It's Sugar time!

As I stated yesterday on my blog, a lot can happen around here in 24 hours.  My hubby brought in some pictures for me to use on the blog and I was having a time getting them loaded where I needed them from the camera he brought me - while I was fiddling with that - he comes flying in the house and says "get ready, we have to go tap trees".  Now that does not mean we are going to play some simple childhood game where we run from tree to tree tapping them.  No, that means we have an afternoon of work laid out in front of us.

So by tapping the trees - I mean it is maple sugar time.  Now I know some of you are saying, gee, she did this before, didn't she?  and yes, I did, and yes, you need to realize that much of what we do here "on the ranch" is repetitive!  However, each year it is different.  This year, tapping the trees was wonderful!  No snow on the ground - easy walking through the woods and pleasant shirt sleeve weather!  Wonderful.  In the picture above, Steve is gathering all the buckets, to be wiped and readied to go hang on the trees.  Now realize that we are a very small hobby tree tapper :)  We have a friend that Steve went to school with that has a big sugar shack, as well as an evaporator and Steve loves to go visit Jim and just stand there and drool at all the equipment.  However, we do this mainly for our own enjoyment of the end product:

Our own pure maple syrup - lousy picture - but you get the idea.  After the buckets were all cleaned, we loaded them in the truck and with all the other equipment headed off to the woods.  The worse part of this is getting alllllllllll the buckets UP the hill without making a dozen trips.  So once again, we loaded about 16 buckets on two pieces of wood, I took the lead, with Steve bringing up the rear and up we headed on the steep, slick hill lugging 16 buckets. 

The delightful hill:

Looks much better from the top looking down

Look at that shadow - if only the ground hog was here!  Oh yeah - like that would really work anyway!

Here we are lugging them on the flat land to the trees and yes yes - my camera has the timed setting - cool!

The first thing we have to do, or rather Steve has to do, is drill a hole in the tree for the spigot to fit in:

Let me point out something unusual for you

If you look closely and I do mean closely, you will see small circles in the tree - there are about three of them in a line - those are were woodpeckers have worked to dig in the tree for bugs.  In the early spring when the hummingbirds return, where the sap is flowing, down trees, they can get a 'drink' of sugar water and locate insects that are drawn to that - just a little side note with the sugar sap.

Then the sap lines are put into the holes in the top of the buckets - immediately we could hear the sap start dripping - I tried about 12 times to get a picture of the sap dripping out but I consistently missed it.  All I got was a picture of Steve's hand with sap all over it where he was trying to help me get a picture of it.

Then we needed more buckets - so ofcourse that meant another trek back down that awful hill and then back up it - so I was nominated to make that trip - We only needed 2 - 3 more buckets and 5 more hoses so off I went - when I returned, I found my husband comfortably sitting on a tree log waiting and I sweetly said "Oh I guess I went to make the 2nd trip because I'm younger and in better shape" - he just as sweetly replied "That or you are heavier and needed the extra exercise"!  Gotta love him!  He ofcourse said - I'll be paying for that won't I?  and he did - he made the third trip down - not me !  While I was waiting on him to lug back up the hill I located this tree:

If you look hard in the shadow at the top of this tree you can see a large hole - I would stake money on the fact that this is an owl tree.  When Steve returned I asked if he heard owls here in this part of the woods and he said that he did.  This is the perfect type of tree to find them in. Back on track - we finished up tapping and setting up the trees and then headed to my parents to tap a few of their trees and here's what we found - now remember, it is February.

This is a priceless picture - mom and dad sitting in lawn chairs on the 3rd of February by a fire - roasting marshmallows no less!!! I didn't get a picture of Steve roasting a marshmallow and realized that after the fact.  Here's hoping we are doing the same thing next February.  While we were there we also noticed the turkey vultures are back - Hallelujah.  Spring must be coming early.  Well, that's all for another adventure with Steve on Saturday!  See you back next week as we have something ready to go if I can just figure out how to get the pictures where they need to be.  Have a great week-end.  I'm going to be enjoying some Steel cut oats cooked in maple syrup!  Yummm!

Comments

[Mary L]

Thank you, Kathy and Steve. You never disappoint me !!!

Reading about the sap and the woodpeckers made me wonder -- could the "raw" sap be used in hummingbird feeders?

[Bev Wolverton]

I enjoyed that trip to the top of the hill. Thanks for taking me along. And educational as well. ;)

[dominique nashed]

i lov to learn,and thank you to show us for the maple syrup and the owl

[Terri D]

Love, love , love reading about this adventure. Maybe at some point there might be an adventure class on the ranch
: > ) LOL

[Casey]

...and we are getting hammered with snow today! :) Guessing that means you will be getting some cooler weather in a few days!

[Michelle P]

I love to read these. I've learned so much from your Saturdays with Steve

[Terri C.]

Thanks. You always have something interesting to share. It is certainly great that we were having this wonderful weather. I'll take a January like the one we had this year anytime.

[Wilda]

What a sweet pic or your parents and I'm SO jealous of your weather...and the fact that I got a visitors guide to WV yesterday that made me homesick. Now for the maple syrup. I'm one of the rare people who don't like it. Don't even like to smell it. It's alot of work to make it too. Just give me honey, girlfriend!!!!!! ;D

[Debbie Roupe]

Soooo interesting!

[Steven Hamrick]

You are still looking good honey you really did not need to walk back up the hill!