A sweet sign of spring
Nothing's sweeter than the first signs of spring: Warming temperatures, longer daylight hours and sap flowing from towering sugar maple trees.
Anyone with a taste for the great outdoors can celebrate spring's rising of the sap at three separate maple sugar festivities at Kane and McHenry county conservation areas.
The events, held the next two weekends, allow visitors to learn all aspects of the sap-tapping process, from its historical beginnings to the final cooking stage, during which the sticky tree sugar transforms into the delicious maple syrup people have enjoyed for hundreds of years.
Organizers are hoping Mother Nature provides the necessary temperatures and sunlight to get the sap moving. Warm sunny days, with temperatures rising above the freezing mark, and cool nights, with temperatures dropping below freezing, provide optimal conditions for the sap to flow, said Valerie Blaine, nature program manager for Kane County Forest Preserve District.
"The biggest movement of tree sap is right when it's almost spring," Blaine said. "When it gets warmer, trees start to pump the sap up the tree to the leaf buds where the first thrust of growth occurs. The trees are moving sugar to where the sugar can be used."
When sap spreads throughout the tree, pressure builds and, once tapped with a spile, the tree gushes nature's sugary treat, much to the delight of onlookers and maple syrup connoisseurs. The tapping process does not hurt the tree, which is able to replenish its sugar supply, Blaine said.
Visitors can see the whole process first hand at the Kane County Forest Preserve District's Maple Sugaring Festival from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Tekakwitha Woods in St. Charles, and 1 to 4 p.m. March 9 at Johnson's Mound Forest Preserve in Elburn.
The free celebration features several educational stations, each focusing on a part of the maple sugar tapping process. The historical station describes how Native American Indians taught early settlers to gather sap from the sugar maple trees, Blaine said.
"There were no sugar maple trees in Europe," Blaine said. "So the settlers had never used maple sap before."
Other stations include the drilling station, where participants can try their hand at tapping a tree using downed logs. At the simmering station, guests watch as the sap is cooked down to syrup.
At the sample station, visitors can taste the freshly cooked syrup. And naturalists will guide guests along a short hike through the winter woods, teaching them how to distinguish a sugar maple from other trees.
As a special treat, attendees can buy the maple syrup, which tastes far better than most commercially produced syrups sold in grocery stores, Blaine said.
"There's absolutely no comparison to processed syrup," Blaine said. "This is the classic slow-cooked food."
Moving to parts northwest, the McHenry County Conservation District will host its own annual tradition, the Festival of the Sugar Maples, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and March 8-9 at Coral Woods Conservation Area in Marengo.
An average of 1,500 people turn out each year for this festival favorite, said Deb Chapman, education services manager for MCCD.
Another 1,000 school children from throughout the region attend the maple sugaring program during the next two weeks.
"Our turnout varies with the weather," Chapman said. "We really need the sap to be moving up and down the trees in order to tap them."
Also free, this festival features stations, including a 45-minute guided hike through the woods and a historical station, where tour guides dressed in settler garb share tall tales about how the Indians discovered the sweet sap.
Guests also will have a chance to tap a log and visit the "modern" station, which shows a more recent method of tapping trees using tubing and a trough. All guests end up at the Evaporator House, where they can watch the sap cook and sample Coral Woods syrup.
As people walk the stations, naturalists hope participants will understand the key role the maple sugaring process has played as a food source for American Indians, early settlers and more recent inhabitants of our area.
"Sugar maple sap has the sweetest, highest percentage of sugar," Chapman said. "There are lots of types of maples, but their sap is not as sweet. And since we don't grow cane sugar around here, and long ago people hadn't started making corn syrup, the maple sap, when boiled all the way down to maple sugar, was the main flavoring agent in most of the settlers' food."
Because MCCD organizers cannot produce enough maple syrup to meet the demands of festival attendees, they will sell slow-cooked maple syrup from Vermont. All proceeds will benefit the Carl J. Mitchell Conservation Scholarship. Tapping spiles also will be available to purchase for those wanting to tap their own trees at home, Chapman said.
Coral Woods Conservation Area is at 7400 Somerset in Marengo. Somerset is located off Coral Road, accessible by routes 20 and 23. Tours for the Festival of the Sugar Maples will leave every 15 minutes, and registration is required for groups of 10 or more by calling (815) 338-6223.
Tekakwitha Woods is at 35W076 Villa Marie Road, off Route 25, one mile north of Army Trail Road in St. Charles. Johnson's Mound is at 41W600 Hughes Road in Elburn. The Maple Sugaring Festival is a drop-in event, and is held even if the sap is not flowing. Large groups can register at (847) 741-8350, ext. 10.
Maple sugar festivals
Kane County Forest Preserve District's Maple Sugaring Festival
When/where: Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Tekakwitha Woods in St. Charles, and 1 to 4 p.m. March 9 at Johnson's Mound Forest Preserve in Elburn
Cost: Free
Info: (847) 741-8350, ext. 10.
McHenry County Conservation District's Festival of the Sugar Maples
When: 10 to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and March 8-9
Where: Coral Woods Conservation Area in Marengo
Cost: Free
Info: (815) 338-6223