Pediatrics...

Kathryn has been asking me do a post, so here it goes. I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but it turns out that my first weeks of the clerkship year have been pretty laid back. Most of my pediatric subspecialty days would finish by 1 or 2, and since each one lasted only one day they weren't too demanding. Today was also great. It was supposed to be my first day of outpatient pediatrics, but my preceptor cancelled his clinic to tend to his maple syrup farm. (Is it really called a farm?) Not to deprive me of any opportunity to experience his field (pun intended) he invited me to come along for a day of sugaring. It was very fun, and one of those uniquely "Vermont" experiences that is probably as intrinsic to my complete education here as OB and surgery rotations.

So in case you're not sure how maple syrup is made, here's a rundown on our day today. On spring days with cold nights still (I'm sure it's more complex than that, but suffice it for now) the sap flows well from the maple trees through the taps. It drains into buckets, which we had to collect and empty into the tanks on his horse-drawn wagon. He had around 1000 taps, although apparently some of the bigger operations will have upwards of 75,000. I don't know for sure, but it looked like we gathered eight or nine hundred gallons.

Every time the tanks on the wagon got full we'd dump in to the reservoirs at the sugar shack. Inside is a big evaporator set up over a wood burning furnace. The sap boils its way through the setup until it eventually reaches the right temperature and consistency for syrup. Then it is drawn off and fine filtered before canning. It takes about 30ish gallons of sap to boil down into a gallon of syrup, so you can imagine how much steam had to evaporate off. Anyway, it was a fun day. There's a chance that he'll do it again next Tuesday, so I might get to bring Kathryn along. In the mean time, I'm sure enjoying my peds rotation.