Catching Up

Life since mid-January has been a little busier than usual here for us, as we've taken on a darling, new, little challenge.  Consequently, I haven't been as good at blogging as I imagined I might be when I started this.  That, and so many things that occur here occur seasonally.  Which means that a lot of what I would post about seems like a re-run; however, at the risk of boring you with the same old, same old, here goes.

Our 19-month-old grandniece is staying with us for a little while, while her mom goes through Basic Training in the Army, and her dad finds a place to live and gets settled in his new job in Missouri.  Meanwhile, our 3-year-old grand-Sonny also hangs out with us most afternoons while his mom works the 3-midnight shift.  (You're starting to understand why I'm not blogging more, huh.)

I was leafing through some of the pictures I've taken this winter/spring and thought I'd share a snapshot of life here at Whit's End Farm.

I copied some music for TBear one day and went to find the tape so I could tape the pages together.

Apparently, Sonny got to the tape first.  Scotch tape makes a good tow truck.

TBear frequently finds himself with more help than he thought he needed, but she's cute! 

I won't bore you with pictures of our snow again, though the ice storm was pretty, if somewhat damaging to the trees around us.  About mid-March, the weather finally turned warm enough during the day that we were able to tap the maple trees on March 14th this year.  We still had at least 2 feet of snow in places, but the days were above freezing while the night temps were still below...perfect weather to make the sap run.  The twist on the tapping procedure this year involved two helpers in the sled.

One of our helpers really preferred to be in the snow, not the sled, where she could sample the icy stuff.  This kid has a thing about ice...  

We still needed snowshoes to get around.  Some friends loaned us a pair of kids' snowshoes that fit Sonny.  Miss T really wanted to try them out, but her little boots just weren't big enough to fit them.  Maybe next year. 

For the next three weeks or so, TBear took the sled around and emptied all the buckets until boiling day. 

At one point I walked out of a snowshoe and realized just how deep the snow still was.

The kids stuck by the sled where they could help with emptying the buckets of sap into the storage containers.

Finally on Saturday afternoons, Whit spent the day boiling the sap down into syrup.  By the end of this short season, I think we managed to make about 3 gallons of syrup.  Not a lot, but enough to get us through until next year.  As you can see below, by April 9th when TBear pulled all the taps because the trees were starting to bud and the sap was turning yellow - signs that the syrup-making season was at an end - most of the snow has melted.  It's always amazing to me how quickly it goes in some places and how slowly in others, like in the shadows behind our house.

 Miss T and Whit enjoy a sunny, warm afternoon by the evaporator.

 The wagon is loaded with the taps and buckets and TBear (and Miss T) are taking it back to store in the barn again until next spring.

I was happy with the amount of syrup we got this year.

I was also happy with my good helper.

Once the sap was done, we had to find something else to entertain us in the afternoons.  Dusting off the old rocking horse turned out to be a really good idea.

That pretty much brings us up to date.  School is rolling right along, though starting Wednesday, we'll be taking a week off for spring break and Easter.  We recently did some fun art projects with Riss, which I may try to show you next time.  Until then, no tomatoes please, I'm doing the best I can to keep everyone entertained. : P

Maple Syrup Sunday

After tapping the maple trees last weekend, we had to go around each day and empty the sap buckets before they overflowed. Whit built a sled using some old skis and leftover pieces of wood that fit three Polar water cooler bottles, which we used to collect the sap until this weekend when we started boiling it down. Many people have big, nifty drums on horse or ATV-drawn sleds that they use to transport their sap to the sugar house, but since we only put out 16 buckets this year, our small sled is enough. We like the plastic 5-gallon water bottles with their small necks so the sap doesn't splash out as we pull the sled along.

Leaving one of the bottles near the woodstove, we were able to fit the other two water bottles and our grandson, who liked the ride, in the sled. It sure made it easier for him to keep up with us.

He thought the whole collecting process was great entertainment, and he had a front row seat!

