This year Mommy has been trying to get pictures of hummingbirds. She has been busy when they are out so she is having a hard time getting some.
Today she let me use her camera and I got a few pictures.
We have hummingbird feeders in the backyard so I just sat on a chair with the camera and a book and got pictures when I saw a hummingbird.
H
ere is what Luminara looks like after her first (and probably last) bath.
Today, our neighbor was at home. She heard the dogs going crazy! She went outside to see what was going on and she saw one of the alpacas having her crea! The mom was TIRED so she lay down and our neighbor came over and had to help a little bit.
Then she called us and I ran over. I got there and our neighbor said she called the vet because the crea was looking redder than the other ones. When Momma and the other kids got there we brought the crea and her momma in. She was bigger than the other ones. She is slightly smaller than Wicket who is a month old now! We checked her out as well as we knew how. She looked mostly okay to us.
The vet came and she checked the crea and the mom out and said they were fine.
I was slightly disappointed that I missed the birth, but was very excited to see such a young one.
Andrea got to name the crea, her name is Luminara.
Today we went to check the alpacas. We discovered a little crea that was still wet!!! :) We think that he was finishing being born as we were going to check!
The crea is a boy and his name is Wicket he is 17 pounds. Wicket looks like a small black giraffe!
In a little bit, I get to check to make sure everything is okay. School today was more fun than usual! (And Momma said I probably learned more than normal!)
P.S. Mom said this was great science for today!
The other day Mommy let me take some pictures of the alpacas. I hope you enjoy my favorites.
Today Mommy, Megan and I went to the park to get pictures. When we got to the park we saw a BUNCH of deer, but getting out of the car scared them. After walking a little while we saw more!! After getting a few pictures they moved a little way so we moved too. Megan was happy so she was cooing. The deer did not know what she was so they got closer and we got a bunch of good pictures.
We also got bird pictures, we were in a spot where a owl lives, unfortunately, we did not see him. Mommy said she probably would not know an owl if she saw one. I said if it opened its eyes she would be very surprised. Just then two robins started fighting near us and surprised her!
I think it would be fun to do this again!
The other day we made maple sugar. Daddy did it because the syrup gets very very hot, up to 300 °F! We boiled it in a large pot because it some times boils over. We skim off the foam every so often. When the bubbles get small we know it is almost done so we watch better.
When it gets to 290°F, Daddy takes the sugar off the heat and stirs until his arm gets tired then he lets one of us stir. We stir until the moisture is gone and then we have sugar. We grind it small in a blender if needed or eat as candy.
It takes a lot of syrup to make sugar. We used three quarts of syrup (which is about 30 gallons of sap) to make 1859 grams (1.8 kg) of sugar.
Answers on the bottom
When you make maple sugar don’t forget to make maple butter. To make make maple butter, you boil the syrup to 230 degrees F. It will take a loooooooong time. When it gets there you cool to 75 degrees F. or under then you whip and you whip and you whip until you get tired. Then you give it to a sibling, and they whip and they whip and they whip and they whip until they get tired then they give it to someone else…
You do that until the butter looks like peanut butter then you spread it on bread (or don’t bother) and enjoy! 🙂
Today we are boiling down sap again.
It is fun and it counts as school:
This time some of the sap froze and it looked neat!
We will boil all day so we will be outside all day :)Â Good sap looks like water (or water with ice in it). If it gets cloudy or yellowish, throw it out because it is going bad.
Momma and Daddy will finish boiling it inside later. When the “suap” (syrup/sap) gets “fish eyes” it is almost done!
They will let it settle overnight so the sugar sand settles to the bottom and we can strain it easier. Then they will pour it into sterilized jars to enjoy all year!
We got almost a gallon of syrup the first time we boiled this year! We are not sure if we will make more syrup or sugar this time. We need lots of both.
The reason we started collecting sap already, is because the temperature warms up at day time and freezes at night. Unfortunately, the temperature is staying low so we are not getting as much sap. Â Once buds get on the tree the sap tastes woodsy. The best kind of maple tree is Sugar Maple because it has the highest sugar content. So you do not need to boil as long to get syrup.
We have thirteen gallons of sap so far. We only have enough storage for fifteen gallons, so we are trying to collect some large 2-5 gallon food buckets (with lids) that we can have free. Milk jugs work, but the large buckets work better. If you know of a place to get some (or collect them for me) I would really appreciate it!
Thanks! 🙂
                                                                                    