Liquid Gold

As asked by a few readers to share the entire process of collecting sap and making syrup here goes...I first posted back in March when we tapped our Maple trees. There are a couple ways to boil down sap which we've experimented with in previous years, gas and/or wood. The method we currently use seems to be the most cost effective and least labor intensive. To boil down exclusively by gas is very expensive and cooking over an open fire is a lot of work! This year we only tapped 3 trees. 2 taps in the two big trees and 1 in the small one so we had 5 buckets to empty every day.

In the old summer kitchen in our farmhouse we have an ancient Ashley wood stove. We simply remove the cover and boil down the sap in a shallow pan directly atop the wood stove. We add to the sap as it boils down throughout the day and towards night we stop adding to it. Most every evening we would boil down the remains of the pan inside on our gas range. It was just easier to tend without fear of turning it into sugar. Instead I boiled it over a few times and made a HORRENDOUS mess :/

After boiling for a few hours I tested the syrup by placing a spoonful in a cool dish to check for consistency and color. If it is to my liking I would pour into hot canning jars while filtering with cheesecloth. Cap it and turn the jars upside down for the caps to seal.

Viola....Liquid Gold!

Over 5 gallons of it. Do the math and that is approximately 200 gallons of sap.

It is currently going for $50/gallon in this area.

We've enjoyed it on homemade waffles, maple syrup shakes, over ice cream, blueberry-maple muffins and this week I hope to to make some granola with it.

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.

Full Freezers

We picked up the remains of our pig last week. Love the look of these sweetly wrapped morsels of goodness.
We run three freezers and they are completely full. Actually I did not have enough room for all the pig fat. If any of you locals are interested in some to make lard with and/or for bird treats come on over.

With the price of gas steadily rising I have heard that the price of food will double in price.

I cannot even imagine as there are so many in this country that are going without.

Maybe it will eventually be less expensive to raise your own and more people will go back to it?

That would be nice!

P.S. The picture on my header is a dish I made after getting the idea from a fellow blogger, Amaranthian. Love her blog, lots of great culinary ideas! Besides being tasty it only required one pan. Cook up the bacon, set aside, cook up grated potatoes in the grease, then cook your eggs atop. Note to others: don't take a shower while your taters are cooking :)

Dried Beans

This was the first year that we grew dried beans. I picked up some Soldier Beans from a local market and instead of eating them I opted to plant them.

I hung the whole plants to dry in the barn for a couple weeks then...
...Country Boy, my Mom & I took the beans out of the pods.

Next year I'd like to grow a few other varieties.

This whole process makes you look at a bag of dried beans in a different light that is for sure.

In general I find growing your own gives you a deeper appreciation for food and those that prepare it.

On a final note...has anyone watched the documentary "The Future of Food"? If not you really should. Maine Man and I watched it last night. All I am going to say is "Scary!" Let me know if you watch and what you think.

Putting up Tomatoes

Maine Man grew most of the tomatoes in the hoop house this year. Because of that we were one of the first to have ripe tomatoes and we may be one of the last. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good: Lots of tomatoes to eat & giveaway throughout the extended season.

Bad: I am still have vegetables screaming "hey lady you better hurry up and process me or I'll rot".

I have made fresh salsa, lots of spaghetti sauce, soup, and tomato sauce. Today I plan to make some more sauce but I think I will can it instead of freeze as we are running out of space.

Fortunately I have a handy dandy Sauce Master that I bought last year at Johnny's.

It is slick....wash the tomatoes and cut the large ones and throw them in (stems, peelings & all)

Definitely one of my better kitchen gadget investments. Especially come this time of year.

It is amazing to see how many tomatoes it takes to make this sauce.

While we are talking tomatoes has anyone ever made Piccalilli?

I fear that we are going to have a lots of green tomatoes left so I am looking for ways to use some up. I've also read you can wrap them up in newspaper and store them in a cool place.

What do you with your green tomatoes?

