Are you ready to tap those tree's?

It's almost time to start charting the high and low's of weather. Here in Ohio, Maple tree's will begin to get tapped in the next 3-4 weeks. After so much mundane life of winter, I look forward to having some action. I have 3 huge Maples which can host 2 tree taps each. The goal is to have as close to 1 gallon of our syrup adventure.

You want FREEZING nights and sunny day's above 36 to 40 F degree's. Some day's you may get very little sap. Other days-this is where attention to weather is important- you will have to change out your bucket/gallon jug containers every few hours. So be sure you have all day access to those tree's. You could always do larger containers. Have the Food grade tubes longer so they reach the buckets on the ground (use kitchen size or the 5 gallon and be sure to cover the top with a piece of wood or plastic preventing bugs or bits of nature falling in).

Here is a site you may wish to browse for more information on *collecting and boiling down your sap*.

We made a trip last year to Lehman's and purchased a few metal spout taps at 2-3 dollars each. I did try them along with my Home made tree taps. In comparison, I have to admit I like my homemade over the metal. Not only were the very inexpensive to make, they keep the sap cleaner due to the Food grade tubing, which directed the sap right into the gallon jugs.

Here is the link for last years set up and a short *How to on making my taps*.

As for the boiling pan, we used my water bath canner pot and for this year I will be trying something different. Instead of the stove top for boiling the sap down, we are going to try it out on the top portion of our wood burner. I am still on the search for another huge stainless steel stock pot which will be used for syrup making.

Our wood burner, unbeknown st to me until just a short time ago, has a rack top which lifts up to an actual cooking top. I mentioned to The Captain how I would like to experiment with cooking on our wood burner and he brought to my attention how This wood burner would accommodate my desire. Very Cool!

So now you have plenty of time to locate those tree's and get you equipment ready for the tapping season. Look at this as something to adventure in while the ground is still frozen for planting, the trails too cold for hiking and the hill's still too bare for sledding. ( at least in our part of the world).

If you are having problems Identifying Maples you can tap, just do an engine search for maple tree pictures which show a close up of the bark or go to the library and find a book to help you identify tree's. Not all maples are the same for sugar content BUT you can still tap them for syrup. The sap may need to be boiled down more then the supreme "Sugar Maple", making less sap to syrup ratio. It is still Maple syrup. Just more sap is needed then the other.

I have found each maple gives a slight difference in taste. We have one maple in particular, which gave us a sweet maple nutty syrup. Very much enjoyable but I do know it is not the supreme sugar variety. My neighbor loved it and we have scoped out a few more maples in the 'hood we may go asking for permission to tap. Not many people like the fact of a tap and container in their front yard, but if you have someone close by with maples in the back (or in front whichever they give permission for), do not be shy about asking. Explain it away as an experiment to relieve the cabin fever of winter. Something to do that gets you outside and of course splitting the syrup with them or an invite for a weekend brunch of maple syrup edibles would not hurt. Most people if offered an exchange of some portion from the syrup would be happy to oblige. The worse that could happen is they say no.

Experiment. Have fun. Enjoy the outdoor play and of course your product of all the labor. Your very own fresh Maple syrup to drizzle upon french toast, pancakes or to add into your baking.

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

The beauty in simplicity...

When I was younger, I may have been one of those very rare people who saw beauty in shelves of preserved goods. I loved and still do love to see canning pantries full of jars, proudly showcasing their contents. Even though most would or could not see what I saw, I knew that there would be a day I too have shelves housing a summer's worth of memories. I envied the beauty and respected the hard work which went into each piece of art on those shelves.

I had mentioned before my Neighbor Jeannie had made me so proud with such beauty she applied to her Bountiful Harvest. I thought I would share a sneak at one section of her Preserve Pantry:

I do believe I embarrassed her with my gushing over her hard work. But she has found a hobby she loves and an excuse to continue doing it. I will be sure to encourage her on and maybe even let her in on the passion of fellow gardeners, who receive that first seed catalog in winter with great enthusiasm. Clutching the new catalog which will be poured over and enjoyed as though it were a long letter from Mother Nature herself. A letter full of dreams, promises and new adventures.

