maple syrup best things in vermont

Free Range, Organic Homeschooling Kids: Maple Syrup Making

Making Maple Syrup with Kids

One of the things I appreciate most about country living and homeschooling is maple sugaring as a family.

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My family tries to make maple sugaring an annual tradition.

Why?

Because maple syrup making with kids is that awesome! It’s the perfect homeschool and unschooling activity. Talk about real-world, life experience. Experience that helps kids better understand connections to our environment.

However, I can recall at least two years when we didn’t get to making syrup.  

There was one year when we did not pull out the sap buckets due to some heartbreaking family circumstances and travel.  

And, there was the year we planned to miss making maple syrup due to the launch of our big RV tour. Missing sugaring time is the only complaint I hear from my kids when it comes to travel plans. 

And then there was that time that we didn’t think we’d be around for maple sugar making due to travel. However, as luck would have it, an unexpected and sad (but with a very happy ending) family emergency brought us home in time to hang our backyard sap buckets.

Wanderschool Free Range Kids maple syrup making
Wander baby boy, who really is no longer a baby, checks out the sap bucket to see if it has yet collected any maple sap.

Our Maple Syrup Making Set-Up

Although we typically have a small set-up, only 25 sap buckets and a small run of line, our set up produces enough maple syrup for our favorite syrup uses during the year.

We use syrup throughout the week. For example, lots of crepes, pancakes, homemade bread, and maple infused salad dressings.

Our production will be even smaller this year, given we’ll have a limited window to collect sap, boil it, and bottle it before once again hitting the great wide open.

If we can produce even a little bit of my favorite Fancy grade maple syrup from 8 sap buckets for gluten free pancakes, I’ll be a happy camper.  Pun totally intended.

READ MORE: To Learn More About Maple Sugaring in Your Backyard, Check Out Backyard Sugarin’

Happy Wandering!  Happy Homeschooling!

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