Applied Arts and Technology teacher Jonathan Cahill bottles up his passion for the outdoors in jars of homemade maple syrup.
Cahill has been making his own maple syrup for the past five years: tapping, collecting, boiling and filtering every season. It all started when his friend gifted him a syrup making kit and taught him the basics. Since then, he has continued to craft his own syrup.
“I was looking for something to do over the winter, and when my friend gifted this hobby to me, it was kind of perfect,” Cahill said. “I don’t ski or snowboard or do some of those more common winter hobbies, so this kind of was perfect for me.”
Cahill dedicates his weekends between February and April to the craft. The collection process begins when temperatures drop below freezing at night and rise above it during the day, allowing sap to flow through the trees. After collecting the sap, it can be boiled down to maple syrup, but in early April, as the winter thaws, the syrup season ends. This process is known as sugaring.
“It is starting to become a tradition that for these two months, every winter, I can enjoy this hobby and then, by the time it comes around next year, you kind of have new energy to get back into it,” Cahill said.
Cahill taps the syrup from the Sugar Maple trees in his own yard, producing around eight to 10 gallons of homemade maple syrup every year. Though he enjoys the process, it does not always go as smoothly as he would hope. The unpredictability of nature has made some years harder than others, and this past season was the most difficult yet because of the cold temperatures.
“Things will go wrong every now and then,” Cahill said. “It is hard to do it perfectly, and it’s like any hobby, it takes practice. You have to learn from your mistakes.”
For Cahill, though, the hobby means more than what ends up in the jar. He has been able to further connect and develop a relationship with nature during the cold winter months.
“It’s something I’ve really enjoyed,” Cahill said. “ It makes really good gifts to give to friends and family.”
Curiosity about food sources is something that Culinary teacher Zbysia Giegucz knows well. Having visited many maple farms in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, she has developed a deep respect for the effort that both hobbyist and commercial producers put into the craft.
“Until you visit a maple farm, you really don’t realize what goes into [sugaring],” Giegucz said.
Geigucz, who has admired the craft from the view of a visitor, says Cahill’s dedication has left a lasting impression. After speaking with him, she has begun to consider tapping the maple trees in her own yard.
“I’m really impressed by what he does,” Giegucz said. “He sort of makes me want to do it.”
Cahill emphasizes the importance of being open to trying new hobbies, as he himself never expected a whole new passion could be waiting for him in his own yard.
“Until my friend introduced me to [sugaring], and pointed out the trees, I would have never known that this is something I could have been doing my whole life,” Cahill said.
