Maple Syrup days

A common activity up here is the maple syrup festivals.  We go every year to a couple of them.  I never plan to make multiple trips, but invariably a homeschooling group needs signups early and then a friend wants to go, and then someone has a birthday party at a maple sugar bush…….

Here are some photos from the Iroquoian village we spent some time in.

Here Fuss is hiding in one of the little huts, of which traditional use I’m unsure.

Bug is investigating a traditional maple syrup pot.  This would have held the sap over the fire while it boiled down into syrup (a long and tedious process with the amount of sap it takes to get a just a tiny amount of syrup!).

In one of the longhouses, there was a large mortar and pestle originally used for grinding corn.  Here Fuss is giving it a go.  Takes a lot of elbow grease!  When we were in the circle for the presentation of the native way of making maple syrup, we were served cornbread with syrup on it.  Fuss got to see how the corn meal is made first hand here!

The festivals are something the kids really enjoy, although I’m not sure they really get the significance of the Iroquoian village, but I’m we’ll go every year, so at some point they will figure it all out!

Enjoying the journey,  Amanda

Add comment May 13th, 2009