Well, as always it has come again. Maple Syrup Season! At the Bar S tapping maple trees for sap has been a long standing tradion. The participants come and go, but someone is always willing to help with the tapping of the maples. In each of our respective homes, the children of the Bar S have always sworn to have nothing in their homes but the real stuff! On occasion this has had to been a compromise with the rest of the people in the household, but us Bar S stock have always preferred the best.
As I sat and read the closing notes for this month's newletter, I sat back and did a little remembering of how things have changed and yet, really stayed the same. When I was a little girl with my brother and sister, we always were excited about tree tapping. It meant a little more work after school but we didn't really think of this as work. We had an excuse to get outside away from dishes and homework and the most exciting thing, Dad would hook up the horses to pull the trailer. If it was too muddy, my brother would saddle the horse up so we could ride up the hill and collect our sap.
At first we tapped a few trees, collected a few gallons of sap and had just enough syrup to make it until next spring. We would even do most of the boiling on the stove inside the house in a large soup pot. It took a lot longer to do it this way, but the whole house would smell of that sugary delight!
As time progressed, and us kids were older (and stronger) we were able to collect more sap at a faster rate. We were better at handling the horses and were even allowed to go up into the woods by ourselves to collect everything we could. Of course, a lot more tasting went on once we were on our own, but we all looked forward to the finished product.
My father began building an outdoor stove big enough to hold a large pan for boiling. This made it a lot faster to cook more sap down. It always seemed to me, Dad was always improving the cook down process.
As the years passed and each spring came, we all did our part when it came to tapping. My siblings and my interest would wain one year and be back the next, but my father was always there ready and able to work with anyone interested.
Whenever this time of year comes and I see the temperature start to rise, I always think back to those times in the woods with the horses stamping their feet and the old tin milk cans filled with raw sap rattling in the trailer.
Even on those years of less than enthusiastic interest, I always appreciated the great taste of home cooked maple syrup. It may be all in my head, but I have yet to find anything that tastes better!
This year it remains the same, Dad has a new stainless steel pan ready for cooking and has already discussed with my brother a time table of who is sitting at the fire watching it cook. They have the trees tapped and ready to produce as soon as the sap starts running. Everything is in place. We can't wait to see what this years batch will taste like!
By the way, Dad, I just looked in my pantry and I'm plum out of syrup. I guess I'll have to earn that next bottle!
Karie