I have sat inside with my catalogs as they slowly stream in, marking off what I may like to try new this year or consider what the children may like out of the more unique vegetables. This is when I enjoy my gardening theme books the most. The dreams of what may come to be with our parcel of dirt. Home of Frogs, Birds, toads, a few goldfish(Under some ice at the moment) and of course so many small welcomed guests who help keep our garden a whirlwind of Organic cooperation.

I have decided I will go ahead and plant half of the garden space this year with the rest as Container gardening. If we should end up leaving before harvest time, I will let my Neighbor Jeannie know she is welcome to the harvest and share with her family and friends. Hopefully she will not have the jungle I had but my plan of plastic weed blocker this year better work.
I have a special addition coming to our home Friday. She looks exact to someone we have missed terribly. With the last few "someones" we have had not had the best of luck. So are sticking to what we know.

Be sure to get your comment in for our Honey pot and Biscuit cutter giveaway! Just 2 more days until the deadline. psttt...I have been working on some more giveaways for Spring and one which will hopefully be for Valentines day. I am going for Green and /or "different". So far, I am so stoked over our participants and know you will be too!

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie

The new addition in my kitchen...

I would never make for a good vegetarian. I could not go very long without some white meat. Truthfully I could go on in life with having meat just a few times a week. I am not a fan of Beef. I prefer the white meats. But having a Yankee husband raised on daily meat dishes has made it hard for this Southerner to accommodate. So I get creative and make dishes which I can reduce their intake of meat to 1/4 of what it would be if made just as a meat dish.

Dealing with the stages of picky eating in 2 of our 3 children have not made it easy at the dinner table.

Panda refuses to eat salad or leafy greens. Lil' Man switches with the wind. Frog? Well she has a second nickname around this house....MOOCH. If it is on your plate she wants it. You can ask if she would like you to make her some with yours and she will reply "No thank you", then as soon as you sit down she is peering over at your plate asking for a bite.

Double OY! Am I making any sense on my meat ramble?

We had bought half a pig this last Fall which I am not impressed with the flavor or texture. The sausage & bacon are O.K but the rest is rather "Ack..". I have made the pork chops 3 different ways to which never fail lacking in taste and DRY. The ham is O.K but could be better. The roast was disappointing. So what shall I do with all this meat which leaves my family gulping liquids with each bite?

Use a meat grinder and make meatballs, sausage and burgers! For some odd reason I have yet to understand, (Maybe due to the fat being distributed) the above mentioned meat conditions go away when ground up. So I grabbed a pack of pork chops to defrost and became excited over the prospective play time with my new appliance.

First I should fill you in on the Meat grinders details. It is a Weston brand number 5 meat grinder with Tomato strainer. It comes with a sausage stuffer plus you can buy an attachment for a veggie shredder. AND it has a reverse for any stuck meat incidents.

I have looked around at other meat grinders on the market. The price is on the lower average spectrum. Just under $84. There are some less in price BUT they come with less extras and quality is questionable. I strongly feel this is the best bang for your buck when looking for a versatile unit.

I discovered my new addition while hopping around on the CSN stores various 200 sites. This site in particular, Cookware held me for over an hour looking around. They have an amazing selection for the kitchen. I swear there were at least 30 meat grinders to choose from.. Throw in the free shipping with affordable pricing...
They had me at savings....

A pressure canner is needed next. After all, with the tomato strainer attachment, I will have plenty of time to make more home fresh sauces to which fresh local raised ground/cooked meat can be added.

Here is a look at my new addition ~notice the snow on the pine branches through the window? :

I love the steel and red together. In my opinion, it gives a modern class look on appliances and in the kitchen. Add in some glass front white wash cupboards and I would be smiling like a Cheshire cat.

After the meat grinding I will be playing with the Delicata squash. I would like to see what this baby can do with those.(trying to avoid the food mill if possible since it makes a mess when letting Frog help). Not to mention I plan to make something new for Supper this weekend, so play time is so on! :

Yiddish Delicata soup topped with Apple Croutons!

What a perfect topping. Pure Genius!

Check out the recipe over **here** By the Jew & carrot.

We have plans to use a few whole ones for Squash french fries. Since Delicata has the taste of Sweet Potatoes, they are bound to make for great "sun fries". Might have to add the Vegetable chopper to my desire list. Although I do have a 2 mandolins in the cabinet...

