RicelandMeadows

                                           March 4, 2012     

      Yesterday we gathered every drop of sap from the bags. The weatherman says a very cold couple of days and nights are coming. We cleaned up the entire woods, so that we will be ready for the warm days next week.     

     I didn’t want there to be bags half full of an ice chunk and no room for sap. Most of the bags were 1/3 to 1/2 full, but there were others with only about a cupful in them. We gathered them all.I boiled last night until after dark, but everything is empty and clean waiting for the next run.     

      Today we have an inch of snow making everything look fresh and new. The mud has been covered with a blanket of white and believe me, that looks great! We slogged through plenty of it yesterday, but the effort was worth it.     

      It looks like good maple syrup weather for the upcoming week. It is out of my hands, but it does sound good. The cold nights and warm days is what we need to make maple syrup. The sap goes up and down the tree like mercury in a thermometer. Without the cold, the sap continues up the trees to the buds. Once the buds open we are done. The sap takes on a foul taste and the syrup gets dark and strong. This “buddy” syrup is used to sweeten cigars..and not on pancakes 😮    

       I think I’ll try to get the Purple Martin house up today. I don’t want to miss the scout birds. After all the effort to put that thing together, I want the project to be a success! Plus it will “clean up” another item on my list of stuff to do.