Tapping the Trees, Syrup Making Part 1....
Yesterday was all about going back to the Farm of 1000 Ways to Die, with Slam'er, for the first part of of a Maple Syrup Adventure! I've wanted to learn how this all works since I was five and read Little House In The Big Woods. It hasn't, it seems, changed that much since those days, which makes me happy.
The taps are called "Spiles" I kept forgetting the name and all I could remember this morning was "Snipe" which I knew was wrong. Put it in my list of questions and Slams set me right. She said Snipes are different and we'll go hunting them later this summer.
This tool never had a name that I knew. I do know if you take the hammer and hit IT while it is on the spile, the spile will be into the tree quite nicely with little fuss.
This would be the Sugar Shack, with Gators (remember them from Burr Gully? We stayed out of that misbegotten place this time, tho we did go look at it, and wonder how we'd ever...well, never mind, that was then)
I have no idea why we brought a chainsaw along to make syrup. My best guess is that these country people are simply not comfortable being too far away from CERTAIN DEATH.
Here on the drive out to the woods, let's just talk a moment about the whole Chicken Incident. I kind of like chickens and hoped we could go visit them and, you know, gather some eggs, like last time. Slam'er was obliging, and we did. The only thing, the chickens were ON their nests this time. "Go on", says, Slams, "just reach right on under and grab the eggs" Hello? Really? This has GOT to be a joke on the City Girl, thinks me. Sadly, no.
When she stopped laughing at me, she showed me how, just sort of reached in, and her chicken got up with a "Oh dear me, sorry, let me move over so you can get those" attitude. MY chicken stayed right where she was, glared at me like a crazed serial killer and started making noises like a Sci-fi monster straight out of a Dr Who episode (in fact I may go back and record this noise, they could use it) NOT clucking chicken noises, and pecked me half to death with her razor sharp beak. Never saw so much blood, but the surgeons believe the hand can be reattached and will in time be useful again.
Damm chickens. Ima going back there...
Anyway, back to the woods. First, you need to drill a hole in the tree, which is really cool because on a lot of them sap came GUSHING out. I don't think this hurts the tree, they don't seem to mind, you can see the scars from previous years all over the maples. Kyle Cassidy thought that the holes were made by shooting the trees with guns, which I have to admit, would have been fun and added an element of danger to the whole thing, but no. Just a regular little drill thing.
Here's what it looks like once it is in...
And with a bucket hung over it, for sap to drip into....
And all that's left is for someone to pop a lid onto the bucket. That would be my job.
Some trees can have more than one bucket. According to Slam'er, here's how you can tell:
"Trees must be at least 10" at DBH (Diameter at Breast Height...this is an actual term, I didn't make it up) to be tapped. When they are 16" DBH they can have 2 taps, 24" gets 3 taps and 30" gets 4 taps. We've never had a tree with 5 taps....yet. :)"
You have to be able to tell which trees are Maple's, just any old tree will not do. And of the Maples you need to be able to tell if the tree is going to be a good runner. Slam'er and Papa Slam'er have it down to an art form, they can tell by looking, and they can also tell you which particular tree is the best, remembering them from previous years.
I like that. And I like it that this really is the way it's been done for 100's of years. You go out in the woods with some buckets and spiles and tap 'em into the trees. There's a more modern method too, and we'll talk about that as well. It's the Total Leg Workout method of syrup making.
This is what it looks like, looking up into the Maple, to see if it's a good one. (Mostly, I just liked my Tree Picture and wanted to include it)
This is the more modern method, which they use on the Really Really Steep hills because too many people were dying, I mean slipping and sliding, down the Really Really Steep hills some of the trees were on. This was un-popular because you ended up not only losing your bucket of sap, but you'd also be wearing it by the time you got to the bottom.
The way it works is there are lines that start at the top of the Really Really Steep hill, and they go from tree to tree, with a tap at each tree, all flowing down to a large collecting bin at the bottom, so the sap doesn't have to be carried down in buckets by hand. Of course, someone has to climb on up the Really Really Steep hills, check to see if Evil Squirrels (all squirrels are evil, I learned. And deadly) have chewed thru, replacing the bits that were, and tap the trees, as they don't STAY tapped all year.
Hence the Total Leg Workout.
Plenty of workout opportunities in the woods. Here's me doing the upper body portion of the training. Had some self interest here too, since it would apparently make it safer to drive the gator over the gully if the bridge had been shoveled first.
One of the stories they told me yesterday was how in the spring, as the snow melted, the water from the upper pastures, and the hills, would come down and fill the gully, making a proper river of it. One of the most wonderful things I ever did see was looking up and SEEING the exactly moment this happened, as we were driving back. Within moments, the gully went from snow filled and empty to a raging river. Here, it's coming...
And here, it's a river. Magic.
It's all Magic. Woods Magic. Old Woods Magic. I loved being a part of it. And there's still gathering, and actually making the syrup. If you look very closely, in this picture Slam'er took for me, you can just see the drip of sap before it falls into the bucket. It drips, and drips, until the bucket is full. There are 730 taps out there in the woods, all dripping into their buckets, slowly filling.
