Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Sappin' Time

If you look closely you can see the sap running down the bark.
CB helping his Dad drill some holes in the maple trees.

Couldn't help but take a picture of this. CB's friend got his outdoor gear wet so we supplied him with a stylin' attire. Camo overalls and my flowered bog boots. LOL.
I have been sworn to secrecy so I will never tell which friend it was!
Last night was cool and today was a beautiful day filled
with sunshine.
I'm sure the buckets are filling right up.
Tonight we will begin the boiling down process on top of the wood stove. This weekend we may boil some down over an open fire. The wood stove is our preferred lazy-man method. But, there truly is nothing like the taste of maple syrup boiled down over a fire.

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9 comments:

  1. small farm girlMarch 15, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    My mouth is watering right now.

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  2. icebearMarch 15, 2011 at 4:17 PM

    How much do you end up with? It takes a lot of sap to cook down to a bit of syrup as i'm sure you know. Up here we call it "sugaring" though most of the process ends in syrup. Its one of my favorite things, better than honey.

    The only trees i have around here are box elder, and a dead stick is more useful than those! lol. If i got really ambitious i could tap trees on my parents' land, but i'm just not fit for it.
    Have a lovely Spring!

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  3. Country GirlMarch 16, 2011 at 10:36 AM

    SFG, nothing like REAL maple syrup.
    IB, last year if I recall correctly we had over 1 gallon of syrup. They say 40 gallons of sap will make 1 gallon of syrup. I agree better then honey. :)

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  4. goatgirlMarch 17, 2011 at 7:55 PM

    Please show the whole process. I would love to do this. As a child I read many books (mostly horse books) that had making syrup in the storyline and it seems like so much fun. I wonder if it can be done in the Northwest.

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  5. GreyWolfMarch 22, 2011 at 9:01 AM

    After reading your post, wifey decided we need to try this. She has ordered 10 sugar maple trees to see if they will grow in our poor soil here. I don't know how old they have to be before they can be tapped, but if nothing else our grandchildren may get a chance at it.

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  6. constance blizzardMarch 23, 2011 at 11:13 AM

    I've got twelve trees tapped, and we've been eating pancakes every morning to reward ourselves for the constant sap harvesting and even more constant boiling... it's a lot of work, but absolutely worth it.

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  7. BetsyMarch 23, 2011 at 5:17 PM

    I've wanted to try sapping for a long time! Of course, we don't have any trees worthy of sapping here, but I think it would be just wonderful to try. Plus, it gives me something productive to do right away in the Spring where I can be instantly gratified instead of having to wait until the end of Summer.

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  8. FarmchickMarch 25, 2011 at 9:16 PM

    Yummy!! That looks very interesting!!! Come say hi.

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  9. Country GirlMarch 26, 2011 at 10:23 AM

    GoatGirl,
    Nothing to it, really. I will try and do another post that shows the whole process or recall one that does show all the steps.

    Grey Wolf, I must say that is AWESOME!!!! How cool is that, that you would plant some maples for your grandkids. Glad to have inspired you! Something they will forever remember you by.

    CB, that is a lot of trees! You are busy. We only tapped 3 so the process has really been quite effortless. We have at least 2 gallons by now of syrup.

    Betsy if you have birch trees you can tap them too. The ratio is much higher though 100 gallons of sap:1 gallon of syrup. I read that that is what they do in Alaska. We tried it once before but I like maple much better.

    FC, it is yummy. Sorry have not been getting around to other blogs much as of lately.

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