Making Pure Maple Syrup

 

What on earth is that?

Pure maple syrup, that's what!

Our son's farm in Salisbury, PA is in the heart of maple syrup country. 

We are surrounded by farms who tap the trees with blue lines that run from tree to tree, but so far, Kevin and Katie are still doing it the old-fashioned way with sap buckets. This is just a couple of the many trees he tapped.

The first week of March, Kevin was collecting the sap from the buckets every day and then pouring them into a large pan over a fire. 

Then we fed the fire every few minutes to keep the syrup boiling. 

It's a looonnnng process!

The boiling syrup creates a constant steam. Country roads are dotted with sugar camps, and the rising smoke from the fire and steam from the syrup are dead giveaways to their locations.

You have to keep a constant eye on how much sap is in the pan. It will burn easily if it gets too low. But it can be difficult to see the sap through the steam! 

Momentarily, the air will shift, and you can once again see it boiling underneath the steam. 

The sap starts out looking like water, but by the time it's close to finished, it takes on the beautiful amber hues we know as syrup, and the sweet smell fills the air.

After several days of collecting sap from the trees and boiling it down, they ended up with 7 gallons of pure maple syrup for their own use. They aren't selling it commercially at this point. That would involve big (expensive!) changes to their operation. For now, they just enjoy making it the same way generations of folks did before them. 

And now, pass the pancakes! 

The Best Easter Egg Hunt

 Somehow, I missed blogging the whole month of March and most of February. Oops! Hopefully, I get a chance to circle back to that.

We've had a nice Easter weekend. Since discovering one of our favorite state parks, we have a new tradition that is so much fun: the Easter Egg Hunt at New Germany State Park just outside Grantsville, MD. 

They hide 5000 eggs on 10 miles of trails. So much fun seeing so many families out on the trails, carrying bags or baskets, hunting for the eggs. 

Our first year. We found out the hard way that it pays to get there early. We walked. And walked. And walked. Where were the eggs? We quickly realized that the eggs closest to the lake house get picked up first. Folks are very friendly and helpful on the trails, and many told us to that there were lots of eggs still on the higher trails. So up the hills we climbed, and sure enough. the eggs were still plentiful there. The kids loved it! We all looked forward to going again the next year. 

Unfortunately, the Easter Egg hunt turned out to be the same day as the first day of fishing, so John opted for fishing. But Grace didn't let that stop her, she found the eggs all on her own! With a little help from Mimi and Pappy. 

And the next year? Same!

But this year John decided to join us again. (though they did go fishing in the afternoon)

That Easter Bunny sure got tricky this year! In the past, the eggs were always right along the trail, within a couple feet. This year, most of the eggs we found were 10 feet or so off the trail, and extremely well hidden. Maybe TOO well hidden. 

It took a lot of hiking, but we finally found the 25-egg limit. And then we found more that we picked up and moved closer to the trail, because there were still lots of families coming through, and it can be frustrating to walk and walk and walk and not find any, especially for the younger kids. 

Several rangers help hide the eggs, along with some volunteers. We suspect that some of the volunteers may have gotten carried away this time. But nonetheless, we had a great time and look forward to going again next year. I bet once our grandkids outgrow wanting to hunt them, they will be happy to volunteer to help hide them for others to enjoy. I'm not sure if they had more fun this year finding eggs, or re-hiding some for others to find. 

As for the rest of the weekend, we spent some time helping Kevin and Katie with spring greenhouse and planting related chores and had a fun Easter meal with them on Saturday evening. 

Sunday morning, we attended both a sunrise and regular church service, where we once again were reminded of the sacrifice and love that Jesus has for us. So much more than we deserve! 

We chatted with Jessica on the phone, and she mentioned a movie she and Brian had gone to and really enjoyed. The last couple of years, George and I have spent Easter afternoon exploring the Laurel Highlands, but the beautiful summer like weather we had yesterday turned into a cold and rainy day today. So, we decided to spend it in comfy theater seats instead. 

Song Sung Blue on Christmas Day. Project Hail Mary on Easter Day. 

We seldom go to the movies, then 2 within a few months. On holidays.

Who have we become? Ha!

