The Annual Maple Boil Down has become a widely popular tradition here in the city, and the preceding collection of maple sap is currently underway.

As part of this project, a team of volunteers taps a swath of maple trees on the Tufts campus collecting dozens of gallons of sap over a number of weeks.

At the Maple Boil Down events, taking place on February 28 and March 1, coordinated by the Somerville Community Growing Center, the sap is boiled down into real, true 100% hyper-local maple syrup.

At this event, youth and adults alike have a chance to learn about tree anatomy and physiology and experience the process of making fresh maple syrup first-hand.

Participants watch first-hand as sap collected from sugar maple trees on the Tufts Campus is boiled into syrup, and connect with others in the community.

The first tapping and boil-down was in March, 2000. Volunteers tapped trees at the Growing Center and in the yard of Lisa Brukilacchio, the city’s Green Space Coordinator and that of her neighbor, and used a basic “furnace” made out of cinderblocks. The following year they connected with Tufts University to tap trees on campus, and students built from scratch a metal furnace that retained heat better than the cinderblock one.

Over the course of February, Growing Center volunteers will transport the sap to Aeronaut for safekeeping until the boil events on February 28 and March 1. If you wish to volunteer to help with the transport, go to https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B4AA9AC2DA5FDC07-54456294-saptransport#/