- You only need 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

- It is hot.

I don't know what the exact temperature is, but if I were to guess, I'd say like probably around 350 degrees.

- And I told him I wanted to make a giant goose.

(background music playing) - Funding for this program was provided by Safe Basements of Minnesota.

Your basement, waterproofing and foundation repair specialist since 1990.

Peace of mind is a safe basement.

Live Wide Open.

The more people know about West Central Minnesota, the more reasons they have to live here.

More at livewideopen.com.

Western Minnesota Prairie Waters.

Where peace, relaxation, and opportunities await.

And the Members of Pioneer PBS.

(background music playing) - Maple syruping is something that all of us here that work at Osprey Wilds really look forward to.

It's one of those things that's a transition between winter and spring.

The romanticism of the buckets and hearing that plink plink in the, in the bottom is, is a really cool sound, as you're walking through the forest and hearing that.

(background music playing) - We're a residential environmental learning center.

Most of the people that come here to learn whether they're fifth graders or 50 years old are staying for multiple days.

They're really getting immersed here.

Our first executive director, Mike Link, in the nineties, traded some beehives for a decade's old maple syrup evaporator.

And that was put into the old machine shed here.

And that's how our syruping operation got started.

Ty Johnson, who's our plan and buildings manager.

But he, he started taking over those duties in the early nineties and it's just kind of grown.

And now we tap six to 700 trees and school groups help us out.

Volunteers help us out.

- And the best tree to get maple sap from is a sugar maple.

The sugar content in the sap of a sugar maple is really high.

You only need 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of maple syrup.

There are three good ways that you can identify your tree.

The first one is opposite branching.

The tree creates a branch there on either side of your main branch.

It's going to sprout out on both sides.

The second thing is that the buds look like little upside down ice cream cones.

And finally, the bark is the other way to identify a sugar maple.

You kind of want to look for this kind of flaky bark.

It kind of almost looks like it's peeling to one side.

- We can tell that the, the tree is about ready.

We know what the weather is like right now.

It's a freezing at night and it is above freezing during the day.

So that means that the syrup is going to- the sap will flow.

Right here, we got some nice, like thinner bark and it's far away.

The nearest tap is like right here.

So we know that this is a safe spot and a healthy spot for the tree to get tapped.

The spot, we want the, the bucket to be low enough that it's comfortable to pickup and carry and all that stuff.

But we also don't want it on the ground so that critters can get at it.

So we're going to go in right about here and we're going to go in at a slight angle, just for the sake of flow.

And we're going to go in maybe two and a half inches.

(drill buzzing) As we can see, this tree's like really warmed up.

And a lot of things are flown right now.

So it's already- saps already coming out.

Put the tap in just a little bit.

Make sure it's nice and straight.

Already have sap coming out of the tap like crazy.

Gonna take my- little handy-dandy hatchet here.

And I'm just gonna tap it in.

(hammering) But I don't want to go too far in, because that'll cause a crack and we don't want to do any undue stress to the tree.

- There's lots of different ways that you can collect the sap once you've tapped your maple tree.

Here are two different examples: We have a galvanized buckets that's still in really good condition.

Then we have the lid on it.

This tap is running directly into it.

It's hanging on it.

And we also have a bag here.

And this bag is really cool 'cause it's actually recyclable.

I'll spin it around.

So we have kind of slips in and out of here on a channel.

And then the spile which looks a little different than our plastic spile.

Here.

Just fits right inside.

And we don't need a lid for this because it already comes with its own outlet just to function.

As we need to replace buckets, we do go with the bags.

They're just a lot smaller to store.

And we do put these a little bit of duct tape on the corners, just in case the squirrels get any wise ideas.

The duct tape doesn't taste very good.

- [Bryan] How much sap do you get out of a tree?

Depends on how many taps you have in the tree.

So the rule of thumb is every 10 inch diameter, you can put a tap in.

So some of our trees are big enough that we got three taps and, and on a good day, you'll have a drip that's about a drip a second.

And you can fill up a three gallon bucket or bag in one day and on one tap.

- [Ashley] We have a tractor with a big reservoir on it.

And when we want to collect the sap, we just take it off the tree.

We might lose a few drops, but that's okay.

Go over to the tractor.

You just dump it into the big reservoir.

(liquid filling in) (background music playing) - [Bryan] Can we take it over to the shack and cook that down with wood?

So we're pretty old-fashioned and doing it that way for as much as we actually collect.

Most places are operators that are tapping hundreds of trees have switched over to propane or natural gas, but we like the ambience with the crackling fire in the wood.

