Maple Syrup

 Finally, after an experimental batch, we have maple syrup! 

Well...first we had maple sugar. This was because the first batch was put on too high of a temperature all night long, and it crystallized before we could bring it into the house to finish it off. I had read about how to finish the syrup, and completely forgot about that part in my excitement to get a result.

Thankfully the trees have been flowing a LOT, and I was able to get a second batch up and running within the same day.

To finish the syrup, we strained the sap (which had turned an amber color and while thick wasn't quite at that gooey stage yet), poured it into a pot, strapped a candy thermometer to the side, and let it come to a boil.

It actually started boiling at around 208 F, and hovered there for about half an hour. In that time the color darkened slightly and, when allowed to dribble off a spoon, the free dribble turned into a sticky drip.

Once the temperature started rising above 210, no matter how low I turned the stove, I immediately poured the stuff into a jar to let it cool.

And boom. Maple syrup. Easy peasy.

I don't think it will ever darken, but the consistency and flavor are AMAZING so I don't care. I also may or may not have put some on my bacon later....<.< >.>

Now it's time for 'Crazy Things People Say When They Find Out You're Making Maple Syrup'!

The #1 question I've gotten so far when talking about the evaporation process is: "You don't have to add anything to it?"

Answer: No. The sap is mostly water, with a small percentage of sugar. Boiling (or cooking) the sap evaporates most of the water and leaves the sugar behind. The smaller the ratio of water to sugar, the thicker the result (hence the term 'syrup').

Oh, and here is a conversation I had with a guy at the gym (we'll call him D).

D (after hearing that I had collected 4 gallons of sap in one day): Wow, I bet you're going to make a killing with that.
Me: Well...no, not really. *proceeds to explain the evaporation process and sap to syrup ratio*
D: Heck, if it's that much work I'd just go to the store and buy some corn syrup.
Me: *outwardly* But that's not the point!
*internally* DO YOU KNOW HOW TERRIBLE CORN SYRUP IS?! AND HAVE YOU NO APPRECIATION FOR DOING THINGS YOURSELF??

Sigh. I think that doing anything 'the old-fashioned way', just for the sake of doing it and enjoying the process (and the results), are lost on a lot of people that I interact with on a daily basis.

Tapping Maple Trees, Part 2

(I haven't been this excited about a project in ages!)

After the initial 1 1/2 liters of sap, the flow slowed down considerably and we got 3 quarts over 3 days. Considering that our neighbors were getting 2 1/2 gallons a day from one tree, this was a little disappointing. 

But then! Two days ago there was a crazy cold snap where it blew, rained, snowed, and went all March on us. The cold temps resulted in barely a dribble of sap, and what did dribble froze at the bottom of the bottles.

Today I noticed that a couple bottles were about half-full of slush, so I went out and collected the lot before going to work. But when I came home from work, almost all of the bottles were half or completely full! Observe:

This is off the tree on the patio--it has 3 taps and is the largest maple in the yard.

 

This picture and the one below are of two taps on the same tree, and this bottle was OVERFLOWING. I was so happy. :D

There's a bit of a story being this tree too: it's a medium-sized maple, with a big scar going from the base of the tree to about 4 feet up the trunk. I had expressed concern that it wouldn't produce very much, so initially we only put one tap in. Then we noticed that it was producing quite a bit, and put another tap in. And so far it's been producing the most out of all the trees....go figure.

 

That makes something around 5 gallons total--I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! *flails*

The idea of using a roasting pan to boil the sap off was suggested from the lady at church, so we poured 4 gallons into a roasting pan, turned that sucker on, and are letting it go all night in the garage.

(This'll save me from poking at a fire for hours and ruining Mom's chafing pans...heh.)

Now...we wait. And I'll try to get pictures of the in-between stages too--right now the stuff is just steaming on the workbench and it's too dark out there to take pictures. 

In other news, Mom and Dad brought pizza home and I, being absolutely famished after coming home from work, kind of ate 5 pieces. Now I feel awful. BUT IT WAS SO GOOD.

Ahem. Anyway. I'll keep taking pictures and posting as events warrant. Good night!

Tapping Maple Trees

It's been a while since I've posted a project...and seeing as how spring is coming (or it's SUPPOSED to be coming, at least) the latest project involves a brave attempt to make maple syrup.

