Maple Syrup... in Chicago?

More than just good lookin', those maple trees are really working hard for us. They are excellent stay-at-home employees - no complaints, just a kind of stoic can-do attitude. Come spring we'll watch their foolhardy buds pop and know that the world is changing... again. In the summer those buds reach their leafy potential and we lounge in their shade listening to our bird buddies. In the fall, they fall. More than fall, they go out in a crazy blaze. Year round the trees are pumping out our oxygen , but I guess that's not enough for us. Since we're only human, we are also tapping into their strength in other ways, literally.

Forty gallons of sap to one gallon of maple syrup. That's concentration. Here at the North Park Village Nature Center they do it every year. In this photo you see a visual reminder of how much the maples give.