faq's-maple syrup part 2

Now for the good stuff! If you missed yesterday and have questions about the sap end of it, scroll on down and read the post I did yesterday.

How does sap become maple syrup? It boils down for hours to get the water content out of it and leave the sugar content. In that process it turns brown. We boil the sap in the saperator until it reaches the temperature of  about 216 degrees. At that point there is about 2.5 gallons of maple syrup in the finishing off pan. We draw it off and as we draw it off we add sap from the boiling pan into the finishing off pan and when the temperature drops we know to stop the flow and bring the pan into the house. From there we check to see if we are floating any bricks. Bricks? Yes. We use a tall stainless steel test cup and a hydrometer and when the syrup is at 216 degrees and the right consistency it will float 60 bricks. That is when it's ready. If it's not floating 60 bricks I continue to boil it down until it is at the 60. When it is all done and ready to be bottled... I make sure the bottles are washed, the lids are hot and the screw covers are ready. As well as the "sock" to strain it through to keep any more tree dirt out of the finished product and make it look nice! My husband comes in to hold the sock and I dump in the maple syrup. Once strained it's bottled and covered to seal. Last year I had a video I put up of some of the process of sugaring. Not this year.

Are there any other tools you can use? Yes. It is called a refractomerter. Sounds painful I think. You take some of your syrup and put a little drop on the end slide and look up to the light. It will tell you the sugar density of your syrup. Kinda fun. We have used it before.

Are there different colors of maple syrup? Yup. For Maine it's graded from Fancy Grade A Light Amber, Grade A Medium Amber, Grade A Dark Amber, and Grade B in color. You can buy a kit every season and grade it. We never have. In the early part of the season it's lightest, then as the season goes on it gets darker.

Does it taste different due to the color? Yes. Each one has a slightly different flavor.

How do you bottle it? We usually use mason jars. But we have used the plastic jugs in quart size before.

Does the size of the bottle change the color? Yes. The thicker the glass the darker it looks. That's why lots of producers use the fancy bottles to show the beautiful color.

Does the type of year you have effect the price? Yes. Some producers go up. Most times it's around $50-$60 a gallon.

Do you sell it? Yes.

That is all I can think of for now.

As you can see there is a lot of work to be done from start to finish. This has been a really bad year like I said yesterday. Our taps are being pulled this afternoon and everything washed and put to bed for the year. If you have any questions feel free to ask or email me at oursweetlandfarm@gmail.com
I will do my best to answer any and all questions you have.
Have a great day all!

faq's-maple sap part 1

 I get asked about maple syrup/sap. I figured I would answer a few questions here about the sap end of it, then do a maple syrup one tomorrow. Just to leave you in suspense!

How many gallons of sap to maple syrup? It's a 40-1 ratio.

How much maple syrup do you get a year? Well first it depends on how many taps we put out. This year we put out 50. So we should get about 12.5 gallons of maple syrup. And the other huge factor is the weather.

So what about the weather? It needs to freeze at night, below 32, and be above freezing during the day. 40 is nice.

How long does the season last? Well usually about 4 weeks or so. Some start in early- mid Feb and go until sometime in March.

How do you know when the trees are done? Well, the sap can do a few things. It can be cloudy looking. Or the sap turns a pee colored yellow.  Oh gross I know! But it's true.

How do you clean the sap? Believe it or not the sap can have tree dirt in it, as well as twigs and bugs. So we run it through a filter before it goes into the saperator. Then once it is all done and ready to be put into jars we run it through a sock type of filter.  That way there is little to none of the tree dirt/sediment in the bottom of the jars.

How do you know if the sap you have has spoiled? It's feels slimy, and looks kinda like soap, gets bubbly.  Really. Oh and it can stink too.

What about this year? It really was a bad year all around. We had on open winter (not a lot of snow). And the temperature was just not right. It would be really cold during the night, and then the day it wouldn't warm up enough. Or it would be too warm.

How long does it take to boil it down? A long time! haha. We have a commercial saperator that will boil about 10 gallons an hour. So that is pretty sweet! Our homemade one we used the first years would do about 5. So we've doubled our production!

How long have you been doing this? About 8 years. We have really come a long way in our production and quality of maple syrup we make now. We are pleased with everything we have learned over the years and thankful.

