Leap Day Storm - Another Winter Wonderland

What a day Leap Day was this year!  The Meteorologists predicted snow and we got it, almost 2 feet of it.  I knew we were going to get snow, but I was hoping the amounts were off, anything over 5 or 6 inches and I was not going to get to work.  Scott woke me up before he headed to work in the 4-wheel drive truck and said I wasn't going anywhere (this was at 5:15 am and we already had 8+ inches).  I do have a few pics, but I'll have to add them later. 

The road we live on didn't get plowed out until after 2 pm.  Adin and I shoveled and I did some plowing with the 4-wheeler (have I mentioned before that I love that thing?).  After 2 hours of braking trail and plowing, my arms were jello and I had to call it quits.  Once Scott got home he finished and as the temp dropped he said it got easier.  :)

The kids have been loving actually having snow and today Adin tried to ski using my cross-country skis.  He did good, seeing as they were just a "tad" bit to big for him.  The chickens on the other hand have NOT wanted to come out and free range.  I guess I don't blame them.  The area between their coop and the barn made a wind trap and the snow was way above my knees back there.  The poor things would have gotten lost.  I am also glad that door on the east end of the barn opens in or it would have been difficult to get it open. 

Next week we are supposed to be in the upper 40's to 50, I don't think that the snow will stay around too long.  Maple tapping is getting close.  I am going to try and trudge through the woods this weekend and set some taps.

Sugaring - Final Batch

Our sugaring season is now complete and for a first go, I would say it was a beautiful success.  Adin and I pulled the taps yesterday after work and today we boiled our last batch.  One thing that I noticed is that this late season sap produced a much darker syrup.  This week we harvested about 15 gallons so that is what we boiled down today (all day).  In the end we got 6 1/2 pints that I am canning at the moment, making a grand total of 8 pint jars and 10 1/2 pint jars.  Some we will give away, but most will be used over the year.  I hope that next year is even a better year for sugaring.

Some things that I have learned from this experience; patience, don't let too many gallons add up before boiling, investing in 5 gal covered buckets with hose may be beneficial for some heavy producing trees, and kids love sugaring.  :)  I have enjoyed this process and look forward to next season.  Until then.... let the dirty hands begin. 

Saturday Secrets & Successes

Well, moment of truth... I lost 2 lbs this week.  It isn't much, but seeing as how I have been sick I haven't worked too hard at it.  Now that I have meds and I'm feeling better, I'll be able to work at it.  I have been working at it today.  Between my running back and forth to the boiling sap, I have been helping Scott clear out some more trees behind our house on the south end of the garden.  We are going to be making the yard bigger and also terracing that part of the yard, as it is on a slope and we'll be planting pumpkins and potatoes back there.  I am not too worried about the deer.  Most of our pumpkins last summer grew right out of the fence and down that hill anyway and they were fine. 

So I have been hauling brush to the burn pile and keeping the fire going.  The day has been beautiful.  I was out in my blue short sleeved shirt (to honor World Autism Awareness Day, my nephew Devyn who is Autistic and who's 7th Birthday is today) jean and my muck boots.  On that hillside the snow is still 1 1/2 to 2 feet deep still.  Crazy but good for burning. Now that the end of the day is here and I am finally done boiling syrup for today/this weekend, I have 5 pints ready to can tomorrow and maybe a 6th when it is done being filtered through a coffee filter to remove any impurities and floaties.  This will take all night.  This last weekend's batch has been a beautiful light to medium amber color will no sediment settling to the bottom.  I do think that our sap is starting to slow as the nights are not as cold anymore.  We'll see what happens.  Now off to bed for me.

Productive Syrup Day

Today has been a day of boiling and boiling and boiling.  Last night I boiled down 4 gallons and this morning when I walked into the barn to start at 9:30, I had 24 gallons sitting there looking at me.  Uff da!  After today's harvest of 4.5 gallons to add to the mix, I am now down to 15 gallons for tomorrow.  I will be up late I'm sure finishing today's renderings, I'll post tomorrow what it all came down to. 


Lots of milk jugs and the turkey pot has 6 gallons in it. 

Other than my sap boiling, today has been gloomy.  We woke up to... you guessed it, SNOW!  Wonderful April Fools joke from Mother Nature.  Scott spent the day burning brush before all our snow was gone, at least in that area.  The rest of the yard and property still has lots.  I did get to see my first Sandhill Crane of the year flying over the barn.  They are pretty cool birds and make the most interesting and cool sounds.  Not far from where we live there is a place called Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.  It is one of the largest state owned wildlife areas in Wisconsin and every fall there are thousands of Sandhills who land there on there migration south.  Fun place to visit and to hunt.  Other than Sandhills, there are tons of ducks, geese and swans that either migrate through Crex or call it home. 

Yesterday Scott went to town and was able to pick up another old bear bait barrel that we will be able to turn into our 2nd compost barrel.  Now I will be able to have compost in two different stages.  That makes me very happy.  Once things dry out, I am going to sand it down really well and paint the outside black.  I have to do this to the old one also, but I'll wait until I am able to empty it later this spring and add to my gardens and such. 

Sugaring #5

Yesterday was a banner day for sap flowing, unbelievable.  We got 5 gallons.  It was fun to take my sister and nephew's out on the sugar runs.  Adin was the "teacher" and telling the boys all about it.  The boys were pretty  excited.  Today we got another 1 3/4 gallons so our total since Friday was 7, so I am boiling down another batch.  As of now I am down to a gallon left and I'm finishing it in the house.  Judging from what I got last time, I should get about a pint.  I have the BWB ready to go to can it when it is finished.  I sent some home with Greta and the boys.  We had it on french toast sticks this morning and everyone loved it.  I love making maple syrup.  I'm a dork, I know.

My boiling set up. 
It works great when I can crank up the flame. 
Doesn't take long.

Sugaring #4

Success!  I have now come full cycle with sugaring and making my own maple syrup.  This afternoon Scott fired up the turkey fryer for me and I started boiling and boiling and boiling. (I do have pictures but they are still on the phone - I'll add them later.)  I had 8 full gallons of sap all sitting nicely in recycled milk jugs waiting to be added and so they were in time.  Each gallon was strained with a strainer & coffee filter as I poured it into the cooking pan.  That worked great to get out the lichens and small flecks of bark that made their way into the collecting buckets.  As I was boiling, down next to the barn and then under the wood lean-to when it started raining, I was reading one of my favorite authors, Mrs. Carla Emery.  Great read for this kind of work/time killing.  I also chopped some ice next to the barn to make canals for the water to run down the drive way which is already very water-logged. 

Anyway after about 5.5 or 6 hours of boiling I was down to less than a gallon, so I dumped that into my big soup pot and finished it in the kitchen.  It was pretty exciting when it flash boiled and I knew it was done.  I did my best to strain it again, but there still seem to be some small floaties that got through.  I'll have to perfect that process next time.  My friend David said that the best storage for this is to BWB can it, so when it was all said and done, now at 10:30 pm, I now have 1 pint of a beautiful amber maple syrup canned and the remaining almost one cup in the fridge for the kids this weekend.

I have to say that this is some pretty tasty stuff.  It is going to be hard to go back to that fake pancake syrup after tasting this.  Now I am just praying that the sap keeps a flowing so I can keep a boiling.  This has been a very fun process.