When I came home from work on Friday, I saw Newfs and the blonde beast along the edge of our woodlot...I also saw the gleam of silver buckets! Will set fifteen taps and buckets and the sap is pouring out on these perfect sugaring days of days above 40 degrees F and nights below freezing. It has been a beautiful weekend. The chickens are getting much braver about roaming through the snow now that it is melting. The meltoff is allowing some minor stream action in this sandy soil that we only see at this time of year.
Where are the photos you ask? SOMEONE left the camera sitting on her desk at work because she had to show off photos of the new rooster...but that is for another post.
Yum, I used some MacKinnon Moonshine yesterday!
ReplyDeleteThe rooster picture is gorgeous, I see why you took your camera to work! :) Will look forward to seeing those "sugaring" buckets! Some day we're going to try to tap a maple - do you cook yours down in a special place, or in the kitchen? I've heard it is best to have a sugar shack, but wondered if it could easily be done outside as well over an open flame?
ReplyDeletehope it is going well :)
Hi Tonya,
ReplyDeleteWe start the boiling process outside using a boiler that Will made from found scrap materials that were dumped in an old barn. The main body is an old 40's style refrigerator that he took the door off of and cut a hole in the bottom. That is set on its back and dug partially into a sandy hill that had a cut in it already. The door on the bottom of the fridge was an old iron coal chute door that was also found in the barn. We bought a beautiful rectangular stainless steel pan that fits perfectly on top of where the door was on the refrigerator. I'll have to dig up a photo to post- it is too funny to look at but didn't cost us anything besides the pan! Outside over a protected flame would work fine...some people build a little stove out of cinder blocks, build a fire underneath it and put the pan right on the blocks. We finish the syrup on the kitchen stove with the fan on (to prevent sticky steam from building up).
This year is a short sap season- the temps have been too high to get much of a run! I'll get some photos up of the sugaring buckets...they are pretty! It has been a great family tradition and we get the kids involved as much as possible. They also like drinking the sap out of the buckets...