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Friday Favorite: Maple Tapping

February 19th, 2016

AH, I think every year at this time I talk about how much I LOVE sugaring the maple trees. Yesterday I went out to tap one tree, I do this each year to monitor sap flow. When the sap starts flowing from that tap, I tap the remaining trees. The sap started flowing right away, so I tapped 8 more trees. I’ll probably add a few more taps today.
maple sap 3
I really love sugaring because it gets me out in the garden during a time when I wouldn’t be out there. It makes me go outside and I get a ton of exercise, it really helps get me in shape for the upcoming gardening season. I also love that it’s such a simple process, really, you just gather sap and boil it down, it’s really that simple. When you drizzle homemade maple syrup on your pancakes in the morning there’s nothing quite like it, it somehow tastes sweeter.

Do you live in an area where they tap trees?

5 Comments to “Friday Favorite: Maple Tapping”
  1. bonnie knox on February 19, 2016 at 9:17 am

    I usually think of New England when I think of maple syrup, but my brother, who lives here in NC, had collected 72 gallons of sap when he gave us an update last month.
    I know he has some southern sugar maples; I will have to ask him if he also taps red maples, which are more plentiful here.

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  2. Nebraska Dave on February 19, 2016 at 9:42 am

    Susy, no one that I know of harvests tree sap in Nebraska. I suspect there are some trees that would be good for making syrup but every one is about row crop farming here. My property has mostly cottonwood which I’m sure would not taste the best. There are Mulberry as well which might be a possibility. From what I’ve read harvesting sap and making syrup from it can be done with almost any tree but we have become so used to Maple trees being used that it’s the only one that most people think of when making syrup. I hope and pray that you have a great maple syrup year. I guess the below zero weather is gone? :-)

    Have a great out in the woods day.

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  3. gabe on February 19, 2016 at 10:07 am

    Ha, I guess it’s a simple process… not necessarily quick though :)

    Reply to gabe's comment

  4. Kristen on February 19, 2016 at 4:55 pm

    Friends of ours in Western Washington tap birch trees and make birch syrup. We received some as a Christmas present – yum!! As a side note, they also live in an actual tree house. It is really quite amazing.

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  5. Jill on February 19, 2016 at 6:43 pm

    We tapped 22 maple trees at my parents farm last spring. We enjoyed the process and best of all my sons we up and dressed every morning, excited to go check the pails. We plan to tap again this year.

    Reply to Jill's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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