100% Maine Maple Syrup

[cesare]

quite a bit I would think

Yeah I was interested in how much spring-peeper was able to get from her 20 trees as a guide.

It'd be quite a good sideline if you had enough room to do the refining.

 

[spring-peeper]

For sugar-maples to perform you need about 10 days where the daytime highs reach at least +5C and the night-time lows don't go below -5C. That's ideal. Some years you get 10 days or two weeks like that, usually in February sometime; and in other years the right conditions for the trees to suck up moisture in the daytime don't happen at all (which is good for the tree, but bad for maple syrup producers).

Yip - Hubby always tries to guess when to take vacation for this event. Back in the day, it was always late Feb/early March. Now, all the weather patterns are screwed up. Last year, we should have started at the end of January. We didn't make any last year - we missed it. We are currently finishing off two years ago stuff.

@spring-peeper: do you really finish it in the house? We did that one spring on the cookstove and the unseen suspended particles of sugar in the steam coated the kitchen walls and ceiling. The flies that summer were like a Biblical plague.

Yip - and after 25 years, we have never had a problem. Strange, isn't it? We hear horror stories of paint or wall paper peeling, but to date, nada.

That was the first time I heard about the flies, though. Our fly population has decreased to almost non existant since we got rid of the animals.

btw - it's the first time in 40 years that all of Canada is going to get a white Christmas!!! Hope you're having fun - another storm tonight, iirc.

 

[Herbsman.]

Use it in place of honey ffs

 

[Y_I_Otter]

quite a bit I would think

Our bushlot hasn't got that many sugar-maples, and we haven't owned any tapping equipment for several years. I was thinking more along the lines of buying it bulk from a local producer and using the co-op cannery to package it.

My partner thinks I'm nuts to be entertaining this idea.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Use it in place of honey ffs

It's great in strong coffee laced with Bourbon.

 

[Detroit City]

Our bushlot hasn't got that many sugar-maples, and we haven't owned any tapping equipment for several years. I was thinking more along the lines of buying it bulk from a local producer and using the co-op cannery to package it.

My partner thinks I'm nuts to be entertaining this idea.

if you ever get around to it i'll buy some. let me know and i'll PM my new address in Chicago

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Yip - Hubby always tries to guess when to take vacation for this event. Back in the day, it was always late Feb/early March. Now, all the weather patterns are screwed up. Last year, we should have started at the end of January. We didn't make any last year - we missed it. We are currently finishing off two years ago stuff.

Chin up. Sugaring season's only a month and a bit away (if the Farmer's Almanac is to be believed).

That was the first time I heard about the flies, though. Our fly population has decreased to almost non existant since we got rid of the animals.

We get rid of them all the time. Trouble is, we keep replacing them with new ones.

btw - it's the first time in 40 years that all of Canada is going to get a white Christmas!!! Hope you're having fun - another storm tonight, iirc.

I'm having fun, but most of that's down to the holiday season, and in spite of the weather.

Here's what my early morning was like this past Thursday: Snowshoed out to the driving shed to plug in the tractor and fire up the walk-behind snow blower. Blew a path to the barn and poultry coop to feed and water the critters. Returned the small blower to the driving shed and sparked up the tractor to blow out the 30 cms of snow on the laneway and metre-high drifts in the barnyard. There's two hours and a half of my life I'll never get back. Next time, I'm having my coffee first.

 

[spring-peeper]

I'm having fun, but most of that's down to the holiday season, and in spite of the weather.

Here's what my early morning was like this past Thursday: Snowshoed out to the driving shed to plug in the tractor and fire up the walk-behind snow blower. Blew a path to the barn and poultry coop to feed and water the critters. Returned the small blower to the driving shed and sparked up the tractor to blow out the 30 cms of snow on the laneway and metre-high drifts in the barnyard. There's two hours and a half of my life I'll never get back. Next time, I'm having my coffee first.

I remember days like that!!!!

'Cept we don't have a snowblower - hubby thinks they are a waste of money

What kind of birds do you have? We raised both layers and meat.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

At various times we've had just about every edible bird possible, but just now we're down to 20 laying hens, 40 or so heavy meat chickens (due to meet their maker just after the New Year) and the pond birds, who we sequester in the poultry barn over winter: 7 geese and a dozen ducks, mostly Moskovies.

We also have three hogs and several cages of breeding bunnies at the moment.

 

[Xanadu]

Come to think of it, might work for roasting root veg too. Not quite sure how, but it might...

It does. Maple syrup roasted parsnips and carrots = yum!

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

You can make candy by mixing heated maple syrup with confectioners sugar and then using molds to make it look nice.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Or toffee, by reducing it somewhat and pouring it on snow.

 

[spring-peeper]

Or toffee, by reducing it somewhat and pouring it on snow.

It's called taffy!!!

We only get that when I'm not paying attention to the syrup in the kitchen and it boils itself down.

btw - ever been to a sugar shack?