It was a very rainy day today. This however, didn't dampen any one's enthusiasm for today's field trip to a pioneer village. We participated in this program last year, which focuses on maple syrup and the kids were thrilled to have the chance to do it again. The very knowledgeable and entertaining guides take you around four different stations, each with a different focus.
First we went to the centre of town to listen how maple syrup was important to the town life and the role the community played in this season. The kids then divided into two groups to participate in a relay race. The used sticks to represent the syrup, bringing them to a person with pails and a yoke. This person would run to the person with buckets and a sled, who then ran to the last bucket and home. We ran it enough times to give everyone a chance to try the stations they wanted.
Next was the pioneer house. Here we talked about how maple syrup was used in the home and what the different types of sweeteners would have been. Outside there were large cauldrons full of sap boiling off the water. We got to sample some delicious maple sugar here.
After running through one of the down pours we gathered in a covered bridge to talk about how maple syrup was collected and used by the native communities- who were the first to discover it. The Natives didn't find the syrup of as much use as the sugar, so would boil it down much more. To boil it they used hollowed out logs, filled them with the sap and then put heated stones inside to boil it. The kids were very impressed.
The last stop was a sugaring house with modern day equipment. Here we looked at different grades and stages of syrup and had a taste.
They put on a fabulous program. Of course we ended the day with waffles and syrup for dinner!
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