Maple Love

This was the first year that our maple operation was 100% my own. After a bit of trouble to get a working drill, the kids and I tapped three trees on March 10th, which is about one month later than what  was typical for us due to freezing temperatures (ie: the coldest February in 80 years).

For some reason two of the three trees were having yellow sap from the get-go. In years past these particular trees were usually our super-producers. This made no sense to me, since it was no where near warm enough for them to start blooming (the usual reason for yellow sap) but after a few days of the same – just some small yellow drips – I pulled the taps out. Now I just had one tree left.

On March 17th I boiled my first batch of sap on the kitchen stove.

In total I had 5 small batches of sap to boil during my short five-week sugaring season. The batches are shown (from left to right) first to last.

Batch 1 was beautifully clear sap but I made a rookie mistake and boiled it for too long making it more like candy. It's already starting to crystallize.

Batch 2 was yellow sap. I'm not sure why it happened maybe because it froze and then thawed while in the bucket thanks to temperature swings. I was almost going to throw it out but my husband suggested I try it. He even tasted it and said he liked it so here it is, super dark. At least I didn't over boil it so it's more like syrup instead of honey.

Batch 3 was a mix of some slightly yellow sap with a second run of clearer sap. It turned into a medium syrup but it was a very small amount.

Batch 4 was crystal-clear sap and boiled to a good consistency, however there is a ton of sandy sediment at the bottom that I should strain out.

Batch 5, the last one, was also beautifully clear sap but the smallest amount yet. I boiled it to a good consistency and the color is amazingly light, just like Batch 4, but batch five has less sediment at the bottom. Perhaps that is only because it hasn't been sitting in the fridge as long.

I pulled the tree tap yesterday because even the nighttime temperatures were supposed to be above freezing. That is not sugaring weather. 

 Yet the next morning I, along with the rest of Northwestern VT, woke up to this:

Maybe sugaring season is not quite over, but I am over sugaring season.

Field trip Fallout

Yesterday Big Bro came home from a birthday party feeling under the weather. That night he fell asleep unusually quickly at bedtime and had a fever and cough. Unsurprisingly, the next morning he wasn't feeling that much better. Regretfully and reluctantly I told him he better stay home from preschool today.

 It was a bad day for missing preschool because his class was going to the Flynn Theater to see "Harold and the Purple Crayon." Around the time that his class would be getting on the bus to the Flynn Big Bro started to perk up and I seriously questioned my decision. He was aware of what he was missing and feeling quite sad about it.

So if he couldn't go to Harold, I decided I would bring Harold to him. We started by reading the book, twice. Then I taped white paper to the wall so he could draw Harold's adventure himself. He happily told me the story as he explained his picture, even getting some of the book phrases perfectly. 

Lil Sis and I made our own version called "Harriet and the Brown Crayon" in which Harriet and her puppy go on an adventure. They are following the sun when they come upon a big scary dog. Harriet's hand starts to shake with fear and creates water. She quickly draws a canoe for her and her puppy to get in and paddle to land. Then she discovers she is hungry so draws a peach tree and peach pie. She and her puppy eat their fill, then she draws a bear to finish the rest. Next she draws a mountain to climb but falls off when she is looking at the bright sun. Similar to Harold's balloon, she draws herself a hang glider for her and her puppy to get safely back to the ground. Then they decide they want to go home so they draw their house and then play with another dog named Peppy.

The next activity was to make a pie like Harold's 9 pies and Harriet's peach pie. I had an old piecrust in the freezer from Thanksgiving. We had the ingredients to make a chocolate cream pie, a first for us. 

Then Nini graciously went out to get heavy cream so we can make whipped cream to serve with it. It's now cooling in the in the fridge and I haven't heard any more sad remarks about missing the field trip. Parenting win.

We sampled it with fresh whipped cream after lunch. It was still a bit warm, so not as pudding like as it should have been, but it was still delicious.