Maple Syrup

Hooked rug of the Bella Hill logo by my mother

Maple Syrup is a delicious treat that we are lucky enough to be able to produce in Ontario due to the maple tree which is common here.  Ontario produces more than one million litres of syrup annually.
My cousin Dan and his wife, Lori have a maple bush and tap 2000 trees every spring.  The season to make syrup is short, it may start in March for 2 or 3 weeks.  Night time temperatures below the freezing point must be followed by days above freezing for the sap to flow.
It takes a great deal of sap to make the syrup, 40 litres of maple sap produce 1 litre of syrup.  It's an incredibly busy time for the people making the syrup as the fires have to be kept going for the days and days that the evaporators are boiling off the excess water in order to make the sap into syrup.
Here are some pictures of Bella Hill sugar bush, the scene of the syrup making operation.  Of course when this all happens it does not look like this as there is usually plenty of snow.
In the early days of my cousin's syrup making all the family would go and help as it is day and night work.  Now, it is much higher technology and probably needs to be left to the experts.  The family do get to enjoy the syrup though.

Sugar shack at Bella Hill where the syrup is boiled

Maple Bush-Bella Hill

lines that the sap runs down