If you travel up and down the street in Homestead, you’ll likely see several trees that are under the “watch and care” of our local cooper, who at this time of year is closely watching the trees and collecting sap – another of his talents!  Below are some pictures of some of his work.  This year, Tom added one of the trees in our backyard as a new source for maple sap.  Once the collection bucket is filled, he takes it to his shop and cooks down the sap for many hours.  When this is complete, he puts the syrup into bottles to be enjoyed at a later time.