Welcome to class this Tuesday ! And it’s all about Maple syrup today …
Bell Ringer?
How long before a maple tree produces syrup?forty yearsI
for a maple tree to grow before it is big enough to tap. On a good growing site, and if treated well, a maple tree can be tapped indefinitely.https://vermontmaple.org/how-maple-syrup-is-made
Almost all of the maple syrup in the US is made in one of 9 states, most of them in New England. Those 9 states include: Vermont (which is the #1 producer of maple syrup in the United States), New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.Maple syrup can be made from any species of maple tree. Trees that can be tapped include: sugar, black, red and silver maple and box elder trees.
Michigan : Spring harvest
We lived in Michigan for a number of years and remember the fun of the Spring Harvest. And taking field trips to visit the sites that produce large amounts. But just driving around almost all the maple trees had buckets waiting for Spring to arrive/ Lisa
The sugar maple is Michigan’s most common native tree species.
The type of hardwood forests that sugar maples typically grow in cover more than five million acres in Michigan — their foliage, which turns red, yellow and orange in the fall, is partly what makes this state so pretty in autumn.
Native Americans living in the upper Great Lakes region (ie, Michigan before it became “Michigan”) were tapping maple trees long before European settlers moved in. Written accounts of maple sugaring date back to the 1500’s.
How to Make Maple Syrup
- Step 1: Find Your Trees. Start off by finding a tree. …
- Step 2: Add the Spiles. Get your spile (the tap that goes into the tree). …
- Step 3: Collect Sap. The sap will be clear, and will taste like water with a very slight sweetness to it. …
- Step 4: Boil It Down. …
- Step 5: Finishing/storing.
My book choice :
Nora and Gramp are collecting sap from maple trees to make maple syrup. The horses, Bonnie and Stella, are working hard, too, pulling the heavy sap tank through the snow from tree to tree. This third story about Nora and her grandparents brings the beautyof a Vermont farm in early spring vividly to life.
Leaf Rubbing:
Use an assortment of leaves ,colors and paper to make this a fun projects. After coloring label leaves and parts in….Lisa
