Sugaring I was following my father, trying to keep up. With each step, my foot sank into snow up to my knee. The snow was not really that deep, but I was eight years old. We were emptying zinc buckets filled with clear, odorless, tasteless liquid to be used in a process I would come to know as sugaring. The liquid was sap from maple trees that would eventually be boiled down to become syrup. It was that time of year again. Each spring we travel to our farmhouse in upstate New York where we make maple syrup. The trees surround our farmhouse, which was built over two hundred years ago. Back then, farmers planted maple groves close to the house so they would not have far to travel with the heavy sap. We tap the maples, collect the sap and boil …show more content…
I noticed quickly that there was a mystery to how one substance can change into another. I had to find out more. As I sat there waiting, it dawned on me that this change would be gradual. After an hour, there had only been a slight variation in the color, but that change still meant something. It meant that the water in the sap was evaporating and the sugar was becoming concentrated. It meant progress was being made. I decided that I would wait there all day. For hours on end, we split wood, stoked the fire and fed sap into the pan. And all the while I watched a metamorphosis unfold. What I witnessed was the magic of transformation—of creating something completely new out of another thing. It was nature colliding with science, and that fascinated me. When the sun was low in the sky, the sap was no longer sap. Syrup sat in the pan, richly colored amber and scented like a Sunday morning breakfast. It was then that I realized that most things like the sap, must undergo this same process. Nothing can be created without proper care, time and effort. The maple syrup on the supermarket shelf does not get there by magic. There is a whole story that we don’t get to see. This is a story that matters to