Today

:: Some ducks have been visiting us off and on.

:: Plants were purchased: tomato, pepper, cabbage, Brussel sprouts

:: The blossoms on the pear tree have since fallen off and little tiny pears are not far behind

:: The blueberry bushes look like they have pale blueberries on them.

:: On Thursday the chicks arrive!

Iris

When I got downstairs this morning I said to my Mom, "What is all that stuff on the ground?"

Straight faced she answered, "Oh that? It's frosting. Snow is coming tomorrow though."

I'll let you know if she is right or not, I'm hoping for not....

3-29-12 --just another layer of frosting overnight--

It Drips

Got some encouraging news when we checked the sap buckets. It's running!

Preparing

We are all busy fixing, planning, shifting, sugaring, collecting, mapping, counting, celebrating, dreaming, reading, learning, and discussing.

There is an air of energy, preparation, and expectation in the house.

• Preparing to have one less person in the house as Ben has started the process of moving out. 
• Preparing a map of the back yard as we plan out things like: fences, coops, and gardens. 
• Preparing for the future as Dad considers almost doubling our taps to 100, if he and Jason could make a few more roads this summer. 
• Preparing for canning by sending Jason to work with an order for jars and lids.
• Preparing the living room to open it up for daycare as we have decreased their space when we increased the family size.
• Preparing to switch gears from winter to spring.
• Preparing ourselves for a "baby" who keeps getting older and will in a year be officially "full grown".
• Preparing a lists: seeds that we have, seeds we need to purchase, and plants to buy when it's time.

First Day of Sugaring

A few days ago Jason went out and collected sap from our thirty taps. He happened to collect on a cold day and it was all frozen. He managed to get all the buckets emptied despite their frozen state and bring them back to the garage where it will be boiled down. We estimate (hard to do with frozen product) that we have about ten gallons to start. These ten gallons will be carefully boiled until it is reduced down to one quart. 

Today was our first boiling day and Dad spent most of the day getting the stove together and testing out a few additions to his wood furnace. The next time they go out to boil and it's sunny we will take some better pictures. Today we are in the middle of a slow moving snow storm and it was not the best day for taking photos.

Escape Artist

Little Sister is away in New Hampshire with a cousin riding trails on snowmobiles. My parents are away also in New Hampshire visiting friends leaving myself and my brother, Ben, in charge of things until they get back (my husband is working). Everything was going smooth until last night. The wind whipped and roared and either my sisters "dog" took the opportunity to mess with the electric ribbon or the wind did it for him, either way he was not in his yard this morning. He was out in the daycare area, the lawn, checking things out and looking for something to eat. At one point when my brother went to go encourage him back in his own yard he had his muzzle in a bag of grain inside his hay barn. 

Foolish horse.

Saturday Snaps

Sugaring has Begun

There was quite a bit of activity in the shop this morning as Dad got to work repairing and upgrading the sap sled. The Sappers: Dad, Big Ben, or Little Sister pull the sled behind them on the snowmobile as they visit all the taps out in the woods. This little sled needs to be sturdy enough to pull the large buckets of glorious sap this spring.

Dad tapped the big silver maple in the door yard this morning to see if any sap was running. A steady drip fell into our buckets all day. Not enough to boil by any means, but enough to get excited. The greatest part about sugaring is bringing it in for the finishing boil and filling the house up with that sweet maple smell. We are looking forward to the sweet smell of success.

This is only a portion of all that is left of last years batch. There is a hearty gallon or more in the cupboard, plus the few we took out to sell. There is no specific grade to our syrup, and one batch differs greatly from the next; but for home grown, boiled, and process it's all tasty.