Every spring we make maple syrup. The process lasts for about a month during the time when temperatures are below freezing at night, and above freezing during the day.

Bruce drills a small hole in several sugar maple trees in our backyard and hangs a bucket to catch the sap that comes out. As the buckets fill up, he transfers the sap into larger buckets and then finally into big pots over the fire.

From that point on all that is left is to boil the sap... and boil the sap... and boil it some more... Sap is about 98 percent water and about 2 percent sugar. For the sap to become syrup, the sugar content needs to be about 66 to 67 percent.

Bruce boils it most of the way outside at the firepit, but to make it easier to get it just right, Lisa finishes things off in the kitchen. The easiest way to tell that the syrup is done is to use a thermometer. The syrup is finished when it reaches a temperature that is 7 degrees above the boiling point of water (that's 219 degrees here in Minnesota). Then we put it into jars to share with our family and friends.