Wordless Weekend

Chicken Stock

We eat chicken on average of once or twice a week. Since we have been raising our own chickens (the last 2-3 year) we've always froze most of them whole limiting our chicken variations to baked, rotisserie, or in the crock pot. After we eat and I pick whatever remaining chicken off I always place the remains (bones) in a ziploc in the freezer to eventually make up a chicken stock in my my crock pot. I fill my crock with a couple chicken carcasses, carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, peppercorns & fresh or dried herbs and let it simmer over night. I'd keep some in the fridge for immediate use and freeze the remaining broth. The last batch of chickens Maine Man processed I asked that he would part them out. I had been really craving some boneless BBQ chicken. He parted out all but 3-4 of 20. I was left with lots of bones so I made up a humongous batch and canned chicken stock for the FIRST time ever. Woooo hoooo. The things that excite me!



Last year was my first year with a pressure canner. Before I had only processed food that only required open water bath such as pickles & relish. Confessions......I did not even dare eat the first batch of beets that I processed via pressure canner. The pigs have enjoyed them and nobody has contracted botulism ;) I think I am ok this year ;) I have also used the pressure canner to put up green beans for a first. Looking forward to doing a taste test with some of the green beans I've frozen.


This week I am on vacation so I hope to get a few posts in as I have been a little slack lately. We have absolutely NO plans so the week will be spent putting up harvest, planting fall crops, getting the kids ready for school (haircuts, etc..)


Off to pick tomatoes in the hoop house and make some spaghetti sauce. Enjoy your week!

Putting Up Harvest

You know when you come back from the garden with a basket looking like this you have a full day of work ahead of you. For canned goods so far this season I have put up zucchini relish, zucchini pickles, kosher dill pickles, pickled garlic, rhubarb, strawberry jam, and chicken broth.
With the tomatoes I have made spaghetti sauce and a cream of tomato soup which has already been consumed and or I frozen. I LOVE to can but if I can freeze it that is the usually the route I take out of convenience. For any of you new to canning my canning bible is THE BLUE BOOK OF PRESERVING. It can be purchased on Amazon for less then $10. With our gardens I could literally put food up all day everyday but I do not want to spend my summer in the kitchen. I put up what I can and the rest is consumed fresh or given away to friends & family. Today is a work day catching up around the homestead. I will be putting up some green beans and we will start planting our fall crops in addition to moving the cows. The next 2 days we will play! That is kind of how we roll here. Work a couple... play a couple. It is all about finding that balance! We have had a wonderful summer and I have literally taken thousands of pictures in hopes that some day I will have more computer time to sit down and post about a few of our Maine adventures. Stay tuned ;)

The Great Pumpkin

This years pumpkin crop was not as big as we anticipated. Last year we had enough for the kids to set up a stand and make a few bucks. I really can't complain because we still had plenty for ourselves, some to give away, and the rest went to the pigs.

The kids made a few jack o' lanterns and I cooked some up and froze it.

We cooked up some seeds tossing them with a bit of olive oil and sea salt. Next year I'll be sure to try Don's recipe for pumpkin seeds. This post is also a great tutorial for making pumpkin puree for anyone that may be interested in learning more. Up until last year I had no idea that you could just cook up any old pumpkin. Regardless, next Spring I will try and grow some pumpkins specific for cooking in hopes of a richer flavor and smaller pumpkins for easier handling.


I put 20 bags in the freezer. I have cooked two dishes with it since. A tasty pumpkin custard that the whole family enjoyed and the other night I cooked up a delicious pumpkin soup that
I will make again for sure. Here is the link

and the recipe...

Simple Pumpkin Soup

1/2 cup onion

3T. butter

2 cups of mashed cooked pumpkin (or canned)

1 teas salt

1 T sugar

1/4 teas nutmeg

1/4 teas ground pepper

3 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup of half and half (can use fat free)

Those are not exactly the steps I took. I removed both the chicken stock & the pumpkin from the freezer and thawed them in my crock pot. Then I added spices & cooked onions. After a few hours I ran it all through my food processor to chop up the pumpkin a bit more. In addition to the above spices I added 3/4 tablespoon of cumin, meant to add curry but it still tasted good.

