S.A.M (Secret Agent Megan)

It was a normal day at headquarters–that means very loud!!

I decided to get some tea so I walked over to Andrea. Andrea makes very good tea. Because she is very tall I looked up at her with my big blue eyes that she just can’t resist! And I asked “pleeeeese”!  Andrea gave me some tea “yum”!

After the tea I went for a walk. I decided to go to one of my favorite places a tree that was tapped! I wanted a drink so I took the lid off and put the tube in my mouth. That is when I saw that the bucket was empty!

Last time I went to that tree the bucket was full. That means I needed to solve a case! Continue reading S.A.M (Secret Agent Megan)

Maple Sugar

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.

  1. How many pounds is that?
  2. How many pounds will Mommy let me eat?

Answers on the bottom

  1. Continue reading Maple Sugar

Maple Butter

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! 🙂

Syrup time!

Today we are boiling down sap again.

It is fun and it counts as school:

  • Math (6 gal +6 gal + 3 gal +3…)
  • Gym class (run check the sap… …run get wood… )
  • Science
  • History (read books like Little House in the Big Woods)
  • English (If Momma lets me blog about it)
  • Home Ec (learning to cook)
  • Speech (when we have people come over and see what we are doing)
  • Character (Patience!)

This time some of the sap froze and it looked neat!

We will boil all day so we will be outside all day :)  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 MANnequin news

Amateur photographer gets photo of attempted murder!

DR  C.T Dummy was seriously injured when bungee jumping off Banister Cliff last night.

An amateur photographer who was coming to get photos of the bungee jump meet saw it happen. She says; “I was practicing to get some good shots of my favorite jumper, Jumping Jack Nimble, when I noticed the scissors! I yelled for Policeman Boy Blue and he sounded the horn from there.”

Boy Blue says ; “I was trying to get the cows out of the cornfield when I heard  the photographer yell.  I ran over and saw Mr C.T Dummy running away from the scene of the crime. I called  for backup but we could not find him.”

The suspect was last seen on Banister Cliff last night. He is just under 5″ tall, bald and has crash test symbols all over him. If you see him notify authorizes immediately.

DR C.T Dummy will be ok but will be hospitalized for days.

Sap Update

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.   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! 🙂

                                                                                    

Guest Speaker, Adrian

Adrian has had  a loose tooth for a little while.  This morning when I got up he was very exited that his tooth had fallen out! Here is his story on what happed.

Today, my lost tooth came out while I was eating a donut (bagel). I was eating the bagel. I felt a wet tooth, it was my loose tooth. It came out! It didn’t hurt.  It bounced on to the table and then I picked it up. It was my tooth.

I went to the bathroom, opened the door a little bit where Daddy was shaving. I hold out my hand with my tooth on my hand showing Daddy. He was like, “what you doing with your hand out?” Then I showed Momma and then I showed Andrea and Audrey. I showed it to Megan but she did not understand what it was. So I showed her where my loose tooth was. She did not understand still. I showed my tooth first and Mark was wondering what it was. I showed him where my loose tooth was.

Then Momma took a picture of me holding my tooth and showing where my loose tooth was. I am going to put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy!