A Short Update From Pure Water Hollow

I don’t know if there will ever be a great time for me to jump back into this blog, so I decided to just jump. I did not intend to leave off recording our happenings for such a long period of time.

Then I had an idea that I would back-date several posts and still record some of the things that have happened. That might have been good a month or so ago, but too much time has now gone by to do that with any continuity.

I have many pictures that I wanted to gradually post as I catch up on everything, but I have been foiled in that plan, too. For some reason I can no longer upload pictures to photobucket the way I used to, and I have not yet found another photo hosting site that will work with my computer. I never have fully embraced the technology of the 21st century and now the computer age may be passing me by...

Now on to the short update:

I have not really blogged anything since February, when there was snow on the ground. Now it is June and we have been having near record high temps for the past 4 days in the mid to upper 90s each day, and there is no end to the heat in sight. What a difference 3 months can make!

March at the Pure Water Hollow Homestead was of course dominated by the arrival of our newest blessing, Timothy. He will be three months old next week and he has grown so much. He is already about 20 pounds and can hold his head up by himself. Everyone here has been loving him and pitching in to help take care of him. He has truly been a wonderful addition to our family and a tremendous blessing!

Those piglets that were born in February all sold the same week Timothy was born. All kinds of people wanted them even though they were only 5 weeks old, and in just a weekend we sold 16 of them! We wanted to keep three for ourselves, or we could have sold them, too. I must remember that spring piglets are in greater demand than fall piglets, and therefore should probably be priced higher, but the $400 they brought in has been helping with the feed costs for our 2 sows, boar and the other 3 pigs. The three that we are raising for the freezer are 4 months old now and weigh about 129, 136, and 155 pounds based on their measurements.

April and May seemed to be pretty busy around here with getting the gardens tilled up and planted, the spring cleaning, getting the mowers and weedeaters working, working on our goat lot, and taking care of a newborn. We planted more vegetables than we have ever tried and tilled up more ground than we have in the past. I still do not have a tractor, so we have done it all with a tiller. We enlarged the goat lot, almost up to the ridge, so the goats now have an abundance of food that they are loving. All 5 of them are doing fine, even the crippled Tiny Tim (we are trying to call him just Tiny now) which the vet thought was not going to live very long over a year ago! We also rebuilt the chicken lot, enlarging it quite a bit (they are now giving us plenty of eggs again), and completely rebuilt our grape arbor for the seeded concord grapes, and made a new trellis for our seedless grape vines. The grape arbor is about 30 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 6 feet tall and the vines are hanging off the end and will touch the ground if we let them! Our Genesis colonly of honey bees are doing well and this last time we robbed them, Matthew put the suit on and helped Lisa get the honey. She got a neat picture of him in the suit with the smoker!

It has not been all work and no play, however. We opened up our pool on May 31st (the river) and the children have been enjoying wading and swimming and splashing in the cool water of the shoals.

This first week of June has been a hot one, but I have been in the gardens with the hoe most mornings. Our beans have had a lot of trouble and we need to re-do them and the corn on the river bank is very small (I am wondering if they get enough sunlight to do any good). The potatoes on the river bank are looking great and are blooming now and the tomato plants are forming little green tomatoes. Some time I will list all the vegetables we are trying to grow this year. Many of them are first timers for us, so we don’t really know if they are doing well or not.

June this year is also camp month for the children. Mathew goes next week, Christina and Simon the week after, and Erica and Matthew goes to another camp the following week. We are going to be working a bit short handed arounded here for the next three weeks!

I think that pretty much does it for my short update. So much has been happening it is just impossible to try and recapture it. God continues to be good to us and we are enjoying living life here at Pure Water Hollow! I will try to journal a bit more often again, to better record things for the memory book. If the updates are slow in coming, however, it is probably because I am hoeing, or reading, or mowing, or watering, or building, or swimming, or feeding, or hiking, or hoeing, or watering, or fixing, or feeding, or napping, or hoeing….

