My wife and I took our 2 sons out looking for sugar shacks when they were about 10 - 12 yrs. old. We drove around southern Tioga Co. Pa. on the backroads until we saw a cloud of steam coming from a big section of woods. We walked back to the shack and peering in, we couldn't see a thing - steam to the floor. I yelled inside and 2 men answered to " come on in. " A father in his 70's & a son in his 50's were boiling. After introducing ourselves and stating we wanted the boys to see how maple syrup was made, they told us to come in and they'd show the boys the whole process from tree to syrup cans.
They had a gravity system much like Phil described above, but with some outlying tanks that had to be brought in with a quad and wagon. Our sons got the whole lesson, from how to tap the trees, run the flexible lines, filtering the sap, to the evaporators and feeding the fire. Those men asked the boys if they'd hand some firewood to them while they fed the fires. Talk about puffed up !! They were HELPING !! And the capper was when they got to sample the warm syrup from a ladle hanging on the evaporator. The smell of the steam in there and the taste of the syrup hooked 2 new maple syrup lovers. Naturally we had to buy a gallon that day !! Pancakes, waffles, ice cream - all had a new meaning after that day !! We've kept in touch with that family ever since they were nice enough to show the next generation " how REAL maple syrup is made ". Some things should NEVER change.
