A Sweet Saturday

There is nothing quite like the scent of maple in the air outside, followed by the final boil and lovely scent inside! Our three little trees gave us one quart of syrup this season. Not too bad considering those unseasonably warm days we had mixed in there, too. We're actually thinking that we may tap every other year instead of every year in the hopes that we would be able to make more than one quart of syrup during the season. xo

Harvesting Snow, Boiling Sap

 With the unseasonably warm/record breaking temps we've had we needed some way to keep the ten gallons of sap that has been collected cold. The girls grabbed their sled and shovels and went down to the cul-de-sac to harvest some snow yesterday morning. 

Returning from trip number one. 

Harvesting trip number two. 

Late afternoon snow harvest. 

This morning, before Dave and the girls left for skiing, he got everything set up so that I could begin the boiling process! Day one went very well and one bucket of sap is now in the boiling pot. Here's to hoping that the colder temps that are on the way will allow the sap to start flowing again so that we can collect a few more buckets before the season is over. xo

Short But Sweet

As quickly as the sugaring season began it ended. It wasn't a great year for maple sap (thanks to The Winter That Wasn't) and we didn't do nearly as well as we had hoped, but we did come away with a decent amount of maple syrup all things considered (final tally: one quart jar -given to my parents- and six pint jars (kept for us). Here's to hoping for a much more normal winter next year, along with a much, much better sugaring season! xo

Yesterday And Today

We finished boiling the first batch of maple syrup last night so of course we had to have pancakes for breakfast today!  xo

Yesterday And Today

Along with folding origami frogs, yesterday also found us doing our first sap boil of the season! The smell of maple in the air is a sure sign that spring is on the way (and what a truly sweet sign it is)! 

 Today was all abut welcoming the new month with some skiing, voting, (more sap boiling and lots and lots of playing outside!

 And of course, no March 1st would be complete if we didn't have daffodils on the table and wish all our Welsh friends a very lovely Saint David's Day! xo

A Sweet Start

Is there anything better than blueberry pancakes with maple syrup on a chilly morning?! There is if those pancakes are topped with maple syrup that was made from the sap of your own maple trees! xo

Our Very Own Maple Syrup

After all the collecting and all the boiling we finally finished our maple syrup Easter Sunday night! It was glorious to watch the process from start to finish. It was glorious to add yet another family project into the mix. We were in awe as it went from a thin liquid to a thick syrup (and to have it be such a gorgeous maple color and just the best maple flavor ever, too)! We surely learned a lot along the way (the turkey fryer really is the way to ) and we will definitely be making this part of our family's seasonal rhythm for years and years to come. When all was said and done we gathered 25 gallons of sap which turned into the quart and six jam jars that you see above. Not a bad haul for our first sugar season (especially since we didn't even tap the trees at the very beginning of it).

Thank you to Emma for asking a simple question which opened a whole new world to us, and to Sarah for her guidance and wisdom and answering each and every one of the many questions we had along the way. What a lovely (and sweet) way to end the winter and welcome the spring. xo

A Saturday Of Sap And Snow

Fifteen gallons of sap boiled and two snowmen built make for a lovely last Saturday of March! 

We still have about five gallons to go but that will have to wait until tomorrow as both the daylight and propane are waning. We've loved every step of this process and cannot wait to see it fully become maple syrup. What a wonderfully sweet way to end winter and welcome spring! xo