Maple Syrup Season

We had the opportunity last week to visit Kensington Metro Park to get some maple syrup schoolin'. We met up with our friends, the Snyder family, and had an absolute blast learning all of the interesting facts and history that go along with collecting and making maple sap into maple syrup. After the lesson, we were treated to a wonderfully yummy pancake dinner - topped off, of course, with 100% real maple syrup that was collected right from Kensington's Sugar Maples. It was a fun AND educational experience - gotta love it!

Learning about the trees

Even the youngest ones enjoyed being outside for the lesson

The naturalist demonstrates how the trees make the sugar for the sap

The youngest explorer in our group

We discussed different ways to identify sugar maples - the leaves (on the ground at this time of year), bark and branches

Maple sap becomes maple syrup in this little "shack"

Kids + sugar = fun at the Sugar Shack

Ethan learns about the process of boiling the sap down into syrup

Kevin just couldn't get over how wonderful it smelled!

Ethan's enjoying the smells, too!

Elijah watches those water molecules escape from the sap - the process in progress

Looking for the perfect tree to tap

Found it!

Inserting the spile

Discovering first hand how the Native Americans tapped for syrup

Inside for a little art & crafts . . .

. . . and a little Maple Syrup Word Searching

Anticipating our pancake dinner!

It's That Time of Year!

I am always so excited for the official start of Spring and am often looking for the tell-tale signs that it is coming. One of the key indicators, in my opinion, is the moment the seeds and gardening supplies make their debut in the stores. I always find this to be incredibly premature (much like Valentine stuff appearing on the shelves the day after Christmas!!!), but it is an exciting milestone, none-the-less.

On the home front, I know Spring is right around the corner when the seed catalogs begin pouring into our mailbox with gusto! I LOVE to garden and will spend as much time as possible pouring over seed and bulb catalogs whenever I have the chance (which isn't often, but you can find me with a catalog shoved in my purse, one in the door of the car, a few stacked on the nightstand and you even might find one hidden in the homeschooling books - just in case I get a moment to thumb through it while Eli is contemplating an assignment).

Every year I try to set aside a small portion of the budget to expand my perennial beds and to add to/improve on the hardscaping around our house. Plus, there is the large vegetable garden that I love to toil over each year as well. Any excuse I can make to get out and play in the dirt, I do. I love spending the time outdoors in God's beautiful creation and I don't even mind getting dirty when it's for the right reasons. I also see that there is so much work to do on the landscaping around our house and I am motivated to get out there to experiment and beautify things, as the kiddos allow. We started with a blank slate at this house (I think it was as blank as it could possibly get) and all I see is there is still so much to do! I haven't even ventured to putting in the landsscaping around the front of our house yet (I have to wait for Kevin to fix the grading first)! I am both looking forward to and am completely overwhelmed by that project. :)

This year is going to be a HUGE challenge for me, however. With the birth of our fourth child due in late May, I am afraid my gardening abilities will be nil. Before the baby comes I will be too big and uncomfortable to really get down and dig in the soil. And after the baby comes I know I will be too sleep deprived and busy to devote much attention to the outside of our house (not to mention the inside of the house . . . the laundry . . . the cooking . . . the - oh, you get the idea!). However, this reality does not stop me from dreaming and devoting too much time to flipping through the seed and bulb catalogs page by page. I am sure that even if I do not get any flowers in this year, at least I will try to plant a few of the vegetable basics. Most years I start a lot of my own seeds, but this time I am already resigned to buy starts from the local nursery. The time commitment is much less this way, but the cost factor is majorly limiting. I will purchase as much as the budget will allow and pray that the baby will let me spend time in God's great outdoors. I'm hoping I will be coherent enough and not too bleary-eyed to enjoy the reprieve that being outside in the nice weather can be. Oh, how I am looking forward to the much anticipated arrival of Spring!