Sweet as sugar

We can thank the Native Americans for discovering that the sap flowing from maple trees every spring could be used to sweeten their food, a tradition we still practice today. Harvesting maple sap is confined to a small portion of the world, predominately in the northeastern part of North America. Akron and Cleveland’s locations in the northeastern part Ohio, in addition to the elevation and average temperatures, make this an ideal area to harvest maple tree sap.On Saturday, we met our good friends Dawson and Mayna (and their super cool moms!), at nearby Hale Farm and Village to see maple sugar being harvested. Their website describes this outdoor historical site as "a 19th century outdoor living history museum. With no electricity in sight and no planes overhead, it doesn't take long for travelers to realize the shift in time. Each day guests engage themselves in an interactive experience with a variety of family-friendly activities. The landscape includes 32 historic buildings, a working farm, craft and trade demonstrations, and interpreted sites with historic costumed staff".

It started out as a chilly spring morning, but quickly became sunny and warm. We enjoyed a pancake brunch and then the girls had a fun time running around in the leaves and grass and stopping at different buildings to see what was going on inside. We saw a blacksmith, some old fashioned carriages, the inside of log cabins and "fancy" houses, some animals in the fields, and lots of other buildings (church, school house, etc.) that weren't open yet for the season. But Grace, Mayna, and Dawson liked going up to the doors to knock and see if anyone was home.

Jumping was one of our fun activities!

So was running!

And climbing!And riding!

And hanging out together enjoying the spring sun!

I was surprised to see that the maple sugar sap coming from the trees was almost like water. It takes a pretty complicated process to make it the maple syrup we put on pancakes and waffles. The girls just seemed to enjoy looking into the buckets attached to the trees!

Mayna looking for some maple sap.Dawson wanted to look, too!

Kellie took a bucket down to so our girls could get a closer look.I think our girls are sweet as sugar!