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4 comments
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mountainmama on June 10, 2008 at 6:42 am
I had missed your posts and I am glad you are back. I do understand about spring busyness, I have not been able to do much posting either.
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sheryl on June 10, 2008 at 11:55 am
I was tagged by vicksmom and now I am tagging you. Go to my blog and read what to do.

I have been missing your posts. I know this time of the year it is hard to get on here and post. I haven`t been on here much lately. I am so glad to hear everything is going good for you all. Sheryl
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CandyFoote on July 1, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Have a happy 4th of July!!

Candy
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Schatzi on July 4, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Thanks for the update on your family life….you all seem very busy and so we are thankful for any updates that you give us….will check back again shortly…Happy Fourth of July.

Connie

Welcome To Our Family, Timothy!

I had a nice detailed post about Timothy’s birth written here but accidently deleted the post! I’ve put the pictures back up, but haven’t had a chance to do a propper write up yet. I will hopefully write more some day when things are less busy...

20 minutes old :



With daddy :



2 days old; going home for the first time :



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13 comments
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Rilda on March 20, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Hallelujah! Doing the happy dance with you all. He is so adorable and lovable. What an adventure and blessing. May God's riches and best be yours in 2008. Thanks for the update. Trusting all will be well as blessings continue to flow to overflow. You are worthy!!! rilda *U*
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Crooked Creek Farm on March 20, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Congratulations!

He's a cutie!
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Karen on March 20, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Congratulations!
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HSB Front Porch on March 20, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Congratulations on the newest addition to your family – he is beautiful!

Kris Price

Senior Editor, HomesteadBlogger.com

senioreditor@homesteadblogger.com
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Morning Sunshine on March 20, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I was just thinking yesterday about you guys, and wondering if little Timothy had made his appearance yet. I am glad mom and baby are home safe and sound, and the family is all together again. enjoy that baby!
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LittleHouse on March 20, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hello!!! I am So excited for all of you! Timothy is SO cute, sweet, and precious! We all can't wait to come and see him soon!

I am so glad that you are all doing well and are at home! I have been praying everyday for Timothy and all of you!

I love you all and Congratulations!!

Love and Prayers,

Jessica Aka. Mary

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eric and Lisa,

Thank you so much for adding a picture. It is so wonderful to put a name with now a beautiful face.

You both have shown our family how truely wonderful God is through your faith and obedience. We have watched you go through many things to get Timothy here. God has been with you through it all. We hope you inspire many people through your testimony.

We Love you!!!

Marc and Renee

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Hello!!! Congratulations on having Timothy! He is so cute! I can't wait to come and see him and hold him.

I love you all!!!

Love,

Sarah aka Laura
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Trixi on March 20, 2008 at 7:57 pm
He is absolutely beautiful. I am so happy for your family. I know that he is covered with more love than can be imagined.

Blessings,

Trixi
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Rachel on March 20, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Congratulations!! He's so beautiful. So glad to hear little Timothy arrived safely. Enjoy these days….

Rachel from New Zealand
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SimpleFolk on March 21, 2008 at 11:14 am
Congratulations! I have prayed for little Timothy and I am so blessed to see his sweet little face. He is precious! Enjoy your new little boy.

Amy
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Anonymous on March 21, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Hey Eric, Lisa, and family~

I had to run home and quick check your blog after Eric told me pictures had been posted!

I'm so happy for you all! I know you are exhausted but so excited and happy, too.

If you need *ANYTHING*, we're just over the river & through the woods!!!

Love,

Lori

for The Underwood Family
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sheryl on March 22, 2008 at 6:47 pm
I am so glad he is here! I haven`t been on here much lately and I was wondering about you all. Keep you all in my prayers and take care. Sheryl
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Chas on May 12, 2008 at 9:18 am
Oh, I am just praising the Lord with you! What a beautiful precious baby… and what a proud Popa…

Congratulations to you all!



Chas
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Schatzi on May 30, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Congratulations on the birth of your son….I have started a new blog and deleted my old one…I forgot what the name of your blog was…and wondered about the birth of your baby….so glad I happened across the blog today…will had you to my friends list again.

