Maple Syrup

I'm sitting here looking at the weather forecast for where my Maple Trees are wondering if I should plan on travelling down there this week. Is there any sap running where you are? Not here yet. But the temperature (predictions) are above zero for most of this week. Not the Environment Canada is any good at predicting the weather.

*Bump*

Well the sap was (kind of) running for a couple of days around here. Lucinda and I put 23 buckets on suitable trees and chances are pretty good that we'll be sweetening our coffee and breakfast with maple syrup this year. Also, I just calculated that I only need one case of syrup (spare) to pay my property tax this year. I wonder what happens if I go into the county office and plunk one on the counter? If they won't take it then I can just stand in the parking lot with a sign until the case is sold. Give them the cash. "Keep the change!", I'd wink.

It's funny how a day searching around in the bush with a brace, hammer and buckets can change your perspective on things. Yesterday afternoon we drove back from the land and kept spotting good Maple trees *without* sap buckets on them and wondering why. Might be poison, too close to the city we figure.

Moderator? Please rename this topic to "Dave writes notes to himself about his sap" (just kidding).

The weatherman says that tomorrow and a few days after that should be perfect for getting our sap. So we are going back tomorrow to see what (if anything) collected in the buckets over the past week and start hauling sap.

I have to remember to make it a point to put a saw in my pocket when I head out. There are no paths to some of our trees and I know from experience that I'll want to add some as we go along. It's one thing to walk around in the bush taping trees, something else again to walk around carrying fifty pounds of sloshing sap.

Making trails and cleaning up the bush will serve an additional purpose. I'm not like one of those guys that you see with his firewood carefully cut and stacked for the season. Too lazy. I'm hoping to find enough snags, dead fall and other assorted stove wood along the paths I make to boil the sap. Next year I'll have my stack ready. But not because I'll get less lazy, I'll just have more time, and there are an awful lot of inappropriate trees around the place.

We were at the land for three days and managed to gather about 10 litres of sap. That boils down to about 1/4 litre (half a pint) of Maple Syrup. The reason? Freezin! There was also a huge wind storm on the second day. I suppose that all of the weather that was causing tornadoes in the South was finishing up above our heads. We have a moderate shelter though and were able to stay out of it.

The weather forecast is for warm again tomorrow. Since I still don't believe that Environment Canada will ever get the forecast right I am not holding my breath -or- planning to go to the land until I have sat through one whole day of above Arctic conditions. That may be as early as tomorrow evening, if it is then we will be spending the night boiling sap and drinking whiskey

We did manage a wild harvest augmentation of some note. Since there was very little sap I used most of it to make brown beans. Beans cooked in sap instead of water are FANTASTIC! Normally I would use water, molasses, salt, mustard powder, brown sugar and vinegar. When I used sap I was able to leave out the sugar. I also added a good portion of uncured side pork. When you are standing in a cold place a hot bowl of sweet, fatty beans cooked in Maple sap is wonderful.