Quote:
Originally Posted by bjones6416
 You grew up with Laura Ingalls Wilder? Because I'm pretty sure that scene was described in "Little House in the Big Woods."  |
Was she the kid who lived two houses down?
After I left California I move to Vermont and built a house in the woods. I mean really 'in the woods.' Wasn't even on a town-maintained road, half a mile down from the road that got plowed in winter.
There were 6 other houses in that 'enclave,' and each had 3-5 grade-school aged kids. Each property had about 5-20 Sugar Maple trees growing, and in the early spring when the sap began to flow, two of the parents would organize the kids to go 'Sugarin!'
First they'd tap all the neighborhood Maple trees and hang buckets. Every day after school all the kids would work together to empty the
sap buckets they had hung on the trees. They would dump all the sap into a large barrel that one of the parents would have tied to the back of a snowmobile, and bring the liquid to the yard of one of the houses where
the evaporator was set up. The kids all gathered and cut firewood for the big open fire used to boil down the sap. They needed about 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of finished syrup.
Then it was just a matter of waiting and boiling... The night got colder, the adults standing around chatting got drunker, the kids got more and more impatient for their 'sugar on snow,' and the fire burned lower and lower...
Finally the right level was reached and the first of the syrup was released from the evaporator on to the kid's plates of snow. Then the adults bottled up the rest of the evening's syrup to cool and store away until the season finished.
The sap usually runs for about a week or two, depending on the weather. When it's finished its seasonal activity, every family would be given a gallon of Maple syrup, and the remainder loaded onto a truck with all the kids. This would be taken to one of the dozens of roadside syrup stands and sold (the syrup, not the kids) and the proceeds of the sale being divided up between all the kids for pocket money!
Great fun for the entire neighborhood. Like a city 'street party' each night, but rural style. The kids had a wonderful cultural experience, made some money too, and the parents all shared pleasant evenings together. You haven't lived until you've tasted Maple flavored brandy while standing around an open fire with friends, snow still on the ground, and the promise of Spring just around the corner.
I wouldn't mind some of the brandy right now. Guess I'll settle for a mug of Lapsang Souchong tea. It's smoky aroma will bring back all the memories if not the drunk!
Stitchawl