Sugaring Season

It may look like deep winter here, but the woods are coming alive.
Nels and Lou tapped 20 trees this year.

The snow is deep enough that snowshoes are definitely needed.

Here's Lou helping to collect.

Here's our little rig. All we had to buy was a stovepipe.
The wood we are burning is all from our land.

We boiled outside for about 6 hours.
On Sunday we all hung out together.
What do you do all day long?
Jack knives help pass the time.

It is fun to make a bow and arrow set.
It worked!

Lots of food to cook on the fire also helps to pass the time
sausages, bread & cheese, s'mores.

Here's the best part of all!

It's amazing to think that these same trees will be providing us with deep green shade in just a few short months.

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After 18 hours.....

We had a bit of delay in our sugaring operation--we had tapped some red maples so had to re-tap. A friend of ours came over on Friday and helped us figure out the right trees. Now we have trees with yellow ribbons all over our woods :)



There's lots of waiting....here's my man in his element!


It was a cold day and we had a hard time getting a boil on the sap. After 13 hours we stopped and went to bed. In the morning I boiled for another 4 hours when SUDDENLY it was syrup.

I caught it before it turned to hard rock candy. WOW is it good. Look what 10 gallons of sap gave us. Syrup is $63/gallon right now, so I'm inspired to keep going.

It is incredibly delicious. Can't wait to make more. It makes all the mud, wind, and warm/cold temperatures seem worth it. So....a sugar house or a chicken coop? Which to build next?

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A day in my life

It was with excitement that I woke up yesterday--we were all home. No work. Hels all better. Blogged, cleaned out the fridge, prepared for our morning date at the dump and grocery store. I have this handy new list that is organized by the aisles of our store. I saw a friend using it one day at the store and she emailed it to me.

Lou came downstairs looking a bit grouchy...fever. Took care of the dump and grocery chores. Made raisin cookies and Udon soup broth. After lunch Hels, Nels, and I went out to tap trees.


Heading into the woods with our ski sled. Thankfully we didn't need snowshoes. The snow is over a foot deep in the woods but is well-settled.

A friend of ours had decided not to sugar this year, so we borrowed his gear.


The sap immediately began trickling out of the trees. Soon the woods around us was filled with the pinging sound of sap dropping into empty metal buckets.

After being in the woods, I went to the library.


Came home and made pizza dough. Used the peel which worked like a charm.

It was a busy, productive Saturday for blogging "day in my life"

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