The Friends of the Field Station came out to Grove Farm to help out with the 2007 sugaring season. Friends volunteered their time to collect water and then boil it down into syrup. Later they were able to enjoy the fruit of their labor by eating homemade ice cream covered in maple syrup and making maple candy.

The volunteers got good use out of the tractor to collect water from the buckets on the trees while the kids had some fun of their own.

Before too long, the fire was roaring, the water was boiling, and the syrup making process had begun. Volunteers stayed by sugaring pans watching the sugar water turn to syrup and keeping a close watch for when they could finally draw the syrup.

When the time was right, the Friends drew syrup and got the chance to use our new jugging system. This new system is a large coffee pot, it makes jugging easier and also keeps the syrup hotter longer.

Some of the volunteers took extra time to examine the color of the syrup.

With most of the technical work out of the way, it was time to enjoy some of the syrup on waffles and homemade ice cream!

To finish off the day, the Friends had some time to try their hand at making maple candy in molds shaped like maple leaves.

Overall, the alumni sugaring weekend was a sweet success!