Because I tend to think of March as perhaps the least appealing month of the year (I suppose it's a tie between March and November . . . those pesky transition times between life and death), I'm doing my best this year to really try to appreciate the things about March that are lovely and beautiful.
For instance, the Maple trees outside of our house, and all up and down our street, have been tapped for maple syrup by a local sugar shack. Although I've lived in New England for 27 of my nearly 29 years (and drizzled maple syrup on my pancakes and waffles throughout each and every one of those years), I'd never been so up-close-and-personal with a tapped tree before this March.
I was so surprised to see that Sugar Maple sap is a whole lot like water. It's not thick or sticky like the sap of pine trees. It's actually kind of hard to believe that it's not just water. The whole process of turning this magical liquid into maple syrup is so amazing. I love being surrounded by this reminder of how we can use our local resources.
Some of our more industrious neighbors decided to tap their own tree. While I'm always a fan of recycling, I found this particular example of repurposing to be a bit unsettling.
I know that the sap is going to be boiled for hours on end before it turns into syrup. But still. Not quite as quaint as the metal buckets.
Maybe there is a sweetness to March after all.
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9 comments:
These pictures definitely do put the romance and beauty back into March (cat poop excluded). And I love how Jaz is sporting his helmet just in case - you never can be too safe... :) xo to all.
I'm not sure I could get past the cat litter buckets... that's just wrong.
It gave me a good chuckle though. :-)
Aww the pictures are so beautiful. You don't see that in Texas. At least not where I am. Thank you for sharing.
I grew up in the north woods of Michigan, and my stepfather worked for a construction company that tapped the trees on their property. Every year we'd receive about ten little jugs of syrup, and mail them out to all our relatives in the South who were deprived of maple trees. Nothing quite like it.
is that butter? Thats a shit ton of butter..... I want some maple syrup... Jon thinks Aunt jemima knows all there is to know about maple syrup.. poor unfortunate fool.
It's whipped cream, silly. Now I know what to give you guys for your wedding present (a little belated, I suppose, though I think technically we're supposed to have a year from the date of the wedding, so we've still got a week left, right?).
hey I don't remember giving you a wedding present, so don't worry about it.hehe, butter.. I can't BELIEVE it's not butter! our anniversarry is on Dad's birthday, march 22nd. We are going to eat the top from the wedding cake, the whole thing. we won't leave the table until it's gone (we will be handcuffed to the chairs, blindfolded, anchored to the ground, the whole shabam.). sexy, huh?
It's not romantic when you carry your sap bucket full of sap into your house, carefully removing your boots at the door because it is mud season, you shift your hands so you can pour it into the pot on the woodstove, and crash, down the full bucket comes ON YOUR BARE TOE, spilling sticky sticky sap all over your dining room floor.
Now, you have a seriously hurt maybe broken toe, you have to mop and re-mop the floor, you have groceries to unload from the car and then unpack, AND P.S. you are also feeling sweaty and clammy because you are freshly home from working out and there is cold sweat pooled under your breasts!
That was my morning.
Thanks for letting me vent.
XO
Iris
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