It's that Maple time of year again!

It's that time of year again as we circle back around the wheel of the year, maple syrup making time! The taps have been put into the trees in the sugar bush and the buckets hung with anticipation of that wonderful, sweet maple syrup. It's like nothing you'll ever taste if you've never tasted the real thing. 

The sap has been running a plenty with the warmer days and cold nights. 

The buckets filled quickly over the past few days, and we got quite a few gallons. Tim first had 14 taps, but he is now up to 17 taps. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make just one gallon of maple syrup!

The new evaporator I bought Tim for Christmas. I bought it in the Spring with our tax refund and hid it in plain sight! He never asked what it was! This year we are trying propane. We did this at the Nature Center last year and it was great. He does have the option however to use it on propane or fire. It has a place on top to store the sap while it gets hot and drops slowly into the boiling sap.

 Here we go! The beginning of the sap burning season. It's a prelude to Spring, a ritual for us in sustainability.