Drip, Drip

The sap finally ran a bit this afternoon. It got up to 38 after having been down in the low teens last night. Infuriatingly, the spiles that I griped about because they were so difficult to pound in are also problematic for the sap. Since the spiles are made of bent metal, there is a seam that runs along the top of each tap. The sap is seeping through the seam and then oozing around the spiles so that only half of the sap is dripping down the inside of spout. Sigh. I tried reseating some to no avail. The best I could do was to insert a toothpick below the spile to make a drip point for the sap that was seeping through the top running down the tree. This is less than ideal, for when I remove the jugs to empty them, it will be nearly impossible not to dislodge the toothpicks, and I'll have to fiddle with each tree again. 

The sap should run tomorrow too, but then an ice storm is predicted tomorrow night though Monday, and low temps are said to follow it. So I think instead of starting to boil off the water, I'll store the sap in the fridge or freezer until the next time it runs so that I can sugar off continuously instead of in spurts. I sure hope we get enough to make a decent amount of syrup or my oldest daughter will be VERY disappointed.

I tried looking for more of the one spile I have that is so nice. I haven't turned any more of them up. I did, however, find that rolled spiles like the kind I purchased at the hardware and variety store require a spile driver- a mandrel that fits into the spile so that they retain their shape and don't cut your mallet. Of course, the store where I bought the spiles doesn't carry those. I'll keep hunting for the better spiles, but if they don't turn up, now I know how to make mine tap in better. I'm not sure if that would help with the seepage problem or not.

"Old Man Winter" Ain't Done

frost on the garage window

There was a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning. There's been no sap, and the forecast doesn't predict any weather that will cause it to run in the near future. It's supposed to be 7 degrees Fahrenheit tonight. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be about 20 degrees, and Thursday's high is forecasted to be 16 degrees; the low will be a stiff 4 degrees. 

After last week's above-freezing temps and last Saturday's warmth, the goats were bleating for feed when I went out to close them up tonight. I gave them a little more bedding, refilled their hay rack, and gave them some pelleted goat feed. Then I headed for the wood pile, or what's left of it, to load up the log cart before heading to the house. 

 long row of empty log racks along the woods

With the unusually long, cold winter (for here) our heating bills have been outrageous! There's a reason our house has 4 fireplaces AND a wood stove- the rare winter like this one! There are no gas utilities here, and the house was never plumbed for an external propane tank, so we have a heat pump and an electric furnace. It's like having a giant toaster heat our home- not very efficient! There has actually been a propane shortage and elevated prices this season, so we'd be hurting even if we did have a gas furnace. Anyway, I can't keep a bunch of fireplaces going with everything else I have going on, nor would it be wise, given the little ones, but we've fired up the wood stove on many evenings in order to cut back on costs, so much so that we are nearly out of wood. 

snow along the drive to the pole barn 

We've had so much snow and such cold temps this winter, that even despite the "warm" week there's plenty of snow on the ground in shady spots, plowed edges, and where drifting occurred. The pond is still frozen solid. But as usual, I can't help but to think ahead. I'm always ahead of myself, and not always in a good way.

I already have an interim chicken coop squared away, and plans for a lightweight "chicken tractor" (or moveable chicken run.) Today I placed an order for 15 chicks. My husband is traveling and working long hours this spring, so sap boils, building chicken containing contraptions, and tending chicks and pullets with my entourage of young helpers will likely prove to be interesting! But as usual, it will probably be memorable- hopefully in a good way!

Foretaste of Spring

Today, on the way to Mass, we counted a flock of ten turkey hens in the cornfield down the road from us. Then we saw several flocks of Canada geese in meltwater "ponds" in the fields we passed, even a flock sleeping on top of the ice remaining on a farm pond. Finally, we noticed coyotes in another field. A coyote was lying down with a goose carcass as another coyote stood over them. They were right next to a pool of meltwater with geese in it. And a few hundred feet from them was another coyote menacing a larger flock of Canada geese in another giant puddle. Those geese must have been too tired to care! They seemed unruffled and going about their business without alarm. I imagine that there were more coyotes than the three we saw, as they usually hunt in "family packs" of about six, but we saw only those three. They blend in remarkably well when crouching in corn stubble! 

