T-R PHOTOS BY JAKE RYDER Visitors to Saturday’s “Trees to Table” enjoy a pancake breakfast at the Grimes Farm Nature Center in Marshalltown. The maple syrup topping the pancakes is sourced from trees at the Grammer Grove Wildlife Area in Liscomb.

Marshall County Conservation hosted its annual “Trees to Table” pancake breakfast event at Grimes Farm on Saturday.

Visitors enjoyed a pancake-and-sausage breakfast and learned more about the process that brought real maple syrup from the trees at Grammer Grove Wildlife Area in Liscomb to everyone’s plates on Saturday.

As Marshall County Conservation Director Emily Herring explained in a previous Times-Republican article for last year’s event, the trees are tapped when temperatures stabilize to above freezing during the day and below freezing at night, and before the buds of the trees open up.

A slideshow explaining the syrup-making process played during Saturday’s “Trees to Table” breakfast.

The syrup used is reserved from previous years of collecting from the Grammer Grove trees that haven’t been tapped since the 2020 derecho hit Marshalltown; naturalist Emma Bruck noted that Marshall County Conservation will try again next year to get the sap flowing again.

“People love our syrup,” Bruck added. “They were so sad when we had to stop selling but they’re always excited to come out for events like these to get another taste.”

The meal included three pancakes, two sausage links and a choice from a variety of beverages. Money raised from the event goes back to Grammer Grove for the park’s upkeep, as well as maintaining the sugar bush and further maple syrup programming.

The breakfast is the first of several events planned by Marshall County Conservation this month, which will include three days of activities during the week of spring break featuring family-friendly programs like birding, a wildlife hike and an animal meet & greet.

For more information on Marshall County Conservation’s upcoming events, call 641-752-5490 or visit www.marshallcountyia.gov/501/Conservation.

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Contact Jake Ryder at 641-753-6611 ext. 227 or jryder@timesrepublican.com.