The set up is very similar, but the helpers are different!
I discovered the following picture from 2011 of when the kids were interviewed because we boiled maple sap at home. This was one of the first years that Mark was responsible for most of the process.
We usually get enough syrup to last us a year, though sometimes it was because a friend offered us what he did not need. Sometimes, we had enough to share.
I can’t remember when we started, but the first year’s syrup was so poorly done. We thought we followed directions and we were so proud of it, but it was very weak!
Or the time we tried boiling the sap in the house because the weather was awful and we were afraid the sap would go bad. We had so much humidity in the house we had to open all the windows and it was still humid.
We often sat and read by the fire and the smell of the syrup boiling because the weather was beautiful and we wanted to be outside. We grilled our dinner on the grates sometimes just for fun.
The syrup was ruined a few times because we got busy and over boiled it. Or we spilled the almost finished sap while pouring it into a new container.
Most of the children learned to chop wood to keep the fire going, and they all learned how to start fires in the cold and keep them going all day.
Such wonderful memories!