Maple Syrup

Introduce These Words:

The days are beginning to get a little sunnier and a little warmer, even though there is still some snow. Ben and Meg are seeing mud where there used to be frozen ground.

This morning, they are eating pancakes for breakfast. Mother puts maple syrup on the table for the pancakes. “Be careful not to put too much syrup on,” says Mother. “We don’t want to waste it.”

But Ben is not paying attention. He spills maple syrup on his plate and on the table. It is a lot to clean up.

“It is time to learn more about maple syrup,” says Mother. “Every year in the early spring, the sap in the trees begins to wake up after a long winter’s nap. It starts to move up the tree trunk until it is in every part of the tree. Finally we will see the leaves. But, at this time, the people in Vermont tap the sugar maple trees to get the sap.

“Today, I have a very special treat for you. Let us do your main lessons and eat lunch so we can go into Putney. We will go to Harlow’s Sugar House to watch them make maple syrup.”

Ben and Meg were very excited. They had never seen maple syrup being made. Meg had lots of questions but Mother told her to wait and see.

Ben and Meg did their main lessons right away. Mother said they could do a wet paper painting to put into their books. Meg put the paper into the water and Ben put dabs of red, yellow and blue paint into little lids. Mother filled the jars with water so they could wash their brushes.

Now they were ready to begin. Meg wanted to work with the red paint and Ben wanted to work with the blue paint. Mother asked them what would happen if they added another color. Ben wanted to add yellow paint to his blue and Meg wanted to try yellow paint as well. What colors do you think they got? Ben’s paper was green and Meg’s paper was orange. Did you guess right?

“This is fun,” said Meg.

Mother told them each to try another piece of wet paper and to blend red and blue to make purple. Now they were ready to make tall mountains with the purple paint. It was a fun main lesson, but they were eager to help Mother prepare lunch, because after lunch, they would go to Harlow’s Sugar House.

Mother told Ben and Meg to call Chip so they could put him in the house before they went to Putney. First Ben called, “Chip, Chip,” but no Chip. Then Meg called for him and still no Chip. Mother said they would get into the car and go look for him. They didn’t have to go far. There Chip was, playing with a little dog next door.

When Ben and Meg called to him, he ran to the car. “Oh, Mother,” said Ben, “What are we going to do with Chip?”

Mother said maybe they would have to go outside with him whenever they let him out. That way he would not run away again!

Finally at 1:00 they left for Putney. They live fifteen minutes away from Harlow’s. Mother pointed out the sugar maple trees along the way. Ben and Meg were surprised to see so many.

When they got to Harlow’s, a nice man told them he would explain everything to them about sugaring. He showed them how to tap the trees. He explained that to make a tap, a small hole is drilled into the tree, too small to hurt the tree, but big enough to let out the sap. A small piece of wood shaped like a hollow stick is put in the hole so the sap can drip out. A bucket is hung from the tap to catch the syrup. When the bucket is full of sap, it is brought into the sugar house where it is boiled for as long as three days! The sap is a clear color, but as it boils, it turns an amber color. The man said, “It takes a lot of sap to make a bottle of maple syrup.”

Ben and Meg learned a lot about maple syrup and Ben decided to write about his afternoon adventure in his main lesson book. Meg wanted to draw a picture of the maple tree with the tap and bucket. Mother said, “It is getting late. We shall go home now.”

Ben and Meg knew they would be more careful with their maple syrup now that they knew how much work it was to make it. Ben said, “Now it will taste even better, too!” They thanked the nice man at Harlow’s and got into the car for the trip home.

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