Story and photos by Julie Carasone
On Tuesday morning, members of the Oakfield-Alabama Future Farmers of America (FFA) Club, guided elementary school students through the different steps of how to make maple syrup.
Stopping at different stations, the elementary students learned the maple syrup making process. At the first station, they listened to a story on how Native Americans discovered the sap. They then observed how a tree is tapped to drain the sap. The demonstration explained the old way of tapping and draining and then how, through new technology, it is done today.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley was hand to show the kids how to tap the tree.
The students participated in an activities where they learned how the gravitational system works to collect the sap and how it is transported to a collection bucket, and also the last step of learning how to remove the water, boil what is left and then the process of how it becomes the final product of maple syrup.
“We travel all over NYS to teach how maple syrup is made, but my current outreach are schools that have a FFA program, so members can serve as presenters,” says Keith Schiebel, NYS Maple Experience.
“FFA members already have some knowledge about the maple syrup process, but we also give them a script to follow,” says Paul Perry, NYS Maple Experience.
The particular trailer used in today’s presentation started at the NY State Fair in August of 2019, but because of COVID-19 they couldn’t do any presentations until this year.
“The idea is to teach students that maple syrup is an agricultural product and if you look at a calendar year, it is the first product of an agricultural year. We want them to know that it is sold and produced in NYS, a viable industry and NYS is the 2nd leading maple syrup producer, with Vermont being the first.”
“It is kind of nice letting them know that there are other products that exist and it is something that they can do as a backyard hobby or you can have an elaborate system like we have in the trailer”.
At the end of the tour, the kids and teachers were able to sample some NYS maple syrup.
If you want more info on how to have your own “maple experience” go to www.mapleexperience@nysmaple.com. —
