Maple Syrup :)

Lee here...It's that time of year...we are total amateurs and only have 7 trees to tap. It started off as a little experiment ..something fun and educational for the girls...and the source of a small amount of home made, delicious maple syrup...can't get more local than this! Chris gets everything set up and loves to spend a saturday outside, boiling sap and listening to the radio.

Annie has been helping us gather the sap and pour it into a big water jug. 40 litres of sap, when boiled down, makes 1 litre of syrup. Kate likes to help out and keeps me company. It's an all day operation....as basic as it can get...no fancy equipment for us...just a drum for fire, a rack to fit over it and a huge pot.

Next year, we would really like to get a thermometre and some proper filters. Its a total quessing game for us. I bring the syrup into the house to boil it down a bit more with the controlled heat of the stove.

I use regular canning jars to bottle it up. So far we have 8-250ml jars. Its going to rain for the next few days and after that, the weather will determine whether or not we continue....
It is alot of work but we are home and its a great excuse to spend the day outside. And flame equals roasted marshmallows!

With some leftover syrup and no more sterile jars, we continued boiling down until we thought we had the right consistency for candy....we did. Its not pretty but its really good and melts in your mouth!