Yesterday it was unseasonably warm… in the low fifties! As the woodpeckers drummed, the shrilly trilling sandhill cranes flew overhead intermittently in wavering lines, and the sun filtered through the tree trunks, we did some outdoor chores, like seeding grass, tidying up the accumulating garage mess, and taking down Christmas lights. We also took advantage of my husband's presence, the soggy conditions, and the relative warmth to burn a giant brush pile, the christmas tree, and some of the millions of sticks and branches that littered the yard from the various storms of recent history. My husband had the chainsaw out, tending to the large branches, hauling them to the fire in the pickup truck. I carried the babe in the backpack carrier for a couple of hours, and the other kids pitched in a bit, but there are still many sticks and branches left to deal with. We made a "dent" though, and cleared the largest daffodil area of heavy limbs so that they can continue to grow unimpeded. (The early varieties are already about an inch above ground!) 

It was so balmy, that when we took a break for lunch, we ate at the soggy picnic table that had snow on it only the day before. My husband even cooked on the grill for us. It was a far cry from his grilling adventure of the week before! It was a bit chilly to eat in the shade of the house on a damp, wooden picnic table, but my oldest boy actually spent much of the afternoon reading O'Henry in the hammock yesterday. We were motivated to be outside.

The jugs for sap collection weathered the crazy thunderstorms and wind we had, although a couple of them blew off their hooks, so we reseated them. I also started construction on a brick rocket/chimney stove for the first step of boiling off the sap. Crouching with the heavy kid on my back had its time limits, and the younger children were eagerly "helping". (The promise of syrup is motivating!) So the construction was not as tight as it needs to be. I have the plan roughed out and bricks set aside though, so it shouldn't take too long to construct when needed. 

It was in the teens last night and the low thirties today. We got a dusting of snow overnight and it snowed for about two hours this morning. The sap has not run since we tapped Wednesday. First it didn't get cold enough at night, and today it didn't get warm enough. I'm still hopeful that there'll be a good sap run soon. After all, spring is on it's way!

Tree Tapping

Nah, I'm not talking about some hillbilly Morse code or arboreal EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). I'm talking maple syrup production. My kids and I tapped trees today. Well, I tapped trees today as I carried my 12 month old in a backpack carrier. 

I had some help from my oldest son (who handed me tools and charged drill batteries for me) and my oldest daughter (who entertained the 4 year old when he started to get wild near the end) and my 6 year old, who held the scissors for me (until she was told that poking them in the mud was forbidden and she decided that helping was too hard) and my 4 year old (who pulled the supply sled for a short stint).

The weather has been unseasonably cold and snowy here for a long time. And this week it is suddenly warm. We've had four days in the 40's or above, several rains, and 2 thunderstorms. (And there is STILL snow on the ground at our place.) So I figured that the sap would be running soon.

It was a last-minute deal and I'm frugal, so I decided that instead of using metal buckets (I only had 2) or waiting for the plastic sap bags I could purchase online, I would modify water jugs that had been left in the basement by the previous owners when the well pump failed. As it turns out, jugged water expires, so the only thing they were good for was filling the toilet tanks so that we could flush when we had no electricity. (The well pump is electric, so we have no running water when the power goes out.) I figured that since it didn't need to be drinking water, I could refill the jugs with tap water after the sap collection.

We have spiles (the sap taps) since we had tapped silver maples for syrup at our old homestead, but I haven't found them since the move. My husband packed up the barn and the garage at the old place, and he unpacked those items here too (as I was tending the at-the-time-not-quite 2 year old) so I have no idea where many things are and get to hunt around for stuff of that sort when I need it. With his help I had turned up two of the spouts before he left for work, but two taps didn't really make it worthwhile. It takes about 50 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup, and each tree provides anywhere from 5 to 20 gallons of sap.

So we made the trek to the big city and purchased spiles from the only place locally that had them, an old fashioned hardware and variety store that actually knew what the word "spile"meant (unlike my word processor that wants to auto-correct it to "spike"). 

They were cheaply made of bent aluminum, and as it turned out, were a real pain to pound into a tree. There isn't a flat place on them, and they are so thin on the end of the spout that they cut the mallet, but crumple if you hit them with a hammer.

We loaded all of our supplies onto a sled and worked our way from tree to tree in the "side yard". We carried paper sacks of the jugs, a cordless drill, a rubber mallet, a hammer, spiles and spile hooks, zip ties, yarn, and scissors. 

After a few trees, I tried one of the old kinds of spiles. It was made of a cast aluminum alloy. I gave it a light tap and the spout sheared off! I was surprised, since it was too warm for the metal to be brittle. I then tried the other old spile. It was flat on the end and compact enough and thick enough to strike with either a mallet or a hammer. It held up despite being made of the same alloy as the broken one. It was made in Canada after all!

