Monday, February 28, 2011

Aaaaand Exit Sun

It was nice while it lasted yesterday, but alas, the sun was but a brief visitor. It was cloudy again by mid-afternoon and this morning I woke up to pouring rain. I haven't actually been out in it, but it sounds as if the rain is occasionally morphing into the freezing variety of rain.

Cozy.

But! A. did collect about three gallons of sap yesterday when he emptied the buckets on the maple trees, and that wasn't even at the end of the day. I'm not sure how much we have total including earlier collections, but it's not yet enough to get the huge wood-fired evaporator going. I think that thing will hold 30 gallons at a time. From 30 gallons of sap, most people plan on getting maybe three-quarters of a gallon of maple syrup. Which sounds like a lot, until you know that it took us only about four months to go through a gallon of maple syrup that the MiL brought home from her last seed potato expedition. And that was with me rationing A. to some extent.

He really loves maple syrup.

Actually, we all love maple syrup. So fingers crossed that we continue to have good sugarin'* weather--that is, sunny days above freezing and nights below freezing--for at least a few weeks to come. We have a lot of sap to collect if we're going to satisfy our syrup addiction.

* Sugarin' is like huntin'. If you say the terminal "g," you cannot successfully engage in the activity.
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4 comments:

  1. flaskFebruary 28, 2011 at 9:28 AM

    yeah.

    the asterisked note is the key element here.

    you know that joke, the one about the vt farmer compared to the NH farmer and the squirrel in the sap bucket? they tell it EXACTLY the same way in both states.

    word verification: kaologen = a volatile oxidizing compound made with clay

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  2. FinnyKnitsFebruary 28, 2011 at 1:01 PM

    OK, I am riveted by this sugarin' process. Of course, we can't do any of this where I live, which is probably why it's so exciting.

    Are you also stocking up on pancake makins? Because that's the first thing I'd want to do with maple syrup.

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  3. rlsFebruary 28, 2011 at 4:51 PM

    I hereby DEMAND the joke about the farmer and the squirrel in the sap bucket.

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  4. flaskMarch 1, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    ok...

    the difference between a VT farmer and a NH farmer?

    a vermonter goes out to collect his sap and finds a dead squirrel in his sap bucket. so he tosses the squirrel aside and pours the sap in the collecting bin.

    the new hampshire farmer wrings the squirrel out before tossing it.

    word verification: eches = lesser-known plural of echo

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