Would you look at this snow outside! If you’re in Connecticut that is. It may help us a bit and slow down the sap flow, keeping it clear for this weekend and into next week. I guess this means I’ll catch up on phone calls, office work, cirruculum development, etc. at the park office once my husband gets the driveway cleared. In the meantime I’m making a double batch of blueberry muffins!

Have a sweet day!

I got all the sap I collected boiled today thankfully with some afternoon volunteer help from Sean who stopped by on his day off. To take your day off and spend it stoking a fire and boiling sap is true dedication. That man is going to get some sweet syrup for his efforts for sure!

I also had a visitor named Chris who is very interested in learning about sugaring and received a thorough  though oft interrupted lesson. Thanks for your patience Chris! Oh, and for you help with the lettering project at the Veterans’ Memorial Building too!

It was really a gorgeous day today and though the sap was flowing slowly (hopefully we can collect more tomorrow) I had so much fun watching and talking to all the folk who stopped by. Lily, it was nice to meet you and your Dad (whose name I forgot) and hope to see you at the park more in the future. Thanks for the kind words about how the park is looking so good and I hope you continue to enjoy your new hometown.

Eddie, Bennie & Mike were busy making base (as in baseball) anchors today near the barn and Frank, C. Vin and Frank P. were up at the building continuing some improvement projects there. I also took a walk over to the picnic glade where an Eagle Scout has been feverishly working away with a team of volunteers to reclaim that area that had begun to look like a tropical forest. Wow! What a difference. Can’t wait to see it all done.

Ranger Vin is taking some vacation time with his family this week. I think we can safely say the park is in good hands.

Have a sweet evening!

The weather turned warm and balmy today and was really quite beautiful. One of these photos shows the ants who also like the warm weather and the sweet sap. Look carefully, the brown dark spot near the spile (spout) are hundreds of ants!

Have a sweet evening!

In between the visitors I boiled, and boiled and boiled. It was great! I used up the sap Colin collected for me and Vin and Eddie had helped me clear whatever clog led to the arch backing up and sending out smoke signals so I was in good shape for the afternoon.

Here are some more photos from the day.

My dear friend Kim and her boys Mason and Kenton paid me a quick visit while they were visiting in state and the boys showed me their monkey bar skills after helping me draw off some syrup.

The girls scouts visited and Ranger Vin and I taught them about sugaring and one little sister showed me her collection of animals, the little fuzzy kinds I don’t have at the park.

Also to note was a visit from Friends of Brooksvale Member Betsy Driebeek and her two boys Kyle and Julian who I enjoy learning from as well as teaching. We discussed whether the season was going to run short or not and I am going to do some more investigating after I sign off here.

One more thing. I know you ALL want syrup, our syrup and we will sell it on the open house day of March 3. We will sell it first-come, first-served. If you are a Friends of Brooksvale member, you can reserve up to 2 of the 1/2 pint bottles ahead of time and we’ll hold them for you. Go to Brooksvale.org for a membership form. We limit two per customer (Member or not) so everyone gets a taste. We WILL sell syrup made by area sugarmakers during the open house. We need to spread the sweetness!

Not sure if I’ll be boiling tomorrow or not depending on how much sap is in the buckets and the rain. I’m guessing I’ll definitely be there Thursday.

Have a sweet evening!
Ranger Kirsten

These two photos show me under the smoke stack out the back of the sugar shack trying to get the base off and check to see if there was a blockage. I started the fire in the arch as I usually do and the smoke billowed out. It was crazy! I opened the doors, opened the windows and the damper too. More smoke. Eddie grabbed some tools and we worked on opening the stack to see if there was perhaps a bird’s nest started in there. The screening at the top of both stacks has burnt off and wasn’t replaced before the start of this season. With me being away two days from the park I wondered if the spring birds were trying to nest in there. A little debris came out, but not much. When it’s cold (the stove, not outside) we’ll try and check the horizontal pipe. Whatever was in there or blocking the path was gone by the time I stoked the fire some more and the fire burned well for the rest of the day.

