Here I go again, apologizing for being such a slacker. The month of March has been a bit hectic and it is only now that I can finally sit down with some peace and quiet. No doubt, that will bring the wee one out of his afternoon slumber!
March is Sap Season here in New England and that is most of what has kept me tied up this past month. If you were around last year at this time, maybe you read my post Water + Dirt + Snow = ? Well, it's happened again.
Mud season in NH. The cousins were enjoying a warm, muddy day down at the sap house. My in-laws are sugar makers (aka, they make that sweet, golden stuff you pour all over your pancakes!). No, it's not Aunt Jemima, though my sister found an interesting article about why Americans prefer the fake stuff. Not cool if you're a sugar maker! We want people to eat the real thing. How can you resist this stuff?
Anyway, the sap season for us begins with setting up the tubing lines all over the sap orchard, as well as a few stands of trees around town. Easy enough to do if you're not trekking through 3 feet of snow. I caved and bought these snazzy snow shoes this year instead of tripping all over in my father-in-law's giant ones!
Even with these, it was exhausting work! Keep in mind, we're not just walking around, we're carrying buckets of gear, ladders, etc. And there's usually a galumphing beast with us! This is the neighbor's new "puppy" Stoli! Super cute and friendly, but the size of a horse!
So, the lines are up, wood has been split and stacked, evaporator test-fired. Now we wait. And wait. And this year, wait some more. Sugar makers prefer cold nights, around 28 degrees and warm days, around 42 degrees. This forces the sap to run. Unfortunately, this March was so horribly cold, it rarely reached these ideal days. Until this past week. And now it's running like crazy! Thank you Mother Nature! (pretty sure we had been saying a lot of nasty things about her lately!)
This is what it looks like on a warm day, running through the tubing into the collection tank. Lots of bubbles makes us happy!
Every March, NH Maple producers sponsor Maple Weekends throughout the state and last weekend hit my in-laws neck of the woods. Unfortunately, we hadn't made much syrup by that point and the weather started out snowy and cold, but people still came! It's a wonderful chance for us to visit with long-time friends and family and show off a unique process to those who have never seen it in action. I think I say it every year, but I wish I could bottle the smell inside the sap house when we're at full fire stage and syrup is coming off!
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My husband is the 5th generation sugar maker and I guess that makes the boys the 6th generation if they chose to keep it going, which we all hope they do! We even made it into the local paper...that's my hubby on the front page!
A few pics from last weekend and now I'm off to Easter prep. Carrot cake cupcakes and bunny rolls. Pics to come!
Grampy checking the sugar content
warming syrup for samples
final product
Grammy and Brent
Ben checking the buckets
annual sap house family photo (maybe Ben will look at the camera some day!)
P.S. if you ever want more info on our farm or to buy syrup, check out our FaceBook page
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