Record-breaking warm weather during the last few days has brought an early spring to West Michigan.
David Kieft, executive director of the Howard Christensen Nature Center explains: "What you want is cold nights and warmer days.
"What that does is that causes the sap in the tree to fall down to the roots and then when it warms up during the day, it starts to travel back up the tree, referred to as flow."
Only a few simple tools are needed to harvest the sap; something to drill a hole into the tree (about 4 feet off the ground), a spicket to catch the sap as it flows through the tree and a bucket or bag with which to catch the sap as it drips out.
Getting the sap is easy -- the hard part is having the patience to slowly evaporate the water from the sap so that only the sticky, viscous liquid remains.
Kieft estimates it takes nearly 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.