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Post by upnorthlady2 on Mar 17, 2021 20:46:25 GMT -5
We have been boiling sap for maple syrup for several days now. The first batch we kept for ourselves. Yesterday Harold accidentally burned a batch, including the pan because the fire got too hot. He had to sand off the burned area with a wire brush on a sander and clean up the pan again. Today we gathered 70 gallons of sap and we are boiling almost through the night. Tomorrow I will finish off the near syrup and filter it out and put it in jars. From the weather predictions, it sounds like we will be doing this for the next week or two. The sap was running to beat the band today. All my farm cats had to follow us in the woods. They climb trees, get in the way, and climb all over the tractor. One cat even rode the tractor with Harold! He loves riding on top the tractor like a Mack truck bulldog ornament! The woods is so muddy,though. We have to use our big tractor with chains to get down the paths in the sugar bush. We haul a 65 gallon white tank on the bucket loader. We rigged up a filter to sift out bark and twigs before the sap goes into the tank. Harold gathers in two 5 gallon buckets, and I do the same. When the buckets are full (for him, I only fill mine half way) then we pour what we have through the filter into the tank. After we gather up an area, he drives the tractor to the next area. I follow behind, walking. We have 150 trees tapped. Some trees have two taps on them. Our sap collecting bags hold about 2 gallons of sap. Everyone around these parts is busy doing the same thing we are. It's exhausting work and even my cats were pooped out, but the syrup is SO worth it! Plus we always sell out. The guy who own the property next to us always buys 3 cases of pints from us. He doesn't live on the land, just hunts on it in the fall (and gives us a deer!). The rest of the syrup is for Christmas gifts and to sell locally. We usually end up making between 12 and 20 finished gallons of syrup, which we put into pints at 10 bucks a pint. Makes for a nice little pile of spending money! Of course we earn every cent of it. I'm not sure how long we can continue making syrup, as our old bodies are not taking this very well! Sore muscles.....Tylenol......liniment.......ankle braces......etc..
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Post by Granny Smith on Mar 17, 2021 20:59:08 GMT -5
When we were kids, Dad would buy a quart of real maple syrup from someone he knew who made it. We only got it once a year, so we used it sparingly so it would last longer. I liked it drizzled on vanilla ice cream. Honestly, if it wasn't such a rare treat, I could have drunk it straight out of the jar.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Mar 17, 2021 22:44:33 GMT -5
When I was growing up in Indiana, we never had real maple syrup either. But around here in our wooded part of MN, maple syrup is plentiful and I even cook with it just to make cookies or to put in breads. What a luxury, eh? We usually keep at least a pint a month just for ourselves. And neighbors give me some of theirs just so we can "compare tastes". Of course it all tastes the same but everyone likes to think theirs is the best!
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Post by Valerie on Apr 5, 2021 11:08:20 GMT -5
Hi All! I'm Spring Breaking this week! I was just cutting mint from the garden and putting it in the dehydrator, and that reminded me of y'all. <3 I miss y'all so much! Patty, that whole maple syrup process is fascinating to me, ever since reading about it as a kid, in Little House in the Big Woods.
Things are going along, here. My daughter remarried last Monday, to a wonderful man. I think this one will last. She's still with the post office, and so is he. My son is still doing his thing, engaged to a girl from India. Dave and I are holding up pretty good. He's still running our business, and I'm about to wrap up my 6th year of teaching - still 5th grade.
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Post by Granny Smith on Apr 5, 2021 12:06:57 GMT -5
Nice to see you back, Valerie! I thought about messaging you yesterday, but didn't want to bother you. It was early and I thought you might be in church.
Not much new here. I want my raised beds weeded, but I don't want to do it. I'm so lazy these days. It doesn't take much to overwhelm me.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Apr 5, 2021 14:26:59 GMT -5
Hi Valerie and Gayle - Maple syrup is done for the year, so we are getting the yard and gardens ready. I am also clearing out my greenhouse for planting. Today I put my tomato seedlings into larger pots (moved them from 6 packs into 4 inch cups). Everything is growing nicely under the grow lights. The weather has warmed up, snow is gone, and we are actually going to get some cleansing rain for a few days later this week! The ducks are back on the ponds and the ponds have iced out a few weeks earlier this year. I expect the loons to arrive very soon. I love the loons!
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Post by Valerie on Apr 6, 2021 12:27:59 GMT -5
Hi All! It's a sunny, warm day here, up about 80! I've been messing around in the garden some. We're about to go to a state park that runs along the FL side of the St Mary's River, and walk for a bit. I cut some celery from the garden and got it in the freezer. The leaves are ready to go in the dehydrator when the mint gets done.
