2018 Maple and Black Walnut Syrup

left two bottles are a mix of the first two batches, right bottle is the underdone third batch

I posted about our first round of sap boiling here, and we followed that up with a second round of sap boiling in the middle of February, and a third round on Monday of last week. Both times we invited friends from our homeschool group to come see the process, which was fun.

The third boil was actually delayed a week because I got strep throat, but we’d stored the sap in buckets in our big freezer, so the sap didn’t go bad before we were able to use it.

just getting the fire going- sap looks like water 

Temperatures have warmed up the last couple weeks or so, so I think our season is over. We found mold growing in the spiles and collection bags in the black walnuts (the buckets don’t trap moisture, so the maple spiles are fine), which is a good indication that you’re done. Once bacteria is introduced, it affects the sap and the tree starts the healing process, causing sap to stop flowing.

full boil in the roasting pan

The thing is, this week we’ve swung back to optimal tapping weather (below freezing at night, above freezing during the day), so we could collect more sap if the spile holes weren’t already healing over. This is where using tubing to collect sap would be helpful.

sap is turning yellow as it becomes concentrated (I top off with warm sap from the pot)

Apparently you can prolong your sap collection and increase the amount you collect if you use tubing and create a vacuum. The vacuum keeps bacteria out and also pulls more sap out of the tree than a spile will drip out.

getting closer- look at that amber color!

So even though I said I didn’t think I could justify the cost of the tubing and switching spiles, that may not be the case. It might be worth it if I’m able to have a longer season and collect more sap. I need to do some more research, but since we only have a few trees, I don’t think it will actually be that expensive, even with our trees being spread out around our 1.75 acre lot.

Each year we do things a bit different, but we made more changes this year than in the past.

This year I invested in better filters and built a filter stand. The filters were definitely worth the money. They work so much better than the coffee filters I’ve used since we first started, and are reusable, unlike the coffee filters.

the filters come in one size (8 qt), which is way bigger than I need, and awkward to use,
so I quickly built a wood stand to hold the filter over  the pot

I tried to invest in an hydrometer to measure the sugar content and doneness of the syrup, but purchased the wrong type of hydrometer. So I tried the thermometer method of checking for doneness, but I was only able to do that on the last batch since the first two batches were done without a thermometer once I discovered it was broken when I pulled it out of the drawer to use it the first time. Oops.

The outer filter is made of felt, the inner ones are thinner (not sure what they're made of); and you layer them inside each other. When they clog, you remove the innermost filter, pouring any remaining syrup into the next filter. This process was very efficient at removing pectin and ash.

Freezing sap in buckets made it easier to boil when I had time and the weather was cooperating (ie, not raining).  I had to move things around in the big freezer, but being able to fit two 5 gallon buckets really made the whole process a lot easier this year.

the stand is just big enough to be lowered around the pot

Boiling outside is much more efficient than boiling inside. Using the flat roasting pan with the larger surface area speeds up the process. The pot and pan got disgustingly dirty from the wood fire, but my cabinets and drywall didn’t get damaged from all the moisture that would have been in the air if I’d been inside, so the trade-off is worth it. Having sap that’s already defrosted also speeds things up. The times I had to melt the frozen sap over the fire slowed things down a bit.

clean and clear syrup

It always rained before we boiled (great timing on my part), which meant our firewood was nice and wet. I put a bunch of wood in the shed to dry for the last boil, and that worked better, but still wasn’t completely satisfactory, since it was still a bit damp. On the other hand, it’s nice to finally be making a dent in our woodpile that rarely gets used.

Next year we’ll be making more changes, which should help us establish a format we can continue using until we move in a few years.

Finally purchase a proper hydrometer.

