Tag Archives: maple syrup

Spring Is Coming Again

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The past two days were near 60 degrees and quite beautiful, although breezy. We’ve tapped some of the maple trees near our house, and the sap is flowing like crazy. Typical to the temperamental Western NY weather, though, it rained all night last night and isn’t going to break 40 degrees today.

It’s alright, though. Mostly seasonal, temperate conditions help to ensure that trees don’t break dormancy too soon. Last year was a big disaster when 70s and 80s in March followed by several hard freezes in late March and April destroyed not only our own fruit crop, but the crops of many major orchards and vineyards in our area. Many people without any agricultural interests might be begging for the summer to begin, but those thinking like us are more likely to welcome the cold now, because soon the sun’s warmth will stay, and the leaves, blossoms, and greenery will return with more vigor for it.

Leeks will be one of the earliest, most vibrant editions to the spring forest floor, and we’ll be sure to be out gathering some up. We will also be utilizing our big new Excalibur dehydrator to preserve some. Those who might be interested in fresh or dried leeks can let us know at any time and we will notify you when they’re available. The price will depend on how the wild crop is, because we harvest very selectively to preserve the colonies of plants for the future, but we anticipate a good year.

The chickens never stopped laying all winter, though they were down to 2-3 a day at some points. Now they’re back up to 7-12 a day, and we’re starting to sell their eggs on Wholeshare. 🙂 While convenient for some in town, Wholeshare does charge a markup to our prices cover their own costs. If you come out to us to get the eggs, you will be charged a flat price (currently $3/doz.)

We bought six new chicks – 2 ‘Commercial Black’ layer crosses, 2 Dekalb Amberlinks, and 2 red pullets that could end up being Rhode Island Red, Production Red, New Hampshire Red, or Red Sex Links. Unfortunately, as I tend to do, I chose an odd one – the only grey one out of the batch of blacks. It was small to begin with, did not seem to be growing, and it stopped eating and drinking. We segregated it and tried to force some sugar water into it, but it passed away overnight one night. The others are all feathering out and appear healthy, and hopefully in a few weeks they can be integrated into the outdoor group.

Having been diagnosed with work-related ulnar neuropathy that is most likely Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, I’ve had some time off. It hurts me to be online, so I have been neglecting the updates here and everywhere else.

I’ve bought all the seed I need for planting this upcoming season, and we’re working on trying to build a homemade outdoor evaporator while I persistently stove-boil my maple sap and steam up the house (I do have finished syrup for sale by the pint or half pint).

I’m hoping to get more done with the ‘orchard’ area this year too, especially since rodents killed a few of the trees over the winter.

Always somethin’.

Quick Update

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Just decided to post a quick update to show that I’m still thinking about this place. 🙂

Over the summer and fall, I was getting 10-13 eggs per day from my 14 hens! Now, though, the winter’s low light has dropped them back down to 2-6 per day. Still, I’ll take it. They’re a joy to have and provide endless entertainment value. The roosters have become a bit more crotchety and protective, but they’re still not bad boys on the whole. You just have to keep an eye on them if you’re really close to them and wearing big, scary boots.

Our little kitten is no longer so little, although she’s small for an adult cat. She still enjoys rampaging throughout the house, mixed with periods of extreme cuteness.

This year’s deer hunt resulted in a nice doe. Prior to that, I bought a trail camera for getting wildlife photos on my property. We got a lot of nice ones, but it was also pretty promptly stolen by someone trespassing in our fields. People seem to continually disappoint me in such matters. A police report yielded nothing so far.

Somewhat happily, though, the winter has been mild thus far, which makes it easier on the animals and me. Lower bills, less worrying about the chickens, more greenery to lighten my mood… I’m sure ski resorts and snowmobilers hate it, though. It remains to be seen whether we’ll have the same (nonexistent) winter of last year, or if it will get more gnarly as the season progresses.

