Sunday, March 3, 2013

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".

About Me

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Rome City, Indiana, United States
VIEW MY WEB SITE www.mirrorlakebb.com Hello welcome to Mirror Lake Bed and Breakfast my name is Kathy Fought. I am the owner of Mirror Lake Bed and Breakfast I also own a beauty salon. My husband's name is Jed he and his brother Jim are the owners and operators of Hog Back Hill Holstein. They are dairy and crop farmers we live on a 150 acre farm in northeastern Indiana and we are surrounded by Amish farmers.I enjoy working in my garden or one of my flower beds. Jed and I were both 10 year 4-her's and so were all three of the kids. Our favorites were showing sheep and contest horses we went to MANY show. I also enjoy riding horses we are lucky to have many trails through the woods or work in an arena. We enjoy the rustic, private and peaceful atmosphere, paddle boat rides, fishing, setting around the campfire and watching beautiful sun sets on Mirror Lake. Coming to Mirror lake is more then a destination.... it’s an awaking a life style almost forgotten.