Tomato season is in....what? 7 months. :) jeez. that seems so far away. I want to try the tomato strainer out now which obviously will not be happening. Just something to look forward to even more when Garden season hits.

Be sure to get your entry in for the Honey pot, Biscuit Cutters and Herbal tea Giveaway!

Sweet Dreams,
~Tammie

Homemade pasta to the Magic Tree

I have been given EGGS! Lots of them. We are "chicken/turkey-less" due to the unknown future which is a good thing for My Bud Chris-from the 1 Acre Homestead. He is getting over a dozen eggs a day from his ladies, which have been ever so appreciated in coming our way. But...I woke up realizing I have 4 dozen eggs in the fridge with Chris saying "While your here for coffee, I have more eggs for you"....

So knowing I am venturing out for our biweekly coffee clutch, I had to make room. ( I so love having a coffee clutch with him. We drink his awesome percolator coffee and what seems like minutes is actually hours of Homestead and self Sufficiency chatter.)

Today, we made up 2 batches of noodles with my hand crank pasta machine. Despite the recipe we had on hand, we used 4 eggs and 2 pinches of the sea salt to 2 1/4 cups flour.

1 batch is for drying and the other for Chicken soup from scratch. I posted on my Luna Gardens blog a great tutorial I found which had pictures. I include information on how to DRY your pasta for later use. You can pump out enough pasta to feed up to 6 people with just 1 batch of that recipe. Half of the dough amount was plenty for our soup without over doing the ratio of noodles to broth.

It looks to be even more snow for the next week, if not longer. I have not covered up the cold frame due to being unwell as of late. So I went out today checking how bad the single digits may have hurt.

Not bad! Not good...but not bad either. The snow has accumalated around the sides, almost like insulation to the heat inside. I have a small section which air gets in and will need fixed for more temp. control soon. The brussell sprouts are chugging along. I am on the contemplation of uprooting some to grow in the cool basement with grow lights. The well room stays around 45-65 F degrees during the cold months. I may have to experiement with that.

The Solar pit? This was as far as I could get before the cold hit hard. (I was able to get The Captain to do the mass of cement block work but as to the above ground work...I am on my own.) Anything below 50F and my fingers ACHE even with gloves. I am a such a woos...

The Magic tree has such charm in all seasons. Hopefully we will find a Magic tree where ever it is we land next.

I am working out a plan to do a cascading, long trough type container system for growing Carrots. I am stuck on a few extras with it's appearance. I am also planning out what I can

do with an 8 ft long by 2 feet deep metal (galvanized maybe?) trough looking container. I have not a clue as to what it was used for. A neighbor gave it to me when she discovered it by her old chicken coop. Drilling holes for drainage would be needed yet I hate to do that and ruin it for any future purpose. Silly I know... Maybe I will just lay thick plastic to cover the inside and put 4 inches of rock/gravel before I put in fertile soil. I was picturing it for growing Carrots (Red Atomic along with some short tonda's). Place it by the front yard walkway lettuce/greens area.

OH! before I run off. Guess what I have coming in soon? *~>insert girly squeal of delight*<~

A Meat Grinder which has an attachment for a tomato press! I do love my hand crank tomato press but it can be a bit of a pain when doing a bushel of tomatoes. I am giving the hand crank tomato press to my beloved neighbor Jeannie. She borrowed it last Tomato harvest and fell in love. I did smack her with the garden bug so making the harvest a bit easier should help with a few symptoms. I am on the look out for a pasta machine like mine for her. She shows such great promise for self sufficiency. She canned more from her garden to use during the winter that has me hanging my head in shame. Her canned goods cabinet is picture perfect. I even joked with her I was coming up with my camera just so I could share with all of you her hard work and well done pantry.

There is bound to be a hand crank pasta machine at a thrift store around here. I just hope I can get it when I do spot it.

If you are a thrift store "visitor", have you noticed the pricing on some things are just laughably high? Makes me wonder who they have in the back deciding on those things...I mean come on. Really People. really?

I best be off. Seems I am bouncing off the walls with my rambling & subject switching this evening...

Sweet Dreams,

~Tammie