Location: Northeast Nova Scotia, Twa Corbies Hollow, approx. 1 hr from New Glasgow and Antigonish
Date & Time: March 22 & 23, 1000 – 1400
Cost: $35 per person
Equipment Required: Cool to cold weather outdoors clothing and waterproof, insulated hiker boots. Dress in layers as temperatures are variable at this time of the year.
Level: All levels
Contact: twa.corbies.hollow@gmail.com
Natalia harvests a bucket of sap from The Elders–four great sugar maples in the west woods of the Hollow.
Course Description: It’s an eastern Canadian tradition that dates back to pre-colonial times, when the Mi’kmaq (Mee*mah) would gather spring maple sap and boil it in birch containers with hot stones. Join us at the Hollow and learn how to identify good maple and birch sugar bushes, how to run taps and harvest sap, and how to render it into syrup and candy. You’ll learn how to set up a sugar shack, how to identify when the sugar is the proper consistency so it doesn’t burn in the making or crystallize in storage, and some of the many things that can be done with syrup, including making maple wine and maple butter.
Dress warm and wear hikers. The class will start off at Twa Corbies Cottage and we will hike to the woods where sugar buckets will be set up. Along the way we will review the merits of various trees as sugar bushes and cover points on how to maintain and doctor such trees. We will demonstrate the process of tapping from start to finish and transport a load of sap back to the cottage, then walk you through the entire process of boiling over natural fire as well as with electric heat. Participants will all receive samples of maple sap, syrup, candy and maple butter. We will cover equipment required, how to contrive it yourself to save money, monitoring temperatures, boiling times, effects of weather on sugaring, and more.
Three grades of homemade maple syrup.
When you leave this comprehensive course, you will know everything you need to do your own sugaring.
twa corbies hollow 
I always like the syrup from the last of the sap. It’s the sweetest & I like the colour better! We tried making wine with the half boiled syrup once. We make many different kinds of wine but were unsuccessful with the Maple. Oh, well, try, try again, eh? 🙂 We just started tapping today–only about 50 trees. It was running as soon as the drill bit came out of the hole!! Good luck with your run!