The growing season mostly ended a bit early this year. Many crops were done in mid-September, either succumbing to disease or falling victim to a light, early frost that came on Sept. 16th. Most of the rest finished in early October, when a killing freeze claimed them. For now, I still have plenty of eggs and maple syrup for sale. I’ll be making new syrup in another month or two, though last year’s has been stored cool, sealed, and dark, and is just as good as it was when I made it. I also have red and white potatoes still, as well as some onions.

The kale is still going strong out in the garden, shrugging off temps in the high teens and low 20s as it always does. I highly encourage growing this plant. It’s so tough, and so nutritious besides!

I no longer have beets, because rodents got into them and apparently ate around 2 bushels worth of them.

There are always little troubles, but oh well – we keep on. Such is life.

Progress

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I’ve been selling a few jars of maple syrup here and there, waiting for the growing season to begin. I am looking at a mid-May planting date, like I usually do. I could put in some crops earlier, such as kale, peas, or onions, but it is easier for me to simply cultivate the land and plant it all in one go. The seeds are all purchased for the most part. I will just be purchasing some started plants for things like tomatoes and broccoli.

I picked up 16 more raspberry starts, 8 black and 8 red, at the Frewsburg spring consignment auction. This is added to the 5 raspberries and 4 blackberries we already have, so we should get a pretty good little bush of them established if they all survive and so forth. I also purchased 8 grape vines, but they were severely nipped by a hard freeze on a night it wasn’t expected, so they have yet to recover. I will have to just wait and see on those.

I plan to order some other small fruits like gooseberries and also some fruit trees to put in if everything permits. It may get partially put off to next year, but it will happen.

The chickens are still growing fast! They are around 6 weeks old now, and are getting fully feathered. These are pictures from a little over a week ago, so they’re even bigger and more feathered now.

Their coop has also seen big progress. They are outside in it now, and have been for around two weeks. We still have yet to put the wire run on the front of it, and the next boxes onto the back, but it is secure and liveable for them, which is the main thing. They won’t start laying for another 3-4 months, and we have a little time before the run becomes more necessary, but they are definitely way too big to be in the house anymore!

End of Maple Syrup Season

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Today marks the end of maple sugaring season here, at least for us. It probably actually ended a few days ago, but this is the first day to take really good stock of things after some long nights at work.

The recent warm streak of weather has been spoiling my sap in the buckets before I have a chance to boil it down (spoiled sap is marked by a cloudy or thready appearance and a sour or off smell). It’s also greatly slowed the collection rate, both because the higher temperature means the trees don’t flow as well and also because bacteria plugs the pores in the hole that allow sap to come out. Bugs have also become extremely prevalent to the point of there being dozens in some buckets. I continued to leave the buckets up anyway, seeing if the weather would change, but it hasn’t.

I noticed that my silver maple’s sap had taken on an off flavor for a while now, so I pulled the tap from that tree about a week ago. The tap hole has already dried up, greyed, and no longer drips. I went out today to check on the other buckets, and not only was the sap spoiled again, but was in very little quantity. The trees were still stubbornly dripping periodically from a few of their taps, but I sampled the sap and it was of low sweetness. Other taps seemed dried up. I examined the branches of the trees, and the buds on some of them are swelling or even breaking. This means it’s time to stop. Buddy sap is not used for production because it produces serious off flavors in the syrup.

This is not a disappointment. Even though the season has ended earlier than is normal, I also started much earlier, so the length of overall time was virtually identical if not slightly longer than usual.

I pulled all the spiles, stacked the buckets, and will be washing them out this evening. Then, they’ll be put in storage for next year.

EDIT: Unfiltered maple syrup is now available for sale, pick up on farm only. It is not formally graded, but there is a range of colors from light to medium-dark. It is sealed in glass mason jars and I recommend refrigeration for best quality. $16/qt., $10/pt., or if you have a same-size, modern-style mason jar to exchange, take a dollar off.