The Making of Syrup

Spring has finally decided to make an appearance in central New York! Last Friday we were greeted by a geyser flowing down the hill in front of our driveway, ushering in the thaw with flourish.

The end of the video shoots up the driveway, which you can see was still covered with snow. Today, it is mostly clear! (except for a drift which unfortunately is right at the beginning of the driveway, so the driveway, though almost entirely clear, is still impassable)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. With the warmer temperatures this week, the sap has been flowing like crazy, which has provided us with a very convenient excuse for spending a great deal of time outside enjoying spring while we boil sap (and clear brush and plant our first vegetables and stake out our future apple orchard).

Mick designed a very effective setup for boiling resting two evaporator pans on cinder blocks, with a smokin' wood fire underneath.

The pan on the right is in the front of the fire (the wind blows from front to back, except when it decides to switch it up on us), so the pan on the left is generally the hottest. We empty the sap buckets into a galvanized bucket, which we empty into the cooler (lighter-colored) pan.

After that boils for awhile, we transfer it to the other pan and add fresh sap to the first pan. This method preheats the sap that goes into the second pan and concentrates the further-along sap. It is mesmerizing to watch it boil! When it is going hot, you can practically watch the level of liquid drop. The steam smells wondrous (as long as you don't get a good full sniff of smoke instead).

Mick keeps busy stoking the fire, trying to keep up with the wind's temperamental changes in direction.

It seemed a shame to let all that beautiful fire go to waste, and we were after all getting hungry......

Delicious! :) Meanwhile, back at the trailer, we had further proof that spring was here to stay! Monday was a non-sap-boiling day. I was washing dishes while Mick was doing schoolwork, and out the window I saw...

Hooray! I have been looking for them for weeks, but I guess they wanted to wait until there was at least some grass visible. Sunday morning we heard redwing blackbirds for the first time, and we have seen (and heard!) many flocks of both snow and Canada geese. Mick spent Tuesday afternoon on the hill while I was at work and said the loudest noise he heard up there was the geese. I joined him for dinner that night, and we inaugurated our first batch of Colby cheese!

Not too shabby! And at last after much boiling, the time came to finish the syrup at home. Mick transferred the second-stage pan to a pot.

We boiled it on the stove until the temperature reached about 217 -- and boy, did it look thick!

Our first round of syrup-making, and so far we have nearly a gallon and a half, with much more still to boil.

Life is good!