Anna Imrie (Wilton), Daniel McGuire (Weston), Luke Hruska (Ridgefield), Mark Garavel (Ridgefield) and Max Crook (Ridgefield) look on as farmer John Langer taps maple trees on the Ridgefield Academy campus.
Students in Joy Munro’s sixth grade science class at Ridgefield Academy set up 16 two-gallon sap buckets on maple trees lining the road to campus last week in anticipation of some future syrup-making.
“Tapping some of our maples is just one of the ways we are planning to incorporate our natural resources here on campus into our science curriculum,” said Joe Perry, head of middle and upper schools. Mr. Perry, who has been tapping his own maples for syrup in the Berkshires for several years and has on occasion spoken to younger classes about syrup-making, is excited for more students to learn the process. “Chef Paul loves the idea of making, and eventually serving, our own RA syrup as well and jumped on board right away, offering to boil the sap until it turns to syrup, which takes many hours.” In fact, it takes 40-50 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of syrup.
Special guest farmer John Langer from Brookside Farm’s maple sugar operation in Litchfield taught students how to choose which trees to tap, mentioning that “sap runs when the daily temperature gets warmer and the nights stay cool,” something that has not been too regular in March this year in Ridgefield.
“We’re just hoping for a taste this year, at the very least for Mrs. Munro’s fifth and sixth grade classes who are mostly involved in the process. Tapping does no harm to the trees, and we have plenty of them, so we’d love to make this an annual RA tradition,” Mr. Perry said.