Boys turn sap into syrup
ZELIENOPLE — The Sugar Shack is up the hill behind St. Stephen's Lutheran Academy's classroom buildings.
The wooden building, the size of a tool shed, is part of an outdoor classroom in the school's woods. It houses a wood-fired evaporator that boils down the maple sap that boys from St. Stephen's have collected.
“The sap that we collect is 1.2 percent to 1.3 percent sugar,” said Adam Harden, the teacher who has run the extracurricular program for the past six years. “The rest is mainly water.”
It takes 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup, he said.
Ten boys are working with Harden to make maple syrup this year. All make a commitment to finish their school work before they head outdoors.
They are Anthony Badgett, Patrick Lindsay, Trent Newman, Michael Sopo and Alexander Toy, who commute to the school, and five other boys who live on campus.
“We've always got to help each other,” said Anthony, 11, explaining the teamwork that's required. “I like being outside.”
The boys range in age from 11 to 18, and some, like Trent and Patrick, have joined the project for three years.
“I enjoy getting out and getting to be out with Adam,” Trent, 18, said. “I enjoy the weather and everything, except when it's really windy. Then it's just a pain in the butt.”
All 10 boys spent the offseason using hand saws to cut wood to burn in the evaporator's oven, under a 19-by-25-inch pan where the sap boils.
“A few of them that I trust will tend the fire,” Harden said.
On the other side of the Sugar Shack, down a hill into the woods, 50 maple trees were tapped in February. When the sun shines and the temperature goes above freezing, the sap runs up the trees to the taps, through tubing into collection buckets that the boys carry over to Harden's quad once they're full.
Harden loads them into the back and drives them uphill to the Sugar Shack, where the sap is poured into the evaporation pan.
The school has had several evaporators, including a turkey fryer, Harden said. Next year, they'll be using a new one bought with a $2,600 grant from the American Forest Foundation. It will be wood-fired too.
The sap turns from a clear liquid to an amber color as it cooks down. Harden and the students filter the syrup before it's bottled.
“I try to keep it educational,” Harden said, mentioning that the project allows him to discuss mathematics, science, social studies, history and social skills.
“If they'd had something like this when I was in school, I would have signed up in a heartbeat,” Harden said.
For their efforts, Harden and the boys will get between five and seven gallons of syrup this year, “a pretty good year,” Harden said.
The syrup will be given to staff members as gifts, and some will be used at the annual “Rip and Dip” festival, marking the end of the season.
St. Stephen's students and staff will be driven May 1 and 2 to the Sugar Shack, where they'll have kettle corn and two small pancakes to rip into pieces and dip into this year's syrup. The boys will help with the celebration, too, handing out popcorn.
