Nicole Petranchuk
The Sugar Shack
Waden nwa' awenha
by the 5th Grade class
March 30, 2011
Onondaga Nation- The ONS 5th grade class wanted to know more about making sap at the Onondaga Nation School. The class interviewed Tom Murray and Dale Edwards.
Waden nwa' awenha
by the 5th Grade class
March 30, 2011
Onondaga Nation- The ONS 5th grade class wanted to know more about making sap at the Onondaga Nation School. The class interviewed Tom Murray and Dale Edwards.
The class discovered that it took Tom only one season to learn how to make the syrup but he has been doing this for 10 years. Tom's day starts early. He wakes up and is at the sugar shack at dawn and leaves at dark. This year he started working at the shack on February 28th and has been there for the past 4 weeks.
5th grader Gavin says about Tom’s effort, “It is like a hard job. It is a lot of responsibility to sugar the sap.”
Everyday, Dale Edwards brings the sap to the sugar shack. He has to check 160 buckets and bring them back to the school. There are not 160 trees tapped because some trees have more than one tap. They need a lot of sap because they need four gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Dale told the class about the hard heavy work of carrying th
e buckets and storing them in the large containers.
e buckets and storing them in the large containers.Harrison added, “That is a lot of work to get all that sap and dump it in the buckets.”
Classmate Mistie said, “It must be very hard lifting up all the buckets of sap. They must be very strong.”
Working at the shack can be dangerous too. The sap boils and the bubbles are hot and could burn you. Also the wood box is very very hot. Tom has to keep the wood box full of wood to keep the sap boiling.
5th grader Lars observed, “It has to be very difficult to be in the hot steam all day.”
Maccoy summed up working in the shack all day, “I think it would be real hard being around the syrup all day and not eating it all.”
Even though there is a lot of hard work in building the shack, cutting the wood, and gathering the sap, Tom says the best part of sugaring is giving it away to the people and seeing them enjoy the fresh syrup.
Ivy spoke of their hard work, “They are kind for doing all that work and sharing it with the people.”
It is a lot of hard work, but well worth it.
It is a lot of hard work, but well worth it.