Blessings,

Connie

Maple Syrup and Misc Stuff

(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

The New Piglets Are Two-And-A-Half Weeks Old

We got a little snow last night and it has been snowing all day today. I wanted to get some more straw into the pigs and goats beds because we are supposed to get more snow through the night. I took the camera with me and got some pictures of the piglets. They are 19 days old now, and they have become quite energetic.

We still have Sally and her piglets in the barn. They have plenty of room and straw and they can go out into the old lot. They are at the age now when they climb all over a person who sits down in their straw. They love to lick on muddy boots and they like to gnaw on metal things like zippers and buttons.

Here is Christina enjoying some time with Sally’s piglets:





When we went to Nellie’s piglets, they were all running all over the place. They are small enough that they can go through the fence and they like to scratch around outside of the lot under the trees in the leaves.

This is a neat picture with a piglet peaking around a bucket and you can see the barn in the background (where Sally and her piglets are).



Today was the first time I saw the chickens up near the pig lot. Matthew said they were there the morning the piglets were born and I guess they go up there regularly, but it was new for me. The piglets would run around the chickens, scaring the chickens. Then when the chickens would quickly scurry away they would scare the piglets! It was hilarious! The piglets would quickly dive under the fence and run back to their straw and the chickens would flap and squak away down the hill. Then they would each come back together a few minutes later to play some more and do the whole thing all over again. I was laughing out loud a couple of times!




Here are a few more shots of Nellie’s piglets playing outside the lot. They sure are cute!





And here is one last cute picture a bit closer up:



It was fun watching the piglets play today. They are all doing very well and both mama’s are doing great too. (Rufus seems sad to be in a lot all by himself and I think we will put them all together again soon. He may break through the fence because sometimes he acts really anxious to get in with Nellie! Other than that, the proud father is doing great, too.)

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4 comments
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Trixi on February 27, 2008 at 6:26 pm
They are too cute!!

Blessings,

Trixi
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Belle on February 27, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Awww….those piglets are so cute……..and little!!!! Some of the chickens in the pictures are bigger than the pigs!

I enjoyed the pictures! Have a great day!

~Belle~
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Rachel on February 28, 2008 at 12:54 am
They are so cute! I love all their different markings too. It was fun reading about it and seeing the pictures.

Rachel from New Zealand
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faithfarm on March 20, 2008 at 6:37 am
Congratulations!!! I seen your ticker that Timothy is 1 week 1 day old!!! That is such a wonderful blessing! I am so happy for your family. Blessings to you! >faithfarm

TheseTimes AreToo Progressive (now and 130 years ago)

We’ve been reading the book The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder out loud to the family. Last night we came to a sentence that brought up some thought and discussion.

We all enjoyed thinking about how different our times are today in 2008 compared to the time Laura was writing about when she was growing up 130 years ago. (We figure the book is actually taking place in 1881 because Laura is 14 years old.)

If you know the story, you’ll remember that the Ingalls family was in an emergency situation when they were faced with blizzard after blizzard and 40 below temperatures. The snowdrifts were as high as their store and the trains could not get through with any more food or supplies. They were running out of everything needed for survival.

“If only I had some grease I could fix some kind of a light,” Ma considered. “We didn’t lack for light when I was a girl, before this newfangled kerosene was ever heard of.”

“That’s so,” said Pa. “These times are too progressive. Everything has changed too fast. Railroads and telegraph and kerosene and coal stoves : they’re good things to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on ‘em.”

We think things are changing fast today with the world wide web, cell phones, credit cards, direct deposit and the like. They thought things were changing too fast 130 years ago. They were right and so are we!

We don’t even think about our electric lights, except when they don’t work, and we enjoy our propane heaters that light with a push of a button, as long as the tank is filled up. Ma had probably taken her "newfangled" Kerosene lantern for granted, too, until they ran out of lamp oil, and her coal stove was wonderful, as long as they had coal. They had modern railroads that brought in goods from afar and telegraphs that brought news and communication from a distance, much like people today rely on the web to buy whatever they want from anywhere they want and cell phones and satellites to keep connected to the world.

