The sap's running!
The call came yesterday. My husband's former boss, the consummate woodsman, canoeist, hunter and sportsman, now retired, would be boiling syrup the next day. Sap runs in the spring when the days go above freezing while the night temps remain below. So today we headed north to the woods...
The sugar bush refers to a stand of maples, typically sugar maple or black maple, used for making the syrup we all love on our pancakes, unless you've got a thing for Mrs. Butterworth. Today's post is more show than tell.
The Sugar Bush (The Garden Buzz)
Rustic sap buckets have given way to cleaner, more efficient plastic bags, note the tap in the middle.
The sap is collected in large buckets, strained with a milk strainer to remove any bugs or debris. Then it's ready for cooking.
Wood-fired cooker is used for the first phase, keeping the temp constant.
The next phase will finish the process when this goes into a roiling boil.
Ron and his 90 year-old father patiently and expertly supervise the process.
It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of finished maple syrup.
The gorgeous scenery, white trilliums will carpet the woodland floor in spring.
Hmmm...I wonder what creature lives in there.
Moss, lichens and bracket fungi. The forest is poised on the moment of re-birth while in decay at the same time. Once again, that whole circle of life stuff.
The syrup is not quite finished, but beginning to take on that amber hue. At this point a mildly maple taste to the product.
We had to leave before the final phase. I'm hoping for a small bit of the batch someday soon.
For more signs of spring read about the antics of my resident Canadian Geese in the Star Tribune