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Post by Granny Smith on Apr 6, 2021 14:23:17 GMT -5
It's nice here today, too. I think it's in the mid-70s and sunny.
The only thing up in my garden so far is rhubarb, and it's just starting. Dandelions are doing well, though.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on May 28, 2021 14:06:43 GMT -5
Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day weekend. Ours started out with heavy frost! Harold and I had to cover three 75 ft rows of veggies with tarps last night, and we also helped our neighbor lady cover her garden stuff. Everything survived well. Now the weather guys are assuring us that the frost is over. So summer begins now! I have almost everything planted except for some flowers and some cabbage plants. I think it will be safe to put all my hanging baskets out again. Today we ate our first produce of the season - a spinach and lettuce salad with greens from the greenhouse. Not quite two weeks ago hubby was in the hospital with pancreatitis. There was NO reason for it, as he does not have gallbladder problems, he isn't diabetic, and doesn't drink. What's strange is that three guys in the neighborhood all came down with unexplained pancreatitis in the last 8 months! I am wondering about radon, but none of the ladies in the neighborhood came down with anything. I have to say that all three men had other health issues like cancer or heart problems. Very strange. But Harold is fine now. The hospital did CT scans and an MRI and lots of blood tests and found no reason for his illness. But I have heard that radon can contribute to pancreatic cancer. So I will have to see about getting our radon level checked. We have an airy walkout basement, but I guess it doesn't matter what kind of foundation your house has. The ticks are not bad at all this year. And if the birds don't eat them all, we should have plenty of gooseberries, raspberries and Nanking cherries. This year we have 18 beehives. So far so good with everything. We are very blessed.
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 1, 2021 17:23:19 GMT -5
This place has been a zoo! I had company all weekend. After they left, I worked on 2 small garden beds. One is herbs, the other tomatoes, kale, and marigolds (to keep bugs off the tomatoes). It's not much, but it took all day. I probably spent half the time trying to find the little hand shovel. Never did find it, so I just dug it out with my fingers. I was kind of in a hurry to get it done because it was our second day with no rain and they were calling for rain today and for the rest of the week. It's after 6 p.m. and we haven't gotten any rain today (yet)
We've had so much rain lately, the weeds in the yard are high enough to hide the dog. Ben mowed, but didn't weed-eat. You can't even see the raised beds. I used a hand trimmer around the ones I worked on yesterday. The yard would be in better shape if it would quit raining for a week or so and Ben had some time off. He's been working 7 days a week. They schedule him for 5 or 6, but people keep quitting or simply don't show up for work, so he volunteers to go in, so his boss doesn't have to get a babysitter so she can go in. We live closer anyway.
At the rate things are going, I'll be lucky to get the yard cleaned up. I probably won't have much of a garden this year.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Jun 1, 2021 22:31:25 GMT -5
So you have had lots of rain and we are dry as a bone. Temps in the 90's are predicted for us for the next 5 or 6 days with no rain in sight. I guess we'll be watering a lot. It's been a very dry year so far, and the trees look not quite healthy. You know, even the weeds aren't growing so good! It is tough, though, when weeds get out of hand. I feel for you. So far our garden is growing nicely. But we have to water, water, water. In my greenhouse things are really growing well and we've been eating lots of spinach and lettuce salads. But we sure could use some of your rain!
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Post by Granny Smith on Jun 2, 2021 8:13:14 GMT -5
I'd be happy to send you some, if only I could! It would be nice if my shoes would dry out. They stay wet all the time, even on the inside. We're supposed to have rain everyday until the weekend, at least. It's raining now, but I'm kind of glad it is because I don't have to water the plants or the animals. With the plants in the ground, it's not likely they'll drown. I did have them sitting in pans to hold the water. The pans overflowed, even though all I ever added to them was about half an inch of water when I first put them outside. Even worse, they were on the porch, which has a roof over it. We've had a whole lot of rain.
The last time we had rain like this, the ground got so saturated that trees just started falling over. One, that fell across the road, barely missed my car that was parked in the driveway. The driveway was flooded and stuff just started floating down the road. We found some of it, like a brand new hose that was still in the package, but not all.
