The Sugar Bush

Well today I did something very informative and very Canadian...I went along on Maddy's field trip to the sugar bush. I was very lacking in my sugar bush knowledge, but now I'm an expert!! LOL We drove and drove and drove some more until finally we arrived at the sugar bush. A sugar bush is a place where the whole process of making maple syrup takes place...from tapping the trees to boiling the sap to bottling the syrup. This sugar bush was really nothing more than a little store, a bunch of trees, enough picnic tables for 150 kids and one port a potty. I would really like to thank Brian and Dianna for making certain we made a stop at Tim Hortons before we got on the road...that ensured I was forced to endure a port a potty experience...and let me tell you it was charming...especially after the 30 young boys went before me! At the sugar bush there was one man who amazingly somewhat kept the attention of most of the children while he described how a sugar bush was run. (side note: the gentleman was missing lots of teeth...I thought that would have been the perfect opportunity to explain how maple syrup effects your dental hygiene...but they didn't go that route) The man took us on a little trip into the trees and showed us how to tap a tree. It was really cool. Then he answered lots of kiddy questions. Here's where the real fun began...the eating. All the kids sat down to eat their lunches. As they were eating Maddy's teacher Mr. Roy and another parent were discussing how funny it was that I had never been or even heard of a sugar bush. First, I am American. I was raised in middle America...there aren't a lot of sugar bushes (is that a word?) where I come from. And second and most importantly I HATE maple syrup. I think it's sickly sweet and just gross...so I've never really been interested in learning how it is made...call me crazy!! LOL But Mr. Roy found this very intriguing. So he decided to volunteer me to help make maple syrup taffy pops for the kids. He felt I needed to be a part of the whole sugar bush experience...so I did. It was really cool how they did it. They brought out these big trays full of snow and they poured steaming hot maple syrup on the snow in lines. After a minute or so the syrup had hardened enough that we volunteers could take a Popsicle stick and roll up the taffy to make a maple taffy pop. There was also another station that dipped big marshmallows on sticks in maple syrup. Silly me, I assumed the kids were supposed to pick one or the other...oh no...the kids were allowed to have as many as they wanted. Yikes. They went nutso!! There was one little boy who ate 12 taffy pops. Once again...yikes. I made lots of pops and then went back to find Sarah who had been under Maddy's supervision had a marshmallow pop in one hand and a taffy pop in the other. Let me just say she was loving the sugar bush! I do not envy any of the teachers who had to ride that hour back to school the sugar hyped up kids!! So after a long day at the sugar bush I feel very Canadian! I still don't like maple syrup, but I certainly have a new appreciation for how much effort goes into making it!!