The details...

Well, yesterday I thought I might try to find a sugaring pot for my husband so he would not be tempted to use one of my nice kitchen pots.  I discovered that the sugar pot is pretty expensive.  So expensive that I would not make that purchase without discussing it with him first to make sure of the proper size.  Last night we started talking about sugaring.  His plan is to get a rectangular chaffing dish to put on the grill to boil down the sap.  He figures he can watch it on the grill on the deck for the weekend.  This process is what he refers to as backyard sugaring.  He said worst case, he would get some concrete blocks to se the pot on and make a fire under it, although in the town we live in we would need a permit for a fire so there is that issue.

Boring weekend

This weekend we did not really make progress on any of our projects. My husband told me this morning that he ordered his first official sugaring book from some Ohio State Agricultural library. I guess we are going to find out about sugaring hard core!

It was warm out this weekend so as I was hanging out with the kids outside I was noting more of the trees in the woods with pink ribbons. I found two of them on the road, seriously, our driveway is over 200 feet long (downhill) and then shlepping down the road to switch the buckets or check on whatever in the dead of winter, sure. I will believe it when I am eating pancakes with his syrup on them. I am still not sure how he is going to pull this one off. We pretend to be gardeners until about July when we get tired of watering in the evening and getting eaten alive by the bugs and sweating.

Progress on the sugaring

Last night we were discussing the trees in our forest. I thought it would be the perfect time to start asking some questions about his sugaring research. Turns out he has chosen almost 10 trees by tying the pink ribbon on them. I mentioned I could only see about four of them, he said the rest are along the brook in the woods. Sugaring is starting to sound more serious now. I am wondering how he is going to get to those trees by the brook in the snow to change out the buckets on the taps, they are quite a ways into the woods. Keep in mind all this work will likely provide one pancake breakfast for our family. He has all kinds of statistics about how much sugar is in the sap, which is about 1-2% and the rest is water. Apparently we will be investing in a hygrometer? which measures the sugar content. I guess we will have to wait and see. The scope of this project is starting to creep...

My husband has also started blogging. You can follow him on wordpress at billcarpenter4. His blog is called The Homestead. He insists that wordpress is far superior to blogger. Whatever works for you, dear.

I guess I am going to put off the wood stove discussion, at least another day ;-)

Random thoughts

I have couple of things on my mind today...

1. I need an new sewing project
2. My husband would be just as happy as a farmer, maybe even happier with his work.
3. Found a new yarn shop to check out.


First my sewing project. Yesterday we spent most of the day in the car on our way to Vermont for a sock sale. Two hours each direction. I know it sounds crazy but we needed to get out of the house. Cabin fever sets in on those three day weekends. I was thinking my three year old would probably enjoy coloring on road trips but he is clumsy and would be dropping stuff which would require me fishing the crayons off the floor too many times. How about a travel tray that velcros to the top of the seat and folds down into a tray with some type of sides and lots of pockets? I have plenty of fabric in my collection, I just need to figure out the logistics. This winter I am vowing to start using the fabric I have been collecting through the years. For me the stumbling block is the cutting. Cutting is so final, no changing your mind once it is cut out.

Second, I have never known anyone who enjoys yardwork more than my husband. I am starting to wonder if he would not be happier with his job if he were a farmer outside working on the land and such. Yardwork is more of a chore for me but he loves it. We have only been in our house for about a year and a half so maybe he will tire of the outside 'chores' but not as of yet. When he snowblows in the winter he likes to remove every last snowflake form the driveway, walkways, path to the oil tank etc. You get my drift, he is meticulous. He has the day off today so I hope he is enjoying some hard labor, ha ha. The yard looks great now that we have a leaf blower.

Third, the yarn shop... The last thing I need is more yarn, however, yarn shops have awesome knitters that work there that can always make suggestions or help interpret pattern notes. I am new to knitting but it is something I can do that does not require lots of equipment and i can do it anywhere, even while watching tv. I am determined to make some winter hats for my kids. I have made a few hats in the past but none of them have been worn for various sizing reasons. Since we have moved I have not been able to find a yarn shop in my area. I look forward to stopping in at the yarn shop.

Next post will be about our wood stove.

Leaf blowers and Christmas lights

Today is Vetrans day and we all had the day off at our house, even daycare was closed.  We went off in search of a leaf blower, which as you can see from the pic yesterday, we desperately needed.  We started our search at Lowes.  While we were at the store I again pleaded my case for buying some Christmas tree lights since I want to have a real tree this year.  He wanted to know why I was so focused on getting a real tree this year, I replied with 'the same reason you are so focused on sugaring THIS year'.  Touche (if that is how it is spelled).  I got my way, we bought two boxes of lights.

Maple trees in our yard

A few days ago my husband marked the trees he intends to tap. So far, he has chosen four. Four trees?  I am no expert on sugaring but doesn't it take gallons of sap to make enough for one pancake breakfast.  Now would be a good time to mention that my husband does not like pancakes.  I stopped giggling long enough to ask he where he intents to keep said gallons of sap.  To that he answered that he had not figured that out yet but it was no big deal he said he was thinking about some type of vat outside.  At this point I was seeing dollar signs.  I wonder how much investment we will make in the sugaring process. 

Tapping the trees? really?

A few weeks ago my husband mentioned that he wanted to 'sugar' this year.  I giggled out loud.  He said he had been doing some research on sugaring and he wanted to give it a try this winter.  I was again shocked he was even thinking about it, you see we moved to the suburbs about a year and a half ago from a condo.  The house we bought is about 25 years old and we have about two acres.  We have lots of ideas and projects inside and outside of our house that we would like to do.  We also have two boys, ages 1 and 3 that are keeping us pretty busy.  So I asked him how he was going to get this done since we barely have time for our other projects.  We have been trying to grow a garden for two summers now and we are not very successful at that yet.  He thinks the end is coming in 2012 so he wants to be able to sugar as part of his survival.  More later....