Needless to say, I've never tried to make maple syrup. But a couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Mom, "Hey, what if we tapped our trees for maple syrup?" She kinda shot the idea down, and I forgot about it for a bit. Then, a lady from church posted a picture of HER maple trees that she had tapped and how much sap they were getting.

So guess who decided to jump in with both feet? :P I read articles for a few hours, perused a book we have in the Forgotten Arts series on the subject, and thusly armed went to the store. We didn't have any spiles (taps), so I had to make do with copper tubing and flexible rubber hose. Then I sent an all-points-bulletin out to Facebook asking people for their empty soda bottles. The result of this rather cobbled-sounding combination of tools can be seen below:

Yes, that is baling twine. Don't laugh.

It didn't end up TOO ghetto, I don't think. Dad drilled the holes and put the spiles in, and I was in charge of tying twine, cutting tubing, etc. We did discover that putting tape around the middle of the copper tubes would prevent sap from leaking around it--initially we were losing about half the sap we would have collected just from leakage.

Today we tapped 4 trees, and tonight while I was collecting the sap I noticed that two trees weren't producing anything. So we ran outside (this was at sunset) and quickly tapped a larger tree in the front yard and added another spile to the tree that was producing the most. Even with only 2 trees producing we got 1 1/2 liters of sap:

The depressing part is that it takes 10 gallons of sap to make 1 quart (yes, I said QUART) of syrup. And it all has to be boiled down outside unless you want the inside of your house to feel like syrup sneezed all over everything. But in the meantime I'm excited to give it a shot, and we'll see how much sap we can collect!

I've also read that sap can be used for brewing tea, coffee, or beer. While beer isn't up my alley, kefir water most definitely is, and I think it would be an awesome taste sensation. So here's to experimentation!

One's True Place (and projects)

"How, then, does one find one's true place?
It does not need finding. One's place is wherever one happens naturally to be. And only gnawing resentment can make it dishonorable." 

-- C.W. Gusewelle

 Charles Gusewelle, succinct as always. There's a reason that he's one of my favorite writers.

I've been somewhat down in the dumps lately for a variety of reasons. There's some other minor stuff, but it boils down to feeling like I'm stuck, waiting for something to happen, and not knowing how to get out of it. Or I have so many ideas and options creating- and business-wise that I freeze up and do none of them.

This, my friends, is a distinct problem. It's worse than procrastinating, because with procrastination there's a guilty pleasure in letting things slide with the intent of 'getting to it later'. With freezing up there is no pleasure; just a vague sensation of doom and wasted time.

Add feeling stuck to a sensation of doom, and what you have is a downward spiral of non-productive angsting about the future. That's why I was rather inspired after coming across the above quote this morning.

Last night, I wasn't inspired at all and spent most of my time flaking around on the internet, but not before forcing myself to start a project that I've been meaning to do for ages: make a Kindle cover.

While in Colorado I started making a leather one, but what with all the flooding and evacuation nonsense I kinda had to set it aside. My Kindle has been cover-less since I got it in July, and I'm always worried that it'll get hurt somehow. This, then, is the finished product (made using this tutorial):

  

It's not as solid as leather would be, but it serves its purpose well. I also couldn't figure out how to make it stand up for a good 10 minutes.

I did eventually figure it out though. XD

 

The original pattern didn't call for any kind of padding, so I cut some quilt batting for a little extra protection against the chipboard. Some of the measurements seemed to be off, too, because the chipboard was WAY too big and the section under the kindle seems a little narrow, but it still worked.

I'm also continuing my kefir soda experiments. Last week I ordered some glass soda bottles after an attempt to make ginger ale in mason jars turned syrupy and nasty. The bottles have a rubber sealed cap attached with a wire clamp, so I'm hoping that the lack of air will help it to stay fizzy and not change consistency again.

I've already done the above with a cream soda (a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract in kefir water) and it turned out pretty delicious. I've gotten a taste for kefir like I didn't have earlier this year, and I can't get enough of the stuff. :3 (Everyone else, on the other hand, thinks that it's nasty. More for me!)