Purchase and install tubes for collecting the sap, with the spiles that work with the tubing, and a small barrel of some sort to collect all the sap at the bottom of the run. Sunshine thinks she’ll get to drive the lawn tractor down the driveway to collect the sap in the trailer that we don’t yet have. Personally, I don’t think she weighs enough to drive the lawn tractor :) We’ll see how that actually plays out…

Maybe get a second roasting pan or a buffet pan to speed up the boiling process even more. I’m not sure there’s really room over the fire pit for two pans and the warming pot, but it’s worth looking into.

We’ll cover the woodpile so the wood stays dry and is ready to use, which is something we should have done years ago. We have several trees that are or will be chopped down in the coming months, so the pile will be growing, unless we can find someone to take it off our hands, so we need to get our wood pile under control.

And because I can’t finish this post without giving you some numbers:

We collected about 11.5 gallons of maple sap and about 14.5 gallons of black walnut sap, for a total of about 26 gallons of sap. After boiling down all that sap, we have about 2.5 quarts of maple-walnut syrup, which is right on target for a 40:1 ratio. However, our maples aren’t sugar maples, which means their sugar content is lower and more sap is needed to get 1 gallon of syrup. So I don’t think I boiled the sap quite long enough. This is where a hydrometer would take a lot of guesswork out of the process. I may do one final boil and see if I can't get the thermometer method to work better for me. 

Regardless of whether I do another boil or not, I'm very happy with how much sap we collected and with how much syrup we ended up with. Hopefully next winter the weather cooperates again and we're able to have a good long collection time with lots of sap.

my first post about syrup this year

2017 syrup 

2016 syrup

2015 syrup

February Mileage

sunset at the end of a run with C

February's mileage was on the pitiful side. Trying to get back in the exercise groove while still recovering from the flu was a challenge, and getting strep just as I was finally feeling good put a stop to those exercise plans. But I got a few miles in and squeezed in a 5k at the end of the month while still recovering from strep, so I'm not unhappy with my efforts.

Being sick and knowing I was losing my fitness base has brought back memories of being sick for so many years in my pre-gluten free days. Remembering what happened every time I tried to do too much too soon back then has made it so much easier to be patient and careful with my health.

Ok, not too patient (I did run that 5k, after all), but I was careful about it, and I didn't get sicker :)

February's mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 outside run/walk + 1 race + 0 bike workouts = 15.56 miles

52 hike challenge: 1 hike

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 38.17 foot miles

January's mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles

March 10k

cute little spring house (I think?) that we ran past

Last week I was still recovering and trying to catch up on everything, so I didn't get any mileage in until Saturday, when I ran a 10k.

I thought about doing the 5k (this race has both distances), but opted for the 10k since I needed to get the mileage in since I was still planning on doing a 10 mile race at the end of March. Regardless of which distance I ran, speed was not going to happen, so distance it was. Last year I did the 5k while sick, and while I ran the fastest 5k in four years, I also got an ear infection and burst my ear drum.

Since I was coming off the strep infection and I really didn't want to get sick again, I ran slow and conservative. Turns out I didn't have much choice in my pace: my fitness level has been hit hard by first the flu and then strep throat, and I just couldn't run fast, hard, or long.

Oh, so before I finish talking about the race, I need to talk about our weather last week.

Thursday I'd planned on going on a hike, but it was gray and drizzly and cold, so we stayed home and I got some work done instead. I thought we could go for a hike Friday before taking Sunshine to her co-op, but that didn't happen either.

Thursday night, we started getting strong gusts of wind, and it continued most of Friday, with gusts in the 70+ mph range. We only had some smaller branches fall, but we lost power for 4 hours that morning and our internet was out most of the day.

Schools were canceled due to power outages, and a lot of businesses were closed as well (Mr M got an unexpected day off). Sunshine's co-op was canceled, so we just hunkered down at home and skipped the hike. I did get some decluttering done, so it wasn't a complete loss.

we ran along this river, crossing it several times during the race

Saturday I didn't notice any wind when I left the house, but when we got to the race site, there were some gusts blowing down the canyon. The good part (if you can call something about wind good), was that we were running into the wind on the way out, which meant the wind was at our back after we turned around and headed back to the start/finish line. So the first half was tough, but it wasn't quite so bad on the way back.

