Maple Syurp Making In Northeastern Indiana

 First sign of Spring is when they tap the Maple trees. The nights must stay in the 20's and the days above freezing. These conditions make the sap start running in the Maple trees. Soon the making of Maple Syrup begins.

 You tap the trees and secure your 5 gallon bucket and put the hose in the buckets. The sap will drain from the tree into the buckets. When the buckets are full you dump them in the holding tank. When there is enough sap collected the cooking begins. You need to collect 50 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup.

After a very hot fire and a lot of boiling of sap. We now have pint and quart jars of  home made Maple syrup. Fill the jars with very hot syrup put the lids on tightly and turn them upside down so they seal. Great fun but very hard and a long days work. 1. Cutting the fire wood to keep the very hot fire going. 2. Tapping over 200 trees and securing the 5 gallon buckets. 3. Dumping the buckets as they fill. 4. Walking and carrying the full 5 gallon buckets to the tractor (though the mud,snow or rain). 6. Then cooking the sap for hours until it turns into syrup. 7. Don't forget to strain the syrup before you up it in the jars. 8. Now up it in the jars and have then seal. 9. NOW get ready to do it all over in a few days. 10. The trees are no longer running sap. Now it is time to clean all the equipment. And put things away for next years Maple Syrup making.

 

But don't sit down yet we have to go cut wood for next years season. So when you see the smoke come from the woods don't worry we're just making Maple syrup in the "Sugar Shack".

Winter Still Upon Us.

Ice fishing maybe over for the season but Winter is still upon us. Rain, sleet, snow and now more snow. Northeastern Indiana is covered with snow.

Winter's Horse Ride

 I had to get her ears in the picture or people would just think I drove to the woods and took a picture.

Fame & Kathy first ride of 2013!! Yes it was our first ride of 2013 and a nice one it was. Started out with a little bit of sun, nice ride.

Shipshewana Slumber Party Night

Another great Shipshewana slumber party night. Fills hotels and Bed and Breakfast places. Every one goes out for breakfast since we started shopping at the "Back Porch" at 5:00 and yes that is A.M.!! Here our group is at breakfast at the "Blue Gate" some of don't look so bad for not sleeping at all!!!!!!!!!

The Wedding

They say I do!!

The nearby Amish catered the wedding along with "Mr. Ed's Prime Rib". No one left hunger with the great Mr. Ed's Prime Rib. The Amish catered dinner of Ham & baked Chicken, buttered noodles, mashed potatoes and gravy with green beans & corn along with Amish dressing, homemade bread and butter, Apple Butter & Amish peanut butter....oh yes and two summer salads. Now it's time for dessert........ 5 different types of fruit pies and a cake from Foltz's bakery.

The Wedding at Mirror Lake

Setting up for the reception. This setting is with china plate, silverware, napkin, drinking glass and wedding favor. We have everything in place.

The flowers are in place and we are ready!! And things look beautiful, if I must say so myself.

The groom waits on his lovely bride.

Slumber Party.

Take a weekend out of these cold winter months. Take advantage of the guys watching TV and get away with your friends or family for some MUCH NEEDED girl time. Eat, drink and be merry laugh , talk and catch up on old times. Stay up as late as you want. For breakfast your welcomed into our 180 year old home for a full "farm" breakfast. On your departure take a trip down Lavender Lane or to Anne Oakley's Perfumery. GIRLS IT'S OKAY TO GET AWAY FOR A WEEKEND!!

The Cabin

     Sad day for me here at Mirror Lake. We are NO longer renting out the "primitive cabins".

 All I wanted to do was give young families the opportunity to enjoy nature in a private setting.

    Who would think one little cabin would put us under "campground restrictions."
 So again we are no longer renting out the "primitive cabins" (no running water or electricity, a notch above tent camping).

    But we are still renting out our B&B. We call it a "Bunkhouse" but many people refer to it as the Cabin or even Lake Cottage. Our B&B "The Bunkhouse" has ALL the amenities and comes with a full "farm" breakfast each morning.  This breakfast is served in our 180 yr.  old home. Or breakfast can be delivered to your Bunkhouse door. The B&B does come with a skip breakfast package as well.

Check us out at www.mirrorlakebb.com

New Room in the Making.

Getting a new face-lift on our bedroom. The Amish neighbor is making our log style furniture to be finished next Friday. Furniture moved out and the painting starts Monday.

Ice Fishing!!

The ice fishing could soon be over here in northeastern Indiana. Tomorrow highs in the high 40's and rain. We'll see:)

Ice sculptures in Shipshewana

The ice sculptures are still in Shipshewana, but at these temperatures 39 they won't last for long.

