Students from The New School Run Maple Sugaring Project at River Bend Farm
Led by FOAMers* (The Ecology School Educator Alumni) Ally Muir (Spring/Fall 2014, Spring 2015 terms), a high school science teacher at The New School in Kennebunk, and Leanna Bonds (Fall 2015, Fall/Spring 2016, Spring 2017 terms), who is now our Development Manager, nine students from The New School came to their outdoor classroom at River Bend Farm in January to identify Maple trees, understand the sugaring process, develop a research question, design their project, and set up a system for sap collection.
“ The opportunity to teach at River Bend Farm with The Ecology School as a partner was really exciting as it felt that it came full circle. I taught for TES for three terms, some of my student had gone to TES in middle school, I just took the UNE class here in the fall, and now I get to learn something new and teach at River Bend! ”
The wood burning evaporator has been fired up twice to boil down the sap and share the knowledge with community members and students. As sap is still running, we will evaporate one more time to boil down the last of what we collect. For now, The Ecology School has collected about 8.61 gallons of sap and produced .28 gallons of syrup with more to come! How sweet is that?!
*FOAM: Fantastic Order of Alumni Masters, or The Ecology School’s Educator alumni!
