Maple Syrup Collection

As I was wandering up to Durand from Chelsea, I stumbled across a maple syrup collection place.

 Typically maple trees will store starch in their trunks and roots prior to the onset of winter.  As late winter turns into early spring, this starch will be converted to maple sugar.  It was the Native Americans that discovered the maple syrup long before the Europeans settled in North America.  The process used here is very similiar to that.

 One roughly 20 to 50 volumes worth of sap is collected it is boiled over an open fire until you are left with about one volume of syrup.

 I thought this house looked pretty cool.

Michigan ranks 5th in the United States in maple syrup production by producing about 90,000 gallons per year.