Fifteen to One

One cord of wood, burning hot in the maple sugar evaporator  will make fifteen gallons of maple syrup.  That means lots of chopping, stacking and storing of wood.  Don has been busy these past few weekends and evenings making wood cribs and chopping wood in preparation for the fast approaching sugaring season.  Lucky for him his good friend Pat Reed has been willing to lend a hand in the wood chopping. 

 

Frost Bite

It's gotten bitterly cold this month and keeping the chickens warm enough has been a challenge.  This poor rooster is low guy in the hen pecking order, so often he is left out in the cold, literally, unless I lock them all up in the coop.  On the extremely cold days, I don't let them out, but otherwise, I let them roam about in their yard.   Apparently the cold caused some frost bite on his wattle.  I had read the warnings in the 'chicken literature' about the possibility of this happening, but I didn't take the necessary precaution of putting vaseline on the crops and wattles.  I will be more cautious from now on.  You can see the cold damage on the edges of the rooster's wattle.  He doesn't seem to pleased with his situation, does he?

Turning Syrup to Sugar

Making maple sugar is easy....just heat and stir!  Well, maybe not that easy.  You have to heat your maple syrup to a very specific temperature, then stir and stir and stir and stir and stir and stir and stir and stir.  But you end up with golden granules that put white sugar to shame.