Maple Syrup

Well it is maple syrup season again.  I love it.   It used to be quite a family activity when the kids were small.   We would choose a couple of 20 inch diameter maples on the edge of the bush, drill our holes, push in the spiles and hang the buckets.  March was the time.   From the two trees we would get over the month of March  enough sap to make about 2 gallons of syrup; enough to get us through the year.   All of our syrup equipment is purchased at the local TSC store and it is cheap.   $10 for two trees.    We were fascinated with making the syrup ourselves.  We would casually boil it down on the wood-stove; the wood-stove that we use to heat the house.   You don’t even have to boil it, a high heat evaporation will do.   Just transfer it to your stove at the end so you can boil it and monitor it so it doesn’t burn.   Filter it and put it in Mason Jars.  Done.   You just have to make sure you stop collecting sap when it turns cloudy.   Cloudy sap makes funky syrup.

We still do it the same way.  A few more buckets to keep a guy who is trying maple syrup beer supplied.  The only difference is that the kids now prefer to eat it rather than make it!   I recommend anyone with young children tap a tree in their yard or neighbourhood.    It is a great activity.

The Solar Panels Have Arrived

This year our really big project is to install a 10kW solar array.  We will be selling all of the electricity to Hydro One.  It is a bit like a pump; the closest to the pump get the water from that pump and so some of the electricity will be bought back by us.  The Ontario government has put a wonderful program in place to encourage people to install this kind of renewable energy.     Ken, Norm and I will be installing four 20 x10 foot pole mounted arrays behind the barn as soon as the frost is out of the ground.    I’ll let you know how it works out.

witching for water

OK, so a pipe bursts in the barn. My fault, frost. We start digging up the cement floor of the barn to get to plastic pipe and the coupling. It ends up being just too big a job. We have to cut through 10 inches of concrete and we just don’t have the tools to do it. Plan B; Let’s put a hydrant outside the barn. It will be more accessible, it won’t freeze and spill water everywhere.

So Norm and I start digging and digging until the front of the barn looks like a sight from the first world war. Trenches everywhere; down to four feet. No sign of a water line. We quit for the day, not sure what Plan C will be. That evening I am up at our local welders and I ask him where you can get one of those things the city gas and water guys use to locate pipes. The welder doesn’t know, but says why don’t you get Charlie to witch it for you. Of course this suggestion is accompanied by the welders subtle smirk, not to mention a healthy dose of skepticism on my part.

What do I have to lose. Charlie runs the business next door and enthusiastically agrees to come down to the farm with his two stainless right angle rods. One end of each rod goes through the centre of a small caliber copper pipe onto which Charlie holds. So here we have the coldest day of the year and Charlie is wandering around our farm yard, me in tow with the paint can, marking everywhere that Charlie says there is a water line. Charlie conducts this whole procedure with his eyes closed so as not to influence the outcome.

When Charlie is done we have a pattern of red lines that looks a bit like a major expressway map. On top of that, the map looks like a route no sane water line trencher would ever use. Charlie has marked the line where it goes into the barn in a spot that is really quite unbelievable. On top of that it is a place where Norm and I have already dug down to 4 feet. Just to be sure we continue down to 6 feet; still no pipe. See witching doesn’t work!, really, I had never expected it to!

Plan D ; bring in the backhoe. Bev shows up with the hoe and what the heck, I say ” Bev will you take Charlies hole down to 7 feet”. Bev, the ultimate backhoe master, gently nudges the dirt out of the way down to the 7 foot mark and no guff!, there is the water line exactly and I mean exactly where Charlie said it would be.

We now have a wonderfully placed hydrant outside the barn. Anna and Christine are happier with the new situation. It makes it easier to get the water for the sheep and for the chickens. On top of that we now have a family of converts to witching for water!