Happy: Starring, Children of the Boxes and the Queen of Balloon People

Walnut Syrup Part Two

So here are the photos of the final straining and jarring up of the walnut syrup. Usually, we strain as the sap comes in the house before it goes to boil, but this time we were working with frozen chunks, so straining came after it was syrup.

It is more jelly like than maple syrup, but sweeter. Not so much walnut flavour as the boil smell hinted at (you know, making my house smell like German Chocolate Cake....), more of a plain sweet. This may be because it was very early sap (see the light colour). Early maple is like this too, the later sap is darker and more maple-y.

We got just shy of 1 quart. Not bad for 4 stock pots of sap, actually. This is just the beginning of sugar season, friends. The new cold snap and deep freeze means y'all have plenty of time to order supplies and get your own syrup made this year. So easy. So very worth it.

Three trees in your yard? That can provide 2 gallons of syrup and that's enough for my whole family for a year AND sugar my coffee every morning. That's a pretty amazing thing that even an urban homesteader can do.

Still need convincing? Ok. Here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5602/2
Does your coffee sweetener have iron, magnesium, calcium, and potassium and like 5+ more minerals that you might take a multivitamin to get? No?

Seriously. SERIOUSLY. GO TAP YOUR TREES.

Oh and this. Make this and dream of summer.

Walnut Syrup

Walnut sap is/was flowing. What do you do with walnut sap? Ah, good question.

Turns out, the same thing you do with maple sap.....boil it to syrup! Oh my house smells so good right now, like German Chocolate cake. Sugaring season is my favourite part of winter/spring on the farm and almost makes the cold bearable. Maybe we are all just sugar drunk on sap, though.

Some observations and questions though.
1) little gelly blobs keep forming in the sap/syrup boil. I searched online to find out what this is and only found another sugarer asking the same question. Anyone know?
2) This sap seems to take longer to boil down.
3) They are flowing earlier than the maples. This may be a way to maximise our syrup and better tell when the maples will start flowing?
4) Our walls are NOT sticky. Not even a little bit. Nor is the underside of the shelf above the boil or the back of the stove.  Our windows are not even fogging up.
5) If you use bags instead of buckets, remember to collect before nightfall and don't let it freeze in the bags. Destruction happens.

Nesting At Home

From the moment my bags hit the floor at Grampa's and the kids jumped off the stairs into my arms, they have been randomly hugging me and cooing, "Aw, Mama...." It is especially endearing when Isaac says this. He then kisses me and says, "I you love, Mama."

Of course the minute I got home they also, all three, burst into fevers. Four, if you count Chad. They have all been a sweet, sorry lot this weekend.

So, I brought out the pot and made soup with a whole head of garlic, stocked up on cranberry juice and tea, and cancelled all outings for the week. I feel a slight pressure in my head too, but I am taking elderberry and trying to keep it at tickle level instead of full blown plague.

All three kids are really into legos. We have to get more regular blocks. Imaginative building is so much fun!