It all boils down to....

A mildly insane process to make one's own maple syrup. But being a little crazy, we decided to go for it anyhow. First there was the tree tapping as explained here, the daily sap collecting (mostly Ava's domain) and then the big question of where the heck to store all that sap (40+ gallons collected in just a week and a half.) Three of my big Rubbermaid storage bins came to the rescue after I dumped their contents(fabric, fabric and more fabric) and washed them.

So it turns out the collecting part was the easy side of all this, the hard part was boiling down that sap. One thing is certain: do not attempt to boil indoors. Since forty gallons of sap make just one gallon of syrup, imagine where all that moisture would go if you tried the evaporation process in the house. Yes, that's right: 39 gallons of that sap turns to steam which leaves the entire house covered in a tacky residue, the wallpaper/paint curls off the walls, etc. Fortunately, we did not make that mistake. Instead an outdoor fire pit was made with stacked cinder blocks and oven racks laid on top. Actually, I did a whole lot of sitting on the sidelines holding my babe while my friend Kristen heaved around those cinder blocks.

So the humble fire pit was built, a roaring fire made underneath the racks, and canning pots half full of sap placed on top. And then the alternating pattern of adding sap to the pots and wood to the fire continued on and on for ten hours. Ten intense hours. But, after a winter of hibernating, it felt great to be outside under the bright blue sky with a crisp wind at my back. And the occasional wafts of maple in the air: Delightful!

In the end, the process was a bit tedious and tiring, but the treat of pancakes on Saturday topped by that most delicious syrup was well worth it. As the sap is still running, I think we might be at it again this weekend.