Creating Your Own Happiness

This past year was a year of personal revelations for me. I am creeping up on 40 you see.  Last July I found myself soul searching deeper then I’ve ever dug before.   I asked myself, ” what makes me happy” and “what makes me not”.  I formulated a mental list and well I must admit I was a little verbal too.  And damn I’ve been sticking to it and for that I am in a peaceful space!


  

Overall I would consider myself a pretty happy person, although I have my moments…usually hormonally driven.  But I would find myself in situations that did make me a tad bit miserable.  For instance, I HATE shoveling load after load of mulch hay to the compost pile.   Maine Man not so much, he views it as a work out that he actually accomplishes something other then the work out.  I would much prefer to go to the gym and get my butt whipped by a coach.  I LOVE goats, they are a lot of fun but they are also a TON of work and if you have enough of them they can be very costly.  I loved milking, the process of it and the availability of fresh, raw milk .   But it was time consuming and tied me down big time.  I decided to get rid of the goats, I now spend five to eight dollars a week for a gallon of fresh, organic, raw Jersey milk.  Much freakin easier and a heck of a lot less money then all those stinkin’ goats were consuming.





When we first started this journey on the farm my thoughts were to be as self-sufficient as possible.  I slowly realized how much work that was.  Really, it is a full-time job plus.  I am now in a place that I don’t feel we need to do all.  There are other off-farm adventures in life I want to and will experience. Looking back I spent enough money taking beekeeping classes and getting set up to tend bees that I probably could have supplied us with local honey for the next 5 years.  Crazy, huh?  My plan is to offer up our land to an experienced bee keeper to put his or her hives here and I will follow them around and learn as I go before jumping on that bandwagon again.  Therefore we will get all the benefits of the bees, hands on training, and maybe a little honey too.  I would also recommend to anyone getting into bees to join a bee club….a mistake I made.  They are complex little buggers, more so then most can imagine.  It is nice to have experienced people to guide you through your beekeeping experience.


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I do like honey especially on homemade toast with a bit of peanut butter but maple syrup is my preferred natural sweetener of choice.  Fortunately, despite the wacky winter we had we still managed to put up approximately 4 gallons of syrup for pancakes, waffles, and I use it in my coffee. Maine Man is also in the process of making some maple wine.  Can’t wait to sample that.




In addition to weeding out the things that create misery in daily farm life I also made a stance on a personal level.  Instead of constantly doing for others I plan in time for taking care of me on a regular basis.  My kids are older now and very independent.  I am a much happier momma/wife for that.  I will end this rant with a saying that pretty much sums it up…..

• Eat like you love yourself.
• Move like you love yourself.
• Speak like you love yourself.
• Act like you love yourself.

 

Liquid Gold

Last Sunday (2/7) we tapped a few trees here on the farm. We put out 9 taps to be exact. Earlier then most years but a week or two later then some locals. Some Mainers tapped early with great success due to the UNUSUAL warm weather. In my 35 years I can honestly say I do not EVER remember a winter quite like this. Last year we tapped the 3rd weekend in March, it was our first time ever.

In the past we collected sap in 1 gallon water jugs. This year we upgraded to 5 gallon buckets and tubing. Much more efficient!

Maine Man even dared to hand over the power tools. I'm a little hard on equipment!

And the sap started dripping. Flower Girl said "It looks just like water."

It does......and I have a cute tale to go with that. A local farmer told me this story last week. His friend collects his sap, pours it in a pot and goes on to finish his chores. A while later his wife gets home, sees the "water boiling" and adds some macaroni. The man comes in and sees his sap isn't on the stove and says "hey where's my sap?" She starts laughing as they both realized what she had done. He said the macaroni was good, " a little sweeter than usual."

In addition to the maple trees we tapped 2 birch trees. I had read about it a few times before and thought it would be fun to try something new. MM was a bit skeptical but he went along with my madness once again. See why I love him so!

What I didn't read or know is that is takes more than double the quantity to transform the sap to syrup. It takes approximately 100 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of birch syrup. For maple syrup it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup . In Alaska birch syrup is considered a delicacy, know I see why!

Lets just say this will be the first and last time we do that. This past weekend I boiled down 3 gallons which equaled approx 3-4 ounces. Not quite worth the effort but it was fun to try. MM described it as a "sweet, nutty" flavor "almost like the smell of a fresh cut birch tree." I thought is smelled like cotton candy, tasted sweet but a little bitter. I'd much prefer the maple that simmered over an open fire for 10 hours. It was extremely windy the day I boiled it down. I'd hate to even count the times I stoked the fire. Tonight the sap is simmering on the top of our wood stove. Thanks for the idea Joe & Maryanne. We will see what it brings come morning.

Although it is MUCH more labor intensive there are many benefits for boiling over an open fire:

• the AMAZING smoky flavor that enhances the syrup
• a good reason to clear the rock walls of branches
• the effort and exercise you get from gathering wood
• a reason to be outside in the fresh air all day with your loved ones
• lots of ash to add to the gardens
  The view of the back of the farm as we return with a load of wood.
  
  

Maple Syrup Sunday

Last weekend we boiled down 9 gallons of sap. We used a propane turkey cooker and I cooked 2 batches, 4 gallons on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. It took all day, like 10-12 hrs each day. Most expensive syrup we've ever eaten. Had I planned ahead I would have gathered wood and cooked it that way but I did not. I also should have added to the syrup as it boiled down. The way I go about it this weekend will be based on the mistakes I've made. I will also use a shallow pan rather than the deep lobster pot as seen above. As of tonight we have 17 gallons to boil down. When the sap was boiled down I was unable to tell when it was ready. One web site said "it will have an oily appearance", and another said when it "reaches 219 degrees". I could use some HELP here from those of you that have experience with this!

Neither method worked perfectly for me. So I went by the guess factor and consistency, probably not the best method.

Batch # 1 after cooled had the consistency of honey. You could eat it by the spoonful and I DID! It is from nature, it must be good for you, right? :)
Batch # 2 turned out a bit on the watery side. Regardless of consistency it is the best maple syrup I've had since I was a child. As it cooked up the sweet aroma brought me back to my childhood at the sugar house in Canada. Interestingly, that is the ONLY memory I have of going there as a child.


On a final note, I will clarify that I did drink raw milk as a child. My brother reminded me after he read my post. My brother milked for some time as a teenager. He use to fill an old glass vinegar bottle after his workday was done. So I indeed did drink raw milk when I was at my Dad's on the weekends. Funny how I completely forgot about that. I think at the time I did not really know the difference. Last weekend we stopped and bought a gallon of raw organic milk from a farm in my brother's hometown and I made my first batch of mozzarella cheese and it was SO easy and tasty. The whole family liked it! I bet you can't guess what I'll be posting about in the next week or so. Things have been crazy busy here with Springs arrival. I will catch up on everyone's recent posts over the weekend.