Maple Sugaring In New Hampshire With The Somero's

The end of February we start preparing for sap season, first by cleaning out the sap shed that resides in my farther-in-law's back yard. After the dust stops flying and the evaporator pans are all washed and put back together on its arch.

The tapping of about 500 maple trees, is next in line with drilling the holes

hammering in the spout then the buckets are hung and the covers set in place

It is so exciting when you see and hear the first drips in the bucket

then we wait for warm days and cold nights to make the perfect conditions for the sap to run

We use two types of covers the flat covers and the roof covers viewed below the covers are used to keep rain water and other impurities out of the clear sweet sap

we use five gal. buckets to collect the sap that has run into the buckets we hung on the maple trees

than it is dumped into a gathering tank that sits in the back of a truck, this gathering tank of my husbands holds three hundred gal. when all has been collected or our tank is full we head back to my father-in-laws to unload

here the sap is tested to see how sweet it is, then filtered and pumped to a holding tank, from there it is bucketed  to the sap shed to be filtered once more before entering the evaporator pans

the pans now full of that sweet sap, Hank my husband is starting the fire in the stove under the pans. Here are three generations of maple syrup makers, Grandpa, son, and grandson, and now they are anticipating the sweet maple flavor to start flowing through the air with the steamy boil to come!

Then the sweet maple steam bellows through the sap shed and out through the cupola up in the sky, I'm sure the steam spells out the Somero's are boiling,

Soon the sap shed will fill up with friends, neighbors and family near and far, to help or just come for the sweet smell and to reminisce of years past

it is always nice when other maple syrup makers come to visit we share our thoughts and ideas and just enjoy the season

all ages are interested, I home school and utilize this sugar making. I have made up a school curriculum to use, teaching the history, the science,  and the math that it takes to make tasty maple syrup! 

It takes time for the first maple syrup to be made, because everything starts so cold, it is well into the night or even the next day before the first batch is syrup.

we have syrup! that liquid gold bounty we have been waiting for is here, now we need to grade it.

this is how we grade it by color, this looks to be dark amber my favorite it has a nice robust maple flavor

canning and labeled is next

my daughter bringing the finished product to her grandmothers kitchen

When you pull in at my father-in -laws, the sap shed is on the left just past the main house on the right, you might find it hard to just pass the inviting smells coming from my mother-in-laws kitchen, hot coffee and fresh bakery just out of her oven made by my husbands sweet mother. You will find her door is always open to all visitors. But if you smell her Cinnamon Buns get in there quick or the grandchildren will have them gone lickity split!

the sap shed will stay busy boiling and visiting until we get to many warm days in a row and know more cold nights

we end sap season with taking down

and washing all the buckets and spouts

anticipating the maple syrup to last us all year!