In general the rules for tapping a tree are simple:

Diameter                       Number of Taps

12-20 inches                       1

21-27 inches                       2

Greater than 27 inches         3

Tap about 3 feet from the ground, preferably above a large root and below a branch on the side of the tree that gets the most sun. Angle your drill slightly upward and drill in about 2-2.5 inches. Sap runs when there is a large temperature difference between the daytime and nighttime temperature, say about 20 degrees, and generally, when the temps at night are below freezing.

My jug idea worked okay. We'll see how well the jugs function once the sap starts to run. (It hasn't been getting cold enough at night again yet.) I had to put a small zip tie on the handle in order to hang the jugs on the spile hooks in a way that would allow for the sap to drip into the jugs. Even then, I had to trim the tops with scissors, so I guess I won't be reusing the jugs after all. But nevertheless, I didn't pay for my collection containers, and they are made from food grade material.

After tapping yesterday, we had a thunderstorm last night and today we are experiencing 60 mile an hour wind gusts. The jugs were still in place at sundown, but I'm worried that the plastic will tear since the integrity of the structure was probably affected by my spout trimming. And if the winds continues, the jugs may rock so much against the trees that I may have to trim bigger holes, or I may not be able to catch some of the sap. Only time will tell. Looking at the weather report this evening as the tornado watches and wind advisories and severe thunderstorm warnings scrolled across the screen, I gathered that the sap probably won't run until Sunday or Monday. This is good, because I haven't quite figured out how to sugar it off yet. I have vague plans for a rocket stove or converting an old park grill I have. Maybe when the thunder and lightning keep me up again tonight the solution for boiling down the sap will come to me in a flash.

Ice Fishing

My life is full of nights in which I am woken on and off by an inexplicably restless, teething, hungry baby. My mornings are early, bleary, stumbling affairs, starting usually either with a grumpy infant or a hungry (but still picky) 4 year old. Of course they take turns waking each other and rouse everyone else before they are ready. My days are hectic with schooling, an active toddler, and the never-ending needs of my family. My evenings run late, extended by dealing with mealtime aftermath, teaching responsibilities, cleaning, anything needing dealt with that can't be done with a little one endangering himself near-constantly, or simply "wasted" on down-time with my husband for the sake of sanity. Plus, I'm one of those weirdos who takes forever to drift off to sleep, and who sleeps lightly. This leaves me with precious few and highly interrupted hours of sleep, and big limits on what I can set out to do. 

Lately, I've been getting a touch of cabin fever too, due to the cold temperatures and the unusual amounts of snow this winter. It's hard to bundle up 5 kids in below-zero weather with wind chill advisories, especially a squirmy, non-compliant baby, and a 4 year old who pretends he can't do anything and melts down just for the sake of attention. We've done some hiking, but since the littlest one is being carried, it's hard to gauge how warm he is when we're being active, so that's been limited.

It's almost time to tap trees and boil sap for syrup. The many downed limbs from the back-to-back storms need to be moved from the area where daffodils will soon push up through the soil in a few weeks. A coop (or chicken fortress) will have to be constructed if we are to get back into egg production. So I have started thinking about the long list of things that need done outdoors this summer too, and how I've "lost" the last three summers, the first to painting at the old house, the second to being pregnant, and the third to tending a needy infant. I sure hope to make up for some lost time this year, but a soon-to-be one-year-old on our land doesn't hold out much promise for that. 

In any case, I can always live vicariously through my neighbors. They contacted us to ask permission to ice fish on our pond. They find the fish firmer and tastier in the winter. We, of course, obliged. And coming home from Mass we saw them, all bundled up, out on the ice with their dogs and fishing gear. I must admit to being a tad bit jealous. They informed my husband that the ice is 10 inches thick! It stands to reason, considering that the pond's been frozen over for a little over a month. But that's impressive, seeing as it could hold a car!

Now I want to ice fish or ice skate, but I haven't done either for years. The kids would get a kick out of slipping across the ice in their boots too. It would give them a new perspective of the lake. I suppose that the holes in the ice won't freeze over to the same depth as the rest though, at least not right away. So I guess it's not a good idea to take them out. That's fine, because the reality is that it won't happen anyway. 

Maybe I can get our neighbors to make maple syrup this month and give us a cut, because it's looking unlikely that I'll be able to pull that off this year either, although I AM ruminating about it.  But then, they keep bees, so I suppose they would not be as motivated as I am. Syrup sells for $50 or more a gallon around here!