Did you know that the sap travels inside the tree at over 50 miles an hour? I sure didn't. Each child got to listen to the sap inside the tree with a stethoscope and my kiddos are still talking about hearing the "fast, swishing" noise! We were told how the maple sugaring process started with the Native Americans, continued to the colonials and pioneers and is much the same today. It was a lot of fun and we had awesome weather to boot! :-)
After tapping the tree (we learned that it takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup!), the kids all were treated to a taste test of syrups. They had to decide what they thought taste better: pure maple syrup, Aunt Jemima's or corn syrup. Maple syrup won in the group as a whole (there were 20 kids), but only got votes from two of our kiddos. The other two, predictably went for the Aunt Jemima in all of its artificial splendor. :-)
We were treated to a tour of their barn where there were all kinds of baby animals. The baby lambs were born only 2 days ago. The piglets were born the beginning of this month, along with the goats. What a wonderful treat to see the beginnings of new life as we are about to begin springtime!
Another wonderful day of memories made with the kiddos! :-)
2 comments:
What a great idea! I wish we could do that - looks like an awesome day!
That is so awesome! I would love to do this one day with my boys. my boys have only had maple syrup, a few natural fruit syrups and homemade syrup...... I would hope they'd pick the maple! LOL My hubby, otoh never had maple syrup growing up and says itnhas a very strong flavor to him, so, every once in a while I get a natural boysenberry syrup or make blueberry ormstrawberry syrup at home..... Especially good when we pick strawberries and make it! Yum! maple syrup has a few health benefits, too. calcium and iron! 8% RDA per serving! At least it makes this sugary treat healthier, right? .
Post a Comment