Perfect soup for the season!

Adventures in Pressure Canning

Finally bought myself a pressure canner. My friend Mike assisted with the test run. I read the manual step by step as he followed direction. Little bit of a control freak you see. Since one of our other friends nearly blew the side of his face off with one last summer (most likely alcohol induced) I decided to be real careful. The night before I read the manual from front to back, unusual for me. The test run was uneventful and I finally starting canning beets by about 6 o'clock that evening. Big mistake there! Had I known how long it takes to get the canner to pressure, cook time, and cool/pressure release this would have been a project to start earlier than later. Needless to say I was up until 2 am with still 5 quarts to go. They were froze instead. Put up 14 quarts, 19 counting the frozen beets. I have some carrots to do next and might try and make some apple sauce. I am happy to finally own one. The canning opportunities are now unlimited! :)

Thanks Maine Man for the birthday moola!

Independence Days- week 12

Plant Something: The naughty kittens destroyed the lettuce & basil I planted a few weeks ago. The only thing I have started is 4 sweet potatoes. We were successful growing them last year so I figured we'd try it again this year.

Harvest Something: The dill and cilantro are almost ready. We harvest sprouts weekly. I bought a bio-set sprouter from Johnny's last year after seeing it on Angie's blog, Children in the Corn.

Store Something: 50lbs of bread flour, 5 lbs dry kidney beans, 5 lbs Maine shrimp, 2 lbs elk meat.

Manage Reserves: Reserves are getting depleted. I will be consolidating 2 freezers into 1.

Poultry: I cooked up the last turkey but I was able to cut up and store several bags for upcoming meals. We have several chickens left but no worry more chicks will be arriving soon.

Beef: We are almost out deer meat. This is the first time ever that our supply is this low so early into the year. I admit I took for granted having deer meat so readily available in past years. Maybe next season I will put in a bit more time in the woods....I say that every year.

Pork: We are almost out. We have two sows that we plan to breed in the next month or so.

Canned goods: Mustard pickles and pickled beets are all we have left. This year I plan to put up more goods. I am shopping for a pressure canner. What do you all use? Any and all suggestions welcome.

Root vegetables: Remaining are 2 spaghetti squash, 3 lbs carrots, 3-4lbs potatoes, plenty of onions and garlic.

Frozen vegetables/fruit: Blueberries, tomatoes (which I will not freeze again next year), edamame beans, corn on the cob.

Cook something new: The last two experiments I attempted ended up in the pig trough. I made a crock pot lemon cake that came out soupy. I then attempted to make a sourdough starter and my first loaf was like a brick and I chucked my "mother sponge" because I neglected to feed her.

Prep Something: Slowly working at getting a pantry stocked up...I have cleaned and organized the area FINALLY (today). Now I just need to decide what I want to stock it with. Ideas welcome here too for those of you have well stocked pantries.

Reduce Wastes: I have been picking recyclables out of the trash that MM throws away...ARGGGG! Saving glass jars and reusing them in the pantry to-be. Using my reusable shopping bags whenever I remember them.

Learn a new skill: No new skills aquired.

Work on communiy food security: After much research on co-ops I have opted not to start one up. Much of the food that is provided is what we grow or raise. It is not worth the added resposibility I would have. This place alone is more than enough work for me.

I have also been buying much more from local business owners.

Regeneate what is lost: We put our wood ashes into the garden.

Sunday Stills

Over at Sunday Stills this weeks photo challenge is Color. So since there is not much color outside except white, brown, and blue this time of year in Maine here are a few indoor pictures I took over the weekend. The above picture is of some buttercup squash we had for dinner last night. We still have a reserve in the root cellar although I whined on a previous post that we had a good amount of losses in the squash stash. I think I have 3 left along with an acorn and a spaghetti squash.

We also ate some potatoes over the weekend.....baked, mashed, and home fries. We will be out by February. Next year we hope to plant enough to get us a little further into the year.