Does the whole family pile in the car and drive up and down the road everyday it runs, lug pails to and fro, then drive back home and empty it all out into big barrels to boil down? Why yes we do. It a family affair ya know!

That is all the questions I can think of for the sap end of it. Let me know if you have any and I'll be glad to answer. I'll post one about the maple syrup part tomorrow time provided!
Have a great night all!

tappin tree

Finally! We put out our taps this morning. 50 in all. Not as many as last year, but with the winter being an open one we decided not to. Open meaning lack of snow. I'm hopeful we have a good run, even if it's only two weeks. We did put them out a little later this year due to life being what it is this year. Usually have a good run in March though! So I'm praying we have a good run and we are literally running to keep up with the sap! It was running really well this morning, so that was encouraging! Here are a few note worthy pics! And a video! I just love that noise!!

 This is a new tap this year. I just liked the way it looks going down a rather steep slope. I thought it would make a nice picture.

Takes time and patience to get this photo! I like the drip on the end! I was also determined to get this picture!

My girl tapping her favorite tree

My baby tapping her favorite tree. She needed a little help from Daddy.

Down low enough for her to get it off the hook.

My boy likes to drink the sap as it comes out. Actually they all do. This is his tree.

My girl tapping her tree. They all have their own "special" tree they like to tap.

Have a great day~

it's ready

What's up with this picture? Such a dreary day today. The fog is so thick and the air is very heavy.

Actually this is the roof of our little sap house! We got our new roof jack and chimney installed. (It's the silver thing, just in case you didn't know). And when I say we I mean Matthew did it. I was off having fun with some friends making Christmas cookies while he was putting this on. Thankfully our son was home helping him, just in case, on the ground mind you! Now there were four moms and 14 kiddos! That equals lots of sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, and frosting! Go figure! Had a blast! It's always fun to get together with friends and kiddos and cook, especially this time of year. Actually the kiddos put a little cookie with their frosting! Sorry I forgot my camera, so no pictures. But by the end of the day they were all pumped up on sugar! And wanted to do it again next year!!
Anyways, now we are ready for maple syrup season, even though it's months away. I don't know if ya'll remember but we bought a commercial evaporator last year, and had that "learning curve" with it. Having the chimney pipe be at two 90 degree angles would not work properly with it. It wouldn't get a good rolling boil and stay boiling. So it needed one straight line up, now it's in and waiting for the boiling to begin!  Looks good don'tcha think? I'm now looking forward to the spring when we can start the season!
Have a great day all!

Alright, so I find myself at home with 6 girls! Aahhhhahaha. The ages are 2-7 yr olds, 2-5 yr olds, and 2-3yr olds! It's like having 3 sets of twins!!  I'm not quite sure how it all happened, but it's been interesting to say the least. They are all on the floors in the bedrooms, far from sleeping at this point... maybe before midnight they'll be asleep!
I've been very busy with the farm, running with the sap, and chickens, oh the chickens! They require a lot, and we have just gotten 25 Cornish X Rocks yesterday. So far they are doing well. I went to a Pampered Chef party last night at my sister in laws. I was late getting there because Matthew was getting the chickens and we had to get them settled before we left. I had done all the barn chores as well because he was late getting back home, and I still had on all my barn clothes and ran out to give the cow some water before we left and we are in the midst of mud season here and I had on my rubber boots. Little Matt asked me as we were driving down the road "your going to wear your muck boots Mommy?" Well at that point I didn't have a choice, so I said "looks like it." Oh well, guess I wouldn't have won any fashion contests but I enjoyed myself and the gals that were there are used to me, and take me the way I am! I think that's a good thing! I was told I didn't smell like a cow, so I guess that's good... I wasn't too concerned about it. I think I'm getting more comfortable with who I am and just "wearing my own shoes" so to speak.  The new laying hens are still getting used to their new home. The older laying hens are still getting used to them being out there with them.We haven't had any problems so far, they really don't pay any attention to them, and the little ones haven't tried perching on their perch yet, so we'll see how it goes.  I hope they all just stay friendly and don't have too much of a pecking order problem.
Thankfully the sap season will end for us tomorrow. We are pulling the taps and will be cleaning them and putting the stuff away until next year. We still have some sap to boil, but will be done with collecting. It's been a great year and the sap has really flowed well, compared to last year. We had that learning curve, but figured it would happen, but now we know what to fix and what to do, so next year will be better. I think thus far we have finished off 10-11 gallons of syrup. I have lost track and I like to keep track of all that stuff for my own personal records. I told Matthew I look forward to the season and I also look forward to the end. No more running and the days and nights are warmer and summer can come anytime now! He said he feels the same way.
We have gotten 2 pigs this week as well. Currently they are over at my in laws, but will be coming home when we have their pen ready, they are cute, white ones. I have no idea what breed they are, but most piglets are cute, I think. I don't have a picture of them yet, but I'll get one on here when I do. I like to refer to them as sausage and bacon. Don't want to get too attached to them...
I do have a picture of the broilers though. Chicks are cute too.

