February 2023 Q&A
Ask Anything!
What are you working on right now, and how can I help?
Earlier this month, I was telling you about windchill hitting -40…and now here we are with a stretch of sunny days and highs peaking into the 50’s. I told you winter doesn’t last =)
This means sugaring weather!
I’ll be talking about making backyard syrup next week, from maples, of course, but also from other trees like walnut, birch, beech, and literally dozens of other trees you can tap for syrup.
Even if you’re not set up to boil sap into syrup, there are still plenty of ways to use maple sap (which is easy enough to collect). You can also go the extra mile and make maple sugar, cream, and candy. (Or, stick with traditional backyard maple syrup, which can be made with a fancy evaporator, or an improvised sugaring setup.)
And at the end of this month, I’ll also walk you through getting backyard chickens. With the price of eggs these days, it’s making sense to more people…and there are a lot of beginners out there.
If you happen to have any questions about making syrup or keeping chickens, now’s a good time to ask.
But otherwise, ask anything!
How can I help you this month? What are you working on? What are you learning, doing, and otherwise playing with in your own corner of the world?
Until Next Time,
-Ashley at Practical Self Reliance
Posting this question (and answer) here in case it helps someone else. It came through on a different thread:
Question:
so you tap maples even before the end of winter? Do you take advantage of any warming? I was under the impression (we're got verrrrrrrry little experience, couple seasons of birch in AK and one with maple in way north/UP of MI where spring comes in late May) you wait til the weather is warming up for the last time, like right before spring. But sounds like you can do it anytime? Can you use the same taps several rounds?
Answer: For maple, you can tap anytime the daytime temperatures are above freezing and the nighttime temps are below freezing. It's the freeze thaw cycle that makes it work, and that happens anytime from January to the end of April, depending on the year. There's breaks in the season where things get too cold or too warm for a week or two at a time, but on average, the season is around 6 weeks spaced out sometime between January and April (at least here).
For birch, you are correct, you tap when it's all the way warming up. The sap run for birch is determined by the soil temperature, so the daytime and nighttime temps are dependably above freezing. For us, that's usually April sometime each year, right before buds break.
Last year we tapped one tree, and it was fun! We got a few quarts of syrup and some maple sugar. I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, being home with a toddler and expecting baby goats born soon. But this year, my dad took a sugaring class with his friend and came home with a ton of equipment and not only set it up, but also set up ours (we're neighbors!). He's been in the shed boiling sap on the woodstove all week and I bring him food in exchange. Talk about a creative way to get the homestead work done. 😂