Horse-wise....well, I'm not going to take up blog-space by blubbering or complaining about the current stage of horse-less-ness. Our farrier (and my best friend's dad) has offered to let me ride one of their mares whenever I'd like. She's a paint, about 10-12 years old, and blind. Her real name is Nina (or Grace, depending on who you ask) but I've always just referred to her as 'the blind mare'.

If you look closely you can see the film over her pupil--the eye on the other side is atrophied.

She's a real sweetheart, and SO incredibly trusting--if I point her in a direction and tell her to go, she'll go in that direction until I tell her to stop (or she trips on something ^^;). She knows that when I check her, that means to go slow and feel out the terrain because something has changed. I would never take her on a trail ride or any other place where the terrain changes constantly, but she can walk along roads or across a bean field with no trouble and as long as I keep an eye out she does superbly. Several times I've come across a ditch or dip and, after a check, she'll take little careful steps until we're past it. It's pretty amazing.

I've ridden her twice in the last week, and have come to the realization that I really don't miss the riding as much as I do just taking care of a horse. It's strange to me to get her out, ride, and put her back without fussing or feeding. She also has some stall quirks such as pawing the ground and turning in circles, so she has to be hobbled in her stall. She doesn't mind the hobbles, and it keeps her from being destructive, but....meh.

Anyway. Life is slow and I usually wildly oscillate between being depressed and/or uninspired to bucking up and making myself quit having pity parties. XD

Root Beer: Round 2

I attempted to make some 'root beer' a couple of weeks ago using my kefir water (long story there, but I'll try to explain along the way). It sorta worked, and sorta didn't...hopefully this time will be more successful.

For those who are unaware, kefir water is made from kefir granules. Basically, one puts water, sugar, and kefir granules in a jar, lets it sit on the counter for 48 hours, and voila, you have fizzy sugar water. (The link explains it much better than I just did)

Actually, kefir is a lacto-fermented drink. The granules are bacteria and yeast (the good kind) that 'eat' sugar and infuse the water with probiotics and fizzies. I've had this particular jar for about 2 weeks, and the kefir grains are VERY happy.

Every time I walk past I poke the jar to watch them do their happy dance (bubbles rise from the grains and a few rise and fall in the water. It's pretty entertaining). They really like well water (it's filtered, of course) because of the minerals in said water. That said, these are getting a little out of hand. They've tripled in quantity since I got them, and it was time to divide them up.

Last week (or the week before? I lose track of time) I looked up a recipe for making kefir root beer, found that I only had three ingredients and ordered the rest, got impatient and made a modified version...you get the idea. The first batch only had sassafras bark, a cinnamon stick, and a few cloves in it; those were simmered in two quarts of water to make a tea, strained, had some sugar added, and divided into jars. I took one jar, filled it with some of the kefir water and the tea, and set it on the counter. The second jar was the same, but with a couple spoonfuls of kefir grains. The jar with the grains did much better as far as getting a carbonated taste to it; thus, that's what I'm doing this time.

The rest of my ingredients came on Saturday, and I did not take my time getting another batch going this morning. My only mistake was following the recipe where the ginger root was concerned, and it really, REALLY tastes like ginger. My brother didn't like it, but I think it's pretty good. 

I had to modify the recipe a bit, with taking out the juniper berries and hops flowers, but I figured they wouldn't be missed that much.

Yum, boiled bark.

The tea had to sit until it came to room temperature because the grains will die (or something) if they're exposed to heat. So it sat on the counter until we got home from church, and I put them in their jars to ferment for 4-6 days.

Another mistake was using a metal spoon to scoop the grains out. Apparently they don't like metal either, and it's not been fizzing at all. *wrings hands* Hopefully they'll snap out of it though...

I will be back with an update on my attempt in a few days! In other news, my new macro lens came on Saturday too. I haven't had much time to play with it, but it's so cool. Observe:

 

Eyes in focus...

 

 

...nose in focus!

I may or may not be having way too much fun with this. Ahem.

In other other news, tomorrow is the beginning of the 90-day Cross-fit Challenge. *whimpers* I'm going to be so dead...but on the other hand, I took 'before' pictures today and I feel like a tub of lard. Man. I have no definition, no stamina, AND no strength! Great way to start! XD In 90 days I expect to be ripped. If not, I'm lodging an official complaint with...somebody. I don't know who yet. 

