Short and Sweet: Maple Syrup 2.0, and Crazy Kids

Hello! Hola! Guten Morgen!

I am on my second cup of coffee, with five mini-easter eggs – “The writing power flows strongly with this one.” I am charged up and ready to go (at least till one of my kids is calling out for me), as this is Easter Break and I am loving every moment of it (besides being violently sick yesterday).

Oh, the amount of viruses and random bugs since the COVID meltdown – most immune systems are toast…mine included. Yet, I will not be discussing the controversial fallout of COVID, but rather something a bit more…sweeter (oh I had too).

Today I will be writing about my second year making Maple Syrup, and my crazy children. I hope you enjoy another post from The Eason Clan.

Maple Syrup 2.0

After last year’s successful introduction into the world of tapping maples, I decided to invest more time and money into this year. I started in the middle of March, and I had a field trip for my students to tap the trees themselves. In freezing weather, we tapped twelve maple trees, (using the black tap and blue tubing) and used some of the most rag-tag looking containers one could find: orange string hanging from large a staple in the tree, wrapped with duct-tape along the mason jar; beef buckets with holes in the lids; and my personal favourite, a red and whitewater thermos. Yes sir, it looked like a maple collection process from The Beverly HillBillies – but the students enjoyed it and so did I.

After a few weeks of collecting about six litres of maple water every couple of days, I then invested in five two-gallon buckets with spiles and lids from Home Hardware in CBS (cheaper there than Amazon, believe it or not!). These were tricky at first, as I didn’t drill the holes deep enough and I was afraid to hammer in the blue plastic spiles, for fear of breaking them. But, they were designed to be smacked, so I hit them harder after re-drilling the holes, and out came the syrup.

With seventeen maples tapped, I was collecting up to twelve litres a day of maple water! At this rate, I was now in the business of mass producing the syrup (on a smaller scale). I would wait until I had two large stock pots full (about thirty-two litres) and then collect some more off the trees before I would start boiling outside.

I used a deep cafeteria stainless steel serving tray over a fire pit. I used three different methods at first:

1. I used the pan over a fire pit made of brick. This was okay, but I was losing heat through the front (in order to feed the fire I had to leave it open). It would take about four-six hours to boil, feeding the fire with wood.
2. Propane turkey fryer. This option was the most costly, as I was burning a fair bit of propane and it took about four hours. I lost a lot of heat during this process.
3. My final method was a washer drum wielded onto a tire rim. I used a grinder and cut an opening in the barrel, which I then used as a door with hinges and a latch. This method was perfect – not only had I made a cool fire pit, but I also now had an efficient heating system to concentrate the heat to the pan.

After the syrup was boiled off, I would take the brownish liquid inside, strain it multiple times, and finish it on the stove.

This year’s total: I made five litres of pure maple syrup – no additives, and completely organic. If you want a more detailed blog about the process, leave a comment below and if I get enough interest, I will write a novice’s guide to making maple syrup.

Crazy Kids

“What’s the matter?” asked the little girl in pink.

The strapping man in brown clothing rubbed his head in a slow, massaging way, “I’ve got a headache,” he replied.

“Maybe it’s a tumor?”

“It’s not a tumor!” he exclaimed.

Ah yes, the classic movie Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzenegger – I totally relate good sir. Being surrounded by children all day long, a 4-1 ratio is intense. Four bowls of cereal, four cups of milk – 3/4 of a 2L of milk used. But besides the providing of food and the extreme costs of grocery store products – it’s great! I get my own personal comedy show everyday (mostly), and the reel is never ending.

I am a comedic person, so it’s naturally funny for me to witness the four different personalities in my kids. My oldest has a dry sense of humour, funny (and sometimes not so funny) quips about random things. For instance, the first time I burn a pancake since he has been alive, he’ll pipe up and say in a drawn out voice, “Welllll, looks like dad has burned the pancakes…again…” Like come on!

My oldest daughter has a funny, quirky humour – coming up with random knock-knock jokes that are not funny at all…but because of her enthusiastic approach to her joke, I end up laughing.

“Why did the chicken cross the road?”

“Why?”

“Because he wanted to.”

*Silence*

Seeing her comedic face, I begin to laugh.

Then there’s my youngest daughter, who has a maniacal laugh. The other day, she started laughing, and then her eyes opened wide, and with that she started to approach me. This in itself, is quite frightening – as she is only three feet high and has her brown hair half over her face #Littlegirlfromhorrormovievibes.

Then to top it off, the most comical out of the bunch (as agreed upon in our household) is my youngest son. For instance, this very morning, I walked into the kitchen and I saw him flaked out on the floor in front of the heater pretending to be dead, with his tongue hanging out – yet, smiling all the same. Who does that? 

He does.

Or it could be him getting on my nerves, and when I raise my voice, what’s his response? Jump up like a 1920’s silent film actor, and begin to scramble in the other direction letting out a “Ahhhhh!”

Honestly, I could be having a crappy day, but when I see my wife and kids – everything is better. I thank the Lord for His blessings, as it says in scripture “Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.” Psalm 127:4. Another beautiful verse, ” Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.”

Yes, yes they are.

Christian