Sorry about the color, the heat light is on them. Cute little fuzzy butts!

Here they are!  Cute!

Yes there is a lager black bird in there with them. This bird is one from the laying hens. Haven't figured out if its one of the hens or one of the exotic birds, but it's rather weak and we didn't dare turn it out with the others. So we are pampering it and hoping it will come around and gain some strength. The broilers just love it, snuggling right up under the wings, and the bird doesn't seem to mind at all. It actually perked up when the chicks were put in there! We'll see how it does.

finishing maple syrup, part 2

OK! Here is part two of the maple syrup videos! It's about 1min 16 sec I think. Hope you enjoy it! Yes it's me talking again, and I still sound like the Nanny! The temp of the syrup is about 216 degrees, and it's a 2 person job to filter it and get it in the jars, so I didn't get that in the video. It needs to be hot to help seal the jars. As maple syrup cools it actually shrinks a bit in the jars. In the video I couldn't remember the name of the "brick floater", but it's called a hydrometer. We got almost a full gallon from what I finished off this afternoon. Then I wrapped it in a big towel and let it sit for about 24 hours, and it's sealed and ready to be sold. As the year progresses in the sap the maple syrup gets darker in color. We have some customers that ask for the darker stuff because they like it better. It tends to be a little sweeter and thicker too!

boiling sap, part one...

OK, per the request of a few people I have  part one of a two part video of the boiling down process of sap. It's about 1 min 40 sec, so.. I hope you enjoy. Yes the voice talking is me, you'll have to forgive me I've had a head cold for 2 weeks and my voice sounds funny, to me anyways. I was in a hurry to get the maple syrup finished that I forgot, hard to believe I know, to video the rest of floating the bricks, filtering it to get the tree dirt out and bottling it part. So next time I finish some more maple syrup, maybe tomorrow,  I hope to get the second part on the blog!! I already downloaded the video once, but somehow I managed to delete it. So I'll try again! Me and the computer!! Auurrgghhh. I have a love hate relationship with it! So this is part one! Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed the video, and got the idea of the process of making maple syrup. We have enjoyed making it over the years and hope to continue for a long time to come! Remember that part two is coming!

catch up...

Well between home school, collecting, we have 75 taps, boiling and finishing off maple syrup, regular farm chores and house hold duties, not much else has been going on!! haha! I've been so busy these last few days, I haven't had time for much of anything other then my life. My head hits the pillow and I'm out, not to mention I have a horrible head cold! Going to the concert was great, and am so glad I went, that said now I feel like I'm playing catch up on everything else. I'm three days getting the laundry caught up, and way behind on the house work! But I guess house work is never really "done." At least for me it's not. I've been giving the kids a few more duties of house work too. At least the older two. They enjoy it, and ask for more, sometimes. Other times it's not received joyfully. I don't always joyfully clean my house either, I don't always enjoy it, I'd rather go clean the horses stalls or better yet take one out for a spin! Ha silly girl dreaming!

The past few days we have been putting TO (Time Out) out with Maggie. Neither one seems to really be thrilled with that idea. Maggie hangs out at the back fence line and TO pases the front line. We put out two different piles of hay for them and they switch back and forth. TO would winnie at anyone who walked out the door, drove down the street, or anything that moved. She'd come up to the fence and just wait for anyone to answer her, and to give her a rub on the head, and winnie again when you walk off. I love her voice, it's so different then Abby's, I like Abby's too though. They look at each other and walk the other way. Maggie has laid down a bit more today, and seems to be OK with TO, as long as she doesn't get too close while she's taking a snooze. Abby on the other hand seems to be enjoying her time without the pest with her. She's been laying down and will sprawl out and I watch her sigh as the warm sun hits her belly. And all the hay I put out she gets to eat and doesn't have to share it! But when I put TO back in with her at night, she greets her warmly, sniff noses, squeal and run around. Then are ready for their grain!