I'll probably not be putting my workouts on here, but I'm keeping track at the gym in a notebook. Yes, we've been going back to the gym...but I've worked out  more consistently these past two weeks than I have in almost a year. Time to be back in shape, yo.

Slightly Less Grody Pictures Ahead

Time for an update on the horse's leg! I'm sure you all have been waiting with bated breath.

Anti-fungal Salve

In my grody pictures post I mentioned the salve I've been using on Colletta's legs. It was really quite simple to make...but here's the process anyway!

From left to right we have tea tree oil, black walnut hulls (I ran over them with the van to separate the hulls from the nuts), some comfrey oil (it's been steeping since June), and various herbs from the garden/yard (a mixture of sage, echinacea leaves, and plantain). Not shown is the goldenseal powder, because it was in the freezer and I forgot to get it out for the picture.

I strained off about a cups' worth of oil from the comfrey, added the herbs and hulls, and rounded it all off with another cup of plain olive oil. Ideally I would pack a quart jar with the mixture and let it sit for a few weeks to get a really high-quality oil, but since I was in a hurry I put everything in a double boiler on the stove, put said stove on the lowest possible gas flame, and let it simmer for a couple of hours.

This method does the trick, but since it's more of a quick-and-dirty way that yields a less rich version, I'm going to have some oil cold-steeping in the pantry soon for future experiments.

So after a couple of hours I strained it off, and came up with this lovely black-green stuff. The walnut turns it super dark and stains my fingers (the first three fingers on my right hand are a couple shades darker than the rest of my hand thanks to the daily application thing).

At this point, with the double boiler still on some heat, I tossed in some grated beeswax and the tea tree oil. I'm not sure how much beeswax...maybe 4-5 tablespoons? And there was something like a capful of tea tree. I hardly ever measure anything, can you tell?

 The last time I made salve I had to hack wax off of a 1-lb block, and swore that that was a hassle and grated the rest. I'm so glad I did, for obvious reasons...beeswax is handy, but so stinking obnoxious sometimes.

After the beeswax melted I turned the stove off and poured the results into a couple of jelly jars. I have my tins, but they only hold 2 ounces at a time and I only wanted to have a couple of containers on hand.

There they go, solidifying up as they cool...

...and the finished result! I just wrote out the labels rather than printing them since they'll be for personal use. As soon as they were cool I ran out and slathered Colletta's scratches with them, sprayed the walnut liniment over the whole mess, and left it alone. So far I must say that her leg looks a lot better--the swelling has almost completely gone down, and while the skin is still tender and a bit raw it doesn't look near as nasty as it did.

The salve turned out well, except that I think I added too much beeswax. It's hard and a little grainy in texture, but if I crush it and melt it a little between my fingers before smoothing it on it works. Next time I'll cut down on the beeswax and hopefully will have a better oil on hand. But for now, this seems to be working.

Grody Pictures Ahead

Remember when I did a post on scratches a while back? And I lamented the fact that I had forgotten to take pictures and such before treating it?

Well, Colletta has scratches again. This time it's on the left hind fetlock, and looks worse than the last time it cropped up. So of course I've been taking pictures and documenting the whole treatment thereof...but since I know that some people may not like to see pictures of gross scabby stuff there's more after the break.

78 Pageviews? (And Bats)

Okay, I don't usually bother about my pageviews--I'm used to getting a handful a day, maybe around 10 or 15 if I'm lucky. But 78 today? Really? Where the heck are ya'll coming from? Why the sudden interest in the blog?? O.e *suspicious*

In other news, I found a bat today!

He was not a happy bat.

He probably didn't like all the close-ups I was doing.

But he got over it.

Sort of.

Am I the only who who is inordinately fascinated with his wings? I guess I always figured that bat wings had these nice little folds where they wrinkle together, but nooooo.....they look like shirring. 

See the resemblance? Freakish wrinkliness! O.o

He's kinda cute, in an 'I'll bite your finger off if you come any closer' sort of way. Look at those teeth....

Ahem. Anyway.

