Still no Sap! (or...The Winter that Never Ended)

We've had two more weekends up in Vermont, and STILL NO sap.  At least not in the quantities we need to start boiling.  About 220 gallons is required just to "sweeten the pan" on the size evaporator in our sugarhouse- and all that is before you even pour off one drop of sweet maple syrup.  The last time we sugared, in 2012, we had processed over 1400 gallons of sap by this time (late March).  This year... we have less than 200 gallons.  The weather has just been too darn cold.  It warms up for maybe part of one day, and then freezes solid for 4 more.  The ground is still solidly frozen, with a good two foot blanket of snow, and any sap that has come out is frozen solid in the buckets, tubes, and tanks.  So, suffice it to say, we are in a sad state.  

Hanging out watching Frozen with the Munson/Cameron clan

Haley enjoying Grandma Sally's birthday present

But... we are finding other ways to occupy ourselves on these days with no sugaring work to be done.  On the first weekend, Larrie, Mary, Memorie and Newt were up, along with the whole Cameron clan.  So Ciara and Aiden and Haley had a great time building forts for stuffies and watching movies and creating elaborate crafts.  We ate like kings, jambalaya, pulled chicken tacos, ribs, maple baked beans... nothing to complain about there. And it was great to see family even if the main event was on hold.  We went to visit several other sugarhouses for the Open House weekend-- most were either not boiling or just boiling water for effect and to show how the equipment works.  But there was still maple coffee, donuts with maple cream, maple candy, hot dogs boiled in sap, sugar on snow, and maple cotton candy.  I, for one, was totally sweeted out by the end of the afternoon.  My favorite sugarhouse is the one at the Green Mountain Audubon right near our old house in Huntington.  It's a pretty location, and they still use buckets (600+) and have killer sugar on snow with extra crispy dill pickles.  They had hammered a "golden tap" into one of their trees somewhere in the sugarbush and hung a bucket on it.  If you found it and sent them a cell phone photo as proof, you get entered into a drawing to win some prize.  Aiden and Andy and I looked for a good hour, I felt like I checked at least 400 buckets, but we came up empty handed.  Still, it was fun post-holing around the woods searching.

Kimball hiding in the teepee

Haley and Ciara looking for the Golden Tap

Haley and Ciara

The only sugarhouse that was boiling that weekend!

Andy and Glen fixing more coyote chew damage

Aiden and Ciara nosh on Jeni's cake pops (Olaf... no!)

What we should be doing!

At Audubon where they were boiling water

Haley digs into her sugar on snow

The sauna is getting quite a work out too.  With nothing really to do, we keep it well stoked and the kids love to run out there in their skivvies and boots several times a day.  They stay in only about 5 minutes (as long as spraying the stove with a squirt bottle will keep them entertained) and then run outside to jump and play in the snow with no clothes on.  I suspect that is the real reason they like the sauna.  Meanwhile, the adults who really would like a nice hot steam, end up with a lukewarm sit because the door is opening and closing every two seconds!  Good fun.

The next weekend was just us, and still no sap, so we made the best of it by taking a trip into Burlington for lunch at A Single Pebble.  We did the "Tasting Menu" where the chef selects a lot of small dishes for the table to share, which was delicious and saved us the trouble of having to choose from among all the amazing sounding authentic chinese dishes.  The only bummer was that a noodle dish wasn't included this time, and the kids love their noodles.  Still, they were very adventurous and tried everything that was delivered to the table.  Stuffed shrimp, double garlic broccoli, and several chicken and beef dishes were favorites.  After lunch we walked Church Street and stopped at the Outdoor Gear Exchange and Lake Champlain Chocolates for dessert.  On Sunday we actually did dump the sap buckets before heading home to NH, but really it was more for show than anything else, as they were only about 1/4 to 1/2 full.  And with big frozen ice chunks in the bottom of most of them.  Will it ever warm up this spring?  And if so, will the sap flow?  It's seeming less and less probable with each passing day.

A Single Pebble

Lake Champlain Chocolates

Haley bought a pink leash for Kimball