1st Maple Syrup Season -- Success!

As you may have read this was our very first year tapping the trees in our yard.  

 There was a lot of sap collecting...   We collected for 4 weeks.

 There was a lot of checking the buckets for sap.  Only one day we forgot to empty and they over flowed.

 There was a lot of this... Boiling down -- Every weekend for the last 4 weekends we did this.

 This was batch #1...  Our very first - which turned out to be a complete disaster.   We boiled it too long, using a thermometer which didn't work very well.  This one actually ended up in the garbage.

 Mmmmm, batch#2

We sure didn't want the 2nd batch to end up like the first - this one we didn't boil down enough.  But we made 6 cups of beautiful sweet light syrup.

Batch #3 

We got it!   Thick, sweet syrup.   This time 8 cups.   After the huge success of this, we boiled batch #2 down and got it perfect too.

Batch #4

Again, beautiful....   We learned the later in the season, the darker the colour.   The colour is amazing and it is sweet, just as sweet as batch #3.   This time we harvested 10 cups.

What an amazing experience.   If you have maple trees in your yard, then you have to try this!   We now have over 20 cups of maple syrup!   

I know I have said this in the past, but this summer we promise to mark all the maple trees on our property.  As a wise man once said, if some is good, more is better!