Collecting Sap

Matt joined me at Laurie's to help collect sap from her trees and see her process for boiling and finishing it off. We were amazed at how much sap was produced in one day while the temperature was only 2 degrees above zero. The buckets were all 1/3 to 3/4 full. The sap was also very heavy to carry-which we had read about, but until you lift it, you don't really realize it! :) The same goes for seeing an actual visual comparison of multiple gallons of sap to the small quantity of syrup you get from it after it's boiled. Matt's eyes widened when he truly realized how little syrup you actually produce after hours of boiling many gallons. It makes you appreciate it all the more! We had a little taste of the goods and boy, it is delicious! Laurie and I were chatting about what we like our maple syrup on most....she loves it on ice cream...I agree! As we were talking, I found out that she has an old ice cream maker that used to belong to our grandmother. I'm thinking that oughta be our next project! Yum!

Maple Syrup Season: Drilling 101

Our family has tasted the best maple syrup ever! Our cousin, Laurie makes it and she only lives a few minutes away from us. Yay!

As Matt said on the weekend, "Laurie does everything! She has her own bees. She makes honey. She makes her own syrup. She's even a stone cutter!" Josh chimed in, "And she's a really good storyteller. She has a story about everything."

Laurie really does do everything. No task seems impossible to her. We are so happy that she is willing to share her time, skills and knowledge with us-o, and some yummy treats in the process of course!

So, on the weekend, we went over and learned how to tap trees at her place. We had read Sugartime by Susan Carol Hauser and realized how involved the process of maple sugaring was through the author's experiences and historical information of the Ojibwe peoples, their ways, lives and discoveries. Laurie brought the book over as it is a practical guide for the novice sugarer.

Each year, we have headed out to mills and conservation areas to see the old and new processes of making maple syrup and sugar-however, it's different when you actually do it yourself. So, we are thankful to Laurie for the opportunity and look forward to helping her boil some sap down this weekend! :)

Maple Syrup Time!

It's maple syrup time in Ontario!

We enjoyed a lovely day visiting Bruce's Mill Conservation Area with our old friends Anna, Rick, Aidan and Julianna this past weekend.

The sun was shining, the snow was melting and the maple syrup was a flowin'! YUMM!

Highlights of our day included: seeing the sweet animals at the petting zoo, the owls from the Muskoka Wildlife Centre, mucking in the puddles, snowball fights, sliding on ice with sticks, the smell of the fire and time with our pals.