Forty to One – And Only During This Time of the Year...
Kids eagerly waiting to get a taste of freshly-made maple syrup at the season's first maple syrup festival.
The Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival started last Saturday at Terra Cotta Conservation Area in Halton Hills, Ontario, and will be open during weekends until April 8 (9:30 am to 5:00 pm). The festival is also running during the entire March break (March 10 to 19).
Last Sunday, families and visitors at Terra Cotta enjoyed the weekend learning about how maple syrup is made, and actually tasting the freshly-made maple syrup. In the event demonstration, the hot maple syrup was cooled by slightly spreading it over a block of ice, and collected in a twisting motion using a popsicle stick.
Kids had a field day playing at the visitor centre activities area where a number of outdoor games were set up – like Battleship, Connect Four and Jenga (a wood block-stacking game). Fire pits were also in place for warming up a bit.
Guests also learned a few things about how farming life is like by watching a blacksmith, a lumberjack and a wood brander at work.
At the sugar shack, visitors were given a short lecture about the processes involved in producing maple syrup. Maple sap is only harvested during this time of the year. The collected sap is boiled for about eight hours between 95 and 105 degrees Celsius to obtain the best quality syrup. It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup – that's why the sign 'Forty To One'.
There is also an area at Terra Cotta (less than a kilometer walk) where visitors can see the 'sap lines' – the sap-gathering tubes attached to the maple trees.
Guests can always head back to the indoor refreshment area where pancakes, sausage and bacon are served at reasonable prices.
The temperature has warmed up a bit but Wolf Lake is still frozen, though in some spots the ice is already melting. The streams are already flowing, showing the signs of early spring. A good day to hike!
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