Making Maple Syrup

March 22, 2010 at 10:41 am Leave a comment

Granddaugher Claire is very proud of the family’s “sugaring off” efforts.

What do you do when you love maple syrup, have a maple bush in the back yard and two inquisitive young children? You tap seven trees, collect the sap and boil it down to make the most delicious maple syrup imaginable. Having lived for over eleven years in Bermuda where there were neither sugar maples nor snow, the Loxton family embraced their first full Canadian winter near Orillia, Ontario with open arms, skiing, skating and producing one of the country’s sweetest treats. When Mother Anne Loxton was a young girl, we tapped the few trees that surrounded our downtown Owen Sound

Checking the sap in early morning

Boiling down the sap

lot to give the children the experience of making maple syrup. Although it was fun, we did it only one year (replacing the kitchen wallpaper after all that steam). I have a feeling, however, the Loxtons will continue “sugaring off” as a lifelong tradition, much like our pioneer settlers.