Well, one thing I really do love (and hate) about my husband... when he gets an idea in his head, he goes full speed ahead and never looks back. This March the idea was "Maple Syrup." (Thank you Brother-in-law John, I'll get you back somehow!) Now some might ask themselves, well do you have any maple trees on your property to tap for syrup? And if the answer is no, as it was in our case, you might think you were out of luck. But not my hubby, why let a little thing like lack of trees slow you down!?
No, Chris simply began driving all around Darien CT looking for ideal trees. Thankfully he didn't illegally tap any trees... yet! He has multiple plans for tapping trees all over town next year. But this year he limited himself to our next door neighbor and a nice old man up the street. For two weekends we monitored the trees all day (and night) emptying the sap into our five gallon storage bucket.
At the end of the first weekend Chris and Josephine spent about 5 hours outside boiling the sap into syrup. And believe it or not, with that batch and the rest from the next weekend we ended up with 8 bottles of delicious homemade goodness.
Now, as many of you might know, I am skeptical by nature, and I was VERY reluctant about this adventure, but Chris and the kids proved me wrong once again. Even on a few rainy March weekends in suburban CT you can still find good old New England Pioneering going on. Next thing you know he'll be building a wagon to match his tattoo! lol
By the way, the New Canaan Nature Center had a program this year where you could "adopt" one of their trees to tap for syrup. I assume they would have it next year too.
ReplyDeleteBeign married to an Olmstead is never dull! From someone who would know-40 years and counting!
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