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Snow Picnic…and some homemade maple syrup drama…

March 10, 2013 by Cynthia Filed Under: Decorating Ideas

 

       We decided to have a snow picnic this weekend… 

 

brunch outdoors

 

I am getting ahead of myself.

I need to give you the back story to get you up to speed…

 

Tapping our big maple tree is a tradition here at hoop top house.

It is a sure sign that spring is right around the corner when Kent starts talking about it.

 I love this seasonal shift…everything is waking up, the sun feels a bit warmer and the days a little longer…

Last year we had a sap thief in the form of a crafty squirrel…

 

the sap theif!

 

I know the photo is terrible, but it was hard to catch him in the act…  I was so excited to see him when I had the camera close to hand that I couldn’t get a good shot.

Anyway…

Kent was determined this year to out fox the fox so to speak and to this end he developed a new system.

 

collecting sap in bucket

                                                         

                                                              Last years bucket was out

 

collecting sap with pipeline

                                                             

                                                              and in its place…

                                                             Drum roll please!

                                     The new pipeline system with lockdown cover.

                                                        Take that Mr. Squirrel!

 

boiling sap

 

 Our first batch of the season was ready to be boiled down Friday night. 

We got about half a litre… I know it isn’t much but remember, sap to syrup is a 40-1 ratio.

I am hoping we will end up with a few litres more.

 

maple surup

 

                                                                  So wonderful…

 

maple syrup dripping off spoon

 

          To celebrate our bountiful harvest we decided to have a snow picnic.

It was a spur of the moment thing…. we looked out the windows at that beautiful sunshine and decided it would be fun.

 

eating brunch in the snow

 

                                               We set up down in the flats behind the house.

 

outdoor brunch

 

                                                         A fire for extra warmth…

 

snow picnic on live edge serving board cynthiaweber.com

 

                                                     Looks good don’t you think?

                                                I used one of Kents serving boards.

                 Give a click if you are interested in seeing the post on how he makes them.

 

Emmitt at the snowpicnic

 

                                                   Emmitt was hoping for a taste…

 

dipping

 

 

snowpicnic                                                       

                                                        What could be better:

Hot pancakes rolled around baked sausage dipped in maple syrup made from the tree you are sitting beside in the snow.

                                                            Be still my heart!

 

chicken       

                                                     Even the chicken wanted in on it! 

                                  We had a great morning enjoying that beautiful sunshine.

 

lighthouse in the snow

 

The second tree we tap is on the other side of the backyard… can you spot it to the left of the lighthouse?

So far we haven’t seen any squirrel sap stalking going on.

But we may have another problem…

Is there a second string sap thief at Hoop Top House?!?

 

Emmitt the sap theif...

 

I hope you had a fabulous weekend filled with delightful unexpected moments of pleasure!

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