Plath’s Adventures

is definitely here. As quickly as sugaring season started, it ended. Apparently this was a bad year for maple sugaring in our area, as the weather warmed up much too quickly to keep the sap running. We managed to get only about 4 gallons from our trees, which should give us maybe a cup or two of syrup. But, that syrup will be special, as it’s from our own trees and handmade by us. We plan to boil it all down tomorrow and will hopefully get a pancake breakfast or two from our syrup.

Spring’s arrival is also bringing a few birthdays soon. Jason’s birthday is at the end of March, and Eleanore’s is the beginning of April, so I’ve been trying to fit in a few birthday and Easter crafts, as the dates crawl closer. I knit and felted an Easter basket for Eleanore (which, sadly, I started LAST March… oops), and will get pictures soon to share. I also sewed a birthday crown for her from some wool felt, with a matching Waldorf doll crown for her doll. I used the pattern here, and please disregard all the mistakes in the doll crown. I freehanded that pattern, and it was practice for dd’s crown, which I wanted perfect.

It has even been warm enough for Eleanore to wear her short sleeve shirts again indoors, with only a sweatshirt when we go outside to play (in the mud). She was a little bewildered by the short sleeves the other day and kept looking at her arms; it was quite funny.

I’ve been doing a bit of reading on sugaring the past month or so, so we decided to just dive in and give it a try this year. It will be very small scale, as we only have 3 maple trees, but we should be able to get a few jars at least. We don’t really know what we’re doing, so this year is more of an experiment than anything. We’ve already collected two gallons of sap in less than 24 hours, which is enough for about a cup of finished maple syrup.

I didn’t get a chance to order real taps, so we just did it Brooklyn style the way these people in downtown Brooklyn winged it, with pipe fittings, plastic tubing, and then we used washed out milk and water jugs. We’re storing the sap in the fridge until we gather enough to boil for syrup, which we plan on starting outside on the grill, and then moving it indoors once it cooks down.

It seems spring may finally be on its way.