It’s  a cool spring day here on Two Moose Farm. It’s been raining on and off since yesterday evening but that doesn’t mean chores can be left especially during the sap run. 

For those unfamiliar with the process of making syrup from sap, it is a simple process but very time consuming. Once the trees are tapped the sap is gathered twice a day. It is then filtered to remove bits of bark and such then is put on the stove to cook down and condense. Sounds simple enough but the tricky part is reducing it down without burning it. This is a long process as you don’t want to boil the sap just let it get hot enough to evaporate. This takes about 26 hours to do which means the stove must be constantly fed wood and attended to and the pots much be watched. Let me tell you that old wives tale-a watched pot never boils is true! It can be fine one minute but turn your back for a minute and it boils..,,.and burns!  Yep first pot I burnt and while it may not seem like a big deal consider this, it takes 25 quarts of sap to make 1 pint of syrup. That is a lot of work!

The seeds in the greenhouse are poking their little heads up through the soil and reaching out to the light. Quite a cushy existence for them as I keep it heated to a balmy 72 degrees with 2 kerosene lamps. Won’t be long until they will be full fledged plants and I will be in my element-bare feet and hands in the dirt!  I do love gardening as it gives me a lot of peace just playing in the dirt.

I was asked a question the other day I haven’t quite found an answer to. Someone asked “when is your slow time” hmmmm after much pondering I have come to the conclusion the appropriate answer will be “never”. There are always critters to feed, meals to make, pens to clean, spring and summer is the growing season and fishing, late summer and fall canning and more fishing and hunting. Winter brings new work with keeping pens cleaned, dried and making sure animals are warm, that their water is thawed and for us we spoil our animals with hot meals. Yes it may seem silly but an animal uses less energy if they are warmed on the inside I believe. Yes lots of work but it brings us joy.

Oooooh happy day! We got our first turkey egg! How cool is that!

Well I will leave you all for now with pics of the syrup and the turkey egg. Yes it’s another milestone and very exciting for us. Have a blessed day all.