{"id":20176,"date":"2022-03-09T10:25:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T15:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20176"},"modified":"2022-03-09T10:27:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T15:27:53","slug":"episode-546-sweet-time-of-year-tapping-maple-trees-for-maple-syrup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=20176","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 546 SWEET TIME OF YEAR…TAPPING MAPLE TREES FOR MAPLE SYRUP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 445    MAPLE SYRUP TIME <\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 8, 2022<\/div>\n

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Above all else, March is a sweet time of year thanks to something beyond our<\/div>\n
control.<\/div>\n

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Change ia in the air.  I can smell it.  Those Maple trees in the farm lane are providing<\/div>\n
a needed distraction from human affairs.  Will they still be here when we are gone?<\/div>\n
We can but hope.<\/div>\n
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What a beautiful day!   Despite troubles like the collapse of the greenhouse<\/div>\n
due to this heavy snow\u2026.and the terror that is on all of our minds brought about<\/div>\n
by one lunatic, Putin by name.  Despite troubles, yesterday was a beautiful day<\/div>\n
as the snow melted.<\/div>\n

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And the slow then fast \u2026Drip, Drip, drip\u2026drummed the sap pales as our maple trees gave<\/div>\n
up some of their sweet nectar.<\/div>\n
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Andrew: \u201cDad where is all your maple syrup making eq\t<\/span>uipment?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cPlanning to tap?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSeems right time.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCorrect\u2026warm days and cool nights in March.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhere are the sap pails?\u201d Spigotts?  Hand drill and bit? Boiling pans? Soft Ball thermometer?<\/div>\n
\u201cThere are about 200 sap pails in the quonset barn but don\u2019t take them.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLead soldered\u2026lead poisoning\u2026.now illegal.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAll your syrup kit no longer useful.?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot quite all\u2026search around\u2026I have some aluminum sap pails\u2026maybe a dozen or more\u2026enough<\/div>\n
to get a good load of sap.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow collected?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cyears ago I used milk cans\u2026those big cans with rounded lids\u2026cleaned them first of course.<\/div>\n
I think you bought some new milk cans\u2026use them.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u2019Smell the air\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNothing like it\u2026just before springtime.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cDad, I remember 40 years ago when we all got sap from Saunders bush over on<\/div>\n
the fourth line\u2026took the whole March school break.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s when we had Tara the Coonhound\u2026she joined us.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd each night we did the boiling\u2026great clouds of steam from the boiling pan<\/div>\n
with a fire from wood gathered on the beach at Sunnyside\u2026truckload of planks and<\/div>\n
driftwood.   Remember the picnic bench that floated in and the City Parks Crew<\/div>\n
stopped you?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe picnic bench was all smashed up.  They helped me get the bolts out\u2026more<\/div>\n
wood for the maple syrup fire.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cDo you remember the colour of the syrup?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI think it was black.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cRight\u2026dark black.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThe maple syrup in the store is light brown\u2026how come yours was black?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAshes from the fire\u2026couldn\u2019t stop the ashes\u2026gave us a little extra carbon\u2026did not kill us<\/div>\n
as we are all alive 4o years later\/\u201c<\/div>\n

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\u201cDo you still have those pictures of the old sap making days?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cyes, you boys were about 8 and 10 years old back then.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHow many years did we do it.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTwo, Three\u2026four?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy did we stop?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTROUBLE\u2026BIG TIME TROUBLE\u2026AS YOU WILL SEE IN THE NEXT EPISODE”<\/div>\n

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Woody was my partner just as Tara used to be.  He loves to ride beside me on the<\/div>\n
ATV\u2026.he gets quite miffed if I forget to beckon him\u2026\u201dGet on here, Woody, we are<\/div>\n
heading home.”<\/div>\n

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alan<\/div>\n

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NEXT EPISODE\u2026GETTING MAPLE SAP 40 YEARS AGO<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 445    MAPLE SYRUP TIME  alan skeoch March 8, 2022 Above all else, March is a sweet time of year thanks to something beyond our control. Change ia in the air.  I can smell it.  Those Maple trees in the farm lane are providing a needed distraction from human affairs.  Will they still be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}