The collecting jugs were still hanging on the sugar maples that came as saplings from Ohio many years ago. Betty would collect 63 and 3/4 gallons of sap this Spring.
Frank was inside the shack watching over the boiling process. He's been doing this for years, carrying on a tradition that goes back to his father.
It's a wonderful thing to step out of a chilly day into the warmth and fragrance of a sugar shack.
The sap was on a steady boil, and was slowly getting there.
Frank would spend 28 hours in the shack this spring boiling down the sap. It has taken him as long as 40 hours in past years, but he had a bigger, more efficient stove this year. The yield would be seven quarts and a pint of fresh, homemade Washington State maple syrup. Well worth it, in my opinion, and greatly appreciated by the friends and family that get to taste it.
Betty had sent some instant coffee and creamer along with me out to the sugar shack. While Frank and I visited we enjoyed a treat that was new to me: maple coffee made with the boiling sap. Trust me, it's good! Stop by next Spring and have a cup with Frank.
This sounds like an interesting endeavor, i.e., the Sugar Shack and all that you do with it. You have a valuable resource that can attract a good number of people. I gather that you are members of a Church of the Brethren. If so, do you use the Sugar Shack as a location for members of your church to gather together?
ReplyDeleteBlessings to all of you, as you extol God's creation!
Jeanne Jacoby Smith
Professor Emerita, McPherson College
McPherson, Kansas
Author of: "Refugees! A Family's Search for Freedom and
a Church That Helped Them Find It" (See: www.amazon.com)