Maple Syrup Days

The girls went on a field trip with Grandma & Grandpa Sanders and Aunt Becky and Bridgette while I was getting Grandma Cooper settled after she got home from the hospital.  I was planning to go along, but just didn't have the time.  We didn't want the girls to be disappointed, so Grandpa drove our van and took the crew.  They went to Deep River County Park between Merrillville and Valparaiso for Maple Syrup Days.

 Laura, Bridgette, and Kara with Nanna in the back seat

 The brown splotches on the board are maple candy.

 Cousins:  Leah, Kara (up ahead), Laura, Bridgette, & Nanna

 This is the fire where they cooked the maple syrup and made it into maple sugar and maple candy.  Laura thought this was the most interesting part.  (Laura is our 'guest narrator' on this post since I wasn't there to get the details.)

 These benches were set up all around the fire in the picture above.  The clear liquid in the buckets is the sap from the maple trees.  It's 97% water and 3% sugar.  They have to boil down 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

 The Sugar Shack

 Cooking down the sap in the Sugar Shack.  This is the modern-day way to do it.

.  

 This is a visual aid to show the 40-gallon milk jugs of sap that would equal 1 gallon of syrup.

 Kara, Nanna, Bridgette, Laura, and Leah

 Kara, Laura, Bridgette, Leah, and Nanna

 This is the old gristmill.  They have a gift shop in there now.  The girls all brought home a little souvenir of their day--stuffed animals, tea sets, and tea pots.

 Laura is grinding corn like the Potawatomi Indians.  

 Nanna is grinding corn too.