Opening Day of Gun Season

The men from New Jersey are having a great time Deer hunting. The deer in Indiana are a little bigger then the ones in New Jersey. If I heard they say once I heard it 10 times I can't believe how big she is. Field dressed out at 170lbs.

Only One Location Has 5 Barn Quilt Bolcks!!!!!

 These are my newest Barn Quilt Blocks.

Only one location in Noble or Lagrange counties has 5 barn quilt blocks. Stay at Mirror Lake Bed and Breakfast LLC. and take in all 5 barn quilt blocks. I have an 8x8, 2-4x4's and 2- 2x2's. 3 of them can be seen from the road or a trip around the driveway. The other 2 you must stay at Mirror Lake Bed and Breakfast LLC. and tour the grounds to find them. Start your Barn Quilt tour here in northeastern Indiana, here at Mirror Lake near Topeka and Shipshewana. 

Signs of Spring in Northeastern Indiana

Blooming Cherry trees line the drive way.

Daffodils in full bloom.

What a beautiful Weeping Cherry.

Not spelling this one (Firsiscine) but yellow and in full bloom.

I hope this pretty Magnolia doesn't get frosted. As winter has left us spring has sprung in northeastern Indiana. Come see all our blooming trees it is well worth the drive.

Fishing Anyone??

Larry shows off his 21 inch Bas that he caught Saturday morning. He was the BIG winner that day.

LeRoy's catch of the day is a 20-1/2inch Bass. Not bad for a fall Saturday morningg.

LeRoy and Larry enjoy their day fishing in North eastern at Mirror Lake here in Rome City, In.

3 barn quilt blocks all in one location.

 The idea behind the barn quilt blocks began in Iowa. When a daughter wanted to pay a tribute to her mother who was an avid quilter. She painted one barn quilt block and mounted it on an old barn The idea has caught on and now they even have "Barn Quilt Tours". This is a 4X4 Tumble weed pattern mounted at the end of our Bed and Breakfast.

 This is a 4X4 Star pattern mounted on our Pole barn.

This 8X8 large barn quilt block is mounted to the East on our bank barn. The pattern is the Bear Paw design. As you drive west on Northport road you can see it right above the corn field. Maybe I will have 2 more next year that you will only be able to view by staying at Mirror Lake B&B. You'll have to find them. All 3 barn quilt blocks were painted by me Kathy Fought.

Three beautiful Hibiscus!!!

These 3 different colored Hibiscus can by found right here at the Mirror Lake B&B. Along with much much more!!!

Green green pastures.

I have recently bought a new horse her name is Fame. "Famous Zippo Treasure" is her real name. I think I'm really going to like her she's 5. I just have to remember that.

Jeff has no trouble fishing in Eastern Indiana.

It pays to go out early and fish in the mornings. Jeff had 2 great morning for fishing and took advantage of it. I think someone is going to have a great fish fry for supper tonight!!!!!

He enjoys a few hours of early morning fishing and his wife gets to sleep in.. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!!

He was catching this fish right when I was calling him for breakfast. Oh yes, it was hard to come in for breakfast now...

What a nice "bass", yes I said" bass". Jeff holds up a nice bass, on this early morning he catch many a fish in only a few hours. WHAT FUN!!!!

Fishing in Eastern Indiana at Mirror lake B&B

Not bad for 2 hours of fishing in the sun in Eastern Indiana at the private Mirror Lake bed and Breakfast. Fish Fry here we come 22 fillets.

It really wasn't a contest but Jed and Paula are comparing fish, while Phil is busy cleaning fish. I caught 6 nice size fish too. But someone has to grill our supper!!

They practiced on the pier before they got in the boat.

Great day for fishing and great day for the Blue Giles. Today was a catch and release day. Relaxing in the sun and fishing in Eastern Indiana on the private Mirror lake.

Larry caught fish but it wasn't Catherine's day. She enjoyed the sun, bird watching and the company.

Even fishing from the raft and pier is fun. Look I got a fish says 7 year old Adara, first time ever!

Barn Quilts

This is 1/4 (4x4) of the Bear Paw (8x8) barn quilt block design. We figure it will take 3 guys, the scissor lift, and me to mount this 8x8 quilt block on the peak of our bank barn. Waiting for better weather to hang it. I hope to be part of the Barn Quilt Block Tour. Bear Paw

The Tumbleweed barn quilt.

The Star Barn quilt

This winter I have painted 3 barn quilt blocks. One 8x8 the Bear Paw and two 4x4's barn quilts the Star and the Tumbleweed. They are mounted on the B&B and our pole barn.