Adventures On a Rural Homestead

Boom Down

When Alex was two, in 2011, the sugar house "boomed down" as he said, from the weight of heavy ice. This year it was felled by an Ash tree, which was killed by the Emerald Ash Borer. The whole structure is pretty flat, the fire box and evaporator pan are ruined. 

We gathered Sunday to celebrate my mom's birthday. We walked down to check out the destruction, then had a lovely seafood dinner together. I put 4 candles in her cake, and sweet Alex thought she was turning 40. And I wish I had pictures to share of her pretty cake and smile, but my camera wasn't cooperating. 

We're glad that we were done sugaring for the year, and that no one was down there and hurt. And my dream is that our Virginia home will have maple trees so that we can continue to sugar there! 

Sugaring

We had a shorter than normal maple sugaring season this year, because it got up to almost 80 degrees this week! So after gathering sugar water and boiling last weekend we pulled the spiles. 

When Mom and I started the fire under the evaporator pan last Friday it was so warm I worked in a tank top. Then by the end of the weekend it was snowing as we took off the syrup! 

The boys love the camaraderie of working with family and friends all weekend, and the special snacks we enjoy by the fire. This year we had "Grampa pretzels" (Hammonds big pretzels), sunflower seeds, apples and oranges, pumpkin bars and of course chips. We enjoyed cooking blueberry pancakes and hotdogs over a campfire. (One of the things we are looking forward to in our move to Virginia is being able to cook outside more often. Our township regulations prohibit any outside fires here, even those contained in a chiminea! There is a hefty fine of I think $300 if someone sees smoke and the fire department is called.) 

Even though the season was short, we're thankful for the time outside with family and friends, and for the 4 quarts of liquid gold that each family will enjoy this year! 

Maple Sugaring

Sugaring Time

We crunch through the woods

searching for the sugaring scars

holes from past winters.

We drill a new hole,

my boys tap in a spile

I hang the bucket with a string

pat the scars

as we say thank you, thank you.

 

White buckets dot the woods

sap drip drip dripping

as the day warms above freezing.

 

Meeting after work each day

family and friends

haul five gallon buckets filled with sap

to the sugar house.

 

Then it’s dawn of boiling weekend

Dad turns on lights

strung through the woods

to the sugar house.

We build a fire

under the evaporator pan

filled with gallons of sugar water.

 

We sit by the cozy fire

reading books aloud

eating snacks

and listening-

 

At days birth

woodpecker drums

full creek roars

mud squelches

wild geese honk overhead

bearing the promise of spring.

 

We delight in the awakening

this is spring.

At tapping time

the ground is frozen, snow covered.

By boiling time

we spot green chickweed,

the first Spring Beauty leaves

eat wild Garlic Mustard.

 

We feed the fire for days

then gather again

to lift off golden syrup.

We celebrate with potluck dinner

eaten huddled around campfires

stoked all day by Alex.

Another seasons’ work is done

our shelves filled with delicious maple gold.

 

Maple Sugaring~ Tapping

We tapped about 100 Maple trees to start maple sugaring season in my parent's woods yesterday. 

Sugaring is one of my favorite times of the year. I love stomping through the woods, and hearing the plink of sap dropping into the buckets. I enjoy the camaraderie of time with family and friends, and being in the woods to witness the change of seasons. When we tap the trees, like yesterday, there is often snow on the ground. And usually by the end of sugaring season we can see the first green in the woods, usually Garlic Mustard Greens, and it's mud season. 

Maple Sugaring~Finishing

We gathered with family and friends yesterday to finish and bottle the maple syrup. The syrup was heated in my cousin's brewing casks on propane burners outside, then poured through filters, then into the bottles and sealed with hot lids and rings. 

It was a bitter cold day, but while several people worked on the syrup Nick and my dad worked on washing out the 5 gallon buckets that we used to gather and hold the sap. While the syrup was heating we ate a potluck lunch, followed by cookies to celebrate my mom's birthday. 

 

Isn't it beautiful? This was a whirlwind sugaring season, and the warmest I remember. It sure was fun, and I'm already looking forward to it next year! 

Maple Sugaring~Boiling

Our friend Dale started the maple sugaring fire under the evaporator pan last Wednesday evening. The boys and I headed out to help Mom keep the fire going Thursday, and had the most enjoyable day. Mom read "Charlotte's Web" to the boys by the fire, while I sat and listened to the migrating geese flying overhead.

We cooked flatbread over the fire for lunch and sausage over the fire for dinner, and meals followed by smores over the fire on Friday. Cooking meals outside is one of my favorite parts of sugaring, and it was especially nice this year because the weather was so mild. 

