This week was our first week back after February break and the start of our sugaring season! This is one of our favorites times of the year, and we especially love to share it with our students, so Emily C, Noah, and I brought them down to the sugarbush this week! Our animal this week was a spotted salamander! These little guys were no match for our super finders. The books we read this week were: At Grandpa’s Sugar Bush by Margaret Carney, What are Seasons? A Just Ask Book by Chris Arvetis, and Sugaring by Jessie Haas. 

 

On Wednesday, our kiddos were absolute troopers as we headed down to the sugarbush in the rain. They were so excited to learn how to tap a tree! For this group, we practiced tapping on our standing dead trees. They learned how to use our bit-and-brace drills, how to hammer in a tap, and how to hang the bucket! Next week, we will tap real maple trees! We then hiked back up to the barn to enjoy our lunch and dry off from the rain. We finished our day with thank you circle and pick up.  

 

On Friday, we had perfect sugaring weather. A cold night and warm day had the sap running! We hiked down to the sugarbush and were lucky to find that our sugar maker, Casey, was in the sugarhouse boiling sap! We got to learn all about the process of turning sap into syrup. Our students had great questions for Casey! After our tour of the sugarhouse, we headed into the sugarbush to tap some trees! As soon as we drilled in, the sap was flowing out. We hammered in our taps, hung the bucket, and waited to hear the “plink” of the sap on the metal! We then enjoyed our lunch in the warm sun down at the clubhouse before heading back up to the barn for thank you circle and pick up.  

Wednesday 3/6

Friday 3/8