- When that tank gets full, they bring it over here and we pump it up into this tank, which will hold five of those tanks that are on the tractor.

So that way the volunteers can keep dumping sap and keep the- my sap flow here in the sugar shack so we can keep cooking.

So this will hold 500 gallons.

What I'm looking for is seven degrees above the boiling point of water, which is 2.19.

And I have a thermometer.

Maple syrup's thermometers.

So zero is boiling, and then when it hits seven, that's my- should be syrup.

And then, when that gets to be syrup, I'll fill this with hot syrup.

And with this hydrometer, this bottom red line should float right at the top of my syrup.

And when that's at the top, then I say, "Okay, we got syrup."

Then what I do is I, we have this stainless- stainless steel bucket.

I just put that down there and I run the syrup.

Then I take the- my syrup over here and we filter it through this.

(metal banging and clanking) This is a paper filter.

It's kind of like a coffee filter.

That's the first one that gets rid of all the impurities.

And then the next one is an Orlon filter.

This gets rid of any fine, fine particles that might still be left in there.

(background music playing) - [Bryan] On a typical year, we'll make anywhere from 80 to 120 gallons of syrup.

But it really depends on the weather.

We use the maple syrup for a lot of things.

So because we're residential, we have a dining hall and a kitchen staff.

We make a really good maple balsamic salad dressing that goes out on our line every day.

Maple syrup is called one of those super foods.

And you're essentially getting the minerals and the vitamins that are coming out of this- the soil and the ground that's concentrated into the syrup.

If you take that- the act of maple syruping and you expand on what does it connect to.

It connects to forest ecology.

You can't do maple syruping non-sustainably because the trees have to be there.

So if you cut them down, you can't make syrup.

(background music playing) - We've been fishing the basement of the two-story.

Now we're gonna go upstairs and fish the warmer water part of the lake.

- The moose was a challenge to get his body right.

(upbeat music playing) - [Host] Minnesota, home to big lakes, small lakes, winding rivers and shallow creeks.

The state offers a wide variety of fishing options for the different species that swim through those waters.

Certain species such as large mouth bass, fair better in the warmer lakes .

While lake trout prefer the opposite.

In a few rare cases, you can find them both in the same body of water.

These are called two-story lakes.

One of them is Grindstone Lake in Pine County.

I set out with my brother Wade to find out exactly what a two-story lake is and to see if we get catch fish from both stories.

(upbeat music playing) - So, this is a lake that Wade and I wanted to fish for a long time.

We've talked about it for a long time.

It's only an hour and a half north of the twin cities.

And it's a trout lake, which you don't have a lot of options for trout lakes this far south in the state.

Normally, got to go up to, say, lake superior up around that Ely area or some of the other stock stream trout opportunities across the state.

But this one is 153 feet deep.

There's lake trout in here.

There's brown trout, rainbow trout, but what really makes it unique body of water is, is it's not only a deep cold, clear lake that supports those trout species but it also is a what's called a two-story lake.

So it support some of those warmer shallower water fish species as well, like panfish, crappies, bluegills, as well as bass.

So we're going to try to catch some deeper cold water fish.

Hopefully a lake trout.

And then also try to fish the shallow waters so we can experience both stories of Grindstone Lake.

- Christ don't like to pretty unique lake you know, we're, you know- in East Central Minnesota.

I guess the closest town would be Sandstone which is about four miles east to here, Sandstone, Minnesota.

And a lot of people come here and sometimes they're intimidated by the lake but it's actually a really, really unique fishery.

And it does get a fair amount of pressure during the- all year to be honest with you.

- It is hot.

I don't know what the exact temperature is but if I were to guess, I'd say like probably around 350 degrees.

It's warm one out here.

It's glass calm.

It's beautiful.

This is a pretty neat Lake.

It's about two miles running north to south, a couple of deep spots and get down to about 150 feet, 160 feet in there somewhere.

And you just don't see lakes that deep this far south.

- A lot of these lakes, you find up the north shore the Gunflint Trail, or, you know, further north than that.

So it is unique and it is something that, I think a lot of people overlook when, when they come to this areas.

They just look at it as all another warm water lake, right?

You wouldn't expect to catch trout in the lake this far south in the state, just because of the weather, but, but it's so deep, you know, that we're able to maintain those temperatures for trouts.

- And to have lake trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, all in this real deep clear cold body of water is a, is a pretty neat experience here in Minnesota.

- I just wish it wasn't as hot as the surface of the sun, right now.

- (in high voice) I'm melting.

- [Host] So how does a two-story fishery work?

- So two-story fishery is different than your traditional lakes in Minnesota.

