Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tappin'

What a moment in the trip 'round the sun this is. We think Late February is special. Long and sunny days, a fresh blanket of snow, and rising sap all about. It looks like Winter out there but our seasonal clocks are ticking and headed smack dab toward Spring.

We thought you might like to see our tapping 'operation,' such as it is.
As yet, we are not tapping maples in our own woodlot. We are hoping to raise or purchase a team of oxen some day to help with the sap transport from woods to barnyard.

For now, we tap trees that we can drive and walk to. This is where farming in a village is kind of sweet. (Pun intended.) We tap four different village residents' maples for a total of 33 taps.

So first, we ask permission from those neighbors.
Then we go tappin'.
We introduce ourselves to some mighty maples.
We find a good spot on the bark, avoiding by a foot or so last year's holes.
We drill with a 1/2 inch bit going about 2" deep, at a slight angle.



Tap in the tap.
And hang the buckets to catch the drip drip drip.
Tasting encouraged.

Depending on the weather, we collect every few days or as often as twice a day. As long as it is coldish, we can store the sap until we are ready to boil. This winter, Prentice re-purposed an old oil tank into a sap boiling monster. I think that oil tank moved from Thorndike to freedom with us 10 years ago. Prentice sawz-alled the thing in two and then with a bunch of welding and design assistance, an old door and some stovepipe from our neighbor, Paul, they fashioned quite a nice evaporator. This is a picture of the 'burning off the oil' firing. Today it is boiling real live sap.
As I have mentioned here before, I daydream about pre-history a good bit and the whole tapping thing really gets this propensity going.
What person first saw a freshly broken maple twig dripping sap? Or noticed a bird sipping? What person first tasted it? Who was the first to collect some, warm it over a fire, perhaps forgetting it, therefore condensing its sweetness a bit more towards what we know today as maple syrup? Has sugar maple sap evolved to be sweeter over time?

And so many more wonderings. . .
With gratitude for the sweet maple sap,
All the best from here,
Polly

P.S. CSA sign ups are happening, so don't delay! Check out all of the offerings on our CSA webpage. Sign up online today by clicking here or download a printable form here.
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