(The following is from correspondence between myself and another homestead blogger.)
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Original message from stitchesbyteresa:
I just read a blog from "Belle" about tapping maple trees for syrup. She told me she got the info from your blog. I live in N. Ga and wasnt sure if this is something I could do w/maple trees here. Does it have to be a certain type of maple tree, I really don't know much about it. Also, how big does the tree need to be before tapping it…and how far up would I measure? Your pics of the candy and sugar and syrup were beautiful!
I will keep your wife and newest addition in my prayers. I also noticed you took your wife to see Doyle Lawson for valentine's day…My hubby would have loved that! He is a bluegrasser through and through…banjo picker…
ANYWAY, thanks for sharing your part of the world.
The little piglets are so cute. I dont think I could raise them b/c I'd get too attached to them, especially seeing them play w/the chickens and all. Of course I never ate the chickens I raised growing up, I just cried when my dad would kill one for supper! Somehow I was always able to eat the turkeys of which I had no part in raising…silly on my part, I know…congratulations on that new baby boy!!!
Teresa
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Teresa,
I'm glad you've enjoyed the blog. I'll add you to our friend list.
No one around here (in eastern Kentucky) knew anything about making maple syrup. Anyone I asked about it thought we would be too far south, but I couldn't find any explanation as to why it wouldn't work where we were. We have sugar maple trees. I just decided to give it a try and see, and I was glad that we did!
What I've read is that you have to have successive freezing nights with above freezing days. We have plenty of those in Kentucky. I wonder what happens to the sap if the trees do not experience weather like that. I also wonder how far south maple trees grow? (I think I'll look that up after I send this.) I'm guessing that a sugar maple tree is a sugar maple tree and a sugar maple tree should have sweet sap just before spring no matter where it is growing.
The trees have to measure at least 32 inches around about waist high, from what I've read (a 10-12 inch diameter, but I thought measuring around was easier).
Apparenly sugar maple trees are the best, but they say any maple tree can be tapped. I think it might take a larger amount of sap to make the syrup with other maple trees, but we did not try any other. (Actually I did tap a box elder tree (also called ash-leaf maple) but the sap tasted so bitter, we did not bother boiling it down into syrup. Maybe I will another year, because maybe it would make good syrup even though the sap tasted horrible by itself?)
We enjoyed Doyle Lawson very much. It was our first time seeing him. I love bluegrass gospel and bluegrass music, but I don't care much for break-up songs or drinking songs even if the instrumentation is great pickin. The group that was with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver was a group called Fast Lane. I think they are an up and coming bluegrass group and are quite talented. Their big song, however, is "Tina At the Tear Drop Inn" about a husband committing adultry with Tina at the Tear Drop Inn and his wife follows him and shoots him dead. In a lot of ways it was a good song, but it is really a bad song, if that makes sense?
Thank you for praying for us. It is very much appreciated, and we will pray for you. Glad to hear that the bone scan was ok.
God Bless,
Eric
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