Maplewood State Park was busy with elementary students on May 17, 18, and 19 as classes from different communities came to Maplewood to learn about maple syrup and how it is made. First let me explain that we know maple sap season is over, but we have learned that you can teach about making maple syrup anytime, and it is much nicer for the students if they can come when the snow is gone, so they don’t have to stand around and shiver and walk through all those mud puddles. Or much to the teacher’s worry, they end up jumping in them.
This school maple syrup education is provided by the Friends of Maplewood State Park with volunteers from their organization. This year they had 5 different schools come to Maplewood for maple syrup education. (Alexandria Carlos Elementary 2nd graders, Fergus Falls Adams Elementary 2nd graders, Underwood Elementary 6th graders, Detroit Lakes Rossman Elementary 4th graders, and Frazee Elementary 4th graders) Each visit requires a total of about 11 volunteers and it is a way for the Friends group to help kids learn about maple syrup. This year 410 students, teachers, and parents came to learn about making maple syrup.
Station 1 taught them how to identify a maple tree even when it doesn’t have leaves. They also counted rings to learn the age of different trees.
Station 2 taught them how to tap a tree and they got to experience trying it. They also used an old wooden yoke to try carry 2 pails of sap.
Station 3 taught them about the Native Americans and maple syrup. Did you know that maple syrup is a gift to the entire world from Native Americans? They learned how Native Americans figured out that sap from the maple tree, when cooked, produced maple syrup which they turned into maple sugar so they could transport it. The students also watched how they would cook the sap in a hollowed-out log using hot rocks.
Station 4 gave them the opportunity to taste sap, real maple syrup, and imitation maple syrup. Then they voted to see which syrup tasted best to them and learned why pure maple syrup is so much better for them. Did you know it takes 40 pails of maple sap to make 1 pail of maple syrup?
Station 5 showed them how many people today cook maple sap over an outdoor cooker. They also got to go inside the sugar shack and see the evaporator the Friends of Maplewood uses to cook sap today.
After their sack lunch they were served a cup of ice cream topped with pure maple syrup. And finally, it was a hike up Hallaway hill to wear off some of that excited energy before boarding the bus for school. It was a fun day for the kids, the teachers, the parent helpers, and the Friends volunteers.
