Monday, March 6, 2017

PRTA-Puerto Rican Tappers Association (Maine Edition)

So a few years back, while living in Galena, Keith and our friend Jason formed the PRTA. We tried our hand at tapping Birch trees.  The ratio of Sap to Syrup for Birch sap was 100 gallons to one gallon of Syrup. Meaning we needed A LOT!  We did rather great until an epic flood destroyed the village and turned our tapping into an evacuation and years of rebuilding a town. Tapping became the LEAST of our concern. Sadly we never really got to try it again.

Fast forward 3 years and through 2 moves and we get to Maine. When you think about Maine what are the 2 things you think of? Lobster and Maple Syrup. I was ecstatic to know our yard of our new home has many Maple trees! Keith was not so happy to have to pick up all the leaves but I anticipated the Syrup that we could harvest! I read and researched and studied techniques.... And Now I get to try our hand at it. I can almost taste the pancakes already! Today we got our taps and buckets out. It was a great family event, except for Luke who was napping. But oh the fun we had! I will continue to blog about the adventure as it unfolds. So here is today adventure!

 Keith working the power tools and measuring tape
It was already flowing when we got the taps in

 Isaiah got smart, instead of using his hands to taste the sap, he ran inside for a cup! 
He gets his smarts from his mom!
 I love the adventure of life with this man!


Our First Maine Blizzard

Well I think we have been officially "Welcomed" to Maine with our first Blizzard. Winter decided to come and thought it best to squeeze all the snow into one week. We arrived in Maine, after a warm, sunny vacation in Puerto Rico with Keith's family. And the snow decided to start dumping on the day we arrived. Looking at the forecast we decided to drive through the snow from Portland because the next day was expecting to be sleet and freezing rain, which would turn the mountainous drive home
 a more treacherous one. The plan was a long one as it  took our normal 4 hour drive to a 7 hour drive. Going 25-45 miles per hour. It was a long long long drive home. Most of the road between Bangor and our home was not plowed so it was not fun at all. But we made it and it was very icy the
next day, which made us glad of our decision. We spent the next day digging out of our drive way and Keith plowed his way to work. The boys were excited to have snow to play in. Saturday I had a ladies tea at church and the boys went to some snow-machine races, that I was told was awesome. But by the time we all got back home snow was falling again. But by morning we had clear blue skies for church, with a forecast of "The BIG ONE" is coming. Evening services were canceled and we headed to Canada to get some groceries before it hit. At this point, I feel like I'm part of the Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer story, Because all of a sudden...... IT HIT! And it blew and it snowed and if there was not the snow falling I would have thought we were in a Tropical Storm or small hurricane due to the blowing wind. The wind was ferocious! It snowed all night and all day. By the end of it we had close it 2 feet of new snow. Added to about 2 feet from the week before and our yard was pretty much buried. So was our driveway! If you didn't catch my Facebook Live jump in the snow, well I did, then I trekked down to the road to see how much snow the plow trucks had piled in my driveway. It was over my head. So we began the process of digging out again. After a day of being snowed in, had to head in to work and spent the day plowing and plowing. Good thing he has real equipment to work with there! We were glad to be clear of snow for about 2 days then guess what? Yep here comes Pluto.... who names these Storms anyway? The weather man predicted 8-12 more inches. He had predicted 24 inches the last storm and he was right on but I was hoping he would be wrong this time! He was, thankfully! As Keith, the boys and I all came down with a 24 hour bug, we were glad to stay home and recover, however the next morning we began to dig out again.... anybody seeing a pattern? Thankfully it ended up being only 5 more inches. So now we have 4 1/2 feet of snow in our yard and tunnels dug by the boys everywhere. I love the snow but Maine decided to throw it all in one week.... someone said the Groundhog predicted more winter, anybody want to go groundhog hunting with me? I'm ready for Spring to start arriving. Hoping to start tapping my Maple trees soon!