collecting maple sap + kindling, and saving moths from our buckets
our sugarbush between the creeks
we boiled more sap than i could have imagined this year. for a couple weeks in april it was a job that required going up in the woods 3 or 4 times a day. one day when only two students were here, we took a "field trip"to town and got 2 ten gallon food grade plastic cans with lids and chafing pans from the local resturant supply store, and cinderblocks from the hardware store. it was a very simple set up that we boiled about 100 gallons of sap on this year, from 18 tapped trees. I averaged 4 hours of sleep one week, pulling a couple all-nighters. picnic in the woods and our own maple candy
the creeks on either side of our maple grove flow only in spring when the snow melts, and after a lot of rain in the summer and fall. this spring, the children built a dam in the northern branch. up the hill there is a place where the creek divides, and it was fun to let the creek dry up, and then release the water and watch it flow down.
after a couple weeks, the water didn't reach that far down the hill anymore, so we started construction on a second dam (which they call a house for the water) farther up the creek, where there was still water flowing.
