(Radio Iowa) – Maple syrup season gets underway this weekend at the Indian Creek Nature Center near Cedar Rapids. Center spokesman Eric Hart says they began preparations last month. “We put in over 100 spires on February 15th, and then once the weather warmed up this past week, the sap has started flowing,” Hart says. Volunteers and staff collect the tree sap and to start the process of boiling down into maple syrup. Hart says the weather conditions play a big part in how much sap they can collect. “This time of year is usually really good for it, but it kind of does depend on what kind of weather we get,” he says. “Usually, temperatures during the day that are above freezing, around 40 degrees, and then temperatures at night below freezing, make it ideal for that sap to start flowing.”

Hart says you can come out starting this weekend to learn about the process. “They just have to register for one of our ‘It’s Maple Syruping Programs.’ These are open to the public, they’re five dollars per person, and we host multiple ones throughout the month of March that happened before the maple syrup festival.” This 42nd Maple Syrup Festival wraps up the syrup season on March 29th and 30th. Hart says 2023 was one of their better years for collecting sap and making syrup. “We collected one-thousand-927 gallons of sap, and then we that got boiled down into 46 gallons of maple syrup,” he says. Hart says you can see the process at their events and festival, and also get a taste of the syrup.

Collecting maple syrup. (Indian Creek Nature Center photo)

“It really reveals how nature can provide so many things for us, and opens people’s eyes to how processes in nature can be used to create all kinds of things, including something as sweet as maple syrup,” Hart says. “And that’s one thing we try to bring into all of our events and programs, is that element of nature, and getting people outside to kind of they can get hands on.”

Find out more about the maple syrup events at: indiancreeknaturecenter.org.