March Break begins with making some Maple Syrup!

Mom pouring sap...

Maple Syrup season begins!

Team Olvet pouring sap out...

friends and neighbours come by during first boil up

boiling down sap on Buck Lake

Before heading off on our Quebec ski trip on Monday, we decided to take advantage of the warmer weather and make some maple syrup. Tom and the kids tapped the trees last Tuesday night in anticipation of Wednesday's warmer weather. We had a few nights of late night dinners as they got the operation up and running.
We ended up with about 80 litres of sap by Saturday morning. Tom gathered and chopped wood throughout the day on Saturday so we could get a fire started early Sunday and start boiling.
Sunday morning, I got up at 7 a.m. that was really 6 a.m. (the time 'sprung' forward during the night). I got dressed in my syruping digs and headed out to where Tom set up the cauldron. I stripped some bark off a log of Birch and gathered some kindling. Over the next hour or so, I got a fire going, feeding and fanning when needed, and reading Emma Donoghue's "Room". Rein was the first to join me at around 8:30 a.m. and kept me company.
When Tom arrived with more wood, a good bed of coals was established and some wind had picked up. The fire was roaring - yippee!
I went back into the house to continue working on my first painting since we came back from Australia.
It wasn't long before I heard more voices coming from outside. I went out to investigate and we had curious visitors - our neighbours and friends, Jay and Jana, and Brynna and her daughter, Stella.
What a beautiful day - 10 degrees and a blue bird sky. You can feel that spring is just around the corner...
We will add the last batch of sap around 4 p.m. and boil it down until we've got our first batch of Buck Lake Maple Syrup. Yum!

Rein puts a new spin on going for a bike ride!