Going into this race, I figured I could do a decent amount of running and not feel too bad. This race is one of the flattest around, after all. However, that wasn't the case. I really struggled. After the 5k last week I knew I'd lost a lot of fitness, but this longer race showed me just how low my current fitness level is (hint: a lot worse than I thought). In the past I've been able to maintain a level of fitness that would allow me to run a 5k without too many problems, even if I wasn't doing as much running as I'd like. Under training for races has worked for me.

At this point though, I can't even call myself under trained. I might as well have no training. Since I had such a hard time on a flat 6 mile course, I've opted not to do the hilly 10 mile race I'd planned for three weeks from now. I just don't have enough time to build my fitness base back up, not for that long of a race. So I'll get back on my workout schedule and get stronger, and I'll find a 5k in April to do instead.

after the race, enjoying the sunshine

Weekly Mileage
Sat- 6.24 miles walked and run
    total miles- 6.24 miles

1 hike towards #52hikechallenge

44.41 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

25.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

Cute fort builders making faces :)

The boys really like building forts out of couch cushions, pillows, and blankets, though there usually isn't much room for them once the fort is finished.  That dump truck is helping to hold a blanket in place, though the other end of the blanket isn't going anywhere since it's buried, so... yeah. I'm sure it made sense to River when he put it there.

those eyebrows! when he raises them, they get all pointy!

February 5k

a picturesque trail up a hill in the woods

As I mentioned last Monday, I was just feeling good again after the flu, when I got strep throat. The strep knocked me out for a good part of the week, though I did manage to get some things accomplished.

The antibiotics helped my sore throat, which stopped hurting pretty quick, but the fever hung around longer than I thought it would/should. I've decided having a fever is the most exhausting part of being sick. Headaches, sore throats; they're nothing to the alternating sweats and chills of a fever.

I was feeling well enough Thursday to do a hike, but we didn't do it because we had history club that afternoon and I knew I'd need the energy for that. I was tired by the time we got home, so I was glad I didn't try to do too much.

I tentatively planned to do a hike with the boys Friday while Sunshine was at co-op, but I didn't have time or energy after running several errands. This was probably for the best, since I had a race Saturday am and needed to conserve energy.

Why would I run a race less than a week after getting strep throat?

Well, several reasons:
I'd already registered for the race.
I'd already had to bow out of the race I'd originally planned on running in February because I was still feeling crummy from the flu (I hadn't registered for that one before getting sick, so it was easier to skip that one).
It was my last chance to run a race in February.
I was feeling a lot better Friday than I was Monday, so I gave myself the green light.

Not that I was stupid about it. I purposely took it easy, avoiding breathing too hard or getting my heart rate up too much. I didn't want a repeat of last year's ear infection and burst eardrum after a hard race or a relapse of strep (can strep relapse?). In any case, I didn't want to get sicker, so I ran conservatively and walked a lot.

Surprisingly, it was not my slowest 5k. I ran 3.04 miles in 41:05.
1st- 12:43
2nd-14:46
3rd- 13:12

I actually ran this race two years ago for my 40 by 40 goal. This race is run on a high school cross country course, and it's one I would have liked to run in high school. It's a nice mix of fields and woods, and while hilly, it's not the hilliest course around. The weather this year was a lot nicer than last time- 50* rather than 30*. The warmer temps were a definite plus for someone trying to stay healthy :)

peaceful trail through the woods

Weekly Mileage
Sat- 3.04 miles walked and run
    total miles- 3.04 miles

1 hike towards #52hikechallenge

38.17 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

25.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

last weekend Ocean was invited to a Frozen-themed birthday party for one of the girls in his nursery class at church. he wasn't quite sure what to think about the Elsa impersonator (who was quite good). 