I think Pa hit the nail on the head, “they’re good things to have but the trouble is, folks get to depend on ‘em.”

How much can we do on our own if all our modern conveniences were suddenly disrupted? Could we survive if we had to, with just our own resources?

I think the answers are very discouraging for most Americans today. We have become too soft as a society, and too dependent upon our high standard of living.

Here at Pure Water Hollow, we would be fine for a short while, but we would be greatly suffering if we had to endure prolonged hardships. We have so much more to do in our quest for greater self sufficiency. Some day, I would like to believe, that we would be able to survive anything that may come our way, even if life as we knew it was severely disrupted.

I think one of the first considerations is to be careful how much we allow ourselves to be completely dependent on the “new fangled” technologies and methods that are so prevalent today. I think we should make use of things that make life easier, but not become entrapped by such luxury to the point that we would be lost without them.

We will likely finish the book tonight or tomorrow. I think the Ingalls’ trials and constant fight for survival is a good reminder for us soft Americans of how life used to be in this great country. I want the resourcefulness modeled by those pioneer families like the Ingalls to be examples for us to live by, even in this age of ease.

With the Lord’s help, we will rely on the God-given resourcefulness that He blesses us with, and recognize that He is the strong tower that we must always turn to!

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2 comments
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faithfarm on February 26, 2008 at 7:01 am
Wonderful Post! Thank you for sharing it. Blessings>faithfarm
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Morning Sunshine on February 26, 2008 at 7:13 am
wow, great point. I would like to think we could do it. but I am probably fooling myself

Timothy Has Turned Around Right!

I just thought I would thank everyone for praying and for the helpful advice.

Last Saturday I asked for prayer that our baby would get out of the breech position, and several of you commented that you would pray and gave us some suggestions. We also asked for prayer at church. We never had to consider a breech delivery in any of the other pregnancies so it was all new to us.

Lisa did some of the things that were mentioned in the comments last week, and coupled with the prayers of God’s people, the Lord decided to allow Timothy to turn around the way he should be! We are praising and thanking Him for the good report at the doctor’s!

They also said Lisa was not dilated anymore than she was last week and thought that Timothy should still be able to wait several more weeks before he makes his arrival. He is in the perfect position for delivery now, and they think he weighs over 7 pounds, but they say it would still be better if he could stay in the womb as long as possible to make sure his lungs are fully developed.

We know it is all in God’s hands. Timothy will come when God directs him to come, and he will be exactly what God has made him to be. Our job will be to love and care for him and guide him in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Thanks again for your prayers and we appreciate everyone’s continued prayers for Lisa, Timothy and our family.

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2 comments
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Sugar Bend Farms on February 23, 2008 at 11:29 am
So glad to hear the good news! Praise God! We will continue to pray for a safe and easy delivery and the all will be well with Timothy.
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faithfarm on February 24, 2008 at 8:23 am
Wonderful news-Praise God! I will pray for an easy delivery for Timothy and your wife. Have a blessed day! >faithfarm

The Valentine Weekend Sap Flow '08: A Concluding Summary

I thought I would post again about the maple sap collecting, just in case we don’t remember things real clearly next year when we try to do this again. For us, the 08 maple syrup season started the first weekend of February and we got about 40 gallons of sap on the 2nd and 3rd. There were a few days when the taps dripped some, but it was nothing like it was on the 2nd and 3rd and we didn’t bother to try and collect anything. Our temperatures were consistently above freezing until the 10th and then the temperatures dropped and stayed pretty much consistantly below freezing until the 14th.

I had posted on the 14th about hanging the buckets back on the maple trees in the snow. That was Thursday. On the actual day of Valentines we only collected about 2 gallons from the 8 trees we have tapped this first year. We had snow all day on Wednesday and well below freezing temperatures. Thursday it was near 40 degrees but back below freezing Thursday night. Friday saw a wonderful day with temperatures in the 50s. Then the trees really decided to start flowing.

