Each February, a team of volunteers taps a swath of maple trees on the Tufts University campus, collecting gallons of sap over a number of weeks. At the Maple Boil Down at the Somerville Community Growing Center, we'll boil it down into real 100% hyper-local maple syrup. Youth and adults alike will have a chance to learn about tree anatomy and physiology and experience the process of making fresh maple syrup first-hand.

 

The Growing Center is in need of volunteers in these three areas:

1. To help collect sap in early March and transport it to Aeronaut from Tufts. (Car is essential.)

2. Daytime event volunteers for BOTH the Educational Boil (Friday, March 6) - when school and community groups to learn about maple syrup production - and the Public Boil (March 7). This involves everything from site prep to sap transport (from Aeronaut to Growing Center), and from greeting and manning the educational table to helping to manage the evaporator and cleaning up.

3. Baking - We'll be having a Bake Sale at the Maple Boil. Looking for volunteers to bake and donate their goodies for Saturday, March 7 (and folks to man the Bake Sale table at the Boil)!

 

NOTE: Rain Dates for this event are March 13 & 14. We will ask folks to tell us upon signup if they are available for the Rain Dates in case we need to pivot our timeline. So March 6 becomes March 13 and March 7 becomes March 14.

 

Sap transport volunteers (March 3-8 still needed): Transport sap buckets from Tufts Campus to Aeronaut (sign up for a day or multiple!). Takes 1-2 hours, depending on the day and the sap run. Transport volunteers for March 6-7-8 will be either moving sap from Aeronaut to the Growing Center or moving almost-syrup to final boiling spot. NOTE: Must have a car. We can train if needed.

 

Bakers (dropoff March 7): We're looking for bakers to donate goodies to our Bake Sale! Only items that come individually like muffins, cookies, brownies, bars. Asking folks to avoid peanuts + tree nuts! Eggs OK. Vegan and gluten-free welcomed. We'll ask for an ingredients list a few days in advance so we can display it. Baked goods dropoff Saturday morning (time TBD).

 

Site Prep (March 6 & 7): Come to the garden and help prepare the site for the boil. Various tasks could involve unloading and stacking firewood, snow/ice removal, evaporator set-up, general clean up and organizing of maple educatational materials.

 

Event Host/Greeter (March 6 & 7): Welcome folks into the space! This opportunity is available for those who have taken the volunteer orientation.

 

Educational Table (March 6): Support SHS students and early education groups visiting the center to learn about the boil through a few learning stations and sharing maple facts.

 

Educational Table (March 7): Table a fun maple-related activity for all ages and share basic Maple Boil information(we'll provide you with a Maple FAQ). Activities may include a demo of the tapping/collecting materials, supervising tool use and pretend fire making.

 

Bake Sale Tabling Team (March 7): Manage the "pay-what-you-want" Bake Sale table. Greet guests, answer questions, keep the display presentable.

 

Boiler Management (March 6 & 7): Watch the boiler, with safety in mind; add more sap as needed.

 

Sap Filtering (March 7): Help filter the almost-finished, almost-syrup sap.

 

Sap Transport/Finishing (March 7 & 8): Location TBD.

 

Site Clean-up (March 7 & 8): Do site clean-up as needed.

 

NOTE: Rain Dates for this event are March 13 & 14. We will ask folks to tell us upon signup if they are available for the Rain Dates in case we need to pivot our timeline. So March 6 becomes March 13 and March 7 becomes March 14.

 

Sign up HERE for a slot!

 

Sign up here to bake or work at the Bake Sale!