and ready to go...so excited!!

So "Mom" wasn't cool enough to sit with on the bus this time. Just kidding...Gwen was so excited to just go that she wanted to sit with her friends so I sat by myself and tried to take a good, smiling picture of Gwen.

Before we started our tour, we met our guide and talked a little about what they do there and what we were going to do that day.

At the very beginning of the tour, our guide took a bucket off of one of the trees and let the kids see the sap dripping out. He even let the kids (and parents) get a drip of sap on their fingers so they could taste it and see if it tasted like maple syrup. The kids loved that.

Our guide told us that each tree has to be a certain circumfrance (spelling?) in order to drill into it...too thin, and it might not support the weight of the bucket and collecting sap. So he used a tape measure to see if the tree was big enough for us to put a tap into.

Each one of the kids got a chance to help drill the hole into the tree where we would put the tree tap. Each kid got to turn the drill 3 times and Gwen had to have a little help. He told us that when you drill the tree you have to find a spot well away from any scars that the tree might have because if you got too close to a scar, or drilled into a scar, the tree could crack and get sick and basically it could kill the tree. He also showed the kids that as they drilled further into the tree, the sawdust got lighter and lighter and you could actually tell when to stop by how light the sawdust was.

Our guide showing us the tree tap where the sap drips out of into the collecting pail. As he was putting the tap into the hole in the tree, he told us that while he was hammering, we should all listen for a different sound as he was hammering because then we would know that the tap was in. He said that if the tap went in too deep, it wouldn't work and we'd have to do it again.

Our guide showed us how the pail hung on the tree tap and how to put the top on. He also explained that they had to place the pail in certain places so that the tractors and ATV's that drove by didn't knock the pail over. He also told us that the lid wasn't really there to protect the sap from birds, bugs and animals but to protect it from rain/snow. Maple syrup is mostly sugar and some water, while the sap is mostly water and a little sugar. Add any more water to the sap, and you won't have much to make maple syrup from any more.

They had us split up into groups, pick a tree, and actually take the pail off the tree and collect the sap. I didn't really get any pictures of this because I had to take the pail off of the tree and have the kids help so they wouldn't spill...so no pictures. Can you tell that Gwen's starting to get tired, hungry, bored AND cold? Ha ha ha...poor thing, huh?

Our guide told us that part of collecting maple sap was going off trail. He showed the kids that there wasn't an ATV trail going to every single trail, and that they had to go off trail to check a lot of buckets, so he took us off trail too.

Our guide then led us to a campfire ring where he could tell us a little bit more about the history of maple syrup. He told us a cool story about the first maple syrup, and then asked the kids how they thought the Native Americans boiled maple syrup back when it was first discovered (he did say that they were more concerned with Maple Sugar instead of the maple syrup) without any big pots or stoves.

I knew how they did it (thanks to all the camping I've done) but waited to see if any of the kids knew. They hollowed out thick logs, heated up rocks in the fire, then put the hot rocks into the sap to boil the water in the sap away, slowly leaving maple syrup (or maple sugar if you boil all the water out of the sap). Gwen liked watching the sap boil in the hollowed out log and smelling the steam that came off...a lot of the kids said it smelled a little like cotton candy.

Our guide used deer antlers to move the hot rocks from the fire into the hollowed out log filled with sap. Thought it was pretty neat.

After that we went to a small building where they had a small boiler to demonstrate how maple syrup is boiled. Here's Gwen sitting with some of her preschool classmates, listening to how the small boiler works.

Looking at the color of the syrup can tell you if it's done or not...we had just poured ours into the small boiler, so it wasn't ready yet.

Then we tested the syrup at the small boiler to see if it's thick enough...if the thermometer bobs between the two red lines, the syrup is done. Ours was not, but it was just a demonstration.

Then we got to go have a maple syrup tasting. Gwen loved licking her spoon during the maple syrup tasting. We got to try all three Grade A syrups, and the Grade B syrup. Gwen really liked this part. : )

We were lucky because the guy who ran the big boiler was actually there that day, making maple syrup. He showed us how he stokes the fire and even a little bit of the maple syrup he had boiled.

I kept trying to get Gwen to smile as we left to portray all the fun she had, but all she wanted to do was make funny faces...so here's one of Gwen's funny faces.

Gwen took this picture of the maple sugaring house as we left. She sure had a lot of fun, but was pretty tired and hungry by the end.

Also, for anyone whose been following my weight loss, it's been another month, and I've lost another 8 pounds. Not the 10 that I really wanted to loose, but my total is up to 18 pounds lost in two months, so that's something to be proud of. I've realized though that each month as my weight goes down it'll be harder and harder to loose a lot of weight (like my 10 pound goal for each month) each month and that there will be times where I'll really struggle. It's also not likely that I'll ever loose the last 10 pounds. I'd like to, but I always here that the last ten pounds is the hardest. So I am going to make a smaller goal for now, and then go from there. By the first Sunday in May, I hope to have lost somewhere between 30-35 pounds. Hopefully a smaller goal will be easier to reach for now, and nearer that I'll work even harder to acheive it. And I'm still hopeful to loose those last 10 pounds!!