Maple Town
Rita and I headed back to Mountsberg Conservation Area (see our previous visit here) for the Maple Town event. We had to prebook our slot well in advance; it was sold out by a week or two prior. This was our third maple syrup event of the season, but we still managed to experience new things and learn more about the sweet stuff.
One of the year-round attractions at Mountsberg is the Raptor Centre, a walkway through enclosures of hawks, eagles, falcons and owls. Unfortunately Rita had to stay in the car for this one. All the birds had been taken into care after accidents or domestic hatching. In the summer months, Mountsberg staff deliver bird shows in their special outdoor auditorium. My favourite were the owls; they were really comical!
I (but not Rita) also got to quickly pop into the barn, where I petted mountain goats and horses, and said hello to the roosters and rabbits.
We then did a hike around the Lakeshore Lookout Trail. This is a nice forested trail with sporadic views of Mountsberg Reservoir. There are picnic tables and areas for bird watching along the route.
However, our main event was our hour-long guided tour around the Sugarbush Trail. Our guide, Craig, was super friendly and educated us on everything from the effect of climate change on the maples and their ecosystem, to how the forest was managed for tapping. He was clearly very passionate about the practice, and answered everyone’s questions the best he could.
He then went into details regarding the sap processing process. He explained how the flat-pan, rather than round pot, evaporators were more effective, and although most of the sap was collected in the traditional style, via buckets, there was a small demo of the tubing system we learned about last week.
A fun part of the tour was when we got to try our hand at the tapping process ourselves. Using a drill, (electric or manual), I got to bore a hold in the tree and insert the “spile”. Then I attached the bucket, with a lid to keep out the rainwater! Rita was very interested in the whole process too.
Last stop of the tour was at the Sugar Shack, where we got a syrup flight, trying amber, dark and even some distinctive-tasting (and expensive, due to its large sap-to-syrup ratio!) birch syrup. This was rounded off with some maple sugar, which Craig had made himself that morning from the forest syrup. And in answer to my question: yes, maple syrup should be kept in the fridge!
Other things to try at Maple Town included pancakes (with maple syrup, of course!), maple sugar candy floss and maple taffy. There was also some syrup available to purchase, and a nature playground for kids.
Time to relax after all that Maple Syrup tapping!
