The only reason I knew that was because I've written a few different news stories about Maple Weekend in the past and have retained that knowledge for the future. It comes in handy every year when March rolls around and Mother Nature allows a little warmth to shine down on the groves. Maple Weekend is a big thing in this region and I'm not just talking about New York, though *pops collar* our state tree is in fact the sugar maple.
I'll give you a second to be impressed.
Seriously, my knowledge of maple syrup is pretty amazing compared to that of your average Joe. The first time I interviewed the owner of a sugarbush back home I felt like a giant nerd asking all my questions because I wasn't really asking so much for the story, but because I'd grown up in the region and lived there my entire life with the exception of going away to college and had never once seen someone tap a maple tree or hear about all the cool things you can do with the syrup. I was also really interested in the biology of it all - like the fact that sugaring ends as soon as buds appear on the trees because that sap is the very life force that makes it possible for the buds to grow into leaves.
Photosynthesis is fucking amazing. Science is amazing. Nature is ... mind blowing when you really think about all of the things happening that we never pay attention to. We just know and expect it's going to happen.
Y'all are probably wondering why I'm obsessed with maple trees and their production schedule, and I'm getting to that.
You see, after my very public display of "everything hurts and I want to cry" last week, I knew for sure I needed to get out of the house. Not just out; I needed to go do something fun with my family. We don't do enough and that's been the biggest battle this winter. Rarely do we go do things I see other families doing, like go to the zoo on a regular basis or go to bounce houses or go as a complete family to the Y to use the pool.
There are plenty of things to do in the Syracuse area and the fact we might need to drive into the city or pay a small fee to do something fun and make a memory with our kids shouldn't be enough of a reason to not do those things. So we bit the budgeting bullet and trekked to the local nature center last Saturday to introduce the girls to "sugaring" - that time of year maple syrup lovers look forward to
Every weekend in March, the nature center puts on a pancake breakfast and opens one of its trails that lead down into a sugarbush. The center sets up stations along the trail and volunteers discuss how maple syrup was discovered, the process the trees go through to produce the sap, how to tap a tree, ways to collect the sap and the last stop is a sugar shack where sap is being boiled down.
We started the adventure by taking the girls for brunch before hitting the trail.The pancakes were as big as the Goob's head. Seriously, look at that picture. That's half a pancake left on her plate. I don't know what's crazier, though - the fact they were huge or the fact my kids each ate almost an entire one. Plus sausages and juice. We got three $5 orders (3 pancakes, 3 sausages and a drink) because we weren't sure how hungry the girls would be, and it's a good thing we did. Well worth the $15.
When breakfast was done, Charlie climbed into the "baby backpack" (my Beco carrier) and was loaded onto my back for a trip into the woods.
The weather was mild when we left home and then when we walked from the car to the building, so we didn't go back to grab the heavier jackets we brought with us for the girls and I regretted it about halfway through the walk. Then again, I regretted leaving my gloves in the car. And the fact I hadn't attempted to wear my winter jacket under the carrier, so I froze just like the girls. Next year if we do this, we'll be sure to prepare for whatever wind might come in off the lake. It was bitter cold and in retrospect, we're kind of lucky none of us ended up sick.
Did You Know: Sap isn't sticky, it's watery? Actually it was named "sweet water" by the Native Americans and tastes like lightly sugared ... water. It runs out of the tree fairly clear and there are several ways to collect it for production - in a covered bucket, through tubing that drains into a large barrel, into an old milk jug.
The Boy and I have actually discussed purchasing the property behind us and the possibility of tapping any of the maples out there. But that would also require us to build a sugar shack because there's no way I'd be boiling down sap in the kitchen. We'd have to do a major renovation after one season!
Did You Know: It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of syrup?
That means 39ish gallons of water are boiled off in the cooking process for that one gallon of sweet heaven in a bottle. It's a great way to loosen wall paper and peel the paint from your ceiling, but not exactly something any producer would recommend doing in a domestic kitchen. That's why major maple producers (even on the smallest scale) have designated sugar shacks to cook down the sap.
The whole concept of 40:1 seemed to shock the other couple on the trail with us. And I'm a horrible person, so I totally giggled. Out loud. *prepares handbasket for trip to hell* It was also shocking that depending on the outside temperature the sap will run slower or faster. I actually had to explain that to the other mom, but it totally made me feel like a mother freakin' rock star because I kick ass at maple trivia.
With tomorrow and Sunday being the second and last weekend of Maple Weekend events, think about taking advantage of the experience. It's one of those free things for families to do together (it's the pancake breakfasts that cost money) that not only educates kids about nature and what's in their own back yards, but gets parents out of the house, away from the computer and into the fresh air.
Yes, I just drew a parallel between Maple Weekend and being a better parent.
Go sugar up.
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