Tag Archives: outdoor

Outdoor Fun

Making Maple Syrup

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We boiled down 10 gallons of maple sap. It took most of the day on Easter Monday and a couple of hours Tuesday. We still have five gallons to go! Took longer than I thought it would… Thankfully it was a fairly “hands-off” process and didn’t require too much attention. The 10 gallons yielded about 1 litre of finished syrup.

Now after two great days of sap flow we have 12 more gallons to boil and will likely be more after collection today. Based on the weather we are down to the last days of collecting. Looks like I’ll reach (or surpass) my modest goal of 2L of syrup for this year! :)

Yum!
Yum!
Turkey fryer for outdoor boiling
Turkey fryer for outdoor boiling
Crystal clear sap!
Crystal clear sap!
Boiling begins
Boiling begins
Lots of evaporation
Lots of evaporation
Starting to look more like syrup
Starting to look more like syrup
Ready to take inside for final boiling
Ready to take inside for final boiling
Ready to finish on the stove
Ready to finish on the stove
Final filtering
Final filtering
Total syrup from 10 gallons of sap
Total syrup from 10 gallons of sap

 

Wildlife & Birds

Trail Cam Victory!

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After capturing many deer on the trail cameras we decided to set a new goal. The new goal was to get a marten (or fisher, though they are apparently more rare). So we got some foul smelling attractant (aptly named “Skunk Junk”), set the scent on a tree, placed the camera and waited 3 days.

We honestly didn’t expect results so soon! And we certainly didn’t expect a fisher!!! We were stunned when we reviewed the photos!! There was a round of cheers and high fives! :)

Too bad the photo quality isn’t very good, but we’re happy. We’re going to try and get one on the video trail camera next!

Outdoor Fun

Maple Syrup Progress

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Got the snow machine working again so we got to the back to start tapping the trees. The whole gang came to help/watch.

Saturday (March 7) we got 6 up at the back – then the drill battery died.

Sunday (March 8) we got the final 4 up in the front.

The cold weather kept the buckets dry for the first week. But the sap is starting to flow now – slowly to start. We checked them again yesterday and we had a steady drip, drip, drip in 5 of the 6 buckets at the back!

Only 1 of the 4 in the front has any sap in the bucket. Looks like the front trees are taking longer to warm up.

We checked them today and gathered all the sap into one of our 5 gallon buckets. Looks like so far we have about 1 gallon of sap. Not much yet, but a good start!