Maple Syrup Day!

Love, maple syrup season!  It is the precursor to spring.  It tells me that winter is slowly coming to an end and spring is awakening, brining us new promises.   We have anywhere from 10-20 trees that we tap and have processed about 100 gallons of sap this year.  Making maple syrup is easy, although it is time consuming.  During this process, we made a science lesson and completed a lap book that involved learning about trees, leaves, units of measure, poetry, vocabulary words, accompanied with the real experience of tapping, gathering and processing the sap into syrup.  If you are interested you can find the lap book here:  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/maple_syrup.php

You know the season is right for tapping when the weather is at or below freezing at night and above freezing during the day.  That change in temperature begins the process of sap flowing up and down the trees.  We use a small drill and drill a small hole in the tree to place the spout.


First, it is all about finding the right kind of tree to tap.  Of course we want maples but there are different varieties of maples that give different water to sugar content.  The ones we tap are Sugar, Red and Silver Maple trees.

Ya Ya and B are watching dad intently tapping our first tree of the season

There are different tapping systems, we use the spigot with blue food safe plastic bags.

NOW WE WAIT AND WAIT FOR THE SAP TO DRIP INTO THE BAGS.

YaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHooooooooooooooooooooooo

Time to collect and burn.  Did you know that it takes at least a minimum of 40 -44 gallons of sap to make at least 1 gallon of maple syrup.  There is a very high water to sugar content..The day of boiling the sap has arrived.  My most awesome husband builds a small brick oven that we boil on outside.  We use long pans to boil the sap as the greater the surface area the faster the burn, ( we learned that the hard way the first time we did this).  We chop up old fire wood and fork lift pallets for fire and cover the fire.   This helps to keep out the debris.  

Of course we have tastes along the way!

Finally, all day has passed and we take the final product into the house to finish off.  This is where it gets tricky.  At all times you MUST watch the sap when finishing.  It will go from sap to boiling over onto the stove and turning into burnt sugar in a matter of a second.  Ask me how I know this!  I have made a few mistakes along the way and have ruined a batch of syrup after boiling all day.  My most darling husband was not in the least bit happy with me to say the least.  But with homesteading, you live and learn!  And this was a true marriage, character building moment.  

finishing off our final batch. 

The finished product.  Started at 9 a.m. finished at 2 a.m. the next morning.
Guess what we had for breakfast?  PANCAKES AND MAPLE SYRUP.

We know that the maple syrup season is coming at an end.  How do we know this?  When the maple trees begin to bud, we pull the taps.  The chemistry make up in the tree changes when the leaves begin to bud, thus producing a bitter sap and a bitter syrup.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

"La Feile Naom Padraig!"  

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day is a day that goes back to a young man named Succat, who was born in Britain near the Irish Sea around 400 A.D.  This young boy later became known as Patrick.  When he was around 13-16 years of age, he was captured by Irish pirates and made a slave in Ireland, where he worked as a shepherd tending sheep.  He spent many days alone in prayer in fasting.  Patrick later escaped and traveled 200 miles and escaped by boat.  He returned back to his home and reunited with his family.  One night, Patrick had a dream that he was called to go back to Ireland as a missionary.  Patrick departed his home, left his family and went to Gaul, which we now call France, where he studied to become a priest and was later ordained a bishop.  Patrick went back to Ireland (a pagan country) and converted many to Christianity.  He used the Shamrock (three leaf clover) to explain to the people of Ireland the concept of the Trinity.  Patrick died March 17th, and people began wearing a shamrock as a lapel on their clothing to remember Patrick and then later started to wear green as well.   Here is your moment in history.

The kids and  I spent the day learning about the culture, and St. Patrick, listening to Irish music and doing crafts.  Below are some pictures of the things we did.

of course our day started out with green shamrock cakes

Gluten free pretzels with green melted choc. in the shape of shamrock..I realized it was upside down but oh well!  

the kids learned about the trinity with this cute craft 

Shamrock stamps using a green pepper and paint

                                                                       

                                                                     The naughty Leprechaun hid the pot of gold, and left them several  clues......did they find the hidden pot of gold??????

That Leprechaun had them all over the house and outside, but alas, they finally found their pot o' gold!

Of course we finished the night off with a Shamrock shake and 

a fizzy drink with colored ice cubes, made from pureed fruit!!

Happy Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras

People used to have celebrations for the coming of spring, in hopes of great bountiful crops.  Mardi Gras originated in France and was part of that spring festival.  Mardi Gras means "FAT TUESDAY", where they would parade a fat ox down the streets for people to see.  Customarily, Mardi Gras was celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of lent.  During lent, Christians would fast or abstain from animal products, like meat, cheese, eggs etx. as a form of sacrifice and penance.   Knowing this long period of fasting would begin, they would  a bit of a party the day before. 

 In England they call the day before lent....pancake Tuesday.  In Germany, the day was called Fastnacht meaning the "eve of fast".  The French and Spanish people called the days before lent "carnival."  This english word is derived from Latin Carne & Vale .  Carne meaning "meat"  and Vale meaning "goodbye of farewell".   Many people mistake Carnival for Mardi Gras, but actually Carnival begins the 12th day after Christmas when the wise man came to visit Jesus.   The 12th day after Christmas begins Carnival and they have parties each week until the season of festivities ends with Mardi Gras.   The french settlers landed in New Orleans and in 1718 they founded the town Nouvelle Orleans.  They continued their custom of Mardi Gras and till this day we still celebrate it.  Here is your moment in History.  Information take form book Mardi-Gras by: Dianne M. MacMillian

I love home schooling.  Today we did a huge lesson on Mardi-Gras.  In this lesson we captured the following:  Social Studies, history, music appreciation, by studying and listening to authentic Cajun music, learned about, cooked, and ate cajun food, learned a few new vocabulary words, as well as a Latin, French, and German words, we had crafts and made our own masks, we got books from the library and read books about mardi gras, we did a geography lesson, finding France, Spain, Germany, and of course Louisiana, New Orleans!  They had a great time and learned a lot. Below are few pictures of the festivities....ENJOY!

Making masks...they were made from their handprints. 

or me

Bet you can't guess who I am.

or me!

Kids enjoying Gumbo and sparkling apple cider along with a festive table and Cajun music!

 

Zabee won!!!  He was the winner of guess how many sticks are in the jar and his prize....CANDY! He was so sweet and shared his winnings with his siblings and in the end all were happy :)