Tap Tap Tap Tap! Maple Tapping Getting the Equipment Ready

Locate and wash all the parts. We have managed to lose parts every year.

Charge cordless drill.

These are spiles. You can use these with food grade buckets or with the sap bags. We are useing some of both this year to test the bags - they are a lot cheaper.  

These are the bag holders.

Slide the bag on and fold over.

Open it and smooth.

Slide the top part over.

Chad weight tested it because I was unsure the bag would hold.

Position the spile. This pic is just so you know how it works - the bag holder will hang off of the ridge on the top of the spile. You keep it off until after the tap is in the tree. Here is an inside shot. Stay tuned for part two. I am blogging from my phone on a cross country bus!

Here is part two!

No Peach for the Wicked.....A Wicked Simple Peach Pie

First you need in season peaches. There is no comparison to grocery store peaches or frozen grocery store peaches. In my world those are not really peaches. Pretend such things do not exist and the world will be a better place.

I can fresh Missouri peaches in July and August at the peak of their peachy juicy yumminess. These peaches, canned in sparkling jars will do. Sigh, in a pinch glass jar peaches from the grocery store will work but only the glass jar ones. Think I am being snobby? These are peaches we are talking about.

Once upon a time I did not understand the glory of peaches. I just thought they were.... meh. One sunny morning Chad and I set off in newly wedded bliss to the farmer's market. It was a hot July morning in Iowa, crowds send me in a panic, but Chad was on a mission. I said peaches were no big deal. He had to prove me wrong. 

Oh. He handed me the most perfect round globe of deliciousness, bite already out of one side because he had to taste test it to make sure it was perfectly ripe. The sweet-sour juices ran down my cheeks as I gobbled it. It was like eating sunshine. I wanted more. We ordered peach trees for our city garden. Not the 36 peach trees I wanted as I calculated exactly how many trees would fit in our urban lot. I no longer wanted spinach or tomatoes.....just peaches. Forever peaches.

I do now have my 36 peach trees and room for more. Mmmmmm...peaches.

Peach pie, however, eluded my grasp. It never turned out just right! How unfair!

Then I realised that most peach pie recipes work with inferior peaches. Just like with everything in my kitchen, scaling back was going to be the key, working with the best ingredients and highlighting the pure flavours instead of hiding them in spices. 

So you need peaches. About 4 for a typical pie. More if they are small. This equals 1 quart of canned peaches at my house.

RECIPE FOR FILLING:

4 large ripe and sliced peaches
1/4 cup of raw sugar.
Lemon juice (one lemon's worth or 1.5 T)
a pinch of sea salt
a teaspoon of almond extract
4 T of cornstarch

Pie dough recipe at the end of this post.

Put filling in pie tin lined with crust dough. Top with dough in whatever design you choose, just not a solid sheet. The peach filling needs lots of venting. That's a pro tip. Brush with milk or melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

350 degrees, middle rack. Bake until browned (about 45 minutes).

Sometimes I get fancy and add vanilla bean salt to the top with the sugar, but just because.

That is the filling. You could add some cinnamon, ginger, or allspice, but it isn't needed. The bright flavour of the peaches stand on their own.

This is the pie crust recipe here.

2 cups of flour
1 stick of butter, frozen
4 T of fresh farm rendered lard, frozen
1 T of raw sugar
1 T of salt

Cut by hand or food processor and then add 1/4 of ice water or buttermilk until doughy. Then roll out and work fast.

That's it. Really.

Ticket To Ride

So, for this upcoming trip, I will be taking the bus. The Megabus, to be exact. I have never traveled by bus and certainly never for 36 hours. There are restrictions on luggage too, no checking a large suitcase allowed.

That got me thinking about travel and necessities. I'll be gone 10 days. The island does not have laundry

Lucky for me, I am very no fuss about my hair and don't wear makeup. I'll bring ballet flats that fit into a pocket and wear my boots and jeans and sweater and coat. Those are the bulkiest of things needing to be packed. The weather where I am going will be warmer than here. I managed to pack 7 outfits into one backpack with room for my computer and chargers and cords and a book.

Travel light.

I got some great tips from friends on how to do this. The best one was to use gallon ziplock bags. All my clothes fit into four, then I sat on them to vaccum seal. I could not fit an extra sweater, so I wore two. I have mixed feelings about how that is working out!

This is my knee room. Ouch.

Deconstructed and Sacred Space

When we deconstructed the holiday tree, Lily took the ornaments and lights upstairs to storage, only the lights did not make it.....

She already had a strand of LED lights under her bunk bed, she thought three more would be that much better!

Truly, it is magical. She has a bean bag, her art supplies, her nature displays with bones and shells. It is a lovely and calming place to be. Somehow she found my Good Will Hunting soundtrack and chose Elliot Smith as her background music. So so soft and cooing.

I will look for more things to help her create this sacred space for herself. Having a special, calming space is so very important. One of the reasons we made the office into her own bedroom was to give her some of this for herself, a place she could have her not baby safe things, a place to be the big kid.

She still finds her way to the little kids' room in the night, so not to be alone. That doesn't mean she doesn't need this other place though.