We collected 10 full gallons of sap Friday by noon and another 10 full gallons Friday evening around 6:00. Friday night was in the 20s and Saturday was another beautiful day in the 50s. Saturday saw another great effort on the part of the maple trees with 10 gallons again collected in the morning around 10:30 and another 10 gallons collected around 5:00 in the evening. Saturday night the temperatures stayed near 40 for a low and that apparently stopped the flow for the most part. When Matthew checked the buckets this morning there was only an inch or so in each bucket. Today was warm and rainy and not much more sap came into the buckets. Matthew went up at dark and said he probably could have filled up a 5 gallon bucket, but it was too dark by that time. We may go and get it tomorrow, but it has set out all day in warm weather (60s today) and tonight is not getting very cold. I don’t know if that sap up in the buckets on the tree will still be good.

I have been boiling the sap off and on all day Friday, Saturday, and today. I have found that it is not exactly a 50 to 1 ratio like I thought last time. It is more than 40:1 but a bit less than 50:1. I am still using 50:1 but I am having a bit more than a half pint from each 3 gallon batch of syrup, which is nice. I can fill each jar all the way to the brim and then I save the left over for another jar later. Out of the 42 gallons of sap this weekend, I have made 9 half pint jars of maple syrup so far with about 5 still to go. Six gallons of sap are boiling right now and we have about 9 gallons of sap still in waiting. And that is not counting what we left at the sugar bush, if it is still good.

I feel like I have the system of syrup making down pretty good this time. It has not been as difficult or confusing this go around. The super sweet, pure and natural, maple syrup is worth the trouble. And it has been fun, too!

Baby Update and Prayer Request

We had an appointment with our baby doctor again yesterday. We are now to the every week appointment phase.

For the past few nights Lisa has been having contractions and pain, but the contractions have not been consistent. She felt that something was really going on the night before last, so we were anxious to see what the doctor would say.

Lisa is at 34 weeks but they measured Timothy with an ultrasound to already be 7 pounds! He still seems to be doing fine. The bad news is that he has turned around to the breech position and Lisa is dialated 2 cm. They were thinking about sending her to the hospital or putting her on bed rest, but decided there was not yet that great of need. They want us to just monitor the situation and try to get Timothy to turn around. They said that rocking in a rocking chair can help. We have never had a baby be breech in any of the other pregnancies so this is a new (and unwelcomed) experience for us.

I would appreciate the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters. We are praying that Timothy will turn himself around while there is still a little bit of room for him, that there will be no need for a c-section, and that Lisa won’t have any more major contractions when he does turn around. It would be safest if we could still wait a few more weeks before having Timothy join us. We’re pretty sure that he won’t go 6 more weeks, though.

By the way, the due date that they are still giving is March 30th, but the ticker on the top of the blog is set for March 23rd. We are now thinking early March will be a good possibility.

Thanks for praying, and I will keep updating in the days to come.

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7 comments
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Kitty on February 16, 2008 at 10:26 am
Praying for you, your wife and the baby. It will all work its way out. Still praying tho………Kitty
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GrandmaRosie on February 16, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Praying for you all. Babies do come , usually when you are about ready to give up!
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sheryl on February 16, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I will keep you all in my prayers. Please keep us updated. sheryl
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~Melissa on February 16, 2008 at 10:27 pm
http://www.ican-online.org/pregnancy/breech

But if you want to turn baby since Lisa is contracting, here's a site with some more ideas for turning the baby. I've seen others as well, just do a search and you'll come up with more.

Warmly and Praying,

Melissa
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Morning Sunshine on February 17, 2008 at 8:30 am
my prayers for your family.

there is a chiropractic adjustment that can turn a baby – my midwife sends all her breeches to a certain chiropractor who has had great success. I think it is called a Webster Technique. just a thought.
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Chas on February 17, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I will be saying a prayer for you all!

