Looking for something to do this winter? Bundle up and come down to the Dawes Arboretum in Newark, Ohio on Saturday, January 27 to learn the entire process of making maple syrup, from tree tapping to cooking and storage procedures.

The Tap Your Trees Maple Syrup Workshop will be held in the Visitor’s Center of the Dawes Arboretum located at 7770 Jacksontown Road, Newark, Ohio from 9 am until noon. Attendees will learn how to tap trees to collect maple syrup, storage and cooking, as well as household items that can be used in maple syrup making.

The story of the Dawes Arboretum may sound familiar to those well-versed in Appalachian history. In 1917 Beman Dawes purchased 140 acres of land in Licking Township to explore his love of nature. His farm, which he named Woodland was home to rich soils and several acres of mature native Ohio trees. Beman Dawes envisioned that the land could be used to teach and inspire people to plant trees. The family began using the idyllic spot to retreat from their busy Columbus lives and practice horticulture.

Beman Dawes’ goal to encourage people to plant more native trees began in 1917 when the family planted 50 sugar maples. When the Dawes Arboretum was founded in 1929, the land had seen 50,000 more trees planted on it. Today the arboretum has grown from its original 293 acres to almost 2,000.

Dawes’ ideas weren’t so different from FDR’s idea to form the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 which brought young men into Ohio’s hills to plant many of the forests we still enjoy today. Dawes was also of like mind with Grandma Gatewood and others, who, in 1959 formed the Buckeye Trail Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the 1400 mile loop trail that encircles the state and runs right through southeastern Ohio coal country.

On January 27, celebrate the legacy of trees in southeastern Ohio and the spirit of conservation and ingenuity that has maintained a relationship between people and the trees of this land for decades. Visit the Dawes Arboretum and learn an interesting, useful new skill.

For more information about the event, call (740) 323-2355. Click here to get tickets.