While having an afternoon campfire with my children last weekend, they were noticing that the sap was running in our Boxelder trees (Manitoba Maples). Some of the lower branches had been chewed on by a deer or moose and were dripping sap. I had thier attention while I told them stories of when I was a child growing up in Ontario and the fond memories I had of the annual trip to the sugar bush. The stories of sap collection and how they boiled it down to make syrup triggered their enthusiasm. “Hey dad we could get some of those buckets from up in the cuppboard and collect the sap and make our own syrup” Georgia said. Of course then it was on. I had went on to say that the syrup may be quite different from that of Sugar Maples, however I knew there was no deterring them…….. After hanging several buckets and waiting until the next morning for collection we ended up with a half gallon of phloem. It boiled down to about 3 percent of its origional volume… Time to test the syrup. We put some on toast and to the amazement of us all was the best darn syrup one could ask for. The kids are now crazy about sap collection and know the season doesnt last more than a couple of weeks, and are checking the pails on a regular basis. While I write this I realize that this is something they will remember for the rest of their lives and maybe even pass on to their children. Another life long memory inspired by the presence of a tree…
Frank Chipps
