Another Sign of Spring

For the first time in our lives, the sight of maple taps is a sign of spring. Who knew that buckets attached to trees could be a harbinger of warmer days to come, but it's true, they are. I've recently learned that the sugaring starts in February and goes through March. After the sap is collected, it's boiled down to syrup. (Infact, there is an establishment in town that has a large sign in its front lawn that says something to the effect of "We are not on fire so please don't call the fire department. The smoke you see is from the sugar we're boiling in the smokehouse.") Here's a link that gives a quick overview of the process. For more in-depth information about sugaring, this is a great article.
I took these pictures after I walked Allie this morning. These trees are right in front of my car, next to the parking lot at the post office (which is where we park for our walk these days). They are in the lawn of the rectory for our church. FNC stands for Flanders Nature Center, a preserve in Woodbury that does a lot of the sap collecting around town. I read in the paper last week that there are literally thousands of taps in Woodbury.

This is across the street from the first photo. You can see most trees have two taps each. There are three trees in the photo with taps on them. The building in the background is our church.

Here's a closeup of the tap. I watched this one for about a minute, and the sap seemed to fall at the rate of about one drop per 15 seconds. At that rate, it will make me think twice about leaving any syrup on my plate the next time I have pancakes.