There, there's a handful of them around the state but you know, Grindstone Lake gets to be about 150 foot deep.

With all that water, you'll have a thermal climate in the middle where the sun can only penetrate so far down.

And it kind of presents that warm water fishery above the thermal climate, which is about 30, 40 feet down.

And then underneath that, you know, where the sun doesn't penetrate as much, you have cooler water.

It's really unique because you can have your warm water fishery, you know, bass, pike, panfish, that kind of thing on the top, but you can also hold the- a trout fishery or cold water fishery underneath the thermal climate.

It's kind of a challenge managing the lake sometimes just because there are so many different species in there.

- [Host] Grindstone Lake is stocked with lake trout, rainbow trout and brown trout.

- [Nate] Back in the day, historically, they- they tried to stock them to see if they could get them to naturally reproduce and they never really took off.

The lake is filled with like hard-shelf rock and not a lot of gravel rubble substrate for spawning.

So, you know, the idea is, you know put a bunch of trout on there and they'd be able to reproduce and they'd be good to go but they just never been able to really do it.

They- there may be a little bit of natural reproduction going on but not enough to sustain a fishery, so.

So we stock them, annually.

We stock rainbows and browns every year and lake trout every other year.

(upbeat music playing) - [Host] It seemed as though the heat was affecting the fish as much as the fishermen.

It was time to try something different.

- So we've been fishing the basement of the two-story, now we're gonna go upstairs and fish the warmer water part of the lake.

But first we got to cool off just a little bit.

(upbeat music playing) - [Bret] So we just came off in the landing here and the dry- it drops off from about two feet to about 30 feet right away.

We're just going to take that drop-off now.

And we're going to pull either some little maps or maybe some small crank baits and we're gonna try to stay in that 30 to 50 foot range and just kind of troll around the lakes.

See if we can find them.

Try to stay running underneath that thermal climb a little bit in the cooler water.

- [Host] While the lake is managed for trout, it's not listed as a designated trout lake.

And it's also becoming more popular for other fish species.

- You know, we're managing the trout lake in the warm water fish, you know, they're kind of on their own, but that's actually really taken off the last five or six years.

There's a pretty good population of small molls in here.

I think in our last survey, we surveyed 50 or 60 per hour at electro fishing and they're decent size.

And there's four or five artificial cribs scattered around the lake that attract people as far as bass and crappies and that stuff.

And I know there's guys out here that troll exclusively for trophy pipe.

And it's not uncommon to maybe see a 40- 40 inch out here every once in a while too, so.

- [Host] While Grindstone Lake's two-story characteristics make it possible to have a wide variety of species in it, the state fish is suspiciously absent.

- Back in the day, historically, just never had them in there.

And I think we'd all agree we have quite a few walleye lakes around on the area, wondering if one more species might throw the balance off a little bit.

In, in our files, we don't show any walleyes that rent here, but some of the landowners people around here will tell me that they used to be walleyes in here, but we haven't sampled one in our surveys.

And well, I don't think ever.

Yeah, so don't, don't come here to expect to catch walleyes.

You'll be disappointed.

- [Host] Since there haven't been walleyes here, the decision to make this a trout lake happened right away.

- [Nate] You know, probably back in the 1940, it's kind of funny that, you know, you go out here and you've got 150 foot of cold water, you know, and there's, and there's no trout in here.

So it made perfect sense to try to stock trout in here, right?

You know, this one speaks for itself.

I mean, in the winter time, the ice fishing, the first couple of weeks after the trout opener it- it's not uncommon to see three, 400 portable shelters out there for the trouts.

- [Host] There are a handful of two-story lakes in the state of Minnesota, including Grindstone.

Having the opportunity to target that many different species in one body of water is another uniquely Minnesotan adventure.

(gentle music playing) - [Host] 30 years ago, Susan Foss saw a field and had a dream.

She and her husband, Rodney, were retired from dairy farming.

And Sue told him, she needed five acres.

- Well, he wanted to know what I wanted to do with the field.

And I told him I wanted to make a giant goose.

- [Host] Sue designed an 830 foot long goose that would become a garden to teach people about the Ojibwe culture.

(background music playing) - Artistically, a goose is a simple figure.

And to do something this large you have to have a simple design.

Also, we adopted an Ojibwe daughter when she was just a baby and her name was Anna Goose.

And so it all fits together.

I started my planning in 1989.

And I started planting in about 1991.

I planned the garden according to the mature height of the trees and shrubs that I planted in here.

This is about three-fourths of the way it's grown now.

In its maturity, it actually will become a 3D goose.

I've got birch trees here.

That's the white part of the goose.