Chas
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mom2ahousefull on February 21, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Praying Timothy (who better be a boy since 'they' already changed 'their' mnds once!) stays put and turns around. Things I've heard that help~ lay on an incline with your head downward (fun at 9 months pregnant), ice packs on your tummy where baby's head is, no sitting in recliners, etc. sit in a hard/straight chair, rocking in a rocking hair, swinging BIG on a swing, and the Webster technique someone already mentioned. If I can do anything, just call me

A Sweet Valentine's Day (Of the Maple Variety!)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Valentine’s Day today! Here at Pure Water Hollow, I think we may have started a new tradition for Valentine’s Day: maple candy from our own maple trees. I have posted previously about our first attempts at tapping our sugar maple trees and converting the sap into maple syrup. We successfully accomplished that earlier in February, but I still wanted to try to make maple sugar and maple candy. What better day to try than Valentine’s Day?

Today was a neat day to collect sap because we had snow on the ground like they do in New England when they do their sap gathering. I wanted to use today’s sap to make the maple candy, but the trees just wouldn’t cooperate as much as they did two weekends ago. We did get almost two gallons of sap today, which yielded about 6 ounces of syrup, but it wasn’t until late in the day. Here is a picture of one of our maple trees in the snow with a bucket waiting to be filled up. Our dog, Mammoo, is protecting the area I hope:



Since the sap didn’t come today early enough to make candy, I used some of the syrup from our previous sugaring day. We decided to experiment with one of the jars that we had boiled a bit too long which had caused the syrup to crystal up. I spooned it into a pan and heated it up on the stove. I was surprised how quickly it came to a boil, and how quickly the temperature raised to well above boiling.

I was trying for soft maple candy and I had read that you should bring it to about 30 degrees above boiling. Then you should let it cool in another pan until the temperature dropped back down to about 200 degrees and then stir it until it became a plastic consistency. It reached above 230 degrees very quickly. It also cooled very quickly; too quickly in fact! Maybe it was because I was using such a small amount (just a half pint). It turned to a plastic consitency so quickly that it started to harden before I could pour it into the molds. Instead I packed it into the molds which worked ok, but wasn’t exactly what I had wanted.

Here is a picture of the first maple candy made at Pure Water Hollow Homestead:



I don’t know if the candies turned out perfect, but they sure were good! They had a “melt in your mouth gradually” sensation, sort of like those soft peppermints you can get that fall apart as you suck them. I think the children loved these maple hearts for Valentine’s Day! And the amazing thing is that it is 100% all natural, straight from the tree!

I will need to try the process some more to perfect it. I’ve read that if you are able to pour the syrup the outside will have a glossy look to it, which I think would be better.

Something I was more pleased with than the candy, was the maple sugar I made. After the candy had hardened too much to be able to put into any more molds, I decided to see what would happen if I crushed the remainder of it into powder. Maybe it would resemble sugar? I crushed and sifted it and it stayed dry and fluffy, just like granulated sugar! Maybe I got it finer than granulated sugar? I was very happy with it! Here are a couple of pictures of the first maple powdered sugar made at Pure Water Hollow:




This sugar should work as well as store bought white sugar, but I believe it is much healthier! It is 100% natural and organic, but it is oh so sweet!

I also took a picture of the new syrup bottle I bought today next to the sugar bowl. The syrup that is in the bottle is Valentine’s Day maple syrup made today from Valentine’s Day maple sap collected today!



Today has been a nice Valentine’s Day but I am really looking forward to celebrating with my Valentine this Saturday evening. I am taking Lisa to dinner and a Doyle Lawson concert while Erica babysits for us. I am so in love with my wife, Lisa! I can’t really put into words how I feel, but I know that I have so much more than I deserve! A beautiful woman who loves and cares for me and who allows me to love her. I feel like God has blessed me greater than He could ever bless anyone else!

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4 comments
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Mom on February 15, 2008 at 8:03 am
That was a nice post! We have not gotten any sap this week. Today is going to be a bit warmer, so maybe today we will get sap.I ordered 20 more spots from Lehmans, but they are back ordered. I was hoping to have them for this weekend.

