I spent many days, this spring, getting up at 4 a.m., walking the 100 yards from our house to the sugar house to boil down maple sap into maple syrup.
Most mornings, I was mesmerized by the vast array of stars, constellations and galaxies on display. Millions or billions of stars created by God and He knows them all by name. I would feel mighty small by the time I reached my destination.
In the sugar house, the routine was mostly the same every morning, as I turned on the lights, emptied the ash pan from the previous day’s burn into a large metal garbage can to be spread later on our asparagus garden. Next would be the preparation and ignition of a starter fire under the 32 in. x 8 ft. evaporator pan. As steam begins to rise, I open the cupola doors, 20 ft. up, for the steam to escape, adjusting for wind direction throughout the day. Next, I fill the firebox full of dry split hardwood, write down all the steps including time of start, amount of sap collected and lot number for today’s activity of new sap and the finished syrup that will be bottled later today. Every step, time, temperatures and contact with sap or syrup needs to be logged in my certified organic field log, to which I will be held accountable either by a Midwest Organic Certification inspector, a USDA inspector, or most likely both.
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