Don't you love that counter top, 1960's 70's??? Gotta love it!
Our onions are still looking good and we have a still have quite a few if they hold up. Not very colorful....sorry.
Unfortunately this is store bought corn. We froze several bags of corn on the cob that has held up but I did not put up any kernels....maybe this year. A good portion of the food we are eating now is what we have raised or grown although we are still supermarket dependent for many items. I plan on buying a pressure canner this year along with a cow so that will allow us to put up more food that is grown here on the farm. Looking back to our meals a year ago I never would have imagined we would have come this far.
I went to a seminar on co-ops this week I am very interested in starting one. For any locals that are interested let me know, I have a price list I can send you. I would like to start with 10 local families.
Luke had an idea to make some candy out of snow and warm maple syrup. He has been reading a book called, Little House in the Big woods and this is how the pioneer children made candy back in the day. So the kids did some experimenting and they were successful in making maple sugar candy.

Anxious for spring we planted a few things today. We planted lettuce, cucumbers, basil, dill, and cilantro.

I cut up a cool whip cover to use as markers for the plants. I had my hand in one of the photos but quickly deleted, I could never be a hand model that is for sure!


MM's tractor has come in handy this winter, sure beats snow blowing! He does not have a plow for it but the bucket and box blade work just fine clearing the driveway.

Thankfully it has warmed up but this week the temperatures dropped to 20 below zero in this area and and at my dad's (up north) he said it was 36 below one morning. Our animals survived, the pigs seemed to tolerate it the most and the chickens the least.

Leave a boy alone with his friend and what do they do? Well, naturally bury his sister in the snow. She loved every minute of it!

Change of Season

Winter is sneaking upon us and this darn time change is a drag! I find by 4pm I am racing around to get my night time chores done so I do not have to do them via flashlight. John is in the process of wiring the shed and the barn, there is hope. We have been here for 2 years come January but we still have SO much to do! When we bought the farm it was literally most peoples worst nightmare. For us it was our ONLY chance of getting some of the things we wanted: lots of land, a farm house, barn, and couple farm ponds. The bathroom was 4 walls, 2 windows, and a tub, and that IS IT! No sink, no toilet. John, my brother Steve, and a hired friend had to sheetrock the ENTIRE house: 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, halls, kitchen, and 2 bathrooms. Followed by LOTS of mudding, sanding, and painting. They laid birch flooring through most of the downstairs and did lots of plumbing and electrical work. Most of that was done in one month prior to us moving in when John was on school break. We could have never accomplished such an INSANE goal if it hadn't been for all the HARD work and LONG hours STEVE and JOHN put in and from the help of our friends. THANK YOU again Steve...I know you are one of my faithful SILENT (only on-line) readers.
Although we are always puting around on a projects...my recent task I must complete is painting the wood room's floor, I painted the walls barn yard red and I LOVE it!
Next is TRIM and half walls for my kitchen. John swears to me it will be done by the holidays and I am assuming Christmas because Thanksgiving is just around the corner and there is NO site of pine boards and polyurethane. I figure if I get this in writing he may accomplish this....I swear it is ALL I want for Christmas!!!!
I am afraid until John gets a deer My Maine Man WILL NOT put on his carpenter belt. So PLEASE send out some good vibes, cyber prayers, ANYTHING so this Great White Hunter can Get er' done because I WANT my HUSBAND BACK and of course a little finish work. :)

Boy, I really got side tracked, that's the ADD kickin' in. Back to this darn time change.... After chores, dinner, helping the kids with their homework I am just about done for the night. Ready to cuddle up in bed with a book, my lap top, and well of course, My Maine Man. I must stop the madness because I have lots of projects, gifts to make, etc. and there are not many more days left.

Real soon I will have a post on making earrings , constructing a wreath, and making a no-sew blanket. I will also have my 1st GIVEAWAY so stay tuned. I promise you all the projects are REAL easy, there is no Martha living here on the farm!

Rock painting anyone? This kept the kids entertained for hours while I made my first time ever pumpkin puree that my blogging friend Angie posted about here. Silly me never knew that you could cook any pumpkin. I always thought they had to be special baking pumpkins.