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.

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....