Spring is coming! We were able to go for an enjoyable walk in the bush this past weekend. There’s still a fair amount of snow in the bush, but we were able to walk on a snowmobile trail without too much difficulty. If you stepped off of the track, you could sink to your knees in the snow.
One of our neighbours is tapping maple trees (collecting sap). It was good to hear the sap dripping into the pails … a sure sign of spring. We have a lot of maple syrup producers in our area and many of them use more modern methods with lines (hoses between the trees instead of pails). Usually you see a cover over the pail when they use pails. This keeps rain and contaminants out of the sap.
There’s a lot of work involved in collecting the sap and boiling it to make syrup, but it is well worth the effort. Both my husband and I have pleasant memories of collecting sap in the sugar bush when we were younger.