Little kids learning to talk say the funniest things. Sometimes it makes sense when they swallow sounds or invert sounds, other times there's no rhyme or reason. And sometimes you can get them to say the word properly if you sound it out one syllable at a time, but then they mangle it again when they try it all at once (rather like the episode of Friends where Phoebe tried to teach Joey French).

Here's some recent Ocean-isms:

deh deh:  pretzels, though on occasion he will say something close to pretzels. We still don't know where this one came from
nonald da-da-da duck: Donald Duck. The da-da-da preceding duck has disappeared, now it's just nonald duck
dee dee mow (rhymes with pow): Mickey Mouse
nownstairs: downstairs
woo wee: Woody from Toy Story
bee bee back ride: piggy back ride
boppits: pockets. It's always a good day when you find pockets in your pants :)
unnerhants: underpants
peenano: piano
pawhee: potty
boppie: broccoli (one of his favorite veggies, along with peas)
mall mart: Wal Mart
harget: Target
holes: Kohls
hay hay: pancakes (not the rooster on Moana)
noo nos: noodles

First Maple Sap Boiling of the Year

Big syrup operations, even medium sized and smaller ones, boil their sap outside. The process of concentrating sap into syrup gives off lots of condensation, which can wreak havoc on drywall, wallpaper, painted surfaces, and other items found inside houses.

Despite this, we've boiled our sap inside the past three years because we just didn't have that much to boil down. A gallon or two here, another gallon or two there, it just wasn't worth the effort to do it outside.

This year, however, we've collected more sap than the past three years combined, and I didn't want to boil that much sap inside. So I set things up on our fire pit and boiled the sap outside.

For this first batch (which I did at the beginning of February), I started with about 16 gallons of sap (about 12 gallons of black walnut and about 4 of maple, which I co-mingled). After 8 hours over the wood fire I had about a gallon and a half of concentrated sap, which I took inside to finish on the stove. I actually ended up leaving it in the frig for a few days before combining it with my next batch of sap that needed finishing.

just getting the fire started and the sap warming

The stock pot is for warming the sap and is used to fill the roasting pan, which is much more efficient at boiling the sap because of its wider surface area. As the sap in the roasting pan boils down, I add more sap from the stock pot. It's not the most efficient way to do it (bigger operations have large flat pans with valves for adding sap and drawing off almost-syrup for finishing), but it's much quicker than doing it in stockpots on the stove inside.

The weather has been quite rainy lately, so I ended up storing 5 gallon buckets of sap in the freezer in the basement until we had a day dry enough to get outside. I think at one point I had two 5 gallon buckets in the freezer, and a  2 gallon bucket and a 2 gallon stock pot in the fridge. At that point there was no more room to store sap, so I decided it was time to boil, regardless of whether the weather was optimal and the wood still wet.

A sugar shack to shelter under would be nice, but isn't exactly a good use of money, given how little we produce. In more northern regions, maple syrup producers are able to store their sap outside or in a snowbank until they're ready to boil, but that's just not an option for us, hence using the fridge and freezer to store our sap.

full boil in the roasting pan

Using the fire pit isn't optimal- too much ash floats up and into the pans. A closed system where the wood is added from the side and the pans rest in a snug fitting opening in the top would be better. But as I mentioned earlier, we're only planning on living here a couple more years, so I just don't think it's worth the investment of time, money, and effort to find or make a better system. Filtering the sap a couple times removes the ash and leaves clean syrup, so the fire pit isn't a terrible alternative.

I finally bought an hydrometer (which measures sugar content), but it turned out to be for brewing, which is a cold process, and it wasn't calibrated for the much hotter process of making maple syrup. So I had to return it and look for a different one. That's what I get for picking the cheapest one I could find. Oops. In the meantime, I'll be back to guessing about when the syrup is done. Though according to the maple syrup facebook group I'm a part of, 7 or 7.5 degrees above the boiling point of water is the point at which syrup is done. The exact temperature fluctuates based on your elevation, but can also fluctuate based on the weather that day, so the best way to do this is to boil a pot of water while finishing your syrup, so you know what the correct temperature is right then.

