Original Post Date: 3/28/2015
Views: 3321 as of 09/2023
For years our neighbor Jim Nelson operated a Sugar Bush on the North side of the driveway, but we never took the opportunity to check it out closely. When Jim died a couple of years ago, his son Oscar continued collecting sap each Spring and cooking it down to syrup. Weasel Gregg thought it would be nice for the grand kids to experience the process, so he contacted Oscar and arranged to come up to watch the gathering and cooking of the sap. I arrived at camp Friday afternoon, and after getting a fire going in the cabin, stopped in at Danny's gun shop for a short visit, then walked up to where Oscar was collecting sap and visited with him a while. The sap was not running well, but he had collected enough to start cooking on Saturday. Gregg and the kids arrived about 9:30 in the evening and were pretty excited about the upcoming adventure. Saturday morning started out with a brisk walk in the woods to check out a few deer stands and enjoy a little nature. After dinner, Kaitlyn, Lauren and Carson were ready to head to Oscars. While they were eager to view the syrup process, I think they were more excited to get their hands on Oscar's little 8 week old Lab. pup. The syrup making process was fascinating as we watched Oscar boil down 40 gallons of sap for every gallon maple syrup. He planned on cooking all Saturday night and til about noon Sunday to reduce 180 gal. of sap down to about 4 1/2 gal. of syrup. Needless to say we stayed til supper time and headed back to camp. The kids had a great time, I had a chance to stop and visit with Sharon Pearson for a while and we also made a quick trip to the Creek to visit with several of our friends. All in all a relaxing fun filled trip. Til next time remember life is good, even better if you're a weasel.
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