It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.
But they gave me a cup to drink. It was like drinking Woods.
Or Magic.
Love and Maple,
Quiche MeDeadly
The taps are called "Spiles" I kept forgetting the name and all I could remember this morning was "Snipe" which I knew was wrong. Put it in my list of questions and Slams set me right. She said Snipes are different and we'll go hunting them later this summer.
This tool never had a name that I knew. I do know if you take the hammer and hit IT while it is on the spile, the spile will be into the tree quite nicely with little fuss.
This would be the Sugar Shack, with Gators (remember them from Burr Gully? We stayed out of that misbegotten place this time, tho we did go look at it, and wonder how we'd ever...well, never mind, that was then)
I have no idea why we brought a chainsaw along to make syrup. My best guess is that these country people are simply not comfortable being too far away from CERTAIN DEATH.
Here on the drive out to the woods, let's just talk a moment about the whole Chicken Incident. I kind of like chickens and hoped we could go visit them and, you know, gather some eggs, like last time. Slam'er was obliging, and we did. The only thing, the chickens were ON their nests this time. "Go on", says, Slams, "just reach right on under and grab the eggs" Hello? Really? This has GOT to be a joke on the City Girl, thinks me. Sadly, no.When she stopped laughing at me, she showed me how, just sort of reached in, and her chicken got up with a "Oh dear me, sorry, let me move over so you can get those" attitude. MY chicken stayed right where she was, glared at me like a crazed serial killer and started making noises like a Sci-fi monster straight out of a Dr Who episode (in fact I may go back and record this noise, they could use it) NOT clucking chicken noises, and pecked me half to death with her razor sharp beak. Never saw so much blood, but the surgeons believe the hand can be reattached and will in time be useful again.
Damm chickens. Ima going back there...
Anyway, back to the woods. First, you need to drill a hole in the tree, which is really cool because on a lot of them sap came GUSHING out. I don't think this hurts the tree, they don't seem to mind, you can see the scars from previous years all over the maples. Kyle Cassidy thought that the holes were made by shooting the trees with guns, which I have to admit, would have been fun and added an element of danger to the whole thing, but no. Just a regular little drill thing.
Here's what it looks like once it is in...
And with a bucket hung over it, for sap to drip into....
And all that's left is for someone to pop a lid onto the bucket. That would be my job.
Some trees can have more than one bucket. According to Slam'er, here's how you can tell:"Trees must be at least 10" at DBH (Diameter at Breast Height...this is an actual term, I didn't make it up) to be tapped. When they are 16" DBH they can have 2 taps, 24" gets 3 taps and 30" gets 4 taps. We've never had a tree with 5 taps....yet. :)"
You have to be able to tell which trees are Maple's, just any old tree will not do. And of the Maples you need to be able to tell if the tree is going to be a good runner. Slam'er and Papa Slam'er have it down to an art form, they can tell by looking, and they can also tell you which particular tree is the best, remembering them from previous years.I like that. And I like it that this really is the way it's been done for 100's of years. You go out in the woods with some buckets and spiles and tap 'em into the trees. There's a more modern method too, and we'll talk about that as well. It's the Total Leg Workout method of syrup making.
This is what it looks like, looking up into the Maple, to see if it's a good one. (Mostly, I just liked my Tree Picture and wanted to include it)
This is the more modern method, which they use on the Really Really Steep hills because too many people were dying, I mean slipping and sliding, down the Really Really Steep hills some of the trees were on. This was un-popular because you ended up not only losing your bucket of sap, but you'd also be wearing it by the time you got to the bottom.The way it works is there are lines that start at the top of the Really Really Steep hill, and they go from tree to tree, with a tap at each tree, all flowing down to a large collecting bin at the bottom, so the sap doesn't have to be carried down in buckets by hand. Of course, someone has to climb on up the Really Really Steep hills, check to see if Evil Squirrels (all squirrels are evil, I learned. And deadly) have chewed thru, replacing the bits that were, and tap the trees, as they don't STAY tapped all year.
Hence the Total Leg Workout.
Plenty of workout opportunities in the woods. Here's me doing the upper body portion of the training. Had some self interest here too, since it would apparently make it safer to drive the gator over the gully if the bridge had been shoveled first.
One of the stories they told me yesterday was how in the spring, as the snow melted, the water from the upper pastures, and the hills, would come down and fill the gully, making a proper river of it. One of the most wonderful things I ever did see was looking up and SEEING the exactly moment this happened, as we were driving back. Within moments, the gully went from snow filled and empty to a raging river. Here, it's coming...
And here, it's a river. Magic.
It's all Magic. Woods Magic. Old Woods Magic. I loved being a part of it. And there's still gathering, and actually making the syrup. If you look very closely, in this picture Slam'er took for me, you can just see the drip of sap before it falls into the bucket. It drips, and drips, until the bucket is full. There are 730 taps out there in the woods, all dripping into their buckets, slowly filling.It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.
