A trip to the sugarbush is a fun family outing in early spring. Hay rides through the maple woods and demonstrations of the sugar shack operation, finished off with sweet treats to taste and takeaway, all make for a lovely day of fresh air and mild temperatures.
This all belies the long and hard work (perhaps like a lot of stuff on the farm) that goes into making maple syrup. Cutting plenty of fire wood to feed the fire (can’t run out in the middle of a run) is a great way of developing muscles and aches and pains. Tapping when the time is right. It may take 40 gallons of sap to make just 1 gallon of syrup. That’s a lot of trees and trips from tree to collector to evaporator. When there’s a good run of sap, boiling will continue well into the small hours of the morning and there’s little rest between feeding the fire, topping up the evaporator, keeping a close eye on the temperature, siphoning off and also checking outside to see the sparks have not started a fire in the brush. I love maple syrup and maple butter! You have to appreciate the work that has gone into it.
Acrylic, 16×20 on gallery wrap – $355
ISTVAN JOBST FINE ART 