A Loong Week

Sorry I haven’t blogged lately, but it’s been busy around here! I’ll make up for it with pictures!!

O.K. Sap: Well we were able to collect about 2 gallons total, which I boiled down to about a cup.


Here’s the sap partway boiled.


Here’s the finished syrup. I must say that it doesn’t taste like maple at all—more like a caramel with just a hint of maple. It is soooooo good. It took . . . I’m guessing about 5-6 hours to boil down. I didn’t really keep track. I just boiled the first gallon down, then stored it in the fridge and added the second gallon the next day and boiled that down to what you see in the pic. Fun! Though if there had been much more, we definitely would have had to boil it outside.

So, the syrup turned out, and there hasn’t been any more sap as the weather has gotten warm here—it hit 72* when I checked on the 16th. Now, while I was boiling the sap down to the syrupy finish (which has to be watched closely, especially with so little), I was also making two loaves of bread for Rich. Well, something was smoking on the bottom in the oven as it was preheating, so I shut it off as it’s a gas oven, stuck my hand in a mitt, grabbed a butter knife, and proceeded to scrape out the offending substance. I then popped the ready to be baked bread in the oven, shut the door, and went back to watching my syrup. Did I mention that I was also making almond milk, flax crackers, and smoothies for the early morning? I also called my mom and we chatted a bit. About an hour later the syrup was done, and I remembered about the bread—oops—and rushed to remove what I thought would be very, verrrry, well done bread. It wasn’t. It hadn’t baked. Well not much anyway. (I cut the one on the left open to see what was going on inside. It was gooey.)


So I popped them back in the oven, turning the oven ON this time, and crossed my fingers. I was laughing my ass off at this point. The bread made it to edible, but didn’t rise up at all beyond the where it was at. Here’s a pic. Rich came home with a loaf of bread from the store the next day. ~giggle~


Rowan has been helping me with all the babies—they’re really coming along, faster than I would have thought. She’s also fascinated with the overabundance of boxelder bugs that arrived just in time for the warm weather. Go figure. Anyhoo, this is her bug friend and she (bug’s on her elbow). Things are gearing up, moving towards full swing for spring plantings, getting gardens ready. No more lazy days on the couch with a blanket and a movie or book.

Yesterday was chillier, about 42*, and Rich had the day off, as did Tristen, so we all ventured out to the store—strawberries, bananas, blueberries, watermelon, romaine, oranges, apples, cukes, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and more. Nuts. Big trip, lots on sale. Then off to the big playground and skate park.


The kids have had a plethora of vittles this week: Banana-avocado pie w/ butternut-date crust, lots of different salads, cucumber, radish, mixed veggies, parfaits with carob-avocado pudding and fruit and buckwheat, garlic-almond and banana-carob flax crackers, and lots more.

Today their menu includes:
green smoothies w/ cuke, romaine, carrot, celery, apple, banana, mulberries
strawberry shortcake, raw of course
strawberry-banana almond milk
cuke and carrot slices
chocolate parfaits with blueberries, strawberries, and bananas, and buckwheat groats
watermelon chunks
carob-banana flax crackers
anything else they feel like munching on

Have a great day!
Sharilyn, Tristen, and Rowan



P.S. I guess I was wrong--sap is flowing again!

Goin' With the Flow

Well, the sap has started . . . on only one of the two trees!!???? And not just a little--I got over a gallon yesterday, and today at 1pm I collected another 1/2-3/4 of a gallon. Tree number 2--Nada. Go figure. Last week we were able to get all of two cups, which I boiled down to about a tablespoon of syrup. We just did it on the stove as there really wasn't much, just to see!

I think we'll have to give the trees names, maybe after seeing what else they do. Any suggestions? I love both of them--I even thanked the 1st for the sap and gave words of encouragement to the other. Neither are budding yet, but I expect it won't be long as today is in the 60's and climbing. (Yeah!) I've been aching to start another fast, but haven't wanted to during the freezing temps. (If you aren't familiar with fasting, you become much colder during a fast.) My body's been screaming to clean house so I can't wait.

Rowan's up to her terrible two behavior again--I think she'll probably mellow out now that spring has arrived and we'll be outside quite a bit more. We gotst babies to plant!! Lots-o-babies!! More to be planted and beds to prepare for peas and beans and cool weather veggies.

Tris was excited to see the first two cups of sap boiled down. We all stuck our fingers in for a taste, then Tris dipped strawberries in the remaining. Happy as a lark!

I'll be taking some pics soon, and will post 'em too.

So far today (1pm) Rowan's eaten:
Cashew milk
bananas--3 of them at once!
strawberry shortcake
salad from mama's bowl--celery, cuke, tommy, romaine, carrots, sunny seeds, fresh herbs
strawberry-lemonade
down for a nap!

Hugs!
~Sharilyn, Tris, and Ro-Ro

Sap???

Well it’s finally started to warm up . . . so where’s the sap?? Supposedly, sap starts to really flow when days are above freezing and nights are below. It’s been 40* or so during the day, but only one tree is giving any sap—and verrry little at that. Maybe there’ll be enough by the end of the week to actually boil, but I’m not going to waste my time with only a cup of sap. Did you know it takes 40 gallons of sap to equal 1 gallon of syrup? I’ve probally mentioned it B4. That’s if you tap a sugar or black maple. It takes about 100 gallons of hickory or walnut sap to get 1 gallon of syrup. That’s what I’d call a labor of love. Still, I wonder what walnut sap would taste like . . ??

Happy birthday to my sweetie, my love, my partner in life and crime. Rich has made it around the sun 36 times this lifetime. No thrills this year, he didn't want any. But Happy Birthday just the same baby.

Today the kids ate:
cereal (pumpkin seeds, pecans, walnuts, sunny seeds) with strawberries, stevia, and banana-almond milk
fruit medley: strawberries, apples, bananas, grapes
celery chips
salad: leaf lettuce with carrots, cukes, corn, sunny seeds, figs, w/ ACV dressing
grapes
carob almond milk

~Sharilyn

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!