Maple Syruping in March

Marla brought me on a maple syrup tour in Shakopee at Murphy's Landing today. It was 5 minutes from Marla's house, and she brought her niece, Chloe, and nephew, Jacob.


Here is Chloe, telling everyone she is 2. I think they had asked, "Does anyone know how to make maple syrup?" and this was her answer. Jacob is right behind her, scowling for the world to see. I have always thought it odd that Marla only shows crabby pictures of her nieces and nephews, but as I reviewed my pictures, I, too, only had crabby ones to show. It was amazing. The kids had a great time until the camera came out, and then the scowls came out right along with the camera.

They had a 1800's style village set up. Apparently, they have tours all summer and at Christmas time, too. They brought us to the village in a horse drawn trolley and the whole time I sang The Trolley Song by Judy Garland:

Clang ,clang, clang went the trolley

Ding, ding, ding went the bell

Zing, zing, zing went my heartstrings.....that's all I could remember. If my memory is correct, I only sang it in my head. I am too scared to ask Marla if any of my singing was out loud.

Here they have taken the maple sap that has been boiled down, and they are cooking the rest of the water out of it. Then they gave it to us and we ate the sugar straight. It was yum-o-licious.

Chloe was much happier when we got a cup of maple sugar. Here, Marla and I have her cornered - our cameras ready on each side of her. We tried to get a picture of Chloe pouring the cup of sugar into her mouth. I failed, so all I am left with is a picture of her studiously studying the cup. Right after this we were given glasses of maple syrup to chug.

Yep. We got these kids sugared up and then gave them back to their parents. Hey - that's the way it goes. Did I mention that it was around 1:00PM when we got home and nobody had eaten lunch yet?

Of course, the sign of truly having a good time is a purse dripping with maple syrup. By the time I took the picture it had mostly soaked in. I'll write more later about why I love this purse, and why I hate it.

Maple Syrup in March?? Apparently, maple syrup comes out twice a year - in the spring and in the fall. You have to have freezing nights and warm, sunny days to collect sap from trees. And they said that any maple tree will produce maple syrup. Has anyone tried to make it at home??