ROYALSTON — Young students recently got some firsthand experience in sugaring.
Royalston Community School kindergartners and Futures students visited the Sweet Water Sugar House in Royalston, and owners Tom and Debra LeRay welcomed them, explaining sugaring from tree to table and offering hands-on experiences, samples and educational materials to the 34 students and chaperones.
A third-generation maple producer, Tom LeRay discussed maple tree identification in summer and winter, and showed some of his 700 taps — 500 of which are the traditional gravity-fed taps and 200 of which are vacuum taps. Students drilled holes, inserted spouts, and watched the sap begin to drip into the buckets.
Sap, the sweet water that comes from sugar maples, has to be evaporated to rid it of excess water. The amount of water evaporated varies from year to year. Tom LeRay explained that this year, it takes about 50 gallons of sap to produce a gallon of syrup. He showed a variety of syrup colors, which change throughout the season based on various factors.
Visiting Sweet Water Sugar House were Ethan Blake, Isla Burnham, Bentley Campbell, Kaylee Casson, Trent Charron, Brayden Choquette, Sophia Corbin, Landon Cummings, Robbie Farrow, Nevaeh Gregory, Jolie Gueye, Byard Hard, Hollie Hastbacka, Bella Kimball, Benjamin Lafond, Izzy Mallet, Tripp Miller, Alec Richards, Owen Stoddard, Haily Webber, and Natasha Wilkey.
Chaperones included Jennifer Blake, Emily Cummings, Chawna Girard, Jason Kimball, Dusty Landry, T. J. Mallet, Sarah May, and Crystal Williams, along with kindergarten classroom teacher Jessica Willhite, kindergarten paraprofessional Brenda Hopkins, Futures teacher Mary Grutchfield, and Futures paraprofessional Claire Morris.
Busing costs for the trip were underwritten by a grant from the Massachusetts Maple Producers Association. Tom LeRay, a member of that group’s board of directors, reported MMPA provided classroom grants this year to offset transportation costs. Willhite’s kindergarten class was one of the seven recipients. MMPA also provided each child with a bag of educational materials, to which the LeRays added a small jug of fresh, Royalston maple syrup.
Information about maple production is available at the MMPA website, www.massmaple.org, and on Facebook. Sweet Water Sugar House is at 56 Brown Road in Royalston. Visitors are welcome. For information about tours or maple products, call 978-249-3464.