We had Maggie preg tested today, and it's official! She's with calf, and due October 12!!!!  The size of the calf is a little bigger then a softball! We were fairly certain that she was because she hasn't shown any sighs of coming into another heat, but we wanted to be sure, and now we know!! We are very excited about that too! The kiddos were out there and watched. Boy the birds and the bees come early on a farm!! A few more questions to answer and they were satisfied. One asked if it was a boy of a girl, we laughed and said hopefully a heifer! That was cute! So now we wait for October. She was 9 days late (I think it was 9 days) with her last one, so give or take a few days we'll have another birth on our farm! It's so exciting! Would love to see this one, we missed the first one. I'd like the kiddos to see it too. We'll see.

The boys went rabbit hunting with one of Matthew's brothers, for the afternoon. He has the dogs and all that and is right into hunting with his dogs. Tomorrow is the last day, and Little Matt really wanted to go, and it worked out for them to go today! He took the camera and I really hope they see something, I'm not too interested in eating a rabbit, or cooking one, so I don't care if they get one, but it would be fun for them if they did! So now the girls and I have the rest of the afternoon to do something. Maybe figure out what to eat for supper, I was going to make a pot roast, but forgot to get it going early this morning to cook all day. By the time I remembered it was almost 12. Oops. There is always tomorrow, but what to do about tonight??!!

fun, fun, fun!!!

I had such a blast at the concert! It was loud and just wonderful, I think I may need hearing aids when I'm old because of all the concerts I like to go to! I love concerts that rock and the bands are great and the singers sound better live then on the radio! Then you know it's gonna be good! There were a few drunks taken out of the concert area when the main event came on. Too bad for them, they missed a great show. I spent the night at my sisters house and well we didn't get much sleep, we sat up until 4am talking and laughing like school girls! Then we crashed. My head hit my pillow and I was out. I woke up at 8:40, I don't remember the last time I slept in. But seeing how I went to bed at 4 I don't think that is sleeping in!! One sister lives on a small farm, like me, only her farm is different then mine, if that makes any since. My other sister works, and is not a farm girl, at all, and she had to work last night, so she couldn't come. We missed her :-( Maybe next time! :-) So this morning after barn chores were done me my sister and her kiddos had some, imagine this, farm errands to run! So we hopped in the truck and away we went. The first stop was to get gas, then we went over to Dunkin Donuts. We needed coffee, or we wouldn't have made it! We went to a natural food store, I needed to get some stuff for my next project, because I don't have enough to do! and that was real nice. They had local products from local farms! Oh how I love that!!! Then we came back and I had to get going. I had some farm errands to run of my own. Silly, eerrr maybe a total blonde moment I had, I could have done them with her in town. We went to a farm store! Oy! Didn't even cross my mind! Guess that is what lack of sleep will do to me! So I drove all over the state of Maine and got my stuff done. When I got home I was greeted by my wonderful family with lots of hugs and kisses. I was told how much I was missed too! Even better! I managed to make pizza for supper with my eyes half closed, then got a few other house chores done and now here I sit, totally wiped out and ready for bed! But I have a few pictures I want to share about what I'll be up to tomorrow, and next week and I wanted to let you know how awesome the concert was! WOW!! I love Country music!

this was sitting on my stove when I got home. The on the right was there last night. They are all ready to be heated and put into jars!!! My project for tomorrow. Matthew will be helping. Right now to filter this and bottle it it takes two people.

yummy delishisness right there folks! ya it tastes as good as it looks too! right after I snapped the shot I ate what was in the spoon!! couldn't help my self!

any guesses?

This is my new project! Finally! Granted not everything I need it there, but most of it is. I'm going to make some cow milk soap! I have lots of milk around here, and I really want to try it. I've made goat milk soap before and I love it! I no longer have a goat, but have a cow and so now I'm gonna try it! I've read that Jersey milk is comparable to goat milk, b/c it has a high fat content and will be creamy. We shall see. I don't always believe everything I read... but I'm gonna try it on my family first and see what happens. Then see if I can scare up some more guinea pigs!! Maybe my in laws...

