Paula Van Singel of Long Grove tastes sap during Maple Sugaring time at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago. The sap is 97 percent water and 3 percent sugar.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Move over Mrs. Butterworth's and kindly take a seat, Aunt Jemima.
Residents from the suburbs and even Wisconsin got a front-row seat Saturday at the Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago to learn how maple syrup was made in the 1890s. Hundreds of visitors showed up at the Maple Sugaring event.
Wayne Hill, Kline Creek Farm heritage interpreter, was monitoring overflow parking at the farm.
"We are tapping trees like people tapped trees 120 years ago, to make maple syrup which they used throughout the rest of the year," Hill said.
Steve Koop of Wheaton and his wife brought their grandchildren from Bensenville to the Maple Sugaring event.
"We like to bring the grandkids out here so they can appreciate what was happening 100 to 150 years ago, and they just enjoy seeing all the animals and a little simpler way of life, away from all the electronics," Koop said.
For more information, visit dupageforest.org.
Cullen Wagner, 5, of Elk Grove, tastes sap during Maple Sugaring time at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago. Forty gallons of sap is needed to produce just one gallon of maple syrup.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Mirabel Jurewicz, 7, of Ashland, Wisconsin, practices drilling a hole for a stile used to tap maple tree sap at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Bella Massengale, 7, of Bensenville, points to a sheep while her brother Joshua, 5, reaches through the fence during Maple Sugaring time at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Dennis Buck, heritage interpreter at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, explains to visitors how sap is collected and boiled to 219 degrees, at which point it becomes syrup.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Dennis Buck, heritage interpreter at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago, explains to visitors how sap is collected and boiled to 219 degrees, at which point it becomes syrup. Forty gallons of sap are boiled to produce one gallon of maple syrup.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
It's Maple Sugaring time at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago where visitors learn how sap was collected in the 1890s.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com
Farmer John Cumpek volunteers at Kline Creek Farm in West Chicago where visitors like Ava Mass, 6, of Wheaton learn how sap was collected in the 1890s. The sap is boiled to get a thick and sticky syrup.
Daniel White/dwhite@dailyherald.com