But they gave me a cup to drink. It was like drinking Woods.Or Magic.
Love and Maple,
Quiche MeDeadly
38 Comments:
Oh wow. That sounds amazing. I want to drink maple sap, now.
how long does it take to fill a bucket?
and are you going to go bakclater and make canfy in pans of snow, like Laura Ingalls Wilder? You don't have to wear the bonnet if you don't want to.
Thanks for sharing this! I've seen several different tapping procedures, yours was much funnier.
Also in the Spring, when you go Snipe hunting, oh please write a post about that. *giggle ridiculously*
Also, NICE ASS!
Also, is the comment page all white and different for everyone else too? And why is there no box to ticky?
Also, I need to change my pic on here...I was blonde like 4 hair colors ago...
My family made syrup one year when I was a kid. It was the best syrup I've ever had.
BLogger changed. It looks different, and I haven't been able to find any way to get comments emailed, just through RSS. Granted, I haven't looked very hard yet.
Highly annoying.
Incidentally, breast height for DBH is at 4.5 feet, which on me is nearly shoulder height. Traditionally, foresters were taller than me.
wow. that's pretty neato. so the steep tree hill uses tubing? i would think the tubing would get all gnarly if it was left tot he elements year round.
are you going to turn into a dryad or an ent now that you have drunk their syrup?
That was awesome. Thanks for sharing. Magical!
This was absolutely wonderful. I have to do this, one day.
Confession: I read Snipe as Snape. It was rather hilarious.
Thanks for sharing!! :-)
I'm glad it's not just me who wants a ticky box and can't find one.
Not all change is good :-(
Way cool - that looks like so much fun!
I wonder if every tree tastes the same or if it varies depending on the soil it's in, amount of sunlight, etc.
That was totally fascinating, and fun.
I'm adding seeing this to my bucket list(get it...eh...)
What do they do to the sap to make it into syrup? Boil it?
Damn Blogger. I want my tickyboxy back.
And Ali - I read "Snape" too, and giggled at the image.
Quiche, I think you have to enable threaded comments to get the email notifications back
http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1725597
If sopmeone can point me to a complaint section, I'm going to tell Blogger/Google what I think of these changes.
How heavy are the full buckets? You might be getting more upper body workouts in the future :-D
They do indeed boil it...in the sugar shack, most likely...slowly, without burning it...
And I want my ticks back too.
Entertaining as always, and informational too! Shouldn't people look up into trees more often? It looks so cool.
If you need a chainsaw to ensure CERTAIN DEATH, well, you're doin' it wrong (in the great outdoors, anyway). Though death by chainsaw could certainly be quick. Did you know there are chainsaw safety pants? Specially made to tangle up the chain and stop it before it gets to your person.
Ali, I did too! Both times! Snape is engrained in us. *wipes drool*
There was an episode of "Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods" where he was in Canada visiting a chef at his home and restaurant. The chef grew/raised as much of the food that he used as possible, including maple syrup. IIRC, all the the trees he tapped went into a gutter system that delivered the sap to the sugar shack, where it was boiled, graded, and bottled. It was the first time Andrew Zimmern had eaten maple syrup on snow, and he loved it.
Me, I can't stand maple anything. You can have my share of anything that tastes of maple. Please.
Give me bee vomit any day. ;)
re: blogger changes
I never had comments sent to my mail box, so I don't miss the ticky box.
I do miss being able to collapse comments. :/
Ooo, I've always wanted to go syrup tapping! Putting it on my to-do list!
You have found yet another calling in life Lorraine...as commentator on the great outdoors! Your affinity for and descriptive powers of evil animals, (who knew how wily chickens could be?) to your rather Entish quaffing of tree sap combined with a deep seated conviction of death at any step? You are to be numbered among the true great observers of nature! Too funny! More please.
ooooh - just lovely. and amusing. but mostly lovely, this post.
Oooh straight from the tree! I suppose this makes you a woody vampire?
I bet the sap is far richer in nutrients than the actual syrup too.
Total sap envy.
Oh and I totally want pictures of the glaring chicken too.
Sounds fun collecting the maple syrup. As for the hen you either got a Rhode Island Red they can be quite squaky when you are trying to take the eggs out from under them. Or a broody hen, know they will peck you hard if they are broody.
i've been snipe hunting before. it wasn't fun.
of course, it was winter. and i was sprawled on the cold ground with my cousin while my dad and uncles ran around the dark woods making weird noises.
i hope your snipe hunting experience is more enjoyable.
Mmmmm, maple.
You're so lucky; you get fresh sap AND fresh honey!
Do Snipe taste like Duck?
Just wondering.
I think it tastes more like chicken Sally...everything tastes like chicken, except chicken, that tastes like pork.
So Cool!
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh! You are in the Big Wood making syrup! Will there be a dance? Will you all wear your best dresses, with amazing buttons?
Thank you so much for sharing!
And Part 2 is up!
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