Anyways enough rambling on. I'm going to bed! Have a great night all!!

learning curve...

...gotta love it. gggrrrrr. Some times anyways. The new saperator wasn't working right. Not doing what it's supposed to do. After all the talking I did about how wonderful it is. It still is wonderful, and will be even more wonderful when it's fixed. These new fangled things have so many bells and whistles and gages and valves and buckets and filters that  they all have to be working together to make it work, not to mention that when you buy the thing it needs to be put together and all bricked up on the inside. Well it needed to have more of a flow, so the fire wasn't able to escape properly making the sap take forever to boil down. We had the man we bought it from come out and take a look at it and he told us how to fix the problem. We were very thankful for that. Now maybe we can get it going. Only a few bricks needed to be moved around. And when I say we I really mean Matthew is the one redoing it!  Yesterday Little Matt and I collected all the sap. All the buckets were full and overflowing! It took us a while, but we got it done! We got 11, 15 gallon buckets full of sap! So I guess the new learning curve came with putting it together to make it work. We figured we would have some sort of a trial with it, seeing how it's the first year with it. Hopefully the season will go smoother now that we have some wrinkles ironed out! I'll let you know!

I'm going to a concert tonight with a friend, who also happens to be my sister! I'm excited to get out and have some fun away from the farm!!

not for the faint of heart...

Oy!! This all happened yesterday...
 I'm tired. My day began at 7:20 when I dragged my carcass out of bed to go milk the cow and didn't end until 9:30ish when exhausted I fell into bed.
I beat Matthew out to the cow barn this morning! He did the other chores while I milked. Then we went to collect sap, seemed like it took all day. It really didn't. Matthew helped one of his brothers move his skidder that had been in the "shop" getting a gas leak fixed. I came home and washed out more buckets to put the sap in, the buckets were over flowing! When Matthew got home we had some lunch, then finished collecting. The kiddos were super good too. While we were collecting I saw an empty beer can (we find lots as we collect and the snow melts) on the side of the road, and thought I'd go get it and make .05cents, well that was my first mistake. As I leaned over I realized I need to take one more step, can you see it coming? Stupid me I did and fell to my waist in the snow covered ditch! Both feet landed on the ground, in the water, as I let out a little screech of surprise! I'm glad I had on my rubber calf high boots. The water was up to my ankles, and snow to my waist. Matthew was laughing as were the kiddos! He came over and took a picture with the cell phone laughing the whole time, as I tried to climb out, but to no use. I held out my hands as Matthew grabbed them and hauled me out of the ditch. I could see the humor in it as well and I laughed at myself and demanded to see the picture that he sent to one of his brothers so he could laugh too! Oh well. It was kinda funny and I can laugh at myself. Oh and if your wondering if I got the beer can I did. Was it worth getting snow down my boots, dirt and wet all over my lower half? The jury is still out! After we got the last of the sap we came home and  I changed. Then we went to the mill so Matthew could get some things done over there, I took Little Matt to Cub Scouts and DaLaney had a sewing lesson at Mie Mie's. The little two stayed with Daddy and I went shopping. I had limited time to shop and was in a hurry. Late afternoon is NOT the time to go grocery shopping if your in a hurry, or if your hungry. Thankfully I had a shopping list and did well not to buy snack food. I had to be back by 4:30 to get Little Matt, DaLaney and the others do evening chores. For all the running around I had been doing and falling in a ditch I bought myself a Dove milk chocolate bar and an iced tea. They were gone in no time flat. I was hungry and very thirsty. By the time we got home it was 5 and Matthew went out and did chores as I looked through the fridge for something to eat. We had leftovers. Nothing to get real excited about, but after a busy day running and literally not being home all day I was not in the mood to cook. If I hadn't found anything in the fridge we would have had PB J's!
 So I guess farm life, sap collecting is not for the faint of heart. It's hard work. My arms were sore and my back hurt after falling in the ditch. But today I find myself anxiously waiting to start it all over again and wondering what today will bring in the day and life of a family farm! I'm praying for a great farming year for SweetLand Farm, starting with the sapping season, and ending in the fall with the fall harvesting of our garden, and possibly planting some more winter wheat!

let the running begin...