After the sap is collected from all the buckets each day, we transfer it from the water bottles into a clean, new 30-gallon trash can so we can fill the bottles with the next day's sap. By the way, the trash can is only used for collecting sap. When the sap season is done, we store the buckets, hats, and taps in it for the next year.

When we're done making the trip around our small "sugar bush," we leave the sled out by the sugar shack for the next day. Well, okay, so the sugar shack isn't built yet... Rome wasn't built in a day either. : )

There was still quite a bit of snow last week, but slowly, steadily, it's been melting.

Maine actually celebrates Maple Sunday, which was this past weekend. It's the day that all the commercial sugar houses around the state invite people to stop by, sample, and buy their syrup. Our storage containers were all full, so we needed to start boiling our sap down into syrup. Like the rest of Maine, it usually turns into a fun social event for us too.

The bottles are emptied into a bucket that sits higher than the evaporator on the woodstove. The sap is gravity-fed into the evaporator.

The boiling process must be constantly supervised to make sure the evaporator doesn't boil dry. Impurities rise up out of the sap as it boils, collecting in sort of a scum on the top, so someone needs to keep skimming that off. TBear is taking a turn at the job here, while his chum watches.


It takes all day to boil the amount of sap we've collected. Whit starts the fire right after chores in the morning. By lunchtime friends have joined us for some home-made soup, fresh bread, and Sunday worship around the evaporator. It really was a wonderful day of rest and fellowship.


Below is the bucket of sap feeding the evaporator on top of the woodstove. The woodstove is recycled from an old fireplace insert. My talented brother fabricated the nifty copper evaporator for us.

The snow is melting quickly. Hopefully the weather stays below freezing at night and warms up to near 40 degrees during the day for the next few weeks. We need to make enough syrup (before the weather turns too warm) to last us until this time next year, when we'll do it all over again.

Time to Tap the Maple Trees

Sunday afternoon was beautiful, sunny, and warm here. (For my southern friends, warm for us is near 50 degrees. :) Once the temperatures start getting well above freezing during the day, but still fall below freezing at night, it's time to tap the maple trees. Since the snow is still pretty deep, getting to the trees can be a real challenge unless we wear snowshoes. Yet even with snowshoes, the snow was so wet this day that as Whit and I carried the barrel with our taps, buckets and lids, we kept getting the toes of our snowshoes stuck in the heavy snow and then we'd trip, struggling to get back up again in the deep, wet snow. I finally figured out that I really had to walk heel to toe to keep my toes up and on top of the snow. Finally we made it out to where the sled was waiting. We transferred the tapping supplies to the sled so we could pull it around with us.


Whit did something bad to his left shoulder awhile ago, so he wasn't able to help with the drilling much. TBear and I learned just how thankful we are for Whit when his arm doesn't hurt! Drilling the holes wasn't too bad for the first tap or two, but by the time we'd done 16 of them, TBear and I were both glad we didn't have any more buckets!

After we drilled the hole, Whit put the tap in and then the bucket was hung under it to catch the sap.


We put lids on the buckets to keep bugs, bark and other junk out of the sap.

The prints in the snow look like someone was walking on tennis rackets...

We are very thankful for the snowshoes. It's hard to believe that the snow is about two feet deep here still.

The sap is running, and the bucket fills one drop at a time. : )

In addition to the warm day, I was pleased to see signs of spring. This bud is on a maple tree.

When we got back to the barn, I noticed that the baby goat, Nina, was sitting on top of Ruthie's back, while Nina's mother, Kappy, stands nearby.... probably thankful that Ruth was so accommodating. Interestingly enough, my sheep, Ruth, and our goat, Kappy, are the two oldest members of our flerd. Both are about 9 years old.
Hopefully the temperatures will continue to be warm during the day and remain cool at night so the buckets will fill quickly and we can start boiling the sap down into syrup soon. If you'd like to read more about how to tap trees and make your own syrup, here's a link to a University of Maine cooperative extension article.