Middle School Maple-Syrup-Making Days

On the last two Saturdays of January, Chadwick middle school students were invited to Marie Day’s farm to participate in the process of making maple syrup.

On the first Saturday, Jeff Bilyeu volunteered his time to demonstrate how to identify and tap maple trees.  The students actually took turns tapping trees and hanging buckets.

On the following Saturday, they met in Mr. Bilyeu’s garage to experience the final stages of boiling down the sap. The students were amazed to find that it takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.

Then, everyone met briefly on Sunday afternoon to watch the final straining of the syrup and sealing of the jars.  Each student that participated received syrup.

On Monday, January 31,  all middle school students had the opportunity to sample the homemade maple syrup.