A Day of Gathering Sap and Boiling

Today we had to run the sap bags and empty them and boil up the collected sap.  It was a real chore, not only because of the deep snow, but by afternoon the temp had risen to about 40 something and the pathways in the woods were total mud.   The deep snow was wet slush.   Our leg muscles got very sore and overworked trudging through the snow and carrying the heavy buckets.  Harold drove the big tractor down the wood paths, but it made for a muddy trail.  We will be boiling until about 10 this evening to get the "near syrup".  We will be repeating the process every day that the sap runs. 
     We often wonder how long we'll be able to do this as we age!  It sure is a lot of exercise!  But we have spoiled ourselves with good maple syrup, and family members also love the good maple syrup.  Using that stuff the grocery store sells, like Mrs. Butterworth's, is horrible.  It is just corn syrup and coloring really.   There is nothing quite so wonderful as good pure maple syrup!   It is what God intended folks to put on their pancakes and waffles! We sell our syrup at our market booth in town, and also to friends and church members by word of mouth.   We are known to be one of the folks in the area that make maple syrup every year, so we have a good customer base.  It really is fun, in spite of the hard work.  It's just that this year with the deep snow, things are a little more difficult!
Here are some photos from today to show you how things went:

As the buckets fill up, we dump the sap into a large 55 gallon drum attached with chains to the bucket loader of our International Farmall 400 tractor.  We set a strainer into the lid of the drum to strain out twigs or leaves that get into the sap buckets.

Because we are using the bucket loader this year, we raise the bucket and open the drain of the drum directly into the bulk tank to empty the 55 gallon barrel. 

One of the paths in the sugarbush (the term used for maple trees along the woods path).  You can see several sap bags hanging from the trees.

Some of the paths are pure mud!  We need to wear high boots for this job!

This mud puddle is about 9 inches deep and just about came over the tops of my boots!

Harold is collecting sap from a tree by his sister's cabin in the woods.  She has property next to ours and we tap trees on her land also.   You can see how deep the snow is here.

Harold starts back down the path to another area.

Without our big tractor and chains we would never get through the paths this year.  Our smaller tractor wouldn't get through the deep snow and mud.

Big tires and big chains give plenty of traction through the snow and mud, but it sure messes up the yard!

Will our yard ever recover from these mud ruts?  Amazingly, yes, it will.  This section of yard isn't in the front yard, so we aren't too concerned.  By the time grass starts growing and I do lots of yard mowing all summer, you can't tell where these ruts were.  It just looks bad now!  Besides, we have a "country yard" - not a lawn of nice grass.

From time to time while boiling the sap, we need to skim off foam.  This is formed from the minerals in the sap.

You can see the foam beginning to form on the sap as it boils in the evaporator. 

And so, this is what we will be doing almost every day while the maple season lasts.   The sap will probably not run tomorrow, though, as the overnight temperatures will not be freezing.   We will get a day of rest!  The maple sap only runs into the bags when the overnight temperatures are below freezing (a good strong freeze) and the daytime temperatures are well above freezing.

So It Is Spring, Really??

This is the year of the never ending winter.   Just when we were beginning to see a few patches of grass in the yard, we got dumped on yesterday with another 5 inches of heavy wet snow.   It has been very difficult for us to do maple syrup this year.  The snow in the woods is deep - almost a foot deep - and getting around to tap trees and collect sap has been more work than pleasure.   We usually just take our little Lo-Boy tractor and a 55 gal drum around on the paths to collect sap, but this year we have to take the big tractor loader and chain the 55 gal drum to the bucket.  Even with chains on the tractor, it is hard to get around in the woods.   On Sunday we collected about 80 gallons of sap, so today Harold is boiling up the sap into finished syrup.  We boiled last week and got 9 pints of finished syrup.  But the season has lots of time yet, so we will get more sap, for sure.   The weather guys keep telling us that "warmer weather is coming", then they change the forecast.   Now we are supposed to get MORE snow this weekend! 
     Here's what our yard looks like as of today.  Harold has to dig the firewood out of the snow, too. 

