". Arranged Words: maple syrup
Showing posts with label maple syrup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maple syrup. Show all posts

2 Apr 2019

Maple Taps


Today, mostly a quiet post with pictures from a recent trip to the Maple Farm and a few more.
If you've been reading along, you may remember that I went to the sugar camp last year only to find it closed. (Apparently, I don't agree with reading fine print on websites.) But this year, all systems: go. Just look at that delightful open sign. A great breakfast was had. For me, pancakes with A lot of maple syrup. So tasty!

 Breakfast by the fire. Love those old skis.


The sap is clear until it is rendered down.
Maple Taffy on the snow. Just roll it up on a stick and viola!
In my element. After a hearty breakfast, time to hike the trails.  Just look at the colour of the sky!
Sap line running.
Along the river. The ice melts nicely. The ships will soon sail the seaway again.


The geese have returned.

I have left comments for those who left one for me on my last post. I hope to continue to do so going forward.

* * *
* A note to let my followers on instagram know that I have closed my original account. (dixie.l) It was compromised; a site was using my pictures to run ads. I could, of course, have asked instagram to remove it, but from the comments I read, it seems that site just kept rearing its ugly head like a Hydra. (Some of my pictures and artwork still appear in as a image search; I do hope they disappear.) So if I've lost you in the shuffle and I have lost many followers, please re-follow at dixielee.k @ instagram. Thank you so much, lovelies!

Wishing you peace, joy and loads of fun.

 ' Til next time...

Cultivate Your Dreams.

4 Apr 2017

Maple Sugar Lane

Hi there,

Yesterday, it was off to the sugar camp only to find out that it's closed on Mondays.  Undaunted and since it was okay with the friendly owner, we set off for a walk down sugar lane.

Sadly the restaurant was closed too. We strolled by, while vision of a breakfast of pancakes flooded with maple syrup danced through our heads.


The gift shop also closed and filled to the rafters, no doubt, with tasty maple syrup and other sweet treats.


I was looking for taps (sprouts) and sap buckets, and was disappointed not to see any of the old- fashioned gear.  But less labour intensive high tech extraction methods have hit the sugar camp. The lines run from tree to tree and then on to holding tanks. Later, the syrup is pumped to the sugar shack where it boiled down to pure maple syrup. Since there's a lot of water in the sap, the general ratio is 40 to 1~ 40 liters of sap are boiled down to produce 1 liter of maple syrup.

It takes cold nights and above zero day time temperatures for the sap to run. We had unusually warm weather in February, so they tapped on the 19th. But March was cold and I am sure the sap wasn't running for two weeks or more.
Other than sugar maples, they can also tap red and black maples.

Other trails. Guess who took this trail?
Traffic signs? When the sugar camp is open, they have wagon rides, and, who knows, maybe four wheeled vehicles zoom by sometimes too.

A hunters' blind? I prefer to think it's a camera blind covered with oak leaves.  If you stayed up there awhile, I bet you would see deer and other animals walk by.

A high tech tap and an unusual white fungus.

Back at the sugar shack. The stove with the holding tanks above and to the right.

A wood burner. They boil down the sap twice a day. Having a inquiring mind, I wanted to ask more questions, but since they were not officially open and the owner had cleaned everything and was getting ready for another go, I thought I'd better bow out gracefully while thanking him for his hospitality.


Across the road. A quiet place to sit and think. And look no snow on that sunny hillside! For a hemmed-in snow bound person, that patch of open ground made me take a deep breath and filled me with a sense of freedom. . . . definitely a sight for sore eyes.


Maple trees and the bounty they provide make up a huge part of the Canadian identity.  So it's fitting that our flag sports a sugar maple leaf.
 I was hoping to buy some maple treats and a bottle of syrup, but since they weren't open that was impossible, but, luckily, I still have a stash in the cupboard from Quebec.



"Shoot for the moon and if you miss you'll still be among the stars." 

Les Brown 
Enjoy the week...