Sap Time
©1987 Steve Schuch / Night Heron Music (ASCAP)

Have you ever tasted real maple syrup? It’s mighty different than the imitation factory stuff. This song was written for the maple sugaring program at the Audubon Society of New Hampshire.

Song tracks: Trees of Life | Turn the World Around | The Forest is a Wonderful Place | If I Had Wings | Sap Time | Barges | Silent Huntress | Ibis the Whale | Two Different Worlds | The Animal Song | The Garden Round | Where Will We Go | The Little Prince | Zeno-ba-ba-da | Giving Tree | Activity Guide Home

Sap time, sap time coming around
Up from the roots way down in the ground
Up through the trunks to the tips of the trees
Sure tastes good to me, Oh Yeah!
Sure tastes good to me

It’s just before spring when the nights are still cold
The warmth of the sun says the winter is old
That’s when the sap starts flowing so strong
You know it won’t be long... til... Chorus

So you set out your buckets and you set out your taps
And get yourself ready now to boil some sap
You’ve waited all winter so don’t–rush–it–now
Burned sap’s no good anyhow... so... Chorus

Now you can pour it on waffles or over pancakes
Mixed in a milk shake is no mistake
Tasty with cinnamon in coffee or tea
There’re so many possib-b-b-bilities... for... Chorus

Maple Syrup Facts
Have you ever tasted real maple syrup? It’s mighty different than the imitation factory stuff. In New England, early settlers learned maple sugaring from the Native American Indians. The basic techniques are still the same. The first (and sweetest) sap starts flowing in February. That sap is actually food the maple tree made last summer in its leaves, then stored away all winter in its roots. A good maple sugarer can tell from a tree’s size and health how much sap to take and how much to leave for the tree. It takes nearly 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of finished syrup!

Suggested Song Uses

• Cycles and Seasons
  
  
• Early American history
  
  
• Science (plants and photosynthesis)
  
  
• Maple sugaring field trip
  
  
• Notions of patience and taking just “enough” of something.
  

See additional notes for “Trees of Life” and “Giving Tree.”