Harold checking on the sap boiling in the evaporator.  You can see how much snow we have to fight this year for the maple season!

Just a few days ago we had actual patches of grass showing in the yard.   This new snow was not needed!

Even the cats are wandering around wondering where spring is!  Their house is just about buried in snow.

The trumpeter swans and geese are coming back, but there's no open water for them!  The lakes and ponds are still frozen over.

It may be snowy outside, but inside my living room things are growing!  I am SO anxious to get out into the greenhouse and gardens!

I have many trays of veggies and flowers growing nicely.   It cheers me up to see green things growing again!

Lots of green pepper plants.   This is a new variety called King of the North.  I usually grow King Arthur, but these peppers are supposed to grow better in colder climates like we have up here in northern MN.   I have to wonder why pepper varieties always use the word "King" in the title?  Must be psychology to make you think these plants are better??

It's That Time of Year Again!

Today I got to play in the soil!  I got my "garden fix" in anticipation for spring.  Up here in the north country we are pretty much sick and tired of winter and SO anxious for spring.   Those of us who enjoy gardening have been itching to get our hands into soil!  About this time of year I start several trays of plants from seed, and so I get to do a little bit of "indoor gardening" as I wait for the real outdoor gardening season.  Since I have a high tunnel greenhouse I can start many plants earlier than most gardeners.  I figure on getting into the greenhouse to plant things like carrots, lettuces, spinach and snow peas by early April.   This is about 6 weeks earlier than other outdoor plantings.   So I spent an enjoyable afternoon sorting through seeds, washing trays and containers to reuse this year, and putting seeds into potting mix!  Harold set up the sawhorses in the living room again, and the grow lights.  Right now I started plants that have long germination times and some that just take a long time to develop, such as peppers, herbs and some flowers.  In a couple weeks I will start the rest of everything like cabbages and tomatoes and certain other flowers like marigolds and Chinese lanterns.  It was GOOD to dig in the soil again!   The weather guys are predicting a nasty storm at the end of the weekend with rain, sleet, snow, wind and at least a foot of snow.   It will be good to watch things grow again, right in my own living room!

All set up for planting.  I like to use Miracle Grow potting soil, as it it clean and consistently gives good results.  Other (cheaper) soils have a lot of junk in it, like weeds, pieces of plastic or glass, and things just don't grow well in it. 

I buy some seeds from companies that sell non-GMO seeds like Johnny's, Pinetree Seeds and Jungs.  Some seeds I save myself because I try to plant heirloom varieties. (non-hybrid).  In the left tub I have carnation seeds from last year and in the right tub are mixed petunia seeds.  I put all the petunia seeds in one envelope every year, and when I remove the seeds from the pods, I am surprised every year at what colors grow.   I like surprises!

My grow light set up in the living room.   I have two long boards that will support about 20 trays of plants, and 4 grow lights.   I don't need the grow lights yet until the seeds sprout.  As the plants grow, I can adjust the height of the grow lights by moving the side support boards up as needed.

A closer view of one of the trays and grow lights.  When the seeds sprout and reach the top of the cover, I remove it and turn on the grow lights.

Yes, starting your own plants from seed is a lot of work, but it's fun - and sure saves a lot of money.   We save our own seeds from green beans, cucumbers, corn, flowers, winter squash, pumpkins, summer squash, peas and dry beans.  This year I hope to save seeds from tomatoes, too, and other flowers.   We also dig up and save bulbs from gladiolas, one of our favorite flowers.   I always search out varieties of non hybrid vegetables that we might enjoy and save the seeds.   You cannot save the seeds from hybrids.  I also enjoy many of the heirloom vegetables and flowers - sometimes those older varieties are the best!  And since they are also non hybrid, you can save the seeds on those, too.   Seed saving certainly cuts down on the cost of gardening.
     So let the snow come!  I have something to watch now................