maple syrup time at farmer tim's

[lonehunter]

well it's maple syrup time at farmer tim's , as we arrived he had already started to collect the sap .

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needless to say , the kids wern't shy about lending a helping hand with the gathering . farmer tim's companion a young grouse followes him around every day ( center of the right pic on a branch )
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as you notice all the trees are tapped on the south side of the tree , the suns heat thaws the drip tubes after a freesing cold night .

the girls filling farmer tim's collection cart . [url "http://preview.ecomplanet.com/output.asp?display=PageAlbum&action=FullView&Pic=2&did=HOLL7787&PageNumber=1&Title=hunting"][/url] [url "http://preview.ecomplanet.com/output.asp?display=PageAlbum&action=FullView&Pic=5&did=HOLL7787&PageNumber=1&Title=hunting"][/url]


after two 35 gallon loads of sap , farmer tim has to drain the liquid gold into the holding tank , he uses a drill motor with a drill pump attached .

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farmer tim's dad gets the cooker fired up to boil out the excess water . [url "http://preview.ecomplanet.com/output.asp?display=PageAlbum&action=FullView&Pic=7&did=HOLL7787&PageNumber=1&Title=hunting"][/url] [url "http://preview.ecomplanet.com/output.asp?display=PageAlbum&action=FullView&Pic=8&did=HOLL7787&PageNumber=1&Title=hunting"][/url]

as the sap starts to cook down a skin starts to form , farmer tim's dad spends a whole lot of hours skimming off the skin because it containes the sand that is drawn up thru the trees roots to nourish the tree , there kind of like miniture vitamin pills for the tree .

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farmer tim's dad will remain here untill the wee hours of the mourning , tending to the cooker , adding more wood to the fire , more sap to the cooker , and skimming off all the sand . in total for this day over 275 gallons of sap will be boiled down into five gallons of real home made maple syrup . once done he will take it in to the house . farmer tim's mom and dad will then spend the last few hours of night time canning up another batch into one quart mason jars .

this process goes on untill the sap quits running , day in and day out . it provides there family and neighbors enough real maple syrup to last over a year . not bad for a little hard work .

my thanks to farmer tim and his family for providing us this look into a lost form of harvesting of our natural resourses , and for the sample quart of that liquid gold . once you've tasted the real thing , the store bought stuff just doesn't compaire .
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