Surgared for Success!

Sugaring was a success! Only 6 gallons of sap were used (the others were given away because of time) and the final product came out to be slightly over a pint. It is a bit watery and the purchase of a hydrometer will be necessary for next time, but it is the correct color and viscosity.

Maybe it's a good sign? Let's hope so.

Never did anything before...

I've never built anything in my life except for the mini bench I made in camp when I was 10. I grew a garden one summer but then decided making money in the summer was more beneficial before I went back to fall semester. So here I am going into this major project, clueless. Through conversations with many friends and new acquaintances, there are so many starting places. I knew I wanted to start small and with a project that has very little consequence if it goes wrong. 

It was then that I realized the perfect solution! Maple syrup. Worst case scenario, it burns, a few hours were wasted, and I'll have to wait until next season to try again. So we picked up a friend who runs taps in his front yard, asked him a few questions about what we needed, and headed to the local home and garden center. The purchase consisted of a new cordless drill ($130) and a drillbit about 1.5 inches that words for wood ($9.95). Our friend had two spiles (the metal, hollow peg placed into the drilled whole that directs the sap), bucks, and covers.

Tapping was simple. Holding the drill to a 45° angle to the tree and drill about an inch to and inch and a half into the tree. Clean out your new whole and wait a few moments to see if your tapped tree is full of sap. Some you'll notice right away and others will take a moment, depending on the saturation. The part where we struggled; we weren't sure what a sugar maple looked like without leaves! We started drilling left and right into every tree in sight. We tapped one tree twice and decided to return the next day with more supplies.

After a trip down to the local farmer's union (LFU), we returned to the property on the hunt for sugar maples. It wasn't until then we realized the previous owners tapped into trees in the past. It blew my mind to see the old wholes nearly filled it by the tree. We finished up the rounds and ended up with 8 taps all together. Four days later we pulled 8 gallons of sap. We were so surprised how much was collected in a short period of time. 

When I would read or hear about the amount of sap required to make maple syrup, I really didn't fathom how much it actually was. It's a lot. So we're starting with the 8 gallons in the boiling process for now then we'll add more as we collect more. A brought the old stove he found in the barn made by the Portland Stove Foundry, which is unfortunately no longer in business. Outside he fed the stove with kilding and got an old lobster pot filled with sap boiling. This is what I came home to from work. The smokey smell of the wood burning in a stove that hasn't been used in years was overwhelming. I cannot wait to smell it with the syrup!

Hopefully we'll be able to stay on top of the stove temperature to keep the pot cranking. I can taste the sweet, warm syrup now!

And so it begins...

It's mid March and signs of spring have already started to show. For such a mild winter here in Maine, it won't take long for the remainder of what little snow we have to disappear. I'm anxious and hesitant for spring to full arrive mostly because there is so much planning to do between now and then and when it does start, there is even more to do to get started.

So what is it that we're doing? We're building a house. Ourselves. A purchased a piece of land before we were together; a beautiful 5(ish) acre piece of lande 4 miles out of town. The land settles just below the mountains with the most perfect brook running down the entire property. Down the narrow driveway sits a deteriorating house where our future home will sit. On the opposite side of the driveway is a solid barn sitting on a cobble foundation which has such potential.

Our plans, in short, are to take down the existing house and rebuild our (tiny) dream home. We will introduce livestock such as pigs, chickens, turkeys, and a few more birds. I've always wanted a peafowl! A wants alpacas. And last but not least, a full vegetable gardens and a small fruit tree orchard.

The purpose of this blog is to document the process because that is exactly what this is. It's going to be hard, frustrating, and stressful but the learning aspect is why we're doing it. Emotional journey? Yes. And it will test us but in the end when we get to live in the home we created, it will all be worth it (fingers crossed).

I hope you enjoy following along.