More Sugar!



Maple Trees with their buckets to collect sap


Well, Logan got his chance to taste fresh maple syrup before the weekend even began! Our neighbours down the road, Paula and Joey, have a mini maple syrup operation right on their property. They have about 120 trees that they collect sap from to make the syrup. Joey was in the boiling phase so he invited us over to take a look.

I picked Logan and Joey's kids up from school and we headed to their house to start working. The boys were collecting sap from all the buckets on the maple trees and carrying it back to the garage where all the boiling process is done. They carried a few gallons back and then once the novelty wore off they decided to just play in the snow.

 

Logan and Korey gathering sap



dumping the sap

Martin and Mason showed up a little while afterwards to give a helping hand as well. I gathered a couple buckets, but I also had to run after Jacob so I wasn't much of a help with the loads. At least I kept Jakers occupied!


Joey pouring the syrup to be boiled one more time

 I was informed that the sugaring season can run anywhere from 3-5 weeks depending how early you want to begin and how thawed the trees are. It can take anywhere from 25-80 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of maple syrup! It takes 2-5 hours to boil a large vat of sap depending how thick you want the syrup. We got to taste the sap as well and it actually just tastes and looks like water! The whole process of boiling the sap is to boil off the water so just the sugar remains.

Once all the collecting was complete we stayed in the sugar shack for an impromptu dinner. Paula, on her way home from work, had picked up a couple of pizzas to chow down on. It was so yummy!!!! She bought it at a place in Newport, VT called Hoagies. It was my first time having this pizza and you can be sure that it won't be my last! Although Steve's pizza in town is starting to grow on me, Hoagies wins hands down!

The real treat was the dessert. We made sure to leave the crust of our pizza to soak in the boiling syrup! Yes!!!! They actually dunked the crust into the syrup that was boiling off the water. The sugar gave it a fresh donut taste which was very delicious! Gotta love maple syrup!

Jacob held on tight to two pieces of crust. The one in his right hand was dunked in syrup and the one in his left hand was plain. I think he liked the sweet and salty effect! Paula told me that they even cook the hot dogs in the syrup some nights and steam the buns right over what is being boiled. MMMMMMMM Maybe one night next week we will check that out!



It was 7:15pm when we actually left the shack. Between being outside and getting warmed up by the fire inside the shack, we had spent 4 hours enjoying syrup and conversation with our neighbours!  Thankfully it was wonderful spring like weather so the cold didn't really chill us. Sure beat the snow storm we have been getting all day today!

With all the fresh air and running around the boys slept very well last night. Jacob did wake up at 4 am this morning, but he took a 3 hour nap in the morning and another 1hour nap in the afternoon!  That meant I got to work out, have a shower and catch up on some house chores in the morning, then in the afternoon I took a nap too! Woohooo! 



Okay now I am ready for the spring to begin!

Blessings

Lee-Anne

The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.                                                                                     - Psalms 33:5





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