We made syrup!

We have plenty of maple trees on the property but we’ve never tried to make maple syrup before. Well, apparently this was the year to give it a go!

The main reason we decided to try it was that Chris scored both a food grade barrel and a whole bunch of bricks. The barrel would let us accumulate the sap (we only had 5 sap taps/buckets and we had to borrow those) and the bricks would provide material for a quick and dirty wood-fired evaporator. 

The barrel and the evaporator 

We had good collecting weather for about a week and managed to accumulate about 22 gallons of sap. 

Beginning the boil

The weather was perfect: sunny, warmish, and barely breezy. I even brought Cooper’s bed outside so she could enjoy the sunshine with us.

You’ll note there is no dog...

We boiled outside for nine hours the first day, five hours the second, and three the third.

Turning golden

It did get warmer as the day progressed

Eventually she joined us

The chickens were loving being able to roam around at last. They’ve been confined to their coop and run because they hate to walk on the snow. The nice weather means they finally have a grass path to freedom.

Now we’re getting closer

Once enough had evaporated we moved into the house to finish it off. 

It took about 2.5 hours to turn into syrup 

A good production run

We ended up with a generous two quarts. That was our goal and I can’t believe we actually hit it! It’s not like we were carefully measuring anything. But I’d estimate we collected 22 gallons of sap so we at least have a target for next year.

I partially filled the jars because I’m going to freeze them. Well, some of them. We’ll be dipping into the first jar tonight. Waffles for dinner!