This March, Team Canada embraced a true Canadian tradition with a maple syrup tour, and this time, we brought mini KEENers along to share in the experience! If you didn’t already know, Canada is the largest producer of maple syrup in the world!
On a beautiful pre-Spring day we headed out to the Kortright Centre for Conservation in Vaughn, Ontario. Located just 10 minutes north of Toronto, on 325 hectares of pristine woodlands, the Kortright Centre for Conservation combines a natural oasis with some of the most leading-edge sustainable education programs and events in Canada - a must-visit place for any time of the year.
With the sun shining, we had the opportunity to learn about the process of making maple syrup—from tapping the trees to boiling the sap down into the sweet syrup we all love. As part of the tour, we also explored how syrup-making has evolved over the years. From the early methods used by Indigenous Peoples, who collected sap in hollowed-out logs and used heated stones to evaporate the water, to the traditional metal buckets hanging from trees, and finally, to today’s modern tubing systems and high-efficiency evaporators, it was fascinating to see how technology has advanced while keeping the heart of the tradition alive.
Bringing the kids along made the experience even more memorable, as they got to explore the outdoors, see history in action, and, of course, enjoy pancakes with maple syrup - which we all loved.
The kids (and adults) learned how to distinguish maple trees and leaves, got to try tapping the trees and visited with one of the maple trees that was over 250 years old.
Thanks to everyone who joined—it was a day well spent enjoying nature, great company, and a little taste of Canada’s heritage. 🍁
