Clean Clean Clean
Anyone who has done Maple Syrup will tell you that the most important and time consuming thing you have to do is Clean EVERYTHING. The cleaner you can make anything that sap or syrup touches the better the maple syrup will be.
Bacteria is the enemy and one that must be conquered though constant vigilance. Once you have everything clean the trick is to clean again. Than when it is really clean you should clean some more. Last year we used so much water that the Mikes well went dry and started to cave in on itself. This year should be different as we are going to be making our own hot water using our big evaporator so hopefully we won’t run into this problem again.
We have been getting some pretty warm weather in the last little while. Plus temperatures during the day for the most part, it is way to early for this stuff we are not quite ready yet. I don’t think we are going to be convinceing mother nature to hold off on her time table, if she says jump you jump.
Winter is back?
Winter is back
It looks like the season is coming to a close for us this year. We have run out of firewood and are not able keep making maple syrup this year. We went though almost 30 cord of wood this year which is all the dry firewood we have.
We were able to get 11 batches so far and we are going to finish up batch 12 as soon as possible. We still have about 2 cords of wood left so we might try and get a 13th batch out, we will see how it goes.
The weather in over the last little while has been bad to say the least. There were a few days this spring that felt just like summer and now it feels like a dreary fall day. That is one of my favorite things about being in the bush during spring, you get to see all the changes in the season first hand, without the insects.
The New Bloor Street Festival – 2010
I had a great time at The New Bloor Street Festival this year. It being the first year I did not really know what to expect. I wanted to get a place right on the corner of Russet and Bloor right above Hair Wave where our old apartment was.
It was great to talk to some of the people in the neighborhood. When I was living up north I didn’t know that there was a community in Toronto, I always thought that people kept to themselves and were distant to each other. Dominic at Hair Wave was, I think, the first person to teach me how vibrant and friendly Toronto can be. It was sad to hear that he would be closing his doors only one week after the festival was finished, after being there for 31 years.
The New Bloor Street Festival was put on by two great chaps Dougal Bichan and Sid Bruyn. I watched them running back and forth all day long organizing every little detail. There were also lots of great volunteers helping out. They did an amazing job and I can’t wait until next year. I wonder if they will still call it “New”?
We also had a chance to chat with some amazing people at the Starving Artist Waffle Booth. If there is one thing on the planet that goes perfect with maple syrup, it is waffles. We provided them with some of our very special Dark Syrup and it seemed to be a real hit.
There were ton’s of interesting people stopping in to say hello. One of them was a member of the Toronto Beekeepers Co-op of Toronto. They told me about a really cool plan to tap the trees in the parks of down town. Dufferin Grove park, right near my apartment, has about 20 or so really nice sized Sugar Maples most of them double or triple tappers. I think it is an amazing idea! The more sweat nectar of the gods we can get the better. This year they were able to tap silver maples and red maples but the city would not let them tap any of the sugar maples. Kind of makes you scratch you head but……. there you go.
All in all it was a great time and it gave me a chance to talk Maple Syrup with everyone who wondered by.
Gearing up for the end
First of all let me apologize for not posting anything sooner. Our first year was so busy I barely had time to blink.
This was an old post that I wrote and just did not publish. I am putting together some videos of this season right now as things have slowed down a bit.
One thing that I can not believe is that it has totally snowed like crazy last night and the temperatures are back down to -5˚ or so. It was only a few days ago when it was like 20˚ out. Now it is winter again.
I thought I would put up this old post because it seems to be fitting again.
We were in short sleave shirts only two days ago and now.
Gearing up for the weekend
Well it looks like the year is coming to a close. Lots of people are saying that this is going to be the last really big weekend and than it’s are all over. It’s going to be great, I can’t wait to get up there.
Lot of stuff has to be done before than. I have to do a little bit a shopping to find some cleaning supplies and industrial storage containers for concentrate. I am also getting the computer system for the sugar-shack prepared which is going to be a feat on it’s own, of course we are going to get a mac.
I really wish that I had more time up north, I had panned on taking some time in late April but because of the early start this year it will probably not last past the April 12. Than again who knows what the trees are going to do.
I had a great idea last night about getting a giant snow making machine an blast the whole sugar bush with a nice blanket of snow to keep the season going. I am sure the trees would be really screwed up if I did something like that.
I’ll leave you with a great picture of Mike and I finishing our very first batch of maple syrup. Enjoy!
Gearing up
So I have my plane tickets booked and I am ready to head up north to do some sugaring. I must admit I am a bit apprehensive as it is getting rather late in the season. I am going to be heading up on April 1st and staying until April 12th.
It looks like I am not going to be completely getting away from my work. There are a few things that I am going to have to take care of up while I am up there. The on thing that I am NOT looking forward to is Dial up internet.
I have not been able to get a hold of Bill yet, I am sure he is pulling some long hours getting ready for everything to hit. I have talked to a few people up north who say that the weather is still cold and that there is still 2 feet of snow. I really hope it stays like that, come on winter hang on.
This year I am going to be taking a lot more video and I have a new tripod to make it easier so look forward to some interesting videos.
only a few days left now.
