Day Three Hundred and Twenty Seven - Frozen Maple Syrup

Dear all,

It's maple syrup time again (See Day Fifteen) but this time around, we have had some 'interesting' weather. Our first 'hot' (-2) day was succeeded by a barrage of snow and wind which meant that the sap that had run into the {already tapped} maple trees was now frozen solid in the buckets (yay).

So, we set to work. My gorgeous comrade Cornelia and I were appointed as the 'fire ladies', therefore in charge of sorting all the random 'driftwood' found by Stef in the bush and newly chopped by Chris. We would then get the fire going while Leah and Julia ( two new and very lovely maple-mad volunteers) collected the 'ice pops' from the trees.

And of course, dear little Mac followed me out and proved a great help in the 'kindling' collection.

We had a wonderful couple of hours out at 'the stove'. Stef bought up load upon load of wood that Cornelia and I stacked with great care and dexterity.

We built up a monumental pile of wood and were all ready to go as the mighty ladies came hiking up from behind the reindeer pen with large jugs of frozen sap.

(and a little wave from our favorite ewok in tribute to his incredible maple syrup making skills)

Chris decided to step in when it came to 'lighting' the fire ** don't try this at home kids but as you can see from the video footage, it worked a treat!

.... please don't try this at home.

We dumped the frozen sap into the large pale and popped it onto the furnace ready to boil down and [eventually] make syrup.

Here is Stef with a 'maple brick'.. not so tasty in this form.. but certainly 'refreshing'.

And in other news:

1. Mac, after a hard afternoon, getting some beauty sleep.