{This Moment} Tapping The Trees

{This Moment} A weekend ritual. A single photo (or nine!) capturing a moment from the week. A simple. special, extraorinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Wishing you all a lovely Valentines weekend! xo

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

Yesterday and Today

Though the girls had a day off from ski practice yesterday (due to school vacation week) our intrepid skiers couldn't possibly miss out on six inches of fresh powder! 

View from the back door at 7:00am Sunday morning. 

And our view at 8:30am today. Perfect temperature out there this morning to begin boiling our first batch of sap! Nothing like the smell of maple right outside your back door! xo

{These Moments} Tapping Day!

{This Moment} A weekend ritual. A single photo (or six) -no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Wishing you all a sweet and lovely weekend! xo

On The First Day Of Spring

The changing of the seasons has always been a much looked forward to time in our family, and today was no exception! The winter/Saint Patrick's Day decorations were put away, and out came the spring/Easter decorations. As is our tradition we read Mother Earth and her Children before lessons today (and The Story of the Root Children at bedtime tonight). There was a lovely spring verse said (with accompanying hand motions /dance) and then it was off to put the aforementioned verse in their main lesson books. Afterward, sap buckets were checked and emptid, bikes were ridden and snow walked through. It was far too beautiful of a day to not get outside! This evening, while Grace was at dance Emma and I decided to see what treasures may be  found at Target, and while it had been agreed upon that we would not be buying anything we did come away with two egg decorating kits (gnomes, snails and toadstools!  How could we not?!) and a shirt for Emma (check back tomorrow to see it's fabulousness)! 

Happy Spring, dear friends! We hope that your day was as lovely as ours! 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

And So It Begins!

Fingers crossed for a really good run this year! xo