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Making Maple Syrup at the Organic Farm

Students on the Sugar Crew get some sweet experience in a northern New England tradition.

Students on the Sugar Crew tapped about 120 maple trees in the forest at the Dartmouth Organic Farm in March.

By trekking through snow in the sugarbush to check taps and collect buckets, chopping wood, boiling off the sap, and tasting the finished product, they made the student-run operation possible.

The sugaring program is supported by the Office of Sustainability. 

(Photos by Eli Burakian ’00)

Sugaring crew discuss their plans for collecting sap.
The Sugar Crew listens to Assistant Director of Sustainability Laura Braasch for instructions on collecting sap. 
Student moving the protective tin roof off a sap bucket.
Andrew Wu ’26 moves the protective cover off a bucket in order to collect the sap. 
Two students consolidate sap into one tin bucket.
Sustainability Fellow Jack Walker ’22 and Jenn Chen ’23 combine their sap into one tin bucket. 
Two students kneel in the snow to scrape bark off hemlock logs
Lin Lin ’26 and Andrew Wu ’26 kneel in the snow to prepare hemlock logs that will be used to construct a bridge-crossing in the sugarbush as part of an engineering design project.  
Student feeds the fire that boils the sap.
Jenn Chen ’23 feeds the fire that boils the sap. 
Steam rising from the sap boiling in the pan.
Steam rising from the sap boiling in the pan. 
Steam rising outside the sugar shack.
Steam rising outside the sugar shack. 
Student pulls a sampling of sugar out of the boiling pan.
Sustainability Fellow Jack Walker ’22 uses a hydrometer to determine the density of the syrup. 
Steam from the boiling sap rises inside the sugar shack
Steam from the boiling sap rises inside the sugar shack while the crew taste-tests the syrup from their labors. 
Sugar Crew leaping into the air outside the sugar shack.
The Sugar Crew outside the sugar shack. 
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