Maple sugaring: people learn the how, then eat the treats

When you think about maple sugaring, you don't usually picture doing it with a temperature hovering around 50 degrees, but at least 50 people enjoyed the mild winter weather Saturday in St. Charles for the forest preserve district's annual Maple Sugaring Days at Creek Bend Nature Center in LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.

Kane County Forest Preserve Naturalist Valerie Blaine showed how to tap a maple tree, simmer sap over an open fire and watch as it thickened to syrup.

"It takes almost 40 gallons of tree sap to make one gallon of syrup," said Blaine.

Visitors also were led on a hike to learn how to distinguish maples from other species of hardwood trees and were invited to visit the "Maple Cafe" for syrup, ice cream, hot chocolate and coffee.

"This is actually a perfect day for it (maple sugaring)," admitted Naturalist Pierre Hatch while showing children how to hand drill the tap holes into a practice log.