Fullersburg Woods puts on sweet program
By Steve Schering Contributor February 21, 2012 3:30PM
Leslie Bertram, a DuPage County Forest Preserve naturalist, leads a tour during sugar-maple season at Fullersburg Woods Nature Education Center on Monday. | Dan Luedert~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 24, 2012 8:49AM
Area parents and their children spent Presidents Day tapping into nature at the Fullersburg Woods Nature Preserve.
Under the direction of naturalist Leslie Bertram the kids were able to drill and hang buckets on the preserve’s sugar maple trees to collect the sap to be turned into syrup.
According to Bertram, the process of gathering tree sap began when Native Americans began cutting into the trees of the Great Lakes region hundreds of years ago during the season of “Sinzibukwud.”
“Native Americans looked for this time when sap was flowing up from the roots,” Bertram said. “In winter, sap is stored in the tree roots and moves up around this time of the season.
“If the woodpeckers are tapping, it’s time for us to get tapping.”
After a brief introduction, Bertram took the group across Spring Road to “sugar bush,” the part of Fullersburg Woods where sugar maple trees grow in abundance.
Kids helped Bertram crank an old-fashioned hand drill, similar to the one used by pioneers who ventured into DuPage and continued the Native American practice with metal tools.
“It wasn’t really hard to turn,” said 8-year-old Sasha Petruncio.
The Western Springs resident visited with her younger brother, Frankie; and mother, Stacey.
“We’ve been going to a lot of these programs,” Stacey Petruncio said. “I enjoyed it and would recommend it to family and friends.”
Though the sap was slow to come out, the group emptied the buckets previously placed on trees and even got the chance to sample the fresh sap right on site.
“It was not so good,” 5-year-old Ben Wittemann said.
The sap collected was mostly water and Bertram said you would need 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup. The sap must be cooked properly so the syrup can be of the quality found in stores.
Ben Wittemann and his younger brother, Charlie, were visiting from Hinsdale with their mother, Carol, and learned some things about one of their favorite breakfast treats.
“I didn’t know you had to cook the syrup so it tastes better and sweeter,” Charlie said.
“The weather’s been so beautiful and this was a great chance to get outdoors,” Carol Wittemann said. “We’re a little sad we couldn’t see more sap. We love our pancakes.”
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