Today we made the trip to the Univ. of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for the orchid show and then decided to take a walk around the grounds. The loop is 3 miles so the step count will be good today.
It is approaching Maple Syrup time at the Arboretum and the trees have already been tapped. We first worked in New York state and sugar time was the cause for a festival or two. I remember the system working a little different at that time and place. Trees were tapped with individual buckets for the sap. The Arboretum uses a system in which plastic tubes wind their way from the top of the hill to the bottom. Smaller tubes feed into these main tubes and the sap is collected in a central location at the bottom of the hill. I read it takes 43 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup.
Early March is not the season for flowers in Minnesota, but we did see some peeking through the snow and dead leaves.
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The following week we spend some time at the Wood Lake Nature Center which happens to be located near our home. The maple sap was running at the nature center as well, but the approach to harvest is more old school (the method we experienced last week is more for commercial operations).
I learned a couple of new things this week.
- It is the movement of temps above and below 32 degrees that is key to the flow of sap.
- Once the buds “pop” the season is over.
- When the sap flows, it comes faster than I expected (see final picture).
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