It's that time of year when Mother Nature can't quite decide if it's spring or winter, when days may seem warm and sunny but nighttime temperatures fall below freezing making you long for the mild weather of June.

Yes, it's the time of year for The Annual Maple Harvest Festival which will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this weekend at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center.

Few know that this transition period from winter to spring is precisely the time when maple syrup is made, practically in Penn State's backyard, where about 25 Penn State students will be both volunteering and teaching at an event completely devoted to the making of nature's finest treat, pure maple syrup. Various stations will be set up to give insight into the process of making the sap of a maple tree into the syrup that ends up on the table.

"It will be a lot of fun, a lot of different stations, a lot of people coming out," said Shaver's Creek intern Stevie Smoot. "There are lots of different things for different interests."

Smoot said those attending will learn hands-on how the history of syrup making impacted the area years ago, how to identify trees, how to tap trees for the sap using both modern and traditional methods, and how to boil the sap down into syrup in a 1800's-era sugar shack.

Collection of sap begins when daytime temperatures rise at least 5 degrees above freezing and the sap of the maple trees rises from to root of the tree to provide food for the buds of the tree. At night when the temperature falls below freezing, the sap returns back to the roots.

To collect the syrup today, one drills a hole at a slight upward angle, and places a spile -- an insert that the sap runs through -- into the hole. The sap flows through the spile, into plastic tubing, and into a jug. This process continues for only a few weeks from mid-February through March.

On average, a single tap can yield about a half-gallon of sap per day. However, 40 gallons of sap boil down to produce just one gallon of syrup.

Not only will the festival place emphasis on the process of making maple syrup, but also the impact the process has a had on past cultures.

Visitors will learn the Native American method for making maple syrup and presentations in first person interpretation will be given to demonstrate the role of maple syrup in the 1800s. Tales of legend and folklore, traditional costumes, as well as bluegrass and folk music will further transport visitors back in time.

To top off the festival, there will be a pancake buffet featuring pure maple syrup and sausage locally produced by Penn State's Sustainable Agriculture Club.

"World famous pancakes, all you can eat," said Shaver's Creek Program Director George Vahoviak. "It's a chance to be in a really pretty setting outdoors, stepping back in history."