I am thankful for spending a gorgeous day out in the sugar bush, helping to collect maple sap and watching how it is boiled down into maple syrup in the sugar shack.
It takes a lot of work – 40 l of sap only make one liter of maple syrup!
Sugar maple trees get tapped in the spring. Overnight temperatures need to be freezing while the daytime temperatures have to come above 0C in order for the sap to flow.
Our family is lucky to be invited most years to help out in a friend’s sugar bush – which really isn’t any work at all when you also get to roast hot dogs and marshmallows on a fire and simply enjoy spring sneaking in and soaking up the sunshine.
The sugar shack is such an awesome spot to spend time outdoors. Inside it is warm and steamy while the sap is being boiled down, which is a time consuming process. A good place to warm up and sample some fresh maple syrup!
And finally, we not only get to take home the smell of smoke in our snowsuits, jackets and hair – such a fun reminder of a day spent outdoors – we get to have pancakes with maple syrup that we helped harvest the next day.
Hopefully this was a fun, visual storytelling about our trip to the sugar bush!
Slow Down. Take A Breath. Take A Photograph. 