Friday night Rory evaporated our first 15 gallons of sap. Sunday afternoon he went for 20, and during the last five gallons it started sleeting on him. He came inside to watch the fire from the warmth of the living room and watched the syrup unexpectedly catch on fire and burn to char. I asked to take a picture, but he said he wasn't in the mood.
Last night he evaporated another 15 gallons, building the fire at 8:30. It was 12:30 when my sweet husband came to bed smelling like a lovely night of camping. We have rain and snow in the forecast, but sap has a shelf life and can go bad if you don't evaporate it within a certain window of time. We're down to the final fifteen gallons and I look forward to having maple syrup to put in my coffee again (so good...)
I decided to write this post though because of the conversation we just shared. It's 11:00. I am speaking for our women's bible study tomorrow morning and finishing up my talk. Rory is on the couch next to me mapping out a planting schedule and when each vegetable should go in the soil. And here's what's noteworthy: he's feeling frustrated because he's already behind. Which I think is endearing because he planted seeds five weeks ago. And there is snow forecasted for tomorrow. But he's frustrated because we should have had sweet potatoes sprouting in peat moss one month ago.
He's a hard worker, people. And fun to watch work.
2 comments:
My wife sent me the link to this, we processed around 100 gallons of sap ourselves this year. Looking at this photo, your husband has inadvertently created a "Rocket Stove" The hottest part of his fire is above the "smoke stack" (which is where the flames are shooting out) it is where all of the smoke re-burn is happening. So really, if he set a pan an inch and a half above the smoke stack he would have a fully boiling pan there as well. My wife posted some pictures of our setup, this is actually one of the early designs I rebuilt it and changed it by the end of the season, it wasn't perfect but I have a design ready for next year. I'll have to have her post some of the later season pictures.
"maloney's maple syrup"
Chris- Looks like a great setup! I found the smoke stack to be a bit too unstable for holding a pot, but just adjacent to the chimney was perfect for a warming pan. I've posted more evaporator pics here (the last one shows the warming pot). Like you, I've been dreaming up better designs for next year. Somewhere around the 9th or 10th hour of sitting by the evaporator you can't help but think "there must be a better way!"
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