Taking a break on Saturday... watching the sap boil

April 7, 2013 – Sunday

30 degrees/cloudy/breezy

Pentoga Road

It’s going to be a short one today. Due to the storage situation, I’m barely keeping even with the current flow. Yesterday, I reduced enough sap to make two gallons and a quart of delicious, thick, maple syrup. That translates to boiling almost a hundred gallons of water.

Sargie and I also gathered over a hundred gallons of sap during the day. I couldn’t believe our luck (said tongue in cheek). It was snowing and blowing and the temperature was barely above freezing and several bags were bursting to overflowing. There was nothing to do but play a game of human yoyo and bounce between the boiler and the woods. In the end, it came out just fine.

Putting the boiling syrup into canning jars. 

It was very slippery walking in the woods yesterday. At one point, I was carrying two very full five-gallon pails of water to the four-wheeler when I tripped and dumped one down my boot. To make matters worse, I hit my elbow, the crazy bone, on a dead tree limb when I went down. The only thing really hurt was my ego, but between the pain from my elbow (that lasted only a few seconds) and sloshing around the rest of the day in a wet boot, my self-esteem might have been irreparably damaged. Thankfully, I made a full recovery.

I had a weird incident happen on Friday. I was walking along a trail collecting sap and discovered I didn’t know where I was. My vision’s not the best and with the bright sunlight it was even less than normal. I began walking the wrong direction to get back to the four-wheeler until it dawned on me I should be walking uphill, not downhill.

It was the same feeling as when one is driving, zoned out in Never Never Land, and suddenly wonders if he passed through a certain town or doesn’t know exactly where he is. I think God puts these obstacles in our path to keep life interesting. He’s sure doing a good job with me.

The final step before canning. The heavy concentrate is boiled over propane so it can be closely managed. It's turning into syrup here. A few seconds too long can see the liquid transform into taffy. 

The sap seems to be running with a high sugar content this year. The flavor is also very light as is the color. Two years ago, when Andy and I sugared, the syrup came out very dark and heavy and the sugar content seemed very low.

I boiled sap until bedtime last night when I finally called it quits and came inside. Sargie had chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy and for dessert, there was vanilla ice cream with… what else… fresh, pure, thick, sweet, maple syrup poured over the top. I told her since the syrup was made from wood, the calories didn’t count.

The WOWL telethon will be on from 5 to 8 this evening (U.S. - Central Time Zone) and can be accessed by clicking on the links provided in yesterday’s entry. For those out of the country, I’ll let you do the math. In some parts of the world, it’s already tomorrow so you can relive yesterday all over again! Feel free to watch and make a donation. It’s for the best of causes… children. I’ll also be on sometime or the other and will give you the opportunity to throw rotten eggs at your computer screen. Admit it, you’ve been wanting a new computer, right?

With a forecast high of 45 degrees, there’s little doubt the sap will run. (It’s snowing AGAIN right at this moment.) Since I boiled until late last night, I have about forty gallons of available storage. That being said, I think I ought to get this uploaded and get the fire going. After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…