From Lasagna Snow to Minor Flooding

January and early February were a blend of snow, extreme cold day after day after day, furnace problems and the most challenging: insurance problems that held up George's medicine he has to have. A very stressful few weeks. 

The amount of drifted snow that gets pushed of the roads in the Laurel Highlands of PA is impressive! This is a mile or so past our son's farm, in one of the areas they call "the flats", where the winds continuously blow the snow across large fields This is several weeks' worth of pushed back snow. The plow drivers are very skilled at pushing the first snows way back from the road, ensuring there will be room for more snow to come. 

As beautiful as the snow was, it was very difficult to get around in. I called it lasagna snow, because it ended up as layers of snow, ice, snow, ice. This is our field below the house beside the river. We tried a couple walks there, but each step was a struggle of breaking through the ice. You would be on top of the snow for a couple seconds, then bam, break through. Pull your foot out, take another step, break though again. It was exhausting! 

It finally started a nice slow melt, and the frozen river thawed nicely, without any ice jams that we could see from our house. 

Then it rained. Hard. Thunder. Lightning. The whole shebang. 

Just minor flooding, but enough to block our access to the field. This is where we normally drive across. 

Not walking across the pond on the walking bridge either! 

 

By this morning, the flood was gone, and the pond and the river in the distance were no longer one body of water. 

And in a few places, the grass was turning quite green (for February)! 

It was soooo nice to be able to get outside for a couple of days and enjoy the warmer temps and even some sunshine. There were actually a couple more nice days that we didn't get to enjoy because we both picked up a nasty stomach bug earlier in the week. No fun. No fun at all.

Anyway, back to the weather. I stayed out today until I couldn't see any more in the darkness. Why?

Because we under a winter storm warning starting at 1:00 AM. Noooo!!!!!!!

Predictions are everywhere from 2 inches to 10 inches. Here's hoping for the lower amounts!

(Although the last few snows were too cold and icy for sled riding. Maybe this one will be just right!)

Ceiling Tile Trash to Treasure

George and I met up with Jessica one day last summer to check out some antique shops in Frederick, MD. It felt so strange to us to be out antiquing for the day, without looking for stuff for the store. Usually those days would end with us bringing back a truckload.

Instead, I bought one thing...

I fell in love with this old tin ceiling tile. Though I didn't like the dark dirty parts. 

I knew I wanted to hang it in out bathroom, but before I got the chance, I went to a wonderful local store called Whispering Pines. It's absolutely gorgeous! 

While I was there, I found the 2 embossed flower pictures on each end. Love!!! I had actually admired them last Christmas, but didn't have any place in mind to hang them. But now I do! I couldn't believe how perfectly they went with the ceiling tile. And bonus... they were on sale! 

But now I really felt the need to do away with dark, dirty part. I like the chippy bluish green with gold showing through, but I couldn't figure out how to keep that and get rid of the dark parts.

So, I decided to paint the whole thing. We found a chalk paint that complimented the color of the embossed pictures. It was a chalk paint which I honestly don't really care to use, but it was the best match we could find. 

After painting it, I used a sanding block to lightly distress it. Then I sprayed it with a sealer (and wouldn't you know, I got a couple runs in the spray varnish. Sigh)

But despite the runs, I absolutely love how it came out!!

They fill the wall, which is what I was hoping for. I love the colors, and how the embossing of the floral pics goes so well with the embossing of the ceiling tile. 

I wouldn't normally think of decorating a bathroom with canning jars, but I have several old blue jars, and the color is so similar to the wall grouping that I couldn't resist. 

Patience won out. I waited a couple years before I found what I wanted on that wall space, and once I saw the ceiling tile in that shop, it all snowballed. Yay! 

A New Year Ice Jam

 What a difference a day makes.

I was hoping to go to a state park yesterday for a first day hike to celebrate the New Year. 

But it was SO COLD. Wind chills in the single digits. 

So, I took a quick walk down to the Casselman River instead.

It had been running high and free in recent days with warmer weather.

But this Arctic cold front brought back the snow and BRRRRR IT HURTS YOUR FACE cold. 

It sure was nice to see the sun again, despite the cold.

Today, we looked out the window one direction, and the water was flowing.

But then we looked down river.

Ice jam!!

