Our Maple syrup adventure

The coming of spring brings us outside again after using the cold, snowy months planning out all the projects we could dream of.  Our first harvest of the season was maple sap.  A simple but time consuming process that yields a sweet reward.  Being our first maple season we didn't want to overwhelm ourselves by taking on a huge project.  We borrowed 4 buckets and spigots from a friend and tapped 4 maples near the house.  When we began, we agreed to be quite happy if this adventure gave us enough syrup for one special meal.  We had no idea what to expect.

We had marked our maple trees with yellow tape in the fall

We drilled holes

Hammered in the spigots.  They began dripping immediately

Those that couldn't help stood around looking cute

Hung the buckets

Drip, drip, drip

By the time we were done hanging all 4 buckets, the first bucket looked like this

One day later, we had enough sap to start boiling. We started by straining it through a coffee filter

Then put the pot on the fire to boil for several hours

You'd think the chickens would see the big boiling pot as a threat!

Once the sap has started to change colour, we brought it inside for a final boil over the stove

When it reached 104 degrees it was ready to strain again

It takes 40 litres of sap to make one litre of syrup.  We ended up with almost 4 litres of syrup by the time the week was over.  The lighter syrup was from the first batch we made.  The later season syrup is darker.  It is delicious!