...the maple syrup that is! You didn't think I was taking up running did you? Actually I feel like a short distance sprinter when sap season comes around with all the collecting that we do everyday! We drive to the trees and let the fun begin! The kiddos are big helpers too, they can empty buckets and hang them back up, provided the buckets aren't overflowing, or "ovy flowed" as one calls it, still! They can even help drill the holes in the trees. The older two have come so far over the years that we have done this, the younger two are getting there! At least they are not in the car screaming anymore! Oh the screaming baby in the car! Had our fair share of that as they kept coming, seeing how I was either huge pregnant or they were just too little to help during sap season! I had spring babies, three of them, and a fall baby. We don't have the tubing,  we use the old fashioned buckets and spiles at this time. The trees are not on a hill, but we have found a huge bunch that has potential for the tubing...!

How cool is that picture?!!! I had to take a few to catch those drips too! I can hardly wait to drizzle that sweet maple syrup on my pancakes, or french toast! My own maple syrup that is, not someone else. I have a huge since of satisfaction making maple syrup.We are excited to get the new saperator going! We are praying that it's a better year for it at well, and the way the sap has been running, it seems as though it is! We've had people asking us if we have any for sale yet, and I've told them we're working on it! Weather permitting!

You'll have to please forgive me for the dogs barking in the back ground. We were down the road and the dogs were going crazy at the house we were tapping trees at (the dogs are not ours). The sap was flowing real well yesterday and I wanted to listen to it drip, drip into the bucket! I took the video with the intent to put it on my blog and share with you! Hope it works!

My baby. She is such a Mommy's girl. Follows me around everywhere! Those cheeks! Just wanna kiss 'em!  The snow is almost gone too! Bare ground in some places, other places you sink to your knee as you get to the tree on the road side!

The Man drilling a hole and the girls are eagerly waiting to put the spile in and hang the bucket! See the road? It's nice to be close to the road and not have to go deep into the woods. We are praying we are blessed with land that has a sugar bush on it! That would be sweet! We did not tap some of the trees we tapped last year because they were old and just didn't give much last year. But we found some new younger trees to tap, so we didn't loose any taps. We may be expanding the number this year.

My boy! He got that leather bag, that he and his Daddy sewed together, moccasins, that we didn't let him wear because his feet would get wet for Christmas, and my Mom made that leather shirt he has on, it's got fringe on the front. He was Daniel Boone yesterday, and Davy Crockett the day before! He didn't wear his coon skin hat for some reason. That is a new tree that he picked out and tapped all by himself. The Man has been teaching him all about trees and wood stuff when they go hunting, fishing, or to the mill to work. He can now tell me about trees and trails in the woods. I'd get lost! A few tips from Daddy about the tree he wanted to tap, and he was good to go!
Sometimes we use the old fashioned drill, but after a while we use the electric one. Makes the holes get done faster!

lemons...

Yea, this is fresh squeezed lemonade!! Oh it was so good! But it was gone way too soon...

These were on sale at the store the other day when I went shopping. I had 2 kiddos with me and they really wanted to bring some home. So we did!

I just so happen to love fresh squeezed lemonade and had one at a fair with my sister years ago. Oh it was so hot, and it was towards the end of a busy, happy day of food, and rides for the kiddos, and I decided that fresh squeezed lemonade sounded good, and I was thirsty so I bought one. As did my sister, and well, it's now a weakness for me, and if I dare go out on a limb, hers too!! It's kinda addicting! Can't go back to frozen concentrate! Yucky! It was expensive, as is all fair food, but worth every penny. I really wanted to get about 6 more too! The kiddos wanted more, but I declined to buy them each one. Now when they (lemons) are on sale I buy some and we enjoy it! Oh thank goodness for Florida lemons!! Or California, where ever they come from. When it's five below and winter in Maine I don't care about local lemons, not that your gonna grow lemons in Maine. I wanted one, so I made one, and can't wait to have about 6 more! And sometimes when you have a craving, you just have a craving! The oranges were really good with breakfast this morning and I still have a few left over for tomorrow. The kiddos were excited to have something fresh too eat, they love oranges.
Anyways, we paid off the saperator the other day!! We took out the loan in October and we paid if off with our tax return the other day!! Woo hoooo!! We are very pleased to have it paid for too, now if it would warm up so we could start boiling that would be great!! We have another cold snap coming through this week. Wind chills make it below zero!
DaLaney is spending two nights at Matthew's parents house. That is the plan anyways. She was very excited too. She gets to play with her cousin that is the same age as her as well. And she gets a sewing lesson with Mie Mie. She has been asking for a while, so I talked with my mother in law, and she said she was more then happy to teach her, I had already  decided I was not going to teach her how to sew, her grandmother has the stuff, time and patience to teach her!  I do not. And I can't really sew anyways, unless someone is right there telling me what to do next! Not the best way to try to teach someone!! Better to let someone else do it. I'm totally fine with that! Besides it will give her some time alone with one of her grandmothers, and the confidence to try something new, with someone besides me!
Well we have company coming over for supper tonight, and I need to get busy cooking it, or we won't have anything to eat!! And I have no idea what to make! This could be interesting! haha

