It’s Maple Tapping Time!!!

First, let me say that a little preparation goes a long, long, long way. 

     Last year, we tapped anything that looked remotely like a maple tree.  The result was a funky mapley-tasting syrup that wasn’t half-bad, which made it only half-good.  Who knows what we were pouring onto our pancakes.  To repent of our wayward tapping habit, we went out into the woods last fall and searched for actual maple trees and then marked them with orange tape.  One tree had rows of woodpecker holes at several different heights.  I learned something important from this–if a bird likes it, it’s a good tree.  You wouldn’t believe how much sap flowed from it –it’s amazing!  It’s like a fountain of sugary wonder–my taste buds are crying with happiness as I type this.

     Last year, our spiels drained into open buckets subject to the elements and critters.  This year, we ordered 5 new spiels with hoses.  At first, I was annoyed that Bob wanted to do this.  I’m the cheapest person I know and I saw this as waste since we had 6 perfectly good spiels and our tapping operation was just fine.  I can see now the folly of my ways.  Instead of the sap water brimming with leaves, twigs, floating dead bugs, it is pure.  I should’ve gotten on board with this sooner since I am not a fan of proteins that are not cheese, eggs, chicken, beef or fish.  You guessed it, I’m never going to be that person that relishes the idea of fried grasshoppers or chocolate coated worms.

     So here are some facts for making your own syrup.  Did you know that you can tap trees other than just maple?  You may not get the same taste, but it will still be good.  Some tapping varieties are box elder, walnut, birch, sycamore, poplar and hickory.  However, not all saps are created equal–some may be a tad bitter, some will take more sap to make the same amount you would get from a maple tree and the list goes on. 

     It’s an easy process to tap a tree.  First, it has to be the right time of year.  The best sap flows when temperatures are below freezing at night and warming up to above 40 degrees during the day.  Find a tree that is between 10 and 20 inches in diameter.  Drill a hole about 2 inches into the tree with a drill bit that is the same size as your spiel.  Tap the spiel gently into the tree with a rubber mallet.  Hang your bucket off the spiel and wait for it to fill.  It may take a while.  It probably won’t flow like it did in the Hunger Games—when they drove the spiel into the tree, sap miraculously poured out.  It may take a few days depending on the tree.  Don’t be discouraged that it takes 50 to 60 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup–it’s worth it.  Once you have a good amount, put it on the stove and boil it down.  If you have endless amounts of energy (like the heat from a wood stove) or someone else pays your gas/electric/propane bill for your kitchen stove, you’re in luck.  I happen to heat with a wood stove and I’m unapologetic about having the opportunity to make syrup when I can–there has to be some pay off to having to shove wood into that metal monster day and night 5 months of the year. 

     Anyway, once you have your syrup–enjoy.  I put it on pretty much everything–wheat bread dough, cereal, ice cream . . . and today, I drizzled it over my pot roast.  No, there is no such thing as too much maple syrup. 

 

Take care, All.

 

We added our Rain Water Collection book to Amazon recently.  You won’t learn how to tap maple trees here, but it will discuss the ins and outs of rainwater collection.

http://www.amazon.com/Preppers-Guide-Rainwater-Harvesting-Threat-ebook/dp/B00HYR3LGM/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1393471248&sr=8-5&keywords=Hillary+Bergeron

Happ-Happ-Happenings on the Homestead in the Coldest of Weather

 

WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING LATELY

 

WHAT I WISH I COULD BE DOING

 

 

Hi friends,

Yes, it’s been a long time and I’ve been absent.  But, in that time, I finished two college courses and I am halfway through another one.  Bob finished his Weapons book and is now working on his water book, which should be great. 

 

We are currently experiencing the coldest winter that we’ve ever had here in Tennessee.  The week before last, freezing air blasted down from the north and chilled us all to the bone.  We had to keep all of our wood stoves going full blast, including the hot tub outside (although it was way too cold to expose our skin to the cold air).  At the same time, we were battling the flu.  So for that week and a half, while trying to keep our pipes from freezing day and night, and trying to keep our animals warm, happy and watered, we were fighting sickness.  Believe me, carrying firewood in while dealing with nausea, coughing, body aches and weakness is no picnic.  It was probably the most miserably inconvenient time to be sick.  But you know how Murphy’s Law works  . . .

 

To take extra precautions for the animals, we insulated the chicken house and pulled tarps over the pen for more protection.  We added extra bedding to the cat cubby where they hang out at nights.  Everyone received extra protein and food at mealtime.  Bear, our big dog, refused to go into a dog house.  We tried everything to lure him into that dog house–putting his favorite food into it so he would have to go in to get it, moving the dog house onto the porch so he could be close to the front door–but nothing worked.  He still refused to go in as if the ghosts from dogs’ past were haunting it.  So, to save him from the weather, we dragged him into the house against his will.  You know how little kids perform the wet-fish maneuver when they don’t want to do something?  Well, that was Bear–all 80 pounds of him, as he flopped down on the ground and laid there in a locked paw position, toenails digging into the ground, making it impossible to move him.  It took every ounce of strength to get him inside.  Once in for the night, he refused to sit and stood next to the door and gave me the stink-eye whenever I walked by.  When we put him back outside, he was pretty perturbed with us for a couple of days–and all this because we were trying to save his life. It seems as though no good deed goes unpunished.

 

We had a week of favorable temperatures, but now the cold weather has returned.  However, it should be easier to deal with this time around.  We’ve recovered from the flu by about 80%, and the freezing weather is only supposed to last a day or two.  So, looks like we’re in for a few more days of hauling wood up to the porch.

 

Take care, All.  

If you haven’t had a chance to look at Bob’s Weapons book, here’s the link:

 

 

 

Pajama-Mama and Her New Water Filter

I’ve uploaded a video from our latest venture–trying to make a cheap water filter.  Somehow, we didn’t do something right.  Please excuse the pajamas, they’re super comfortable.  In fact, I think we should be able to wear pajamas “all” the time.  Why save the clothing with the most comfort for bedtime?

http://www.youtube.com/user/hsbergeron?feature=watch

50:1 MAPLE SYRUP FUN

Hi Friends,

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been on to update this blog.  In that time, I have put in any spare minute possible working on my Off-Grid Book.  While “Unplugged” is a memoir about my experiences, I’ve been getting a lot of feedback about how there wasn’t any “how-to” information in it.  I took the hint.  Bob and I have been working on “Solar Blessed–Building the Off-Grid Home,” for the past few months.  Since that time, we have put in anywhere from eight hours to sixteen hours a day, with the majority of our time near the sixteen-hour range.  Of course, this isn’t without some pain.  My upper back and arms, after spending hours bent over a computer, are strained to the point that for the past two weeks I have been in pain and had a constant headache.  It’s so bad, I actually had to visit my massage therapist friend.  Might I say, massage therapy is “AWESOME.”  I’m not over all my pain, but for one day, I felt like a normal person again. 

 

Despite all the work on the new book, I was still able to take a few minutes of time and put in some lettuce seed and collect the maple sap from the trees we tapped last month.  We strained out the bugs, leaves and twigs and set it on the wood stove to boil down.  After burning the first batch, we resolved to make sure the second batch came out.  When it got down to a certain point, we set the kitchen timer in fifteen-minute intervals.  After three days, we had the sap boiled down enough to call it syrup.  Wow!!!  It was great!!!  Nothing at the store compares.  Next year, we will start earlier collecting the sap.  Since it boils down from a 50-to-1 ratio, I would like a little more than just a baby food jar.

 

Just a side note, the deer actually pulled one of my buckets off the tree and chewed on it.  

 

Take care, 

 

Hillary