Students take field trip to Sugar Shack

On Monday, April 14, children from the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Early Childhood Development Program were treated to a field trip to the Sugar Shack located in Hogansburg. Classes each took a turn traveling by bus to learn about maple syrup, where it comes from and how it’s made.

While waiting for their class’s turn they were taught traditional songs and dances by Bear Fox, who has been going to the ECDP regularly for cultural teaching. She explains about each song she sings and what it is all about. She’ll also alternate dancing with stories. The children didn’t seem to mind the wait as they danced and sang during the morning.

When they arrived at the sugar shack they watched how to tap a maple tree, when the sap is running, and the process of cooking it from sap to syrup. The men running the sugar shack made sure that the children knew this was a medicine to Mohawk people and how to say each component in Mohawk. They also learned that it may take approximately 40 – 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. They were all given the chance to taste test it.

After answering a few questions about the subject each child was given a bottle of still-warm maple syrup to bring home. One child was overheard saying to his classmate, “It comes from the store not a tree,” but was later shown how it went from the tree to the sugar shack into a little glass bottle in his hand.