Nick came and joined us after work Thursday, and we all stayed there until Saturday afternoon. It was the warmest it's been while sugaring, we were out in tshirts. I can't say that felt natural for February, but it sure was lovely to not have to deal with the inches of mud that are usually at the sugar house this time of year. It was so dry, and clean! 

We had collected over 500 gallons of sap, and boiled it down from Wednesday evening until we took off about 12 gallons Saturday at noon. 

The boys loved licking the warm syrup off of the spatulas that we used to scrape out the evaporator pan. 

We'll head back next weekend to finish the syrup and wash the 100 five gallon buckets that held the sap. We'll enjoy a potluck meal with the families that sugared together, and celebrate my mom's birthday.  

Maple Sugaring~Collecting Sap

We went out to my folks Saturday and Sunday to collect sap. By Sunday afternoon we had over 500 gallons. This crazy warm February means we collected the amount of sap in just one week that we typically collect over three weeks! 

I love being out in the woods this time of year. I remember from when I was little which trees were the heavy sap givers, and following my dad and Uncle Ben to tie jugs on the spiles with my little freezing cold hands. I pointed out the scars of previous maple sugaring years to the boys, and told them it's my dream they will tap these trees with their children some day. 

Do you see the green in the picture above? The garlic mustard is greening, and we saw Spring Beauty up, and buds on the Spicebush trees. We also saw things we don't remember ever seeing during maple sugaring~ants on the taps, and even a honey bee floating in one of the jugs. We pulled the spiles Sunday afternoon, we have enough collected already to boil our two batches, for about 11 gallons of finished maple syrup. 

We'll start boiling Wednesday afternoon, and boil two batches to take off the syrup Saturday afternoon. I'm looking forward to poking around the woods with my boys, sitting by the sugaring fire, meals on the campfire, exploring the creek and family company. 

Maple Sugaring~Tapping

We tapped about 92 Maple trees at my parents house this weekend to start maple sugaring season. It's one of my favorite times of the year, I love being out in the woods and seeing the change from winter to spring in the few weeks we're out there. 

After tapping we celebrated my dad and brother's birthday with dinner and cake. Then we bundled up and headed down to the snow-covered meadow, where we lit these Eco Wish Lanterns. It was a beautiful sight to watch them soar through the sky for several minutes before burning up. 

We collected 55 gallons of sap this morning, and will gather for about two weeks before boiling weekend. (40 gallons of sap boils down to 1 gallon of maple syrup.) I'm sure we'll be back to help gather more, Alex is so pleased to be able to carry the heavy 5 gallon buckets of sap from the woods down to the sugar house. 

Weekend Fun~Sugaring & Birthday Celebration

We headed to my parents again Friday afternoon for another weekend of maple sugaring camp. We boiled down about 250 more gallons of maple sugar water, and had fun at sugar camp cooking lunch over the fire and chatting around the evaporator pan. The boys had a great time helping Grumpa gather firewood and keeping the lunch campfire going. 

Mom's birthday was Saturday, it was fun to be there to cook her birthday breakfast and celebrate with her. Late afternoon on Saturday I prepped veggies and cooked with Mom while Lizzy and Dana set the table for dinner. We had a delicious roast pork meal, then sang happy birthday and had cookies and ice cream for dessert. 

On our way home Sunday we went to Middle Creek Wildlife Preserve to see the thousands of snow geese and Tundra Swans that stop at the lake on their migrating journey. Alex took this photo:

It was the perfect end to a fun weekend! 

 

Maple Sugaring~Boiling

Nick took Friday off and we headed to my parents to help with gathering more sugar water and keeping the boiling going for 24 hours in the sugar house. We enjoyed the beautiful weather, perfect for exploring in their creek. I spent some lovely time sitting on a wide rock watching Alex float log rafts in the creek. 

We scooped some hot coals from the sugaring firebox to use for a fire to cook lunch on Saturday, the boys had lots of fun keeping the fire going and helping with lunch. 

The guys lifted the syrup evaporator pan off and poured it into buckets with the handy new spout that was installed this year. Other years they had to lift the (boiling, scorching) pan of 10 gallons of syrup way up to pour it into a bucket that Mom held on a stump. Using a spout to pour off the boiling syrup was much easier on everyone. 

Eli wanted to taste the syrup, so I made spelt pancakes and hard-boiled eggs for lunch on Sunday and we enjoyed another picnic in the woods. 

Alex took this photo of us enjoying the warm sunshine:

It was the perfect weekend for maple sugaring! We have about 240 gallons collected to boil down next weekend too, the boys have already asked when we go back to Grammy and Grumpa's for maple sugaring.