Submitted by themadgardener on Thu, 03/19/2020 - 09:06
Submitted by themadgardener on Wed, 03/18/2020 - 10:59
To all the educators out there rushing to get content online. I have some experience with this and can tell you that the first couple weeks are the hardest. You are not failing! You are learning and you are guiding both parents and children through this process. Keep up the good work!
Submitted by themadgardener on Mon, 03/16/2020 - 20:04
As the sap continues to boil down it will turn more and more brown and become sweet! I enjoy taste testing it! There are two ways to determine when you are done, the first is when the temperature is 220 F and the second is with the use of a hydrometer (which is far more accurate). Keep in mind that when syrup is hot it is going to seem thinner than what it is once it cools down!
Submitted by themadgardener on Sun, 03/15/2020 - 18:27
I plan to post the actual finishing process tomorrow but just had to share!
Submitted by themadgardener on Fri, 03/13/2020 - 14:31
As I mentioned in my Pails of Sap post sap has a sugar concentration of about 2% and before it can be syrup the concentration should be 66%. That is achieved by removing the water and you remove the water by boiling the sap! It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of water. It definitely is a time intensive process that takes a lot of patience!
Early in the season I often boil in the house just a couple words of caution
Submitted by themadgardener on Tue, 03/10/2020 - 00:00
In roughly 24 hours we were able to gather 12 gallons of sap! Not the high flow for a single day but certainly nothing to complain about!
Sap begins to flow as soon as temperatures fluctuate above and below the freezing point. Typically this means day time temps are above freezing and night time temps are below freezing as days tend to be warmer than nights. However, if you have a really cold day where it is below freezing followed by a warm night, where it is above freezing, sap will flow!
Submitted by themadgardener on Mon, 03/09/2020 - 00:00
While it may not be "gardening" it has become a yearly tradition to harvest our own maple sap!
This year three trees are tapped and each tree has three taps!
I do not have a fancy system where tubes run to a sugar sap but I was able to get my hands onto some four gallons, food grade, pails complete with covers that already had holes drilled in them. Very handy for being able to collect sap and not have all kinds of debris land in them!
Is important to check daily since I have had them fill up in a 24 hour time period!
Submitted by themadgardener on Sun, 03/08/2020 - 09:44
Submitted by themadgardener on Sat, 03/07/2020 - 10:30
* This page is actively being authored - I'll be adding more photos once the 2020 growing season is underway! *
Bale Gardening, as the name implies, is growing your fruits and vegetables in bales (hay or straw) rather than in the soil. It is advantageous for the following reasons:
Submitted by themadgardener on Fri, 03/06/2020 - 20:33
*More Coming soon*
No we are not talking about trying to grow lasagna in your garden! Lasagna Gardening is an organic gardening technique that is typically no till where the gardener puts down layers of organic material that decays over time and adds nutrients to the soil. It also has the advantage of acting as a weed barrier and helping with moisture retention. Ideally you start creating the garden in the fall but it is possible to do it early spring. Use the following steps.
Pages
