Sugar Maple-in’ Time
Although it started a little early this year, it's time for tapping trees. Here in the Northeast, especially in the mountains, it's a pretty common thing. The buckets on the trees and the gathering wagons that were pulled through the woods to gather the syrup are pretty much gone now, but I'd venture to say that with all of the modern tubing and vacuumized lines, there's probably more syrup being produced now than ever before. With modern technology, the maple industry has become a big business.
Even though I'm not a fan of seeing lines strung everywhere through the woods, I'm glad to see people utilizing the forest and harvesting one of the most luxurious foods of nature! The lines, well, they're just the most efficient and cost effective way for gathering the sap.
For the most part, we get our syrup from one of my two sisters that have big sugaring operations. But every other year or so, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I will drag out my 10 keeler's and sugar pan and do it the old way. There's something about that experience of sitting by a fire on a chilly night, keeping the water boiling and looking at the stars, that just can't be beat or bought.
We have a couple of big ole sugar maples directly below the house that we'll tap and boil off in a little one foot by two foot pan. We'll make a gallon or two of syrup from them, and for the most part, it's a really good experience. Well, really good except for the part where I said the sugar maples were below the house! The trees are down in this hollow that drops several hundred feet behind the house. We pretty much walk straight down to the trees, and then straight back up to where we boil the syrup. It will definitely keep you in shape carrying the water! The other downer is that the whole experience takes a ton of time. If you think pure maple syrup is expensive, try making some and you'll think that those poor people making the syrup for practically nothing must be half crazy.
When I think about it, whether or not to make syrup, there's always this dilemma between do I really want to, or is it just going to make my life so busy that I won't enjoy any of it.
When I think about sitting by the fire, looking at the stars, dabbing some fresh syrup on some vanilla ice cream, I usually go for it, and that's what I did this year.
As the season started and I boiled my first run, I began to believe that I had made a mistake in tapping this year. I was busy making glass for the Iowa Deer Classic as well as having a couple of deer that I needed to mount before spring, and so I was trying to keep the fire going, running back and forth between the shop and the sugar pan, sometimes letting the fire die down to the point that it took awhile to get it boiling again.
The second time I boiled, I did it in the evening and kept it as my sole focus. Granted, I did shoot some arrows as I was waiting and watching the fire, but for the most part I just fed the fire and hung out.
It turned out to be a beautiful evening. The sun set and the stars came out and the sound of the crackling fire and the boiling water came to life. My cousin Mark stopped by and we sat and chatted by the fire. When the kids got home from their various activities, they came and joined us, bringing along some peanut butter Easter eggs from Caleb's robotics team fundraiser, and hot dogs for roasting. As the evening wore on, Mark left and the kids and Jenelle went to bed. I leaned my chair against a tree and snoozed in and out of dreamland, adding water to the pan and putting more wood on the fire every time it started to die down. A great horned owl started his midnight call. I enjoyed several cups of maple tea. (Hot maple sap poured over a tea bag.) The sugar water in the big barrel got empty and the water in the pan got sweeter and sweeter. The maple flavor was delicious! And it really was an awesome night.
I did some rough math. I got just shy of a gallon of syrup so far. I probably put in 16 hours, give or take a few, to get that gallon. I think a gallon of syrup goes for $35 or $40 bucks. A little better than $2 dollars an hour!
Is it worth it?
Definitely!
I hope that you're having a great season as well!
