Productive Saturday

I don't understand Minnesota's weather.  Earlier this week it was cold (about 20 degrees F) and it snowed about five to eight inches of snow.  Then, today, the end of the week, it's 70 degrees F outside.  It's so warm, I'm even wearing shorts today.

Knowing the weather was going to be wonderful, I was so happy this morning that I got up early and started on my yard work.  I worked the soil in my raised beds and in my little garden.  I even planted my potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, and radishes.  I also took out my blackberry plants (just too hard to maintain) and some of the established grape vines on the southern side of my house (also, too hard to maintain).  As much as I would like to keep those grape vines, I thought it was best to use that area to grow more food and flowers that I love.  That area gets the most sunlight and is the warmest spot on my land; thus, it's perfect for growing tomatoes and hot chili peppers.  

Lastly, I cleared out some of the other vegetation around my yard, fertilized and mulched my blueberry plants, and took out some of the older branches from my raspberry patch.  I'm tired but I want to move around and be outside because the weather's so great.

What did you do today?  Did you partake in a race, a picnic, or did you also garden?

Seedlings Update

I started my indoor planting of seeds last month, the weekend before I visited my family.  When I came back, I was disappointed to find that nothing had sprouted.  Nothing.  I wasn't sure what the cause was.  At first, I thought the seeds I used were too old.  I was just going to throw away what I had and restart.  Well, thank goodness that it took me some time to get around to throwing things away because I noticed some sprouts coming out.  Now, I have a couple more and some of them are on their way to developing their first "true leaves."

I think the lack of sun (it has been a very long long winter) and the cold room may have been contributing factors.  Even with the heat mat, I don't think the temperature was raised beyond 60 degrees F.  Many seeds, especially certain peppers and tomatoes, require a high temperature (such as 65 - 75 degrees F) in order to germinate.  So, I've moved my seedlings out of that room and into a different area.  Hopefully, it will be warmer and there will be more sunshine.

Did you decide to start any of your own plants from seeds this year?

Minnesota Spring, What an Oxymoron

Oh, how the groundhog was SO WRONG this year.  Spring did not come early.  Instead, winter continued.  Especially here in Minnesota, we were teased by some "springish" weather and today parts of the state are getting six to eight inches of snow.  Bah humbug!

I was on the verge of putting away my winter wardrobe, but I guess it's a good thing I was a bit lazy.  Oh, how I wish that spring would already be here.  I'm so ready to get my garden going and to start shedding some clothes.

How is the weather in your neck of the woods?  I hope it's not as crazy as here.

Maple Syrup

Finished Maple Syrup.

Making maple syrup is a lot of work.  I mean A LOT.  Much of the work is due to the fact that one must boil and condense much of the maple sap so that the sugars get concentrated, thus resulting in maple syrup.  So, this past Sunday, I boiled down five gallons  of sap to get a pint of syrup.

Strainer with coffee filter, used to strain the sap before the sap is boiled.

I opted to boil down the sap outside and Sunday was a beautiful day to make maple syrup (even though it rained the day before and much of the wood outside was wet).  I had to strain the sap before boiling it in order to remove some of the small wood chips and bit of dirt.  Then I boiled the sap in one pan, using a propane burner.  At the same time, I also preboiled some sap, using wood.  The preboiled sap is then strained again (to get out the wood ashes) and added to the pan that was on the propane burner.  I continued boiling it outside until it was greatly reduced, and then brought it inside to finish off.

 

Boiling the sap outside on a makeshift "grill."

When finishing off the syrup, I boiled the syrup until it got to 219 degrees F.  I turned off the heat, strained the hot syrup through paper towels and canned it.  To can my syrup, I fill the sterilized little half pint jar, leaving a 1/4 head.  I put the jar with syrup in the mircowave for about 35 seconds, heating the syrup up to 180 degrees F.  I then take it out, put on a clean unused sterilized top and screw into place the top.  I turn the jar on its side and upside down and then wait for the jar to seal itself.

Finishing off the sap inside the house.

As I said, homemade maple syrup is A LOT of work, but it's so well worth the effort.  It's so yummy.  I'm now using my maple syrup as a substitute in my coffee in the morning.  Despite the hard work, I think I'd love to do this again next year.

 

 

 

Maple Sugaring

Empty water bottles, waiting to be filled with maple sap.

I've been wanting to tap my maple trees for some time.  Last year, I wasn't prepared enough and I was a bit preoccupied.  So, I had to be content with just doing more research.

PEX tubing, with one side cut at an angle.

 This year, I was a little more prepared.  I missed a week's worth of maple sap because I was on vacation, but I came back and started tapping my trees on April 2nd.  I was also a little confused as to when I could tap the trees, but it's actually quite simple.  The best time to tap a maple tree is when the day temperature is above 32 degrees and the night temperature is below 32 degrees.

Drilling at an angle, using a 1/2 inch drill bit.

I had identified my maple trees during the summer.  To start my maple sugaring, I used a 1/2 inch drill to drill a hole into the trees (going no further than 2 1/2 inches into the tree).  I used PEX tubing as the spile and as a means for the sap to drip into a plastic gallon jug.  So far, I've gathered at least six gallons worth of sap.  If I'm lucky, I'll get a cup's worth of syrup after the sap's been boiled down.

Inserting the PEX tubing directly into the drilled hole.

Next year, I'm going to reconsider using PEX tubing as a spile.  I'm noticing that I've lost a lot of sap that dribbled out around the spile.  Next year, I will try not to go on vacation during the spring and have more containers on hand to collect the sap.  I'll let you know how my experience goes when I try to turn the sap into maple syrup.

Letting Mother Nature and gravity do it's respective work.

If you want to know more about maple sugaring, check out the following website:  http://tapmytrees.com/taptree.html