And in other news, I have my echinacea tincture going. I took about 8 flower heads, chopped them up, and packed them in a pint jar. The plan is to let those soak for several weeks, strain them off, and then add echinacea root to the existing tincture in the fall to get a really strong version. Mwahaha. 

Yes, I mercilessly hacked up these flowers. I've been plotting their demise for weeks. <.< >.>

Swimming....

...in butter! And sugar. And cinnamon. Guess what I was making tonight?

Man, these things are rich. So much sugar.... *twitches*

I have 7 pans of these things in the house. And none of them are for us...four are for the nurse that helped with my grandma's recent stay in the hospital, and the other three are for Farmer's Market. But there was lots of finger-licking going on tonight. ;) Plus I have to make another double batch later this week! More stickiness!

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This week I got a pair of roller blades (after pining after a pair for months), and I stinking LOVE them.

And when by 'love' I mean 'they make me want to skate to the point of collapse'. I wish we had more/better pavement in town. Sigh. 

The only bad part (aside from the poor pavement) is that I have terrible stamina, and while skating I feel amazing. Then after stopping I feel like absolute crap and have to go lie down for a while. XD Stamina shall be gotten though...eventually. 

Speaking of stamina, I started the year off rather well with exercising/keeping to a relatively clean (mostly) Paleo diet and feeling great. Then in February those efforts completely crashed and burned, but not until I had lost about 10 lbs. And now, as time goes on and I don't exercise and the diet backslides the weight has been creeping very, very slowly back on. I've gained about 4 lbs back in the past 4 months (a pound a month? Maybe that's not as slow as I thought. >.<)--which may not sound horrible, but the new clothes I've bought that used to be comfortable and somewhat loose are getting tighter. I HATE that feeling.

So for the past few weeks I've been riding my bike to work (only about 5 minutes one way, but hey, it's better than driving) and today worked out for the first time in months. It hurts, and I'm one of those people who feels like absolute crap after working out (endorphins, where are you?). But I don't want to keep that creeping gain going and going--shifting to a Paleo diet again should help too.

Plus, if I do fun stuff like skating and riding the horse, it'll be more enjoyable. :D

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Today I got a book in the mail called Practical Herbalism. I'm loving it already--by the second chapter it covers the evolution of herbal medicine (from sometime around 1500 BC to 1945 AD) and 'Practical Herbalism 101' (which covers how to make teas, decoctions, tinctures, etc and how to gather stuff). The cover looks a bit schmaltzy and New-Agey, but the inside is very scientific and pragmatic in nature. I like it.

I love this one line from the gathering section:

"Clothing appropriate to the quest"..."Knife"..."Pruning saw". That makes herbalism sound like an adventure...heh. :3

Though sometimes it CAN be a bit of an adventure--or at least a detour. Yesterday I was walking home and took a shortcut across an empty lot to check 'my' patch of mullein and gather red clover. I don't think normal people do that...do they?

Root Beer!

My aunt sent me several sections of sassafras root last week...and they arrived today. *glee* I've never had an opportunity to use sassafras before, hence the glee. :p 

Before I begin, a slightly disclaimer: though it's been used for centuries as a spring tonic/flavoring, the FDA has banned the use of sassafras commercially, due to testing that revealed the active component safrole as a 'known carcinogen' in rats. Considering that a person would have to isolate the component and take enormous amounts of said compound in order to get cancer from it, I'm not too worried about it. However, if by bringing it up I've given cause for concern, feel free to research it and draw your own conclusions. I'm going to exercise my herbal freedom and take my chances. XD

After getting the sassafras, I looked up some recipes for ideas on what to do with it, and settled on this one: Sassafras Root Beer Syrup. And it turned out amazing.

(Blurry picture, but oh well)

The basic recipe is: 

sassafras root

 burdock root (which wasn't on hand, so an omission was necessary) 

cloves

 anise (again, not on hand so fennel was the replacement ingredient)

molasses 

water

sugar

The dark stuff is the syrup, and 1-2 tablespoons of that to a cup of club soda makes a pretty amazing concoction. :3 It tastes EXACTLY like root beer too. I'm rather impressed with the results, to say the least.

The other herbal concoctions I've been preparing are still steeping and not quite ready. And I've been waiting for the echinacea flowers out in the garden to fully bloom in order to start a tincture with THOSE. *sighs* Grow faster, plants!