I hadn't taken one of the buckets out of the freezer early enough, so I ended up melting it down in the roasting pan. A slower process that involved ladling sap from the roasting pan into the stock pot, but it worked.

I was talking about making maple syrup with an acquaintance, and she asked if I'd ever had hickory syrup. I'd never heard of it, so I did a little research. Hickory syrup is not actually made from the sap of hickory trees, but instead, it's made from boiling the bark and adding sugar. So interesting. We have a few hickory trees, so this fall while we're collecting black walnuts and hickory nuts we'll also be looking for hickory bark to collect so we can give hickory syrup a try.

Weekly Mileage #50

trying to get a decent pic of the kiddos

better, but not sure what's up with Ocean's stick

Last week I was finally feeling a lot better so I was able to log a few more miles than I've recently managed. By Saturday morning I only had a small amount of crud left in my lungs, though I did wake up that morning with a bit of a sore throat.

In fact, the kids and I finally went on our first hike of the year! Though at 70* it was an awfully warm day for the middle of February: the kids were in shorts and t-shirts, and Sunshine still complained about being too hot :)

It wasn't a long hike, but we did find some very interesting bones and a variety of furry poops (you're welcome for not including pics of those) that we inspected.

we identified a partial jawbone and some vertebrae, but we weren't sure of the rest

That afternoon was also the one evening that worked for C and I to go for a run, so I got two workouts in one day. I was able to run more than I did the week before, but there was still a lot of walking. It felt good to do some hills and push myself.

I was pretty tired on Friday (just like the week before), but I was expecting it, just as I did then, and I took it easy.

sporting their new backpacks from Grandma L

Saturday morning we went running again, on a hillier route than we did Thursday. It was a tough run, but it felt good.

Unfortunately, later that day my throat started hurting a lot worse and I was running a temperature. I felt awful Sunday (fever and sore throat), so I went to the doctor this morning. I'd looked at my tonsils Sunday night and seen the worst white patches I've ever seen, so I was fairly sure I had strep. The doctor didn't even bother swabbing for a culture, he took one look and confirmed my suspicion. Textbook case of strep.

lagging behind in his pursuit of the perfect stick

Mr M had a sore throat and fever too, so he and I are now on antibiotics. I am really hoping this is the last round of illness for a long time. We're so tired of feeling crummy and not having the energy to get everything done. And it's super frustrating to get sick again just as I was finally kicking the flu.

I love Ocean's expression here: Are you coming, Mama?

Weekly Mileage
Thurs- 1.27 miles hiked
Thurs- 3.87 miles walked and run
Sat- 4.05 miles walked and run
    total miles- 9.19 miles

1 hike towards #52hikechallenge

35.13 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

25.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

A park we visited recently had a pretty tall slide. River thought it was great, so Ocean had to try it too. But he got a little freaked out once he actually started down the slide. Note the wide spread legs trying to slow his descent. He had fun, but it was the "this is scary" fun. Such a brave kiddo!

Weekly Mileage #49

I didn't end up spending time on the treadmill last week, though I did go for a run with C. Well, it was mostly walking, but we did run about 3/4 of a mile, which is way more than I've done in the last three and a half weeks. I could tell I was out of shape and low on energy, but it felt good to get outside and move. Slightly warmer temps kept my lungs from spazzing out too badly while we were out.

My lungs have been feeling a bit better since the run, which I credit to forcing fresh air into my lungs.  I'm still fighting the lingering crud in my lungs, but it's probably not going anywhere any time soon (pessimistic, but most likely realistic. hazard of not having a great immune system). I was very tired the day after our run, but that's to be expected after the amount of energy I expended the day before.

