Gardening, canning, pickling and everything related

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

Dave in AZ Thanks! Yeah I love the smell of the sap boiling. It’s very nostalgic. Growing up my parents would always takes us to the sugar bush down the road. We learned how to make syrup ourselves and tapped the only tree we had at the time. It was a red maple and I spent my childhood climbing and swinging from it. Now we have property in the woods and too many maples to tap. It’s a great problem to have really.

[GWG8541]

Deepwoodsbutcher I’m envious that you are able to do your own.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

GWG8541 it is a special opportunity that we are grateful for.

[zbigjeff]

Deepwoodsbutcher You do everything. Way to go. A bud’s family has been cooking for the last 2 weeks. It’s a labor of love for sure. Can’t wait to get some fresh syrup.

[GWG8541]

zbigjeff Deepwoodsbutcher I trade venison to an old timer who makes his own. I wish I had a few decent maples on my property. I would definitely be asking for advice on how to do it.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

zbigjeff we are bottling today. I’ll post what we get. This is our first week. We will bottle again next weekend and hopefully a third

[zbigjeff]

Deepwoodsbutcher Keep on that roll. Wishing you well the next 3 weeks.

[chippewa]

Deepwoodsbutcher that is a true labor of love! A lot of work involved for sure!!

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

zbigjeff chippewa Thanks. It is rewarding work

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

We got 3 quarts finished and bottled this weekend. Hopefully, the weather cooperates and we get a bunch more sap this week.

[processhead]

Deepwoodsbutcher
A lot of time and energy but the rewards are S W E E T…

What are the weather issues around continued sap flow? Or is it more about just making the rounds to collect it?

[Craig Rice]

the temp must be in a certain range for the sap to flow

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

processhead the temperatures have to be above freezing during the day and below freezing at night for the sap to flow. You can only collect until the trees start to bud out, then the sap changes and is unusable. So if the weather turns warm too quickly, the season will pass very quickly too.

[WVTim]

Deepwoodsbutcher good work

[salmonmaster]

Deepwoodsbutcher very interesting stuff. What a great project!

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

WVTim salmonmaster thanks!

[calldoctoday]

Deepwoodsbutcher That is absolutely amazing. Get to many, we can help you out.

[Deepwoodsbutcher]

calldoctoday thanks. I’ll need to start a waiting list

[calldoctoday]

We enlarged the garden by about 300% to try & make up for the Winter zapping & price of groceries. Andrew & I double spaded & hand plowed the plot now & started to work things in for a final spading with the fork & start planting. It is at about 80’ x 25’ now. Nothing like our gardens from the past properties, not even close, but hopefully we will see some good results. Worked a lot of compost in that we had piling up & need to get to the dairy & get some manure, do the final fork, & set the drip lines, & hopefully we will be set. Keep your fingers crossed.

[bocephus]

calldoctoday Sounds like you have been doing a lot of work. The payoff will definitely be when you start to harvest.