It's that time of year again and the sap is running! Time to tap the maple trees! Maple syrup season has always been one of the most favorite times of year for us here on the homestead. Sure, it's a lot of hard work, but it has a great reward. We always have so much fun sitting around the boiling sap in the evenings with hanging lamps and the light from the fire talking and singing and just enjoying the winter night air. Then there are the piping hot pancakes served up with puddles of maple syrup to give us fuel for the days work of collecting the buckets of sap from the trees and keeping the fires going under the boiling pans. Yes, indeed, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

This year we had that cold snap, then a few days later the weather warmed a bit and the sun started to shine. The nights dropped back down below freezing and then the next day it started over again, the day time high being somewhere between 45-50 degrees and the nights dropping down to 25-30 degrees. This makes the sap in the trees "run" to the top from the bottom when it is warm, and then from the top back down to the bottom when it is cold again. Perfect time to tap. As you can see here, we are drilling a maple tree with this brace and bit, drilling at a slight angle and going in only about 2". As soon as that drill goes into the tree, sap starts to drip out.

The hole in the tree ready for the tap to be put in.

We hammer in the tap, and drive a nail in above it so we can hang the bucket.

Beautiful, clear sap has already begun to drip into the bucket. On a good run, we might collect anywhere from 2-8 gallons of sap from one tree a day. 

To collect the buckets of sap, we use horse drawn wagons to carry the big drums that we poured the buckets of sap into and then hang the empty buckets back on the trees to continue catching the flowing sap. Here Cecilia is taking a turn driving the team.

Our homestead just happened to be in what is called a "sugar bush", which means several maple trees that grow in a grove close to each other. We have around 20 trees just within the area of the house and barn. Now that's a homestead blessing! Maple trees right out the front door, they give us sugar in the winter and shade in the summer. 

We take the barrel of sap {and yes, that is a 50 gallon barrel full of sap} to the boiling vats and then carefully strain the sap through a cloth to catch any little pieces of bark or bugs that might have fallen in. 

It takes 40 -60 gallons of sap {in the northeastern states it is 30-50} to make one gallon of maple syrup. And it approximately takes 6 gallons of sap 5-6 hours of boiling to make about 1 pint of syrup. When the sugar content is higher in the sap, it takes less sap and boiling time to make the syrup.

As you can see here we have a "sugar snow" blanketing the ground around the sugar shack. Snow falls later in the year here in Tennessee make for a good sugaring time because the weather becomes more steady and moderate in its fluctuation.

You want to see lots of steam coming off the sap as it's boiling down because that means the water is cooking off and the sugar is cooking down.

When the sap in the boiling pan begins to turn a brownish color, we let the fire die down and pour off the syrupy sap into big stock pots and then take them inside to the wood cookstove to finish off where we can keep a better eye on it and not let it cook too much. The smell of maple syrup fills the inside of our cozy farm kitchen and there is nothing like it! Sweet and sugary smelling with a hint of hickory smoke from the chimney and dinner simmering on the back of the stove- makes all the hard cold work worth every minute of it. 
 We pour the finished hot sticky syrup into warm quart jars and screw on the hot lids and set them aside letting them seal as they cool down. Then into the pantry the jars go to stay until we get a hankering for maple syrup, which is more often than not. 

And here we are ready to go for another round of collecting and cooking! Maple Syrup memories are sweeter than the syrup any day.
Blessings,
 Vicki
Below is a list of our favorite books (with links) about making Maple Syrup.

Here are a couple of story books (with links) we love to read around Maple Syrup Season, perfect for reading aloud to the family.

Winter time is a great time for baking bread, and I recently found a recipe for no-knead bread baked in a cast iron skillet. I jumped at this because I love to cook with cast iron and I love to make different kinds of breads. Well, this recipe is a winner- it turned out perfect the first time I ever used it. And bread baked in a skillet is delicious!

Mixing it up is just like most yeast breads. After mixing the dough ingredients, you let it rise for 1 hour. Here, I'm gently lifting the risen dough out of the bowl to shape into a disk then place into the greased skillet.

Then I rub olive oil over the top so that it will have a nice golden brown crust as it bakes.

Once it is coated nicely, it is ready to put into the oven. Since we cook with a woodstove, it makes bread extra nice and crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

I sprinkled fresh thyme and italian herbs on the top to give it a bit of flavor. Cut it into slices like cornbread or pie...

It's most delicious when eaten while still hot with plenty of butter on it!!! We also had it with our soup that day and it was very warm and filling. This bread was so popular that it did not last the day!

So here is the recipe, hope you will try it and enjoy the process as much as I did! I know you will enjoy the eating of it...

No Knead Skillet Bread
21/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 cups warm water
1/2 TBS salt
4 1/3 cups all purpose flour
olive oil
fresh or dried thyme, rosemary or any italian herb of your choice.
Combine yeast and water in mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon add 1 cup of flour and then the salt and mix until combined. Stir in the rest of flour 1 cup at a time until all incorporated. Cover with a damp dish towel and let rise for 1 hour.
Do not punch down the dough, lightly oil the bottom and sides of a 10'' skillet. Oil hands and shape the dough into a round disc like shape. Place in skillet and cover with towel and let rise for 30 more minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Gently rub oil over the top of the bread dough and then slash the dough with a knife, making an x. Sprinkle with herbs and bake for 35-40 minutes until top is well golden brown.
Hope y'all enjoy!
Blessings,
  Cecilia at Homestead Blessings 

We had a really cold snap last week with temperatures dropping to 0 degrees here where  we are in Tennessee. Kept the garden hose running all night over this A -frame swing set and had this awesome ice fountain. Hey, we could fill the ice box now, right?

Yet even in the cold, we still have these little beauties. A bit of color to remind us spring is coming!

Now here is what we call an ice flower. This is what happens when the moisture in the stalk of this plant bursts and freezes, tiny layer upon layer of super thin ice. And it creates this amazing pattern that is unique to each plant.

This is what the top of the plant looks like in winter. It is commonly known as White Crownbeard.

Other plants that are surviving well through the cold is this beautiful flat leaf Italian parsley.

We kept it under a row cover hoop that protected it from the freezes.

Here's a little winter lighting we did for the porch. Very easy and effective!

Our favorite dog, Fleck. He loves to pose for the camera! He's a good ole farmdog.

A beautiful western sky the other night at dusk.

There's nothing like having beeswax candles lit for a soft warm glow in the evenings. If you would like to make some beeswax candles for yourself, click here
 http://http//www.homestead-blessings.com/dvds.html and check out our DVD on candle making. 
Y'all stay warm now! Many Blessings,
Vicki

Hope y'all had a safe and blessed new year holiday!