The 2016 sugaring season got underway early this year. Thanks to an incredibly mild Winter which saw record-setting temperatures throughout- the sap was flowing early and often. Some tapped at the end of January but I waited until the 3rd week of February. Last year, I had 6 taps flowing. This year I decided to up that number to 26.
Relatively speaking as far as sap collecting was concerned, I was slightly disappointed. I figured there would be so much sap, I couldn’t boil it all with my equipment. Realistically speaking, the outcome was pretty much on-par with exactly what I was capable of processing. I made around 96oz of syrup (¾ gallon) last year but I didn’t keep track of how much sap I collected.
Surprisingly tasty. This was the latest bottle coming from the [simple_tooltip content=’This is what I call the cases of beer that I need to drink ASAP, and have sat on for too long cellar cleanout collection. I was actually surprised that it tasted as good as it did, with an almost port-like quality. I put a stopper in it to see how it drinks later tonight.
(This post is really meant as a test to see how the mobile WordPress posting works.)
I’m not a big music person, but I really like Trampled by Turtles out of Duluth, MN. Progressive folk, I suppose you’d call it? Here they are covering an Arcade Fire song. I didn’t even know who Arcade Fire was until I looked them up. Needless to say, this is way better than the original as far as I’m concerned:
Not a bad little lineup by the fire pit last night. Synthesis, Arboreal, and Stillbow (still!) were all drinking nicely. I quite enjoyed the Goods From The Woods beer, which I missed out on since I was unable to make it to the event last month.
Most of Oxbow’s bottle releases, plus a few random odds and ends.
My first year with a real garden has proven to be an up and down experience. There are many things I will do differently next year, but overall the “seat of my pants” approach that I took this Summer has taught me a lot. For example–the deer can be an issue–despite my hope that abundant food would keep them at bay. It mostly has, but their preferred path of travel takes them past the garden as well as the apple and cherry trees. But I digress, this post is about the epic tomatoes we are currently struggling to manage.
The result of a bad wind storm and not enough support via stakes and strings has caused a bit of an armageddon. Many have been and will be lost. Despite having given away several dozen pounds of them, we can’t process them fast enough. As a result, some are rotting out there. We have more sauce and crushed tomatoes than we know what to do with and will be enjoying the fruits of our labors all throughout the cold Winter months.
Lessons were learned as you might expect. Turns out that a little bit more planning would’ve made things a lot easier to deal with. Next year, there will be fencing to fend off the deer who like to munch on random, tasty garden things. Having a garden surrounded by ample food in the wild doesn’t outweigh the simple fact that the deer trail is next to fresh veggies. The plant rows will be better spaced–and straight! The tomatoes will be staked far better and stronger, and there will be a dedicated area designated a berry patch with raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries. More leafy greens like spinach and lettuce will play a bigger part, too. All in all, it was a great experience but with some improvements in planning, process, and harvesting it will be even better next year.
A few weeks ago, Marjorie and I decided to go away for a weekend to cap off some vacation time. We wanted to go back to Camden, ME and try and do it inexpensively. She found a place called Bay View Aerie on HomeAway:
It should be noted that HomeAway is showing the place as available for the coming weekend. However, it is rented until Saturday the 29th.
Looks promising! Despite the weekly rate, inexplicably shown in Canadian dollars, the nightly was only USD $99.
