{"id":7667,"date":"2021-02-26T20:06:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T01:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7667"},"modified":"2021-02-26T20:20:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T01:20:54","slug":"episode-265-maple-syrup-time-part-one-getting-the-sap-the-halcyon-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7667","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 265 MAPLE SYRUP TIME PART ONE: GETTING THE SAP…THE HALCYON DAYS"},"content":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 265     MAPLE SYRUP TIME   PART ONE:  GETTING THE SAP\u2026THE HALCYON DAYS<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 2021<\/div>\n

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Those soft winter days are nearly here.  End of February, beginning of March.  Maple Syrup making time<\/div>\n
when those emblems of Canada, our thousands and thousands of sugar maple trees<\/div>\n
are sniffing the air and sending a message to their root systems.<\/div>\n

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\u201cNOTICE…Time for sugar to move up the tree trunk.  Soon be needed<\/div>\n
for life to begin again.  Sleepy time is over.\u201d<\/div>\n

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  That is maple tree talk\u2026the branches telling<\/div>\n
the roots to start generating sap.  The message is relayed via the thin communicating system<\/div>\n
between the bark and the wood.   <\/div>\n

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And I was determined to intervene\u2026to \u2018bleed\u2019 off some of that life blood of some<\/div>\n
of those maple trees.<\/div>\n

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 SYSTEM\u2026MAKING MAPLE SYRUP<\/div>\n

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\u201cMarjorie, let\u2019s see if we can make maple syrup.  Something to do <\/div>\n
in the gap between winter and spring\u2026cheaper than skiing and<\/div>\n
we\u2019ll end up with s gallon or two of pancake syrup\u2026our own hand<\/div>\n
made maple syrup.  Better than the store bought stuff maybe.”<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhere will you find enough trees?  Not enough on our farm.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Saunders farm runs right across to the Fourth Line where<\/div>\n
they have about 20 acres of maples\u2026.I\u2019ll ask Lorne if he is<\/div>\n
willing to let us tap a few of his trees.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Some farm laneways remain lined with mature maple trees for a good reason.  Maple syrup<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou certainly have enough sap pails.  How many<\/div>\n
trees will you tap?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cMaybe twenty or so.   I have about 200<\/div>\n
sap pails and  lids.   About the same amount of spiles\u2026way<\/div>\n
more than we can ever use in a lifetime.\u201d<\/div>\n

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And so began a wonderful adventure.  Making maple syrup.  Earthy<\/div>\n
March when the snow was beginning to melt on some days then<\/div>\n
new snow falling on other days.  What a grand time to be outdoors.<\/div>\n
Week end work mostly but some weekdays as  well which meant<\/div>\n
I had to rush from teaching high school at Parkdale C.I. in the heart <\/div>\n
of Toronto to my maple trees on Fourth Line of Erin Township, Wellington<\/div>\n
County.  On days when the sap would be running.  Warm days\u2026cool warm<\/div>\n
days. I know it sounds like a contradiction.<\/div>\n

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I was not alone. Tara, our coonhound, Marjorie, the kids\u2026Kevin and Andrew\u2026<\/div>\n
and sometimes Phil Sharp one of my fellow history teachers.   So the truck<\/div>\n
was loaded  but still had room for the milk cans of maple sap.  Milk cans?<\/div>\n
Along with the sap pails, I had bought about 10 or 15 milk cans\u2026big 10 or<\/div>\n
15 gallon cans with pop up tops.   These big cans were needed to haul<\/div>\n
the sap from maple bush to the truck using a heavy sleight.<\/div>\n