winter fun

I lost a day this week. Don't ask me how that happens, but it did. All day today I thought it was Thursday. I kept making plans, shocking I know, for home school. But it's Friday. I'm glad too. I'm ready for the weekend!
 Last night was a friends birthday and we, a bunch of us gals, crashed her house for a girls night in! The kiddos, mine and all the other ladies were not invited, and we had a blast! A bunch of friends eating and laughing and having a great time together. We had some of that microwave fondue, and I was in charge of heating it up and, I've never done that before, fondue that is, and I burnt part of the plastic it was in! Oops! It smelt like burnt popcorn!  Fried zucchini all over again! Well they made me try the chocolate and it was fine, the stuff that was not burnt, and we had strawberries and some other yummy treats! Gotta have yummy snack food for a girls night!  I didn't get to bed until 2:30am! And let me tell you morning came really fast too! Matthew let me sleep in, but I was up at 8:00, but laid there until 8:30. He did all the chores while I slept, what a great man I have! I could have stayed in bed, but my eyes refused to stay shut. Go figure. So we had school, and carried on with the day. I had 2 glasses of coffee today instead of one. Yes, I drink my coffee in a glass, it's iced coffee. Yes you read that right it's iced. I don't drink hot coffee. Yuck. Not even when it's -12! Earlier this week some in-laws came over, and my brother in law decided we would do a kid swap. So the kiddos had to be good in school all week, his kids and ours are very close in age, and they home school too. So tonight we did the kid swap. Emma and her cousin, they are 2 days apart in age and just like two peas in a pod, are here for the night. Two five year old girls, oh boy! Well DaLaney and another cousin are three months apart in age, went to the in laws house. Two seven year old girls, oh boy!! Could prove to be interesting for both sets of parents! It's all good, they've spent the night before...
So what did I do this afternoon? Well I wanted to take a nap, but that didn't happen. I'll show you what I well we did this afternoon.

What on earth is that?

This is interesting... the boys deep in thought...

OK, now it's looking like something. Know what it is yet?

Oooooo, doors going on! Nice hands honey...

Ta da.. got it yet??

Isn't she perty?

What? Oh that's the inside of it!

"Fire it up and watch them horses run"... Oh sorry, I love that song! Know it?

We're in business, well almost... can you smell it?

 OK, I didn't realize I had taken so many pictures. Actually I have more, but won't share them all. We got our saperator set up today! And when I say we, Matthew was the one that bricked it up. I watched and took pictures and handed him the bricks! Apparently you buy the saperator, and then you have to brick it up and then fire it up and let the bricks cure. So that's what we did. Now we have to level it on one side, because if it's not level it's a nightmare to use. I still need to show you what we used to have compared to this one. I haven't found the picture yet. I'm sure we'll have a learning curve with this one. Hopefully it will be a short one and we can get it and have fun with it. If it had been the middle of February today we would have had a good run of sap. But it's only January.  It started to boil, the water, we put in it in about 10-15 minutes! That's fast, but the fire comes right up, and well, it's too hard to explain, I'll have to see if I can get a picture. Oh, and if your wondering why there is a tarp looking thing hanging up, it's because we had a space heater blowing on  the bricks to help them dry and it kept the cold out of the sap house to help them set while we glued them on with the cement. Now we need to empty the saperator because it's supposed to be really cold tonight! What were the kiddos doing while we were working? Well they were outside enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, and temperature's that didn't freeze you, and they were riding their bikes too! No unfortunately I don't get a picture of them. Would have been great picture too! Maybe tomorrow. It was kinda tough riding the bikes with the snow, but they tried, and had fun doing it too!