Thank-you to Kay and Rob who brought their favorite sugarmaker a fresh hot cup of black coffee and a treat. Craig and Mike took care of the animals, emptied the trash and did some other park work while I boiled and boiled and boiled. It was a wonderful treat to get to show some of you the almost finished syrup pouring out! It smelled so good.

I am absolutely humbled that all of you want our Brooksvale syrup but know from past years that the demand often outweighs the supply. During the Open House on March 3 I will sell whatever syrup we have made and also have some from 2 other area sugar makers we would like you to support. The Brooksvale syrup will be bottled in 1/2 pint containers and sold for $7 each with a limit of 2 per customer. After I sell out I encourage you to buy from our friends who will price theirs based on other producers in the state. We all belong to the Maple Syrup Producers Association of CT and adhere to the same standards for making the sweet syrup just right for you to enjoy!

Sunday is my day off so I’ll check in with the park staff and if the sap is flowing I’ll boil again on Monday otherwise I’ll be there Tuesday-Saturday of next week each day boiling at least from 10-3. Stop by and introduce yourselves if you have time. (Head’s up: We have a big group coming in on Tuesday so I may be just a tad busy for a bit!)

Have a sweet weekend!
Ranger Kirsten

You can see them here crawling all over the spile. Don’t worry, I strain the sap when I pour it into the collection tank and most of the ants are kept out of the boiling sap bath later on.

When the kids come to the sugar shack and I show them the evaporation process I assure them too that the bugs are not part of my diet, I am not in a show called “Women vs. Wild” or “Fear Factor” where the main gross out of the day is what bug you can eat live or fried! I’ll take my protein in the form of peanut butter thank-you.

Today I collected 25 gallons of sap (minus a bit spilled on my jeans, jacket and sugar shack floor) and I’m sure I’ll feel the sore muscles tomorrow. When’s the last time you lifted 5, 5 gallon containers over your shoulders which weigh 40 pounds each?

The weather is staying great for the sap to run and I’m hoping we can eek out another week of good sap, if the bugs don’t really start to bug me.

The Sugar Shack will be open 10-3 tomorrow. If you’re in the area, stop on by. We don’t have any for sale yet but are working on it!

And here are a few more photos to close the day.

Have a sweet evening!

Scorching happens from two things mainly. The sap level getting too low and nitre (sugar sand/minerals) building up on the bottom of the pan. With this year’s warming trend I noticed last week there was a bit more nitre than last year at the same time. I also noticed that the pan is very warped. We normally get 3 years out of a pan and this is our 4th year with this pan. Each year I learn more and more.

Since last time I wrote, we had students from Ms. Manzi, Mr. Ortoleva and Ms. Dease’s classed at Ridge Hill School. My four children went to Ridge Hill and it was a treat to see Ms. Manzi again and get to know the others better. Next came the students from Shepherd Glen in Mrs. Powell and Ms. Helenski’s class. They were one of the few classes that weren’t snowed out last year! Today we shared the Sugaring Story with Mrs. Irwin and Mr. O’brien’s classes from Spring Glen.

Note: In describing a tree’s inner core being called the heartwood and likening it to the spine on a human, giving it strength, I often ask, “What animal would you be if you did not have a spine?” Often the kids answer Snake, Jelly-Fish or worm. So, I do agree with them sometimes without getting into the details of the series of vertebrae in a snake that make it so flexible and the way a human spine differs. Since this is a constant source of debate, a parent corrected me today and herpetology is not my strength, from now on I’ll stick to worms. And call Jim Sirch at Yale’s Peabody and learn more about snakes.

The sugar shack will be open tomorrow, Friday and Saturday this week from about 9-3 or 4. Maybe I’ll see you and we can discuss snakes or syrup?

Have a sweet evening!