Tapping our Maple Trees

The maple sap collection operation is up—we’ll see if it’s running by the end of the day or not. I couldn’t find stiles ANYwhere, so we ended up making our own. After a little more reading, I decided that we would try the elderberry method. I made sure to remove the bark and cambium layer where the sap would run across, as this is where more of the toxins are. I figure if the pioneers did it this way and we’re all here, we can try it too. Maybe not the smartest thing to do in the world, but I’m doing it anyway. Que se ra se ra. Here I used water jugs and some ribbon to hold them on until I can find my wire. The other tree has washed out 2-liter bottles on it. ~giggle~ it looks funny. Yesterday was over 40* and back down to 30* at night, so it’s perfect sap flowing weather. Now I need to scramble to find a 5 gal minimum fire proof pan to boil the sap down in because every bit of info i've found about boiling sap says do it outside unless you want a sticky mess on your ceiling and walls!

Rowan ate:
banana almond milk
cereal: buckwheat, figs, raisins, banana slices, goji berries w/ almond milk
oranges
red grapes
cherry tomatoes with chia seeds
cuc and onion salad
green smoothie w/ pineapple, banana, coconut water, parsley

Sweeness to you,

~Sharilyn

Almost Maple Syrup Time

Sorry I haven’t been blogging in a while. I had some business to take care of in Michigan and it’s been crazy busy around here. Good news: My camera’s working again! I took it to photo center at the local Walmart and they suggested trying lithium batteries. $5 fix. Can’t beat that!

Tristen is having a slumber party for his 8th birthday this coming weekend and he’s invited five other boys from his class to come. It’s his golden birthday, as he’s turning 8 on the 8th. Lots of preparations to attend to: cleaning, food, decorations, etc. Tris decided to have a turtle cheesecake (that’s chocolate, caramel, and nuts, not the shelled reptile) for his b-day cake and pizza for dinner. And “not raw, Mommy,” as the kids at school absolutely ridicule him when he brings in anything—even fruit. Little bullies. Tris's got a tough skin though, and laughs back when he has something super yummy, like pie, for lunch.
So Mommy will be helping the boys make their own pizzas. It should be a blast to see them with the pizza dough. Messy too. Yeah!!

Rowan has been a bit whiney lately, though understandably so with all the hoop-la and trip to Michigan. But we’re getting back into our routine so things will smooth out soon. I found a DVD of the TellyTubbies and Ro-Ro’s just fascinated with them. She tries to imitate whatever they’re doing. She’s soo cute when La-La does her “Secret Dance” because Ro runs and get’s her dress-up clothes on and dances too!

We’ve finally warmed up a bit after those freezing cold 20 below days. Yesterday and the day before it warmed up to 40 and 50 degrees. I sure wish I had my maple syrup tapping equipment, but as money’s been super tight I haven’t been able to get anything. Or had time to make anything either, as the stress of the Michigan trip has been all-encompassing. I read that pioneers used to use elderberry twigs as taps, but as elderberry contains cyanogenic glucosides, substances that release cyanide, and an unidentified cathartic (though primarily found in the leaves and roots), I don’t know that it would be such a good idea to use. Children used to get sick after using flutes and whistles that they made from the twigs. Certainly, cooked berries made into jam is harmless, so then would cooked sap that only passed along the twigs be O.K.? I don’t know, so I won’t try it, and unless you are educated in the use of herbs, elderberry is not an herb to use. I also don't recommend eating the berries raw . . . .

Se la vie. Something will appear for me to use, as always, so no worries. And frankly, if it doesn’t I don’t think I’ll miss tending to an outdoor fire for hours just to obtain a small amount of syrup. It takes 40 or so gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup if you’re using sugar maple sap (100 or more for hickory or walnut!). Why not boil it inside you ask? ~~giggling~~~ try it and you’ll find out. Sticky hard to clean ceiling among other things.

Gotta roll. I’ll be blogging more now that things have slowed down a bit, but again will only post about once a week—usually Thursdays. Tschüs!

Today Tristen ate:

juice oatmeal
½ avocado
banana
grapes
carob almonds
raw lemon pie—see entry for raw Key Lime Pie at http://rawbabyrowan.blogspot.com/2008/12/key-lime-pie.html
carob sesame milk

Ro-Ro ate:
banana
orange-coconut water/juice
grapes & blueberries
green smoothie w/ spinach, blueberries, cranberries, banana
more grapes & blueberries
raw lemon pie
tomatoes sprinkled with chia seeds
sesame milk

~~~Rowan, Sharilyn, and Tristen


P.S. Does anyone know how to enter a link w/o having the long address? I.E. clicking on something that says "click here" and having it take you to the ip addy. If you know, please e-mail or leave a comment. Spanks!