Tapping Into the Tree of...Maple Syrup?

"No winter lasts forever; no Spring skip's it's turn."

Ahh, two of my favorites: Spring and a stack of pancakes with real maple syrup. Now you don't necessarily have to wait until Spring for pancakes, but if you want the real maple syrup no need to look any further than March 13th if you live near me in the Chicago 'burbs.

On this day children of all ages, even you mom and dad, will be tapping the trees for maple syrup. Near my favorite walking trails the trees are already prepared for catching the stuff that makes pancakes ever so delightful and blending so eloquently with melted butter.

Within the forest there are many trees ready to be tapped and drained with maple syrup like this photo. While visiting the Old Grau Mill Nature Center one day where this all takes place, I learned the following sweet discovery, a Native American Indian legend:

An Indian, after hunting all day and only getting one scrawny rabbit, threw his tomahawk in disgust into a maple tree. A mokuk (small birch bark bucket) beneath the tree suddenly filled with sap, and thinking it was water, his wife used it to cook the rabbit. The sap boiled down to syrup and the Indians enjoyed the sweetest rabbit they'd ever eaten.

Indians tapped maple trees by breaking off branches or chopping large gashes in the trunks. Sap was collected in leak proof bowls made from a single piece of birch bark with the ends folded so that there were no seams.

Now, let's go get some pancakes!