Spring Time In The Northwoods

This picture was taken this afternoon. We've had snow storms two days in a row. So today we were boiling sap under shelter with a propane burner. Someone threw away the burner and it is coming in handy for us. Last year we used it for scalding chickens with a propane tank that also was thrown away, that happened also to be full of fuel.

We're not boiling much sap this year so this should work just fine even though it is slower. This afternoon we boiled down about 6 gallons. We might wind up with a few quarts of syrup which will replace what we used since last season.

Here the sap is getting that look were it is getting thicker and the bubbles kind of linger on the surface and the liquid is brownish in color. At this point you get the distinct sweet maple syrup smell that floats up with the steam and you know you have good sap.