Winner

I am happy to announce the winner from our maple give-away! The winner is MaryS! Mary if you could contact me through fb or email I'll get you your syrup. For the rest of you please contact us at jjhamberg (at) gmail (dot) com for purchase options!

I hope in the next week to have full write ups ready of our very tasty and limited syrup. This has not been a good year for sugaring and most of our syrup we are reserving for ourselves (pancakes are very popular here, especially ones with blueberries in it from our own bushes). I can tell you that we have have two types: a light and medium/dark. According to what I have been reading on-line most consumers would rather have a light syrup on their pancakes vs the darker, sweeter syrup we prefer. What do you prefer?

Maple Give-Away

In celebration of canning our first few batches of maple syrup we are giving away one 1/2 pint of 100% Pure Maine Maple Syrup! 

To enter simply leave a comment on this post anytime between now and April 7th. Make sure to leave your name in your comment so that you can be notified. Only one entry per person please!

1 random winner will be chosen on April 7th via the random number generator at 9pm EST. The winner will be notified through a post the following Monday (April 9th) and will have one week to respond before a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck!

In the Woods

There are signs of spring wherever we look. The ice is broken on the "bog", water is flowing free under the bridge, the piles of snow are melting, and we can walk out to the taps. 

It's actually unfortunate that we can walk to the taps, we prefer to take the snow machine out into the woods. Right now all our taps run into buckets on each individual tree. As we look toward the future we'd like to get lines that will run from tree to tree and into a central location for collection. 

The sap is slowly dripping it's sweetness from the trees. Today Dad spent some time working outside and boiling down more sap. He brought in several large yogurt containers inside to finish boiling at a later date. We haven't had a "good run" yet of sap, but expect one soon.

Plans are being finalized as to the amount of fencing to put up this year. It looks like the chickens and ducks are going to get about 100 foot square yard to run free in, which include the duck pond, some shade trees, a little hill, and a lot of grass to scratch in.

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.

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.