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EQUIPMENT LIST<\/div>\n

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-20 SAP PAILS<\/div>\n
-20 SAP PAIL LIDS<\/div>\n
-1  HAND  DRILL<\/div>\n
-20 SPILES<\/div>\n
-10 MILK CANS<\/div>\n
-1 HEAVY DUTY SLEIGH<\/div>\n
-1 LARGE SAP BOILING PAN WITH HIGH SIDES<\/div>\n
-1 FINISHING TROUGH<\/div>\n
-PILE OF CROWN SEALING BOTTLES WITH LIDS AND RINGS<\/div>\n
-PILE OF WOOD FOR FIREPLACE<\/div>\n
-SOME BOULDERS TO KEEP SAP PANS ABOVE FIRE PIT<\/div>\n
-MAPLE SAP THERMOMETER\u2026<\/div>\n
-PILE OF FILTERS AND  MILK CAN FILTERS<\/div>\n
-GAS \u2026ENOUGH TO DRIVE UP TO THE FARM<\/div>\n
AND BACK TO THE CITY THREE TIMES A WEEK<\/div>\n
(This venture was not cost effective\u2026cost more than it was worth<\/div>\n
was the conclusion of my critics)<\/div>\n

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The system worked well for three or four years and then<\/div>\n
came to a abrupt end.   So I will treat the story into two parts.<\/div>\n
First were the halcyon days of sap collecting.   Dream of those<\/div>\n
days on March evenings\u2026still do.<\/div>\n

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Lots of glass sealers around\u2026some full of edible food\u2026others full of bolts or porcelain insulators for hot wire fences.<\/div>\n

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\u201cDad, this is the way to tap a tree.  Angle the drill up a few degrees so the sap can run down the spile into he pail.”<\/div>\n

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There is no joy quite like gathering maple sap in a snowbound forest.<\/div>\n

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\u201cAlan, remember how we knew the maple sap collecting was over? When the forest floor was covered with wild garlic.<\/div>\n
Easy to identify\u2026smell, taste, look.  Thousands of the spear like plants suddenly emerged in early spring.  carpeted forest<\/div>\n
floor in green.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cI was reading that wild garlic is a fine medicinal herb\u2026eases toothache, sore eyes, colds, coughs, \u2026fends off warts, measles,<\/div>\n
mumps and rheumatism.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf it\u2019s that good why have we never seen anyone picking wild garlic?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201clook around \u2026lots of people eat wild garlic.  Recipes easy to find on the internet.   The plant grows in deep forest in late<\/div>\n
winter or early spring\u2026when the wild garlic appears, I know the maple sap season is over. Easy to identify by its strong <\/div>\n
garlic smell”<\/div>\n

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\u201cAN easier way to tell the maple syrup season was over was when the flies appeared on the spiles or drowned in the sap.<\/div>\n
Time to pack up.”<\/div>\n
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END PART ONE EPISODE 265<\/div>\n

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POST SCRIPT<\/div>\n

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WILD GENSENG ONCE GREW HERE<\/div>\n

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\u201c Marjorie, remember the Ginseng story? Deep in forests of maple, oak and other deciduous trees where the tree canopy was dense, Canadian ginseng once flourished  Reputed to <\/div>\n
be the best ginseng in the world.   I have no idea why.  The market in the 18th century was so good that the plant was wiped out.  Years ago I did<\/div>\n
a CBC radio story on that Ginseng and a listener near Simcoe phoned in with an offer to show me a few surviving wild ginseng plants<\/div>\n
deep inside an ancient hardwood forest.  He showed us the most unremarkable scrawny little plant that I would never be able to find<\/div>\n
again. \u201c<\/div>\n

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\u201clots of ginseng farms in Ontario today\u2026easy to spot because he field are darkened with elevated panels\u2026to simulate the<\/div>\n
natural darkness of a maple forest.  Korean Ginseng roots are not the same\u2026\u201c<\/div>\n

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“Back when we tapped those maple trees, We nosed around the forest but saw no ginseng\u2026would not have known it if we did find it.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhy do people eat ginseng or drink ginseng tea?\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cI have no idea.  The internet says to be careful with the plant.\u201d<\/div>\n

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\u201cBetter to drink maple sap before the flies arrive\u2026.or slather maple syrup on pancakes or French toast.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 265     MAPLE SYRUP TIME   PART ONE:  GETTING THE SAP\u2026THE HALCYON DAYS alan skeoch Feb. 2021 Those soft winter days are nearly here.  End of February, beginning of March.  Maple Syrup making time when those emblems of Canada, our thousands and thousands of sugar maple trees are sniffing the air and sending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}