Ever since we moved to our old farmhouse 10 years ago (wow, where did that time go?) we have wanted to tap the sugar maples that line the front of our property. The first spring that we were here, a neighbour down the road tapped the trees (and many of our neighbours trees) and showed up on our doorstep a week later with a mason jar full of syrup. We have tried to buy the buckets and spires every year since he passed away, but could never find them. This year, by chance, Mike was out near Carleton Place and spotted a farm supply store with a sign out front that said "We have Maple syrup supplie!" That night he brought the buckets home and we tapped the trees. The kids were so excited - they thought we would have syrup for our pancakes the next morning!! Surprisingly it only took a couple days of collecting and boiling before we had our first jar of syrup. Now that the trees have run dry, we have 7 little jars of dark brown, yummy syrup to keep us over the next three seasons.
Next year we are going to get started earlier - and figure out a new system for boiling (let me just say that our kitchen ceilings were dripping at one point).
No comments:
Post a Comment