RicelandMeadows

A sugar maple just big enough to tap

January 31, 2012

 

     I can remember finally being big enough to do things, like just tall enough to ride an amusement park ride. Or just big enough to reach the clutch on the tractor so that I could drive… things were much different when I was a boy 😮

 

     Who doesn’t remember being old enough to drive, your high school graduation, or legal drinking age? So, being just big enough is a milestone, even if you are a sugar maple tree. The one in the photo will be tapped for the first time this season. I don’t know how excited the tree is, but I am pleased!

 

     Our weather continues to be wacky. Today it was almost 60 degrees (F). The warm springlike days are just plain weird for this time of year for us, here on the north coast. It has made things easy though. Snowplowing has been a very easy job this year and I am getting more done on the sugarhouse than I ever imagined. Tonight, I painted that second coat of black on the syrup arch.

 

     January is now a memory and February is here. Wow, another month gone. Maple syrup season is less than three weeks away. I still have plenty to do, but think I will enlist the help of more family members…most of them are … just big enough 😮