Maple Syrup Time

February in hardwood forest country means maple syrup -- yum! We spent this afternoon at Lincoln Memorial Garden where you can learn all about tapping trees and cooking syrup. We started with a tree tapping demonstration. Here you see Kellan helping to operate the hand brace, drilling a hole into the tree. A spile was inserted next and a bottle attached to it. By tomorrow, the bottle will be full of sweet watery sap ready to be cooked into syrup. We also gathered some already full bottles and went to the cooker. Here we were able to sample some freshly made maple syrup (no photos due to keeping the boy away from the hot stove!).



All sugared up on our syrup, we decided to take a hike down to the lake. The frozen lake. It got cold eventually, but we enjoyed having an afternoon out. Even in wintry February. It can be done. I've just got to keep myself motivated!