My daughter's boyfriend and his dad told her they were going to cut and weed-eat my yard, but it's been too wet. I don't think she was supposed to tell me. They obviously don't know how bad she is at keeping secrets.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Jul 22, 2021 21:27:06 GMT -5
How is everyone doing this summer? Haven't heard much. We are having an extreme drought and really high temps - especially for Minnesota. All this upper 80's and 90's stuff has been going on since mid May. And no end in sight. All next week is supposed to be in the upper 90's. We have been watering the garden, but we rarely get rain. Unfortunately what I water, the deer have been eating! The deer even ate my cucumbers down to nubs. I didn't think they like "prickly" leaves. I guess this year we have to take what we get for garden produce. It's even too hot for the tomatoes and peppers. I doubt we will have corn or popcorn, as the stalks are barely shoulder high. Farmers around here are really hurting for hay. Crops don't look so good. I remember a drought like this back in the late 1980's. We don't have air conditioning either, so this heat is really miserable. At least I did get to can up 8 pints of green beans today. The deer didn't leave me much, but I'll be grateful for what I did get. Otherwise summer is going good. The grass is dead so no need to mow. I have had time in the evenings to work on a quilt. My sons and grandsons all came to visit last week which was nice, since I had not seen them in 2 years. I think all of us in Minnesota will really appreciate fall this year and the cooler temps!
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Post by Granny Smith on Jul 23, 2021 5:25:31 GMT -5
We're having just the opposite problem - too much rain. My son took advantage of 2 dry days in a row and cut my lawn with the weed-eater. It was over my head, so a lawnmower was out of the question. I intended to keep it cut, even bought a new rotary mower (my old one was rusted so badly that it wouldn't roll). I haven't been able to mow with the new one because of the rain. The grass is knee-high again.
I was able to plant a few things, but some of those have drowned. The squash, tomatoes, and some of the herbs are doing ok. Of course, the peppermint is thriving. A neighbor was supposed to cut our hay on shares, but we haven't had enough dry days in a row to do it.
Oddly, the old chicken run is growing great. The chickens are a little messy (that's an understatement) so their run was 'planted' with corn and some kind of squash or melon. Can't tell which it is yet, but it is viny, has huge round leaves, and is just starting to bloom.
It hasn't been overly hot here. In fact, most days our temps have been a bit below normal. We still need the a/c, though. When I lived in Michigan I didn't have one in the old farmhouse, but had a window unit when I lived in a trailer. A trailer is like an oven. When the farmhouse got too hot to sleep in the bedroom, I just slept downstairs. It was considerably cooler. When we were kids, Mom would let us sleep downstairs in the summer. We made a pallet out of blankets on the family room floor. Of course, we cut up most of the night.
One of my sons got married a couple of weeks ago. They moved up the date and streamed it so her dad could see them get married before he died. (He had brain cancer and had been moved to hospice) He passed away this past Tuesday, the day before her birthday.
Not much else is new. I've been getting our vehicles fixed. I've put close to $1,500 into the two of them. Some of that was regular maintenance. Hopefully that will keep them running for a while.
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Post by upnorthlady2 on Aug 13, 2021 20:17:35 GMT -5
How is everyone doing? Gayle did it ever quit raining in KY? We still are in a severe drought. It's been at least 3 months without rain. Or rather - we got a "mist" a week ago which didn't even wet the ground, and another time we got about 17 drops, which also didn't even wet the ground. We have had to water the garden like crazy. Things are growing, but so are the weeds and I pretty much gave up on weeding. I just step over them! The deer finally gave up on eating things, too, so I actually have a nice green bean harvest and now I am getting enough cukes for pickles. Squash and zucchini are growing like crazy and tomatoes, too. I canned up 39 pints of green beans and 16 pints of dill pickles. I am also seeing canning supplies in the stores! My apple tree in the back yard is also giving us some apples. Not as much as in past years, but enough for pies and cakes and dried apple slices. And this will be an excellent honey year! We anticipate about 750 lbs of honey. A few days ago we pulled the supers on just 2 hives - one large hive and one small hive - and got 150 lbs of honey! It is very good this year, a nice blend of clover and tangy wildflowers. It will take us a couple weeks to finish processing all the supers. My kitchen is a disaster with the extractor and boxes of supers in there, plus jars everywhere and sticky wax all over the floor! A couple weeks ago hubby managed to turn his tractor on it's side in the woods! He was backing up with a load of black ash sawlogs and backed into a couple stumps and that put the tractor off balance and down it went! He hung onto the steering wheel for dear life, but when the tractor hit the ground it threw him. He landed just inches away from a tree! He is OK, just a very badly bruised hip and arm, nothing broken. He is lucky the tractor didn't land on top of him! It's a big 400 International with a front loader. He got an area farmer to come out with his tractor and get Harold's tractor right side up. The tractor is OK too, but one of the tires came off. Harold had a hard time getting a new tire on, but he did. Also had to fix some hydraulic lines that got broken. All is good now, and he has to put liquid back into the tires. Starting next week hubby will be hauling corn silage and sugar beets, so he will be working long shifts in the fields driving truck. I will be cutting up kraut cabbage next week to put into the crock. And probably canning tomato products. A busy time!
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