The candy and sugar look good!
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Debbie on February 15, 2008 at 8:57 am
My it look like you are having too much fun. It also looks like you are busy around the homestead. Your maple sugar reminded me when I bought some maple sugar. It was great. I loved putting it in my tea to have the extra flavor of maple. Great stuff. I've never had maple candy though. I'm glad to see that things are good at the homestead. Thanks for posting all this wonderful information.

Debbie
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Schatzi on February 15, 2008 at 11:48 am
What a great post….reminds me of my grandparents letting us help make maple syrup and candy.

Have a great "date night"

Connie
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Chas on February 15, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Hi there! I was just thinking about you guys and how you should be getting close to having a new little one very soon! I am glad to read that you are all doing well.

That candy and sugar looks wonderful… I would love to do something like that!

You are an inspiration!!!

Have a great weekend!

Chas

Collecting Maple Sap (In Authentic Snow!)

I love those pictures you see of folks collecting the maple tree sap in the New England area. There is always a big snow covering the ground, sometimes with drifts! Well, we don’t get that much snow very often here in eastern Kentucky, but we got a surprise inch or two yesterday. I had been planning for several days on hanging our buckets on our maple trees today, mainly because of the predicted temperature being in the 40s for highs. Last night it was about 25 degrees and we had gotten down into the teens before that. A nice warm day like today should get the sap to start flowing again.

After we got the snow yesterday, I was even more excited about hanging the buckets. It would feel so much more “authentic” to go trapsing through some snow covered woods to obtain the maple sap! We didn’t go up to the sugar bush until about 10:00am. The golden sun was shining and the temperature was starting to peek above 30 degrees. The snow, however, remained a still, white blanket covering the forest, making the scenery around us sparkle in the sun. The Lord also painted the most beautiful blue sky you can imagine, to contrast the glaring white of the snow. No Norman Rockwell painting ever looked this peaceful.

The pictures we took can’t do the reality any justice, but I was happy to take them anyway. I loved the thought of collecting maple sap with snow on the ground! I had two very good helpers with me on this fine Valentine’s Day adventure.

Here is Christina next to one of the trees:



And here is Matthew:



Christina took this picture of a frozen spout with snow on it before Matthew and I got up there:



Here is shot of Matthew and Christina from a distance:



I really like this picture. I thought it was artistic, with the fallen tree in the foreground covered with snow and the blue sky in the background above the ridge. The beautiful girl in the middle of the picture with the sap bucket makes it even better!



Speaking of that beautiful girl, when Christina got thirsty, she decided to eat some of the snow!



But you better be careful walking on steep hillsides in the snow! Matthew, Christina, and I each slipped and fell at least once as we climbed up and down the slick slopes. Christina got up too quickly for me to get a picture, but here she is in a good re-dramatization of her fall:



Our dogs usually come up with us whenever we go up in the mountains. Luna was there, with Chief and Mammoo, but I did not get a picture of her today. Here is one of Chief and Mammoo with Matthew:



And how about one more shot of the dogs. You can see a bit more of what the snow covered woods looked like in the background:



The sap flow was not very strong after all, today. The temperature did not get much above freezing until pretty late in the day. It did peak out at 48 degrees about 4:00pm and that was when most of the sap we collected probably flowed. There were still patches of snow all around when we gathered almost 2 gallons of sap at 6:00pm. The trees were all dripping, but nothing like they were on the 2nd and 3rd of February when we collected about 40 gallons. The sap may continue to flow through the night because it is not supposed to get below freezing, so we may be able to make more syrup tomorrow. Tonight we could only make about 6 ounces of syrup.

Along with the syrup, I also made some maple candy and maple sugar tonight, in celebration of Valentine’s Day. I am going to put those few pictures on my next post.

I am thankful for so much on this Valentine’s Day. I am thankful for the maple trees and for the snow, but I am mostly thankful for the love of the one who created them both and did so much more. God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die (and raise from the dead) so that our sins that were scarlet could be made white as snow! There is nothing so sweet as that!