Maple Syrup Festival

A week ago the boys and I drove up to a small state park in Maryland to attend a Maple Syrup Festival. It was a very pretty park with lots of camping sites. It really made me want to take the boys out camping. Maybe we will take them back there this spring. Anyway, I have been interested in how they make maple syrup since I was in grade school and read the Little House on the Prarie books. So we drove about 30 minutes to see how it was done. Unfortunately, I thought I would pass an ATM on the way and didn't. It turns out to be all back roads from our house to the park. So, when I arrived I had no cash to pay the donation at the gate. I felt bad, but they let us in anyway. They did have a small booth where they sold locally made maple syrup and oldfashion maple candy. The boys were upset that we could not buy any since they -- only accepted cash. Next year we will have to take Chris back with us and then maybe we can try some of the candy. As far as the maple syrup making was concerned it was really interesting. They had several trees tapped with all different kinds of taps so you could see all the different ones. Then once every hour they gave a talk on how it was all done and processed right over a boiling pot of maple syrup.

It turns out you can very easily make maple syrup at home. All you need is a Sugar Maple Tree at least 10 inches in diameter. You put the tap into the tree about 2 inches and about 4 feet from the ground. The best times to do it are spring and fall or anytime it is cold at night and warm during the day. Maple Sap looks like exactly like water when it comes out because it is 90 percent water and 10 percent sugar. It takes 40 gallons of Maple sap to reduce down to 1 gallon of Maple syrup. To make a gallon of maple syrup in a pot over an open fire takes about 6-9 hours. To make maple candy takes 24 hours.

In addition to the talk and the displays they also had a craft tent (suitable for ages 2-12 in my opinion). All the boys made paper maple seeds and colored pictures and Russell made alittle book about the Maple Tree for Caden. Everyone had a really good time for free.