Day.. um.. again, bad with math..

Today was a good day! I went on a field trip with Abbi's Kindergarten class to Porters Maple Bush Farms. I think that's what it was called. lol. It was really neat to see and hear how Maple is made. when we got there, we all unloaded and got a buddy.. as you can see to the left, I don't think the buddy system worked all too well. The kids all just wanted to run! It was a bit chilly today, so maybe they wanted to stay warm. lol. Abbi was supposed to be my buddy. :) As we were walking to get to the   grove, there were a few trees that had the buckets attached. This wasn't a very good week for collecting sap. The weather has been really cold and they haven't heated up the evaporator thing in a week! There were a lot of Maple trees, but the one we looked at was the largest. That was barely had any sap coming out of it. The sap that was in the buckets was frozen! It was crazy. The biggest maple tree that the man showed us was his favorite. He didn't quite

go into why it was his favorite, but as I looked at it, I could see why

it would be his favorite tree. This tree was enormous! Hunny has been to the redwood  forest, so this is not really huge in comparison. It was large to me though, and I can imagine, large to the kids. lol. Tall and mighty was this tree. It stood tall and proud with wounds from battle with nature and weather, but still it stands. Reminds me of how great and mighty my God is. How he is always standing firm with us through every trial, every struggle, and every tear. He cannot be moved, tore down, or swayed when the going gets tough. So as we continued towards this tree, I noticed that there were at least 4-5 buckest already hanging from this mighty tree. Wow! So date, they already have made 360 jugs of syrup, which for a small company like this with 1000 trees tapped for collecting, that is really good. The collecting the sap process was explained to me later...

The best time for the sap to be collected is before the buds on the tree come. The sap, depending on the weather, travels up the tree, but then as it gets colder, goes back down the tree. When the buds start to come, all the sap goes directly to the buds to help them grow and then you can no longer tap a tree to collect sap. I am sure there is more to it and he did explain it a bit better than I can. lol. Here are a few pictures of his tapping a tree to show us how the sap is collected and how it comes out of the tree...     

It was a very cool process that the kids thought was really cool. :) Or at least they thought it was cool that "water" was coming out of the tree. Then they all had to put their hands under it and let it drip on their mittens. Of course they had to lick it too! After he was done showing us how to tap a tree, the kids let loose a bit and played for a few minutes before heading back to where they actually made the maple.

After some playing in the saw dust, Oops! we headed back to the place they made the syrup. And of

course, no field trip is complete without a few class pictures! lol. I did take a couple, but I will spare you all of them. I didn't really have a good one of the kids, but this is the best out of all of them. Trying to round them up after running back from the grove was a lot of fun too! All this fresh air and wide open spaces to run around and get some energy out, who wants to sit still for a picture?! lol. It was good though. We did finally get some pictures and then it was time to head into the building behind the class. Once everyone was all lined up, we were able to head inside, but not before a few more details first. At the front of the

line, you'll notice a very large 55 gallon barrel to your left. Then you'll notice the 1 gallon jug of maple syrup that the man is holding up. In the 55 gallon barrel, there is sap. I didn't get a picture of a huge tank that holds 2000 gallons of sap, which wasn't even the biggest tank they had! The biggest one was inside the building, but we didn't get to see that one. So, back to the little 55 gallon barrel. It takes one 55 gallon container to make 1 gallon of syrup. Yes, you heard me! That is so crazy! So.. then it was time to head inside. Once inside, there was a huge machine that is used to heat up the sap and evaporate the water inside the sap. In evaporating a lot of sap, you get the maple syrup. Depending on the season and just the right weather, you can get different thicknesses and different colors of syrup. Some people like the real light syrup which I believe is the fancy syrup. It goes all the way from light to

different shades of dark. The picture to the right is of the machine that evaporated the water from the sugary stuff inside the sap, making syrup. He then went on to say that if you heat up the syrup to where it is too hot, then it crystalizes. This is what makes maple candy. Yes, I did try one because I didn't want to be rude. I know that I am fasting from sweets and desserts, but I made an exception. It was seriously ALL sugar! Way too sweet for me and too sweet for some of the kids. After he was all done explaining and going through the whole making syrup process, the owner came out with little cups of syrup. Really now!? So everyone got a cup of warm syrup. Yum! It really was delicious and sweet. I took a sip of Abbi's. So as we are standing there, Abbi takes a sip and says, "Mom, this tastes just like syrup!" I was like, "That's because it is, silly. They make it here." (Abbi) "They MAKE it here!" Really? Was she not paying attention? ahahahahah I laughed a little because the man seriously JUST got done explaining everything. lol. So I explained it to her in a more understand

able way and a shorter version too. :) She makes me laugh a lot!

All in all, we had a great trip! We got a surprise when we found out we were able to go up to the owners house and see some baby pigs that were just born a few weeks ago! A great end to a really great day! Best of all, I got to spend some more time with Abigail!