Our 10 mile training plan called for us to run a 5k on Saturday, but that didn't happen. We'll run a 5k in a couple weeks, and possibly a 10k the following week. Well, C will run it, but I haven't committed yet. I need to see how I feel this week. I suspect I'll opt for the 5k option and just focus on building my energy and endurance back up rather than trying to do too much too fast.

Weekly Mileage
Thurs- 3.33 miles run and walked
    total miles- 3.33 miles

0 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

25.94 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

25.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

Meet Super Lion Spiderman!

love all the details: the backward lion mane, the cape, the jacket, the shorts and rain boots, and the lion tail tied around his waist.

Weekly Mileage #48 + First Sap of the Season

Last week I almost didn't log any miles. 

Monday I was feeling pretty awful, and ready to go to the doctor to get my lungs checked out. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling a lot better, so I didn't end up going to the doctor. As the week progressed I continued to feel better, though I have some lingering crud in my lungs that is a bit problematic and I still get tired more easily than I'd like. As my energy levels improved, I wanted to get outside for a walk, but anytime I spent time outside, the cold aggravated my lungs and I'd start coughing.

Despite that, I did manage to get out and tap our maples and walnuts finally (I should have done so several weeks ago), and logged .58 miles in the process.

Did you know there's Facebook groups for just about anything you can think of? I recently joined one for maple sugaring and all the tappers using tubing have me seriously thinking of switching. We're not planning on staying here long term though, so I don't know that we'd get a good return on our investment. The distribution of our maples and black walnuts isn't optimal for running sap lines (too far apart and on slopes in different directions), but it would cut down on some of the bucket hauling, which Sunshine would really appreciate, since it's her job to collect the sap :)

This winter is proving much more conducive to the sap flowing than last year, and we've already collected more than we did in 2015 or 2017, and I have no doubt we'll easily pass 2016's haul. We collected about ~ 5.5 gallons in 2017, ~ 10.5 gallons in 2016, and ~ 6 gallons in 2015.

I actually had planned to take the kids on a hike Thursday, but Ocean puked all over himself in the car. We were driving by a park right as he did so, so I pulled into the parking lot and let Sunshine and River play on the playground while I got Ocean cleaned up. We played at the park for a bit while the car aired out, then headed home so I could finish cleaning everything up. None of us were feeling very motivated to go for a hike after being around the smell of vomit (ick!). He's fine and didn't have any problems later, so I think he was just car sick.

Sunday morning we got some more snow, though it wasn't much. As the day went on, the snow turned to sleet, and then to rain. In some areas there was enough rain to melt all the snow, though that wasn't the case at our house. We ended up with a slushy, icy mess at the end of the day that then froze overnight and coated everything in ice. But it started melting as soon as the sun came out, so I suspect it won't hang around too much longer.

This week I'm planning on spending some time on the treadmill and bike and seeing how my legs are feeling. Hopefully it won't be too depressing an experience. I know I've lost a lot of endurance while being so sick. If my lungs cooperate and the weather isn't too cold, we might even manage a short hike finally.

Weekly Mileage

Wed: .58 miles walked

     total: .58 miles

0 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

22.61 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

25.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

Recently I walked through the living room and saw the above scene. River had stretched a blanket over stacks of couch cushions that were between the wall and the couch.

He was pretty pleased with himself.

Ocean had fun as well.

More fort building fun here and here.

January Mileage

The flu put a serious crimp in my mileage in January. I went a solid two weeks without logging any miles because I felt so awful. I'm feeling better, but it will take time to build my strength and endurance back up. Being sick really wiped me out.

I did end the month on a high note, though. On the 31st we logged .58 miles walking around the property and tapping our maples and black walnuts. It wasn't much, but after two weeks of not being able to do anything it felt good. Now to see how much sap we collect- I really should have tapped the trees right when I got sick, and I missed some good sap weather while I was sick in bed.

I'm not on track with hikes and total mileage, but since it's the beginning of the year, I've got time to catch up. Now if I can just get healthy and stay healthy.

January's mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles