The sap is dripping steadily from our little clump of maples so spring for me is officially here. These are the only maples on the whole 8 acres and they are not that old so in order not to stress them too much I only tap every other year. What a pleasant sound, the rhythmic plink plink into the buckets. Tomorrow I'll gather in the sap and it will simmer slowly on the wood stove with each days' accumulation added, till at seasons end in a couple of weeks or so, there will be a couple of small bottles of dark amber syrup for our crepes and pancakes. We dont get much with only 4 taps and a boil down ratio of 40 to 1, but its a welcome taste of spring to chase the winter blahs.
I look forward to mud season, the snow is melting ever so slowly and puttering chores are beginning to present themselves...turning over the sun warmed soil in the greenhouse, still too cold at night to seed anything yet...messing about in the pond...
I duct taped a colander to a broomstick handle and spent a happy hour scooping algae and old leaves off the pond bottom, must get some snails to eat the algae..
Theres still 2-3 feet of snow in the raspberries and blackberries so pruning them will have to wait another couple of weeks. I feel like Im coming out of hibernation like the bears. Looking for outdoor things to do while the inside work piles up.
How wonderful to make your own syrup!!
ReplyDeleteHa, I love your homemade algae scooper,too:))
Lovely post, as ever. I managed to get out and prune a few roses, but that's about it. Too early for much else. More and more of the bulbs I planted are making an appearance.
ReplyDeleteI envy you both the maples for tapping and the pond. What a lot of fun!
How fun to have the sap that you can make into your own syrup. I bet that tastes wonderful!
ReplyDeleteah competing with jean-marc are you with your maple syrup... yummmy! One of the best tastes of Spring!!!
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