When I was a kid, my parents fully believed in child labor. My brother and I shoveled snow and cut wood and actually had to clean up after ourselves. We also carried maple sap through the woods from trees that we tapped to the storage barrel where it was stored until we cooked it into maple syrup. Every spring we’d haul gallons and gallons of sap on our backs…well, as long as I was bigger, my brother hauled gallons and gallons on his back while I “encouraged” him. We built a huge fire every weekend and boiled the sap into syrup and generally had great times making the sweet magic from the trees. Anyhow, with their “advanced” age and lack of kids living in the house, my parents are now, fundamentally opposed to child labor (i.e. they don’t heat with wood).
Not wanting to deprive my kids of the joy that is child labor making maple syrup, we are tapping our tree this spring. Yesterday the temperature fit the bill for when to tap (below freezing at night, above during the day) so we did our work.
When I was a kid, we drilled a hole by hand and tapped a piece of pvc pipe into the tree to let the sap flow into our collection buckets. Our buckets were typically anything we could find that would hold liquid…from milk jugs to pop bottles to commercial sized grease containers. I found a place to order taps meant for maple sugaring and they work but sort of lack that originality that I remember as a kid.
Anyhow, we tapped our tree with two taps and the sap began to flow like mad. I only have small containers to capture the sap so I will have to get the kids out twice a day to collect it. They only have to walk 50 feet to do their chores though. Maple syrup for them may be waaaay too easy. Maybe we need to heat with wood…
i just tapped my maples and then today we got a big snowstorm. The spiles are still dripping tho! My son is in town for a week or two and I will put him to work stoking the fire when we get enough sap to boil. Child labor is a good thing, for all of us!
.-= don´s last blog ..The Sap is Running! =-.
Can’t wait until my boys are old enough for child labor.
Love maple syrup on ice cream…
.-= Lisa´s last blog ..Muffin Tin Monday – Orange =-.
Yes, my parents believed in child labor as well. One summer we lived in a cabin with no running water and us kids (in grade school at the time) had to haul huge jugs of water from the spring about 1/4 mile down in the woods – hard work when the jug weighs as much as you do.
I always say it builds character though – keep building kids with character – they’ll pass it along to their kids someday 🙂
.-= Chiot’s Run´s last blog ..The First Seedling of the Season =-.
LOOK OUT wARREN REMEMBER YOU MUST COOK OUTSIDE AS THE VAPOR IS VERRY VERY STICKY. aLSO WHAT KIND OF MAPLE TREE IS THAT YOU ARE TAPPING? yOU CANT USE A SILVER MAPLE. AND IT ONLY TAKES 55 GAL OF SAP TO MAKE ONE GAL OF THE GOOD STUF. DAD, THE FIRST TO USE CHILD LABOR
May I say…child labor rocks!
Our winters are not cool enough for maple syrup, so enjoy the cool weather there are some advantages, Kim
.-= the inadvertent farmer´s last blog ..Not my Craft Projects! =-.
A little child labor doesn’t hurt. Kids really need things to do to learn responsibilities. We used to do it and we didn’t get paid either(well at least I didn’t, don’t know about you).
.-= YDavis´s last blog ..Porky Pig =-.
The pay was in the hot dog roast while cooking down the syrup and then of course the syrup on pancakes for the whole year. Wonderful memories.
Well, it’s supposed to snow all the rest of the week so my taps may be silent…ugh, I am tired of snow!
I’d love to try that! Think I missed our window here, or it’s happening now. Great idea to share with the kids.
.-= Beau´s last blog ..Late Winter Warm Up =-.