Boiling Sap.

There is so much. So much sap. Holy cow. We don't have small trees, so that is part of it, but I don't think we were prepared for how much we have gotten.

I got home from school and the boiling sap process had begun. I missed taking pictures of straining the sap with a splatter screen we got with our cookware set and a piece of cheescloth over it. The stock pot with thick walls is doing better, from the report I got upon arrival home, now that it is in the garage, protected rather than out in the driveway. It was reported that the wind kept affecting the flame. The sap starts out just looking just like water, but as the sugar content gets higher and the water content gets lower, the color begins to darken...seen here.



We, and by we I mean not me, boiled the sap for a couple hours and got it reduced down to a quantity that we could move inside to finish. For us, right now, that means my 8 quart stock pot. Which is boiling on my stove as I type. We are monitoring the reduction. And by we I mean me. The boys are outside in the garage, with the next batch of raw sap. They just came in to report that it is now boiling, after maybe 4o minutes on the flame.



We are planning on canning it in Mason jars when we get to the point where we have syrup. The sap is syrup when the temperature reads 104 celsius or 220 Farenheit. I am a little nervous about being in charge of the finishing as if I miss the point of syrup and it turns into Maple Sugar, I screwed up. OR worse yet, burn it and ruin it.

I will tell you that everyone here is pretty excited for breakfast tomorrow. Mmmm, pancakes, homemade syrup and breakfast links made by the boys in the last round of meating. If the aroma of the kitchen right now is any indication, yum. And Yum.

What Have We DONE?

Remember when I said we were going to tap our silver maple trees? And we were going to make maple syrup? And how hard could it be? Well, we got a late start, and by we I mean me, on ordering the taps. Now I wanted to go all nostalgic and get the old fashioned kind of maple taps and pretend I was Laura Ingalls Wilder and all that old timey business. But, because we, and by we I mean me, were late in the ordering (Late like early last week) everything was sold out. So we got what are called drop line taps. Which is pictured above.

And actually, I think my procrastination might have been a helpful thing at this point. They are plastic taps and a rigid tube about four feet long comes out and we have put them into Ale Pails from a sugarbushing (I am pretending I am all in the maple syrup community and using the lingo. I could totally be using the terminology completely wrong.) partner in crime. He also makes beer and is a meatsmoking partner.

We tapped the trees last Monday, and by we I mean not me. I came home from school to alien looking forms. Then we promptly had a cold spell where the temperature dropped below 40 degrees during the day. No sap running.

Until today. Yikes, it got up to a measly 42, maybe 43 degrees. I picked up sticks in the yard, I raked the red rock back into the driveway from the winter of shoveling and then on a whim I thought I would check the sap buckets. This bad boy had 4/5 of the bucket full (That's a 6.5 gallon bucket, folks.). And that was at 2 pm.

There are two trees with three taps in them and five gallon buckets to collect. There are two trees like this with just one tap and a gallon-ish bucket. This baby was almost full.

!!!!!!

We went to my parents for birthday supper and came home around 7:30 pm and had to empty the little buckets AGAIN.

And we are not even in prime weather. Plentiful sap running is after the temperature drops below freezing overnight and then is sunny and near 60 the next day. Tomorrow is supposed be around 43 again, but overcast which could slow things down. We, and by we I mean not me, are going to have to boil sap tomorrow. We don't have any more containers. And the sap can't sit around when it gets to be in the 40s and 50s because bacteria grows and the sap will spoil.

So, we are making syrup.

And by we, I pretty much mean not me.
Things done so far:
-ordered taps---me.
-tapped trees---not me.
-set up buckets for collection---not me.
-bought boiling container---not me.
-bought cheesecloth to strain/clean sap---me.
-check buckets for sap level---me.
-possess inability to open ale pail covers---me.
-actually open buckets to pour sap into container bucket---not me.
-begin first boiling and actual production---not me.


Sap boiling and condensing into syrup has to be done largely outside. Two reasons, it goes faster when there is a bigger difference in temperature of the air and the sap boiling. Two, the steam is sappy and we have brick walls in our kitchen above the stove and that sticky, messy, oozy, gooey residue would never come off the uneven surface of the bricks. Not that we would even wanted to try. And by we I mean a big me.

Over and out. Sugarbushing Day Two coming soon. Unless we are inundated and can't see the light of day.

Step Two.

Today we are going to meet with a potential Mama dog. Yep, we are starting the process of looking for a puppy in July.

Am I okay? Absolutely. Am I excited to be around a big-dog-slash-big-dogs? God, yes. I miss a canine presence in the house. I miss Sophie. But I know that doesn't get to change so I am excited to change the presence part.

In the car yesterday, we drove by a huge, beautifu, HUGE fawn colored Great Dane with a black mask. I was a little embarrassed at how excited I got. I might have squealed. People. I don't squeal. Really, I don't.

But I did.

And that's my point.


I am just hoping I don't embarrass myself further and bust into tears at the doglady's place. That would monumentally suck. And........for those that know me know that this a very real possibility. Crapenheimers.