By Jessica Sisavath

The Somerville Community Growing Center had great turn out for this year’s Maple Syrup Boil Down last Saturday, March 7.

The boiling began at 7:40 a.m. before the community event started at 10:00 a.m. Five trees were tapped for the month of February from Tufts University and they received 89 gallons from the tapping.

With more than 250 attending, the Somerville community showed their support by bringing their families and participating in the activities provided by the Somerville Maple Syrup Project. There were all ages activities included testing out your taste buds with seeing if you know  the difference between Aunt Jemima and Vermont Maple Syrup and learning about how tapping is done every winter and how sap is taken out with a spile, bucket, and drill.

Crafts and reading about maple syrup were also activities accompanied by helpful volunteers. The highlight of the event was seeing the steam come out of the boiler made from the Somerville High School back and taking a sip of the sap. The sap tasted like water with a sugar in it, which is the prominent ingredient that is needed to give the maple syrup its sweetness. Once the sap is boiled after a few more hours, the gallons of sap are reduced in volume.

The Maple Syrup Project once again brought an opportunity to be educated about the surrounding maple sugar trees. Paula Jordan, who is the Children, Nature, and Psych Initiative Coordinator at the Somerville Community Growing Center, shared that the educational boil also happened on Friday, March 6, inviting preschools that worked with the center’s Nature Play School Playground and 30 students from the Somerville culinary school.

There more than 100 attendees were invited to increase the center’s mission to promote nature equity and access, and participate in the same activities previously mentioned: learning about maple syrup, take a sip of the sap.

Jordan said, “Parents and teachers can come to the center and experience forms of play that are really good for kids emotionally, physically, and growing developing mentally.” The center is working on partnerships with the preschools and culinary school to see if they Somerville Community Growing Center can be beneficial to them in an educational way.

The attendance and participation this past weekend showed that the community is supporting the Growing Center’s events and mission.