Home-made Maple Syrup

by Blossom

We wanted to make our own maple syrup, so we started to look for a tree that had a U-

notch in its leaves instead of a V-notch. We had to dig around in the snow to find old leaves from

last fall. We also looked for light gray bark that had ridges. When we found a tree that had those details, we were really lucky because it grew in a clump with five trunks.

Daddy drilled a hole in three of the trunks and tapped metal spouts through the bark. He bought the spouts at Blue Seal; they cost two 

dollars apiece.

As soon as he got the spouts in, the sap started dripping immediately! It was so clear it looked like water. Fern volunteered to taste it. She said it tasted sweet.

The first day we collected about six gallons. We will need nine gallons of sap to make one pint of syrup. But the sap fills the buckets quickly. When we went out the first morning, some of the sap was frozen. Maple slushie!