I've been doing the maple sugaring thing for a month. I had the first day off in a month on Sunday. We hung around, ate turkey pie and watched movies. It was great, but now it's Monday and I am back to my regular job. I don't feel the sense of urgency that I did when the sap was coming in. No need to boil after school. It's funny. We may have some more to boil on Wednesday, but we really don't know at this point if the season is over.
Maple syruping turns you into a farmer for a short time, and then all of a sudden, it's over.
It seems like I have a lot of time to do things now.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Maple Syrup Musings
Maple syruping is a really fun thing to do this time of year. You have to be the kind of person who doesn't mind mud, heat, cold, sun, rain and snow.
We have all these things in abundance at the woodlot.
Check it out on youtube below.
We have all these things in abundance at the woodlot.
Check it out on youtube below.
I am feeling a bit better about our prospects lately. We made over 10 gallons of syrup this weekend and all sorts of people stopped by to wish us well. The number of people who are with us far outnumbers those who are against us, so what the heck. We'll keep going as long as nature keeps sending us the sap. We are sending large quantities of steam towards heaven and having a good time doing it.
We had over 300 gallons of sap when we started on Saturday, and we boiled it down to a manageable 100 gallons. The next day we came back in and were back to over 250 again! We cranked Patrick up and boiled it all down by 8pm.
This is the only time of the year you can do this, so we are making hay while the sun shines.
I feel that it's a real privledge to be able to do this. I thank God for the opportunity.
It's a lot of fun too. We have friends like Dan who show up and man the hot seat in front of the evaporator every year. John does yeoman's work finishing and I try to help out by getting wood and doing whatever has to be done.
People came with kids to help collect buckets. It really is community supported agriculture.
Maili came through at a crucial time with soup and bread, and Sherri brought her knitting and helped with sales.
The sun shone and made the sap flow.
All in all we are blessed to be able to do this.
We had over 300 gallons of sap when we started on Saturday, and we boiled it down to a manageable 100 gallons. The next day we came back in and were back to over 250 again! We cranked Patrick up and boiled it all down by 8pm.
This is the only time of the year you can do this, so we are making hay while the sun shines.
I feel that it's a real privledge to be able to do this. I thank God for the opportunity.
It's a lot of fun too. We have friends like Dan who show up and man the hot seat in front of the evaporator every year. John does yeoman's work finishing and I try to help out by getting wood and doing whatever has to be done.
People came with kids to help collect buckets. It really is community supported agriculture.
Maili came through at a crucial time with soup and bread, and Sherri brought her knitting and helped with sales.
The sun shone and made the sap flow.
All in all we are blessed to be able to do this.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Can We Make it through Peak Oil in Central Maine?
Lately I have been thinking a lot about whether we'll make it through peak oil around here. I'm not so sure any more. We have a small maple sugaring operation and you would think that people would respect the fact that we are making a product there. We have been vandalized at least 3 times, seriously. The last time somebody shot 6 bullets into the shack from a high powered rifle. It damaged the evaporator, but we can still make maple syrup. Our motto for this year is "illegitimati non carborundum", which means don't let the bastards grind you down.
The maple sugaring operation is just a small example of the kind of place that we will need to have to produce food and fiber for ourselves in the future. We will need to be able to work without worrying about people messing with what we are doing. It makes me think that we may need to guard the places where our substenance is coming from.
The world seems headed for exactly the kind of trouble that the "doomers" are always warning us about.
Instead of working together and making our communities thrive we will fall into fighting and wrecking the efforts of the few people who are trying to make farming work.
I really don't know what the answer is, but we are going to keep on boiling sap until the season is done.
Ilegitimati non carborundum!!!
The maple sugaring operation is just a small example of the kind of place that we will need to have to produce food and fiber for ourselves in the future. We will need to be able to work without worrying about people messing with what we are doing. It makes me think that we may need to guard the places where our substenance is coming from.
The world seems headed for exactly the kind of trouble that the "doomers" are always warning us about.
Instead of working together and making our communities thrive we will fall into fighting and wrecking the efforts of the few people who are trying to make farming work.
I really don't know what the answer is, but we are going to keep on boiling sap until the season is done.
Ilegitimati non carborundum!!!
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