Here and there, water was running, but most is ice. It was cool that in some places where the ice is thinner, we could see the movement of the water underneath.

Hopefully it will break free soon without flooding. Warmer weather is coming again. It will be interesting to see how the river looks tomorrow. 

George grew up along a creek, so this is nothing new for him, but it is for me, and I find it fascinating to watch the river and all its changes!

Edited to add: I never got back around to posting about what happened after this. The ice did break free, and melted without any flooding, Yay! It didn't last long though. A few days later, the bitter cold came back, more brutal than before. The river froze again, and it snowed. And snowed. And snowed. But more impressive was the long bitter cold snap. Brrr!!!

Our Sleigh is No Longer All That Rough

 It's a bit warmer today...it feels like 4 above instead of negative 1. Heat wave! (so to speak) 

We are currently under a winter storm warning for 4-8 inches of snow along with wind gusts to 45 mph.

 And when is the worst of it supposed to hit? Right around midnight. On New Years Eve. Yikes. We will be staying put right here in the house.

I did go out and sweep off the couple of inches of fluffy snow we picked up last night. And while I was out there, I got a couple better pictures of our sleigh:

For the whole story on the sleigh, it's worth it to read again how we got it. I had told that story here in a post called He Finally Got His Sleigh. 

And how did it look when we bought it at an auction? Like this:

Boy, she was rough.

You can see more pictures of it in the link above.

Sometime later, we actually ran across another sleigh that was in somewhat better shape, and we bought it too, also on the cheap. Between the 2 sleighs, George was able to fab them together to make one pretty decent one. He amazes me! This sleigh was truly a trash to treasure story!

It's not a sleigh to ride in, it might not hold up to that. But we love to set it on the porch every Christmas! 

If you are going out tonight, please be careful, no matter the weather where you live. But especially if you are under a snowstorm. 

Happy New Year! I hope 2026 will be a good one! 

Old Doors at Christmas

 When we had the store, we were always hunting for old doors. A few we sold as is, but we upcycled most of them, by giving them a new life. Some became the back part of potting tables, like this one:

The door part is a little hidden right now, because of the red barn wood piece setting on it. 

Isn't that barn wood pretty? When the barn on George's dad's farm got torn down, we saved a few pieces of the red siding. On this one, I added some artificial pine and berries, plus one of the red cardinals we made from old, corrugated roofing tin. This particular one did not come from the tin from his dad's barn, but many of the earlier pieces we cut from tin did come from there. 

One day, his 80 something year old father stopped in our store for a visit. He looked at some of the pieces we had cut from his roofing tin and shook his head. "George said he wanted to save some of the tin from my barn for craft projects." 

Then he shook his head in bewilderment. 

The whole upcycling thing is something you get, or you don't. And he didn't. But he chuckled and went along with it. 

The base of the planter on the shelf used to be a chicken feeder. I cut a few sprigs from a pine tree and laid them inside it, along with a nest that blew down in a windstorm. 

Anyway, back to the doors:

We made lots of door trees from them too. Boy oh boy, those were A LOT of work! 

They were great sellers, so we kept making them, but George was about ready to pull his hair out a few times! 

We kept these 2 for ourselves. This is a terrible photo of them, but I stepped out on the porch with no coat on, with a real feel temp of -1, so this is as good as it's going to get tonight! lol

I've admired the privacy fences made from old doors for a long time but never had a good spot to put one. Nevertheless, we hung onto a few doors just in case we found a spot.

And we did!

I've really enjoyed decorating these ones for the seasons. 

This is the side we see from our kitchen window.

And this is the back side that our wonderful neighbors see. 

Last year, I had that cart on the right side in the back, filled with pine branches, along with some other decorations. And apparently never took a picture of it.

This year, I didn't decorate the back very much because in the fall, we set the old grain cleaner behind the doors. Next year, we will move it more to the side, and plan to fill it with flowers, along with the flowers that will be planted in the ground around it. 

Speaking of the neighbors, they have the prettiest light display every year! 

The photo doesn't begin to do it justice, but we sure do enjoy it!!

Back to our own place, we put our sleigh on our porch. Again, terrible photo, because as stated above, it feels like -1 out there, and I didn't think to get better pictures in the daylight. 

Maybe tomorrow!