And on the flanks, I have more birch on both sides for the flanks of the goose, where it's white.

- [Host] Wild roses formed the spine of the goose.

And beside it, there's a nest with three mounds for eggs and a baby gosling planted with hue and hazelnuts.

- I thought that would be the kind of brushy look that a baby goose is.

(rattling) (flute music playing) - [Host] Many of the 300 plant and shrub species in Goose Garden have medicinal properties used by Ojibwe tribes to treat ailments.

Prickly ash for toothaches.

Ironwood T for arthritis and rheumatism.

And bittersweet to treat just about anything.

- They used the boiled route for ointment and the berries for stomach trouble, diarrhetic, cancer.

Sores that wouldn't heal.

The inner bark for thick soup.

Stock for skin eruptions, acne.

All the troubles that we've got now, they had them then and they had treatment for.

Wild peas in here.

And they would use the wild pea plants to feed the ponies because I would make them more lively.

So this is the medicine wheel.

The tobacco and sweet grass and cedar and sage were all used and very sacred.

To focuses on three main tenants, balance, harmony and respect.

Listening to one's inner spirit and learning from life experiences.

And boy, we could all use some of that now, couldn't we?

(background music playing) - [Host] After Sue identified all the plants she wanted in Goose Garden, a vision came to her.

- [Sue] I was sound asleep in my bed and all of a sudden I thought I need animals.

And I need the totems that the Ojibwe used, because this is all based on Ojibwe culture and history.

- [Host] To make each totem, Rod welded together a metal stick figure.

Susan rafted it in wire and covered it with cement.

After it dried, she stained and sealed the sculpture.

- The first one I did was the rattlesnake.

I just was trying out to see, "Can I do this?"

And it worked out.

He was the totem for the new music makers and that's why I have the drum here.

- [Host] Animal totems represented Ojibwe clans responsibilities.

Fish clans were teachers.

Caribou deer and moose clans were the caregivers and comforters.

- [Sue] The moose was a challenge to get his body right.

And I even had our neighbor come over and take a look at him 'cause he's shot a few moose in his day.

I really liked the moose.

I talk to him when I go by.

And sometimes I kiss him on the nose.

The lynx clan where the warriors, the protectors, war strategists.

They broke new ground as the tribe traveled west to the great lakes.

The wolf clan would take care of the people who were injured in battle.

And they would also be warriors.

The Red-tail Hawk.

That was another totem spiritual leaders.

So they were like the priests and ministers of the clan.

They help people with their emotional and problems of life.

It was all there.

Everything that we look at in psychology today.

They had it all figured out already.

And the loon clan, whereas some of the leaders and decision-makers.

They had a really interesting government, whereas they didn't really have a chief.

They had leaders whom the people respected.

The highest quality of a leader was how he was generous to his people.

If they decided that, "Oh, I think we'll go to war.

We have to do this."

If you didn't want to go, you didn't go.

They didn't make you go.

It was your decision.

The bear clan is one that is still in progress today.

And the bear clan was so big and it was so big.

You could be a bear ear.

You could be a bear paw.

You could be a bear nose.

And a lot of bear clan people today will not eat bear meat- meat, because that's a relatives.

- [Host] Some of the more than 60 sculptures in Sue's garden commemorate people such as Francis Densmore who devoted her life to studying and recording native American music.

A boy with a feather represents 30,000 children taken from their families and forced into boarding schools.

The most personal structure is a spirit house, that Rod built over the buried ashes of their daughter, Laura also named Anna Goose.

(gentle music playing) - When Sue opened goose garden in 2013, she had no advertising money, but our children helped with print and online marketing and the word spread.

- [Sue] Most people just really enjoy it.

They come back again.

They bring other people.

The most touching one I had this year and it was written by a native person who said the great spirit spoke to me.

That really touched me.

It's, it's all on donation because I can't afford to have somebody at the gate to take admission.

And it is a five-o-one C3 non-profit - [Host] Susan Foss hopes that someday someone with her passion for the Ojibwe culture will take over the Minnesota Goose Garden.

- Every tree that they- or shrub that they took to use.

Every animal that they had to kill for their use was always offered tobacco as an offering.

And it's a beautiful way to live.

So this is my, this is my offering to them.

(background music playing) - Funding for this program was provided by Safe Basements of Minnesota, your basement waterproofing and foundation repair specialist since 1990.

Peace of mind is a safe basement.

Live Wide Open.

The more people know about West Central Minnesota, the more reasons they have to live here.

More at livewideopen.com.

Western Minnesota Prairie Waters.

Where peace, relaxation and opportunities await.

And the Members of Pioneer PBS.