Natural Learning

Today started with no real plan.

Boy #3 had speech this morning and gymnastics and baseball scheduled later this afternoon. (I know -- I think that sounds like a lot of one kid too. But it's the last day of speech and the last day of gymnastics, and the only day of the week when it all falls on the same day.)

It was almost 9:30 am before I realized that Boy #1 was downtown at the Green Market. He has a tendency to sleep late, so when he wasn't up yet, I just assumed he was sleeping. But then when he wasn't downstairs either, it clicked: Wednesday morning. June. He's selling at the Green Market.

Boy #1, my natural born entrepreneur, has been selling things at the Green Market ever since he was six. He pays for a spot, carts his produce down there in a wagon and spends his Wednesday mornings learning from the vendors and customers at the Market. Today, he was selling maple syrup and radishes.

So when Boy #3 got home from speech, the rest of us strapped on our helmets and headed downtown.

What started as a simple excursion spiraled into a morning of learning. We visited with friends, caught up on the small town gossip and checked out the plants and produce. We wandered into the health food store and found a new, yummy, organic treat.

We walked into the local appliance store to check out the taxidermied animals on the wall. (Trust me: They know us there. As far as my kids are concerned, that little store is as good as a natural history museum.) We filled out tickets for a raffle drawing (a great chance to practice penmanship, letters, numbers and spelling) and ended up borrowing two movies from the church that runs a lending library (Sunday School Musical and Sugar Creek Gang: The Great Canoe Fish). Then we stopped at the yarn shop, admired the yarns and talked to the owner before heading home.

At home, one boy started popping popcorn (for the movie) while another checked the price of silver on our just-recently-returned-home computer. Next thing I know, he ran into the kitchen, yelling, "Call Uncle Tom!"

Uncle Tom, an accountant, introduced my sons to investing by giving them each a one-ounce silver coin. He then showed them how to track the price on the computer.

My boys have been paying attention. Boy #1, the entrepreneur, has managed to amass a number of silver coins. All of them have been watching the price of silver for months, because Uncle Tom agreed to act as their private broker. At any time, he said, they could sell their silver back to him for market price.

So I called Uncle Tom and placed the Sell order. Then we settled in with our popcorn to watch The Great Canoe Fish.

After the movie, Boy #1 headed to the hardware store to buy some seeds. I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Boys #2 and 3 while #4 played with trucks. Now #1 and #4 are planting beans and carrots in the garden while #2 and #3 play outside.

Not bad for a day of learning -- and we still have gymnastics and baseball to go.

Making Maple Syrup, Part 2

Maple sugar season is about so much more than maple syrup. More, even, than family camraderie.

Tapping maple trees and turning the sap into syrup is an education all of its own. There's science: how and why the trees drip; boiling, evaporation and concentration. There's history: we talk about Native Americans, pioneers and our own ancestors. There's math: how many gallons of sap make a gallon of syrup, the weight of a full tank, how much to charge for a full bottle, etc. And there's literature: Little House on the Prairie, anyone?

And then there are all the unexpected moments. Yesterday, for instance, we saw and heard both a woodpecker and a pair of sandhill cranes. We pryed fungus off a log and saw what it did to the wood beneath.

But more than that, even, is the fact that maple sugar season is an opportunity for our boys to contribute positively to the welfare of our family.

Some time ago, I read about the importance of work to boys. Boys, like their adult counterparts, like to feel useful. They like to challenge their skills and they like to those skills for the benefit of others.

My boys, like most American boys, are expected to help around the house. They pick up toys, put away their dirty dishes, unload the dishwasher and help with vaccuuming and dusting. But that's not the kind of work boys crave. They crave down and dirty physical work.

When we make maple syrup, my older boys get to help cut and haul wood. The younger boys unload wood from the trailer and hand it to their father as he stokes the fire. The older boys help drill holes, and even the young ones can pound in taps.

Together, we assemble and hang the bags, and together, we head out to collect the sap. At 8, 6 and 3, my three younger boys are too heavy to lift the bags of sap, but at 11, my oldest is already able to carry and unload all but the fullest bags.

For a few precious weeks in the Spring, we have the opportunity to work as a family, and my boys -- all four of them -- knew that their work is valued, important and appreciated.

Making Maple Syrup

This, my friends, is the start of maple syrup.

That clear liquid is maple sap, a natural delicacy if ever there was one. Did you know that maple syrup is a good source of maganese and zinc? And that maple trees can be tapped repeatedly, for years and years and years?

My husband grew up tapping trees. On the hill behind his house was a stand of maples, and each spring, he and his father would tap the trees and boil the sap into syrup.

Now my husband taps those same trees with his sons, and we all look forward to maple syrup season as the first real, true sign of Spring.

Around here, we usually tap the trees sometime in March. The exact timing varies from year to year; the weather has to be just right, meaning below-freezing temps at night and above-freezing temperatures during the day.

(Quick science lesson: the sap is stored energy for the tree. As winter ends, the sap, a sugary substance, begins to flow up the tree, feeding the buds and preparing the tree to bloom. The below-freezing night temps cause the sap to drop back down the tree, while the above-freezing daytime temps encourage the sap to rise up the tree.)

We tap the trees with either an electric drill (the faster way) or an old-fashioned hand brace, which is basically a hand-powered drill. You know you've gone far enough when the hole begins to drip. Then we pound in the taps, using a hammer -- and the kids enjoy the sap!

The sap is perfectly clear, cool and sweet. At this stage, it's mostly water, but you can still taste the sugary sweetness!

Generally, we put in about 100 taps a season (not counting the 4 we do in our own city backyard, just for fun). At home, we hang buckets on the trees, but out in the country, we use heavy-duty, covered plastic bags.

Then we wait. How much sap we collect and how quickly it drips is entirely a function of the weather. So far, this has been a good year. Two days ago we collected about 150 gallons of sap, and today we collected at least that much again.

(Quick question: How much syrup will that make? Hint: It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.)

Then it's time to cook the sap down. We cook ours the old-fashioned way, in a large flat pan over a wood fire. It's a lot of work -- trees must be cut down (to fuel the fire) and once the fire is going, it needs to be almost constant attention. Thankfully, my husband's cousin mans the night shift!

As the sap heats, it becomes more concentrated. Sap is mostly water, so when it's heated, the water evaporates, leaving behind the sugar. Eventually the sap becomes dark, thick and oh-so-yummy maple syrup!

Of course, cooking it down a little more will give you maple candy, and THAT'S pretty good too!