Vinegar of the Four Thieves

A few weeks ago I posted about a mixture called the Vinegar of the Four Thieves. Last week I decided to get some, it came in today, and I was so excited that I made a batch almost immediately. Heh.

For a more in-depth look at what I'm talking about, I refer you to the above link. Concisely, the Vinegar is a very strong but effective bug repellent that can be used on anyone and anything externally (barring the obvious, like broken/sensitive skin or orifices). I made a tincture with 12 tablespoons of the herbal mixture and 1 quart of vinegar. (I started off with a pint, but it's too much for one little jar so it was moved to a quart instead). 

This is about 5 minutes after pouring the vinegar over the herbs. See how dark it's getting already?

Here's a bit of plain apple cider vinegar for comparison. This is exciting stuff, people. I love this kind of thing. :3

So within the next 3-6 weeks I'll strain off the herbs, soak some crushed garlic in there for a few days, strain THAT off, and then it'll be ready for dilution and application. Nerg. *checks watch impatiently*

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And now, for some levity. Here's a picture describing my life:

Seriously. They don't.

New Growth

We had a lovely (though all-too-short) rain over the weekend, and I finally learned to stop picking at the herb garden and just let it GROW. (Or I've just been too busy to go out and check on it for the past week or so. Sigh.) 

And I'm overdue for a post about normal stuff like gardening, rather than ranting about inflammatory topics. Ahem.

Back row: Weeds sprinkled with echinacea

Middle row: Marshmallow, flax, marshmallow

Front row: Chamomile (not visible here), dill, wormwood, flax, fennel, lavender

The dill has exploded as well as the marshmallow...the wormwood is still small, but doesn't seem unhappy where it is.

Baby flax! I don't know what it'll look like when it's full grown, but it's fun to watch.

And baby chamomile. I know that a lot of these plants look similar, but believe me there is a huge difference between them all (the dill smells strongly when crushed, the flax has individual spike-type growths, and the chamomile has a single stalk with frondy bits coming off of it). Believe me. I can tell.

Oh yes, and the Gookster presiding over all. She's a very nosy cat. O.e

Anyway...there's your weekly (biweekly?) herb garden update. Time to wait for things to grow more.

Peeksures

I haven't checked stuff outside for a while, and went out for the express purpose of taking pictures of the herb garden. I'm glad to report that it's exploding with growth, but I in my absent-mindedness (i.e. distraction by weeding and taking pictures of bugs) forgot to get a picture of said growth.

*headdesk*

But I got pictures of bugs and clouds instead. That counts, right?

And eggshells, because you can never have enough eggshells. Right?

This is an idea I found on Pinterest for using egg shells as little growing containers. There's catnip seeds in every one of those things...but nothing's growing yet. And they get bone-dry within a day--I have no idea where all that water goes. O.e

Oh yes, the horse. Because I haven't been riding her at all and the only thing she does is eat and she's getting fat and has a marshmallow butt again. *sigh*

Storm clouds--it's raining now with just the occasional flash of lightning. That's the best kind of storm, in my humble opinion.

The butterfly! He was so tiny--only about the size of my thumbnail. I had a heck of a time getting these because his flying was more of a spastic flitting that couldn't be followed with the naked eye. But he finally stopped long enough for a couple pictures. 

I have no idea what kind it is, but he's photogenic and that's all that counts right now.

Praying mantis...just a baby about an inch long. He (she?) finally stopped moving long enough for a little profile. And then the cat flopped down on it in an attempt to get my attention. *facepalm* I never found a body, so maybe it lived? I don't know.

Mantids are kinda cool and kinda creepy at the same time. There's something about those bug eyes. O.e

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On another note, the herb garden is doing well. The marshmallow has positively exploded with growth as well as the fennel and dill--chamomile is poking its head up, along with the flax, and I THINK the echinacea is making a bid too. At this point I just have to let things grow and stop messing with them.

I have various oils and liniments (rubbing alcohol base) steeping in the laundry room. They should be ready for use within the next couple of weeks. The only lousy thing about working with herbs is that there's a lot of waiting for things to mature or grow or steep...ah well.

Anyway. Enough babbling, and ya'll can go back to your lives...enjoy the pictures...