We tapped two large maples near our house, each tree with two taps in the trunk and we quickly surpassed our families appetite for drinking sap. Like so many lessons on the farm, I find my own insights as Lewis and Lovett explore and imitate what we do. On the farm we have thousands of feet of plastic sap lines all hooked to a vacuum pump that improves sap yield, keeps the trees healthy and less prone to infections. The job of harvesting sap is mostly about finding leaks in the tubes, fixing broken fittings and keeping the vacuum pump running.
Producing maple syrup on our farm, and many other farms has evolved from the old fashioned buckets and taps you still see on many maple syrup bottles and pictures. In a way the images of tin buckets hanging on a maple tree is like the pictures of red barns and green pastures on many “farm fresh” labels.” Clearly marketing experts know what customers want to see on their food packaging! Many versions of modern farming are a well kept secret behind the veil of good marketing and other versions are the perhaps unintentional consequence of a lack of marketing budget. For now the excitement of watching the sap drip into a bucket is way better than watching it disappear down the plastic tubing.
This week Lewis came to appreciate the job of hauling sap. Even 2 gallons of sap is a heavy haul for a 50 lb seven-year-old. After trying a few types of containers we used a trusty North Country Creamery yogurt cup (the most ubiquitous plastic container on our farm because we’ve eaten sooo many quarts of their delicious yogurt over the years) to scoop sap into a half gallon container. After a few half gallon trips we had a kitchen stock pot almost half full. Lewis was ready to make syrup.
Having spent many hours sitting at a maple evaporator I had to confess to Lewis that I had never tried to make syrup on a kitchen stove before. By the time we had all the sap harvested and on the stove it was time to turn in for the night, and the next morning Lewis was keen to turn on the burner first thing. We put the pot on the largest burner and turned it on high almost an hour and a half before school bus time. Even on high the sap just steamed and bubbled slightly. Hardly the rolling boil our imagination was hoping for. The clock on our wall felt like a traitor as we slipped on our boots and headed out the door to wait for the bus. Upon returning to the house I could see the condensation on the windows in the kitchen, even less than 2 hours of boiling had created a lot of moisture in a kitchen clearly not designed for maple syrup production. I sensed we needed to adjust our strategy.
When they got off the bus I asked them both: “in kindergarten, how do you make syrup?” They both explained how Gregg has a pan over the fire. “What does the pan look like?” I was getting an idea…We went searching in the many nooks and crannies of the farm and found the pan I was looking for, “like this?” I asked. “YAAAH! Just like that” was their reply. We hauled back some cinder blocks, made a little perch for the pan and Lewis used a few stones from the driveway to level our makeshift evaporator. Next, to gather wood and set the fire. Lewis informed me that we needed four things for a fire: “birch bark, kindling, wispies and firewood.” I could hear the voice of his kindergarten teacher (and our friend) Gregg, I imagined him smiling in his subtle way at his past student and the comfort and confidence in firebuilding.
After dinner we lit the fire then fanned and stoked it patiently until the sap in the pan began to bubble and steam. Night settled in and the fire brought the sap to an energetic boil. Lewis found a good “dipping stick” and we tested the sap regularly as it got sweeter and sweeter. “Do you think it is syrup yet?” was the constant refrain.
Syrup is an formidable numbers game. The typical statistic is that it takes 40 gallons of sap to yield 1 gallon of syrup. That is eighty trips with our half gallon container! Lewis and I counted maybe 4 gallons of sap so far into our “evaporator” which would give us approximately 12 oz of syrup…which would not even cover the bottom of the pan. We quit boiling and headed to bed. We will wait until our buckets are full again and hope for syrup.
We are now fully stocked with our delicious maple syrup. Order today and celebrate March and sugaring season.
Reber Rock Farm Blog 