Making Maple Syrup {Part II}

Tapping the Maple Trees {Part I}
A Look at Maple Tree Sap
Making Maple Syrup Intermission

The maple syrup adventure continues, you may remember we had already tapped trees, collected sap, and were ready to boil.
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The Mister is extraordinary at building things... and made us an on the cheap sap cooker that we use to heat a gigantic pot.  We built a wood fire, poured about 4-5 gallons of sap is in the pot, and then watched. 

 We talked and laughed and watched the pup silly antics.  This is Sammy.

The dogs chewed sticks to pass the time. 

I took pictures.  (Sammy again)

(Katie here)

See that steam coming out of the pot?  It's working.  Takes a lot for all that water content to burn off to leave the sweet sap.

The evening progressed and we saw the sun setting over the ridge.  I still adore the look of our woodpile all neat and orderly.

Felt really good to kick up my feet and soak the whole thing in!

At one point it got dark enough that we noticed a blow torch effect of the fire coming out of our stove pipe.  Hot dog roasting anyone?

The dusk turned to dark and it was a whole new experience to sit and chat with tree stumps as seats as the sap boiled and cooked... and cooked and boiled. 

So simple and joyful sitting around a fire.  The warmth to keep away the night's chill, the glow and laughing flames.  peaceful.  centering.  balancing. 

We fed the fire, checked the boiling sap.  Stopping every now and then to stir and have a taste. 

And a natural conversation about who knows what flowed between the Mister and I.  It reminds me of one of the moments that I first knew the Mister and I were a 'thing' because we can ramble on for hours and never get bored of each other's company. 

Finally late into the night, we checked the sap and noticed it had finally gotten low in the pot and changed colors from clear to a golden brown.  That was the signal to clean up for the night.  Douse the fire, transfer the sap to an inside pot, and call it a night.

---to be continued --- we did finish a batch of maple syrup this past weekend and even enjoyed it on french toast!  Our last installment will show the finishing and the actual syrup we made!

A Tree Tapping Good Time

I'd like to remind you that we live more or less in the forest. Living in the forest means there are a lot of trees. Now, some of those trees are maple trees.  And maple trees are where maple syrup comes from...

...see where I'm going with this? 

A note before we continue... I have never done this before.  I am under the direct supervision of the Mister who did this growing up.  This whole process is totally amazing to me.  And I am seriously worse than a little kid running around checking all my buckets and their progress.  Crazy!

If you would rather read about professionals doing it and a more serious how to... this is a pretty good read.

Ok, so it all started with getting our buckets, spouts, hooks, and lids ready.

The Mister was so smart to mark a bunch of maples with a small dot of spray paint last fall, so that this time of year when their are no leaves we can still tell the maples from the oaks. 

Each of the trees got a small hole drilled into them.

Then you insert the spout and tap it in gently.  And at this step some of the trees quickly started leaking sap.  So dang exciting!

The buckets have a small hole that is used to rest them on the hook under the spout.  Then you cover the bucket with a lid and wait. 

And yes, of course, the dogs were snooping around trying to figure out if we were doing anything that resulted in food for them.  (Isn't Sammy getting big?)

We put up a total of 14 buckets and I just adore the look of them around the property!!  It all feels so farm-like! 

And no, I have no idea how much syrup we will be making.  I think you need something like 40 gallons of sap to boil down yielding about 1 gallon of syrup.  I told the Mister that I would be clam happy with enough for one breakfast.  Ha!

It's pretty cool to have a purpose outside this time of year as one can constantly fiddle with and check the sap levels in the bucket.  I also found out quickly that I adore the calming effect of listening to the steady drip drop sounds of the sap methodically filling the bucket. 



Nature is amazing!  I feel so in tune with my primitive self and maple sugaring is nurturing my need of getting my hands in the dirt to be more self sufficient.  We'll see if I still feel that way after we boil down the first batch of sap. 

...to be continued!

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And thank you for all the well wishes after my wisdom teeth removal.  All four are out.  I have made it to day three of recovery and I'm feeling pretty good.  The next step is getting back to normal food.... and I think I'm well on my way!