March is for Maples

Finally, March has arrived! And the only reason we look forward to a cold and raw month like March (besides some important family birthdays and one Guinness-saturated holiday) is the maple sugaring! We had a bit of a soggy start to the sugaring season this year, but no grumpy faces were seen anywhere. In truth, though soaking rain was forecast all weekend, we lucked out on Saturday and got the bulk of the work done in nothing worse than a little spit and fog. It was warm too, so the sap was running!







As usual there was something for everyone to do on tapping weekend; Paulette, Haley, Munson and I were in the bucket shed lining buckets; Grandpa Dada was counting and loading buckets on the sleigh; HaPa running the buckets out to the woods on the snowmobile; Dan, Andy and Aiden were in the woods tapping; and Grandma Sally was making a deliciously hearty venison stew in the kitchen. For the most part, it went like clockwork. The snow was still over 2 feet deep in the woods though, with a "sort-of" crust on it... 60% of the time, you stayed on the top after transfering all your weight to the next foot... but 40% you sunk in past your knees, even on the snowmachine track. Snowshoes would have been a brilliant idea, but for some reason we were all too lazy or stubborn to use them. So several boots were temporarily lost, and there was a lot of keeling over and cursing under the breath going on. But we got it all done.

On the open top of the hill, the sap was gushing out before we could even get the taps hammered in, and in no time we had a good pitcher of sap to toast to the start of the season with. Of course that toast quickly led to similar toasts with something of much higher alcolhol content. But that's all part of the fun. After we finished work for the day, it was time for the sauna for some of us. Paulette and Aiden and I bravely ran out through the snow clad in only our towels and boots and had our 45 mintues of steamy heaven. It was heaven too, especially for muscles sore from punching through snow and ending up unexpectedly twisted in strange orientations. I had to run inside at one point to get us all a round of gatorade since I was worried we were exceeding the recommended heat exposure for a 4-year old. Aiden loved it though, and today we left him up there in VT for a week of grandparent fun while Windy Hill School is closed for spring break. I'm sure he'll have more fun with the sugaring and sauna-ing before we can get back to pick him up next weekend!