Oh and the name of the song is My Kinda Party by Jason Aldean!

Note: I know it's called a sap evaporator, and if your wondering why I call it a saperator and have the time and inclination you'll have to read the other posts with the label syrup to explain the meaning of the word. It's cute how it got it's name!!

testing...

The sap evaporator, "saperator" is home and almost all set up for this spring! In with the new, out with the old, it's in the sap house and looks good. Matthew, Little Matt and one of Matthew's brothers came over to help set it up. Needs a few tweaks and a few more things and it will be finished and will be ready for boiling! Can't wait!
The rest of Thanksgiving week was well, horrible to say the least. I found out that something on the sawmill broke as well. Not sure if it's been fixed or not. The insurance company still has not even looked at the van, and we've been using my in-laws cars, and then last Sunday we lost the heater core, again! So it's back at the garage. The garage that has fixed it has been great to deal with too. Hopefully they will continue to be that way! And today Matthew found a hole in the tractor tent! And if it continues it will rip out the top and the tractor will not be covered! Aaaaaahhhhghggg. But the good news is it can be fixed. Called the company and it's only 20$ to get a patch kit, and he'll eat the shipping charge. Maggie should be coming into heat in the next few weeks as well.

The other day we went up into the back field, behind our neighbors house and cut some hay, that would have been second crop had we gotten to it, and piled it on the hay wagon loose and are feeding it to the horses. They like it and have been eating it right up! Little Matt drove the tractor, I pitched it on the wagon, Matthew tromped it down on the wagon, and the girls ran around giggling. DaLaney wanted to drive the tractor, but Daddy said not yet. Maybe next summer. Was fun!

maple syrup

Now why would I be talking about maple syrup in November? Well today we got our loan to buy a commercial sap evaporator, or "saperator"!  We prayed for Gods guidance and took wise counsel from a wonderful man, my Dad, thank you Dad, and prayed more, and were blessed with the finances. The man we bought it from even knocked $250 off the price of it!  What a blessing! We started making our own maple syrup when Little Matt was 1ish, and I was huge pregnant with DaLaney, that is why the evaporator is referred to as the saperator. He dubbed it that, and we thought it was cute, and it kinda stuck. We have gotten better at making maple syrup over the years too, lots of trial and error, lots of wise counsel from others who do it, and tons of fun!  I'll admit the first stuff we made was not fit for human consumption, it was thick, black and tasted like smoke!  but we had a blast making it!  We were outside, in the wind (did I ever mention we have lots of wind up here on the farm)? We boiled it down in a homemade sap pan that we paid for with some of our savings, and on an old wood stove!! That is why it tasted like smoke! Yup, I've got pictures too, maybe soon I'll be able to share them, but for now just picture that in your mind!! We wanted to sell it, but had a long way to go, and in the state of Maine it has to be boiled down inside a building and in a stainless steal pan. Well, we had the stainless steal pan, but not the building. So began our hunt for a building and a place to put it. Matthew had on order to fill at the mill and the man that wanted the order owned a small shed down the road from us in a hay field!  See it coming? Well, Matthew being the man he is asked for a barter, the order for the shed! Bingo! Now where to put it? In comes our wonderful neighbors that share a driveway with us. They are truly some of the nicest people we've ever met!  They own the10 acre hay field next to us, and we asked if we could put it in the corner of the field, and pay the extra taxes that would incur from the building. They said yes! Now we have our sap building!  So over the course of 7 years we have a good product to enjoy and to sell! We had to admit that the last two years we had out grown our little saperator, but were still not ready to get a bigger one, so we started looking, and pricing them. Now the time is right, and the time to buy is now, before another sap season. We will be so much more efficient, time wise, and can add some more taps comfortably, and it will cut our boiling time down, and can do more gallons per hour! Now we can go get our new saperator and get it ready for the spring!  I can almost smell the wonderful, sticky aroma of the sap boiling down now!!