The buckets hanging on trees have changed from gray metal to blue plastic, but Natick Community Organic Farm‘s tapping maple trees in Wellesley and nearby as usual is designed to collect sap it will boil to make syrup for sale to the public.

The farm’s methods have changed in the wake of discovering traces of lead in its syrup. The culprit: galvanized metal buckets, older taps, and the canner used to collect sap and bottle syrup. So enter the blue plastic buckets, among other new gear.

As part of its educational mission, the farm invited Keefe Regional Technical School students to take part and learn about this traditional process, as reported by Metrowest Daily News.