Neighbor Mike and I had quite the assembly line operating Tuesday afternoon while processing pure maple syrup.

April 11, 2018 - Wednesday

31 degrees/cloudy/calm winds

Pentoga Road

My fingers are flying this morning as we prepare for another busy day on Pentoga Road. The only thing flying faster and higher around here is the maple sap and syrup. It's that time of the year.

With a series of winter storms approaching from the west and the temperature to plummet well below freezing, accompanied by inches, possibly feet, of snow, it's imperative to get our boiling finished and taps pulled from the trees by Thursday evening. The race is on.

I was outside early Tuesday morning starting a fire in the boiler.

It didn't take long for the four pans of sap to begin boiling and the day officially underway.

Neighbor Mike came along later in the morning and began gathering sap. He spent much of the afternoon in the woods going from tree to tree, emptying the bags. 

I bet that boy slept well last night after hauling five gallon buckets of water throughout the day.

The only problem encountered was finding enough thawed sap to boil. Two of our barrels were completely frozen making for thirty-five gallon blocks of solid ice.

There was nothing to do but use a large spud, a chisel, to begin chipping away. It made for tedious boiling and slowed the entire process down considerably as the ice had to melt in the first two warming pans.

 When we were lucky, we found liquid in the core of the barrels.

I tried to hasten the thawing process by putting black plastic bags over the top of the ice and letting the sun do its work. 

In the end, we had enough sap to boil and carry us though the day. The same process will be repeated today.

Hambone was outside for much of the morning.

His favorite part of the action was going with Pawpaw on the snowmobile to check the bags.

Unfortunately, Grady found a mud puddle and got both feet and most of his lower body completely drenched. His day spent outside was over. He and Grandma Sargie had a good time inside though and much of the afternoon was spent taking a long and much-needed nap.

It was late afternoon before we transferred the sap, almost syrup, from the last pan (most concentrated) to the propane burner so it could be finished off.

Once the hydrometer showed that it was finished, the syrup was moved into the kitchen where Sargie had prepared the quart canning jars. Mike went ahead to heat the jars and get everything ready. It was time to process the syrup.

Germaine and Sargie spent part of the afternoon visiting and actually accused Mike and I of purposely wearing matching shirts. Even as busy and under stress as we were, the girls still insisted on teasing us. Sometimes, life's not fair.

In the end, despite all the verbal harassment, we ended up with just one pint shy of two full gallons. As poor as conditions have been, I was happy at the amount and even happier at the quality, a nice light amber. The slight hint of smoke in the flavor gives it that down home, pure, fresh, maple syrup flavor. 

It's official. Nieces Marley and Aubrey will have maple syrup to pour over their pancakes this year.

I'm going to head outside and light a fire pretty soon, get entire process started again. Sargie works today and hopefully, Hambone will sleep in.

There's a man from an environmental company coming sometime this morning to give an estimate on insulating our 99 year old home against the cold winter winds. The west wall is always cold. He'll also be giving me ideas on windows for the living room and running central heating to the area. I don't mind using wood heat now, but I can see that in a few years, I may not want to be playing with wood all summer so I can cart it  inside during the winter to keep the house warm.

It's called "growing old(er)."

Time to head 'em up, roll 'em out, get those doggies movin', and light a fire. There's sap to boil. 

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

The area around the boiler was roped off so Grady knew where his boundaries were and couldn't get close. When I was right there, a wet, mud puddle playing, Hambone was allowed to sit by the fire to keep warm. I think he learned his lesson and won't get wet today.