Saturday, February 2, 2013

Maple sap & baby chicks

We have been collecting sap from our sugar maple tree for almost 2 weeks now. The first week was a horrible cold spell so we got nothing. This past week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday temperatures were above freezing (Wednesday actually made it up to 60 degrees!) So we got quite a bit in 3 days. We filled a 2 liter soda bottle, a gallon milk jug, and a 2 quart gatorade bottle. (We are up cycling as well!) Then Friday it just made it to 32 degrees and nothing was flowing. Mr. Smith and I are talking about tapping the other side and possibly another maple at the very front of our yard. It has poison ivy crawling up (that we have been trying to get rid of for quite a while) so just need to make sure we get a clear spot. I put all 3 bottles in the freezer to save for when we get more sap. I would like to do 1 big batch for an all day event. I will mark a day on my calender when I can baby sit the sap outside. So, I can say we have successfully tapped a maple tree, we shall see if we are just as successful in making syrup. :)

We were also given 46 baby chicks last night. White Leghorn, straight run...so they are a mix of males and females. They are about 6 days old now. There is a nearby school that does hatching for a science project and couldn't find anyone to take the last bunch. Of course we said YES! That would just get us closer to making money on our little homestead!

Petunia, our pregnant sow, is looking quite plump and is laying down more....so we are in the last couple of weeks in her pregnancy. We will be checking on her a little more frequently and try to make her as comfortable as possible so she doesn't stress out and have them early. Excited to have so many babies on the farm again so far. Cannot wait till mid February and there will be more!

Speaking of pregnancy I am about 1/2 way through mine with Smith kid #6 and the baby has eaten my brain! I totally forgot that when you make your own mozzarella cheese you need rennet! So, I have not gotten to make our own mozzarella cheese as of now, but Mr. Smith will be picking up some today and I hope to make our own cheese either today or tomorrow. My energy goes fast through out the day, so it may end up being tomorrow.

I will update again soon, hopefully after we boil down sap so we can have more pictures!

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