Harvest Monday - 31 March 2014 - Sugar Time (Final)

Welcome to Harvest Monday, brought to you by Daphne's Dandelions.

We did our final collection and boil of maple sap on March 12, and pulled the taps. Really, the season was just getting started, but we were leaving for our annual pilgrimage to beautiful Key West. Here is our total production for this year:

Pretty pathetic, compared to last year. Not even a full quart. But we're grateful for anything given this challenging winter and spring.

Before we left, I had given permission to the local high school's forestry/environmental sciences program to enter our property and tap the trees we weren't using. They tap a number of trees around the town (a few of ours in the past), as well as their own school grounds. The students get to keep some syrup and the school sells the rest.

They set up a dripline from 12 of our trees into this big collection tank:

This is the modern way. Just string 'em together and let gravity do the work. Then just pump the tank into the one in the back of the truck.

When we got back from vacation last Sunday, we found the kids had put up 45 additional taps using the old-school bucket method!

 

Some of the trees look a little too small to be tapped. I'll have to have a word with the instructor.

 

There can't be many tapping days left. Once the trees break bud you get "buddy sap" which has an off-flavor. But they're the experts, so I'm sure they know what they're doing

The school typically pays us back with a pint or so when they just do a few of our trees along the road. I wonder if they're going to be a bit more grateful this year! Just saying.

As the pictures show, the snow is mostly gone now. That does not mean I can do anything in the soil though. It's still frozen solid below the top one inch of moosh. First it has to thaw, then dry out. And the past couple of days have seen torrential rains--maybe helping with thawing but not drying! This is the brook on the adjacent property, which is only a trickle in summer:

 

At this rate, I worry that there won't be enough time to get a good pea crop before the weather gets too hot.

Still, there's some green! Here are my artichoke seedlings, looking pretty good, plus a pot of tiny rosemary seedlings.

Other seeds started now are broccoli (emerged already), eggplants, peppers, parsley, basil, dill, marigold, lettuce, and cumin. Also some perennials. More to come!

Speaking of Key West, I did not know that it's the only place in the continental United States that is Zone 11 (I'm in 5). It would be fun to garden (and live!) there, except for one problem...no soil! But beautiful (salty) water:

 

If you visit Key West, I highly recommend checking out the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden for plant and wildlife viewing. We did, for the first time this year, and really enjoyed it. I can't believe we missed it all the times in the past.



Harvest Monday - 3 March 2014 - Sugar Time, Part 2

The weather this week turned against us in our "small batch" production of maple syrup. Even daytime temperatures were well below freezing. This causes the sap flow to cease. The taps freeze up and plug. Driving around, I see very few taps on other properties. So us amateurs jumped the gun I guess.

We did do a boil of the 3 gallons of sap we got before the weather turned. Last year we did all boiling on the kitchen stove, which worked, but takes a long time, and generates huge amounts of steam. Ideally you would use a commercial evaporator that has a large surface area. But the cost of this is prohibitive for small-scale operations like ours. So we  bought a 100% redneck-approved propane-fired turkey fryer for this use.

It has a 36 quart kettle, and the burner really pumps out the BTUs. We do this outside for safety.

When the liquid has reduced enough to fit into a saucepan, we transfer the operation back inside to the gas stove, as it is easier to finesse the temperature for the final reduction. You want to bring it just to the boiling point of water (at your elevation), stirring frequently. If it gets any hotter it will start to crystallize. A candy thermometer is essential for this.

So we got just a half-pint out of this run. Here it is, on the right, compared to what is left from our last year's production (it stores fine in the fridge).

This year's is much darker in color; I really don't know why. Maybe the more-rapid boiling makes a difference.

And looking out, the weather pattern does not look very favorable. We won't have any days above freezing until March 6, and even then, not much above. Hopefully we accumulate enough sap to have another boil before we have to stop and pull the taps in mid-March, as we have a schedule conflict. The commercial producers will probably just be getting started then.

I hope there aren't fewer pancake breakfasts in the forecast!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Daphne.

Harvest Monday - 24 February 2014 - Sugar Time!

Welcome to Harvest Monday, brought to you by Daphne's Dandelions.

This post may be drearily redundant to those familiar with the process, but for those who aren't, here is how we obtain pure delicious maple syrup from our own mini "sugar bush."

From a Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), the typical ratio is 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. Thus, the sap is quite watery, and it takes a long time to boil down and concentrate the sugars.

Depending on tree size, you can safely have two or more taps per tree without causing the tree any harm. We are comfortable with one tap per tree.

Last year was our first, and we tapped two trees by the barn. We set the taps on Feb. 14, and removed them March 9. Over that time we got roughly 20 gallons of sap, which became 2 quarts of syrup. That is plenty for the two of us for a year. This year we are doing 4 trees for hopefully a shorter amount of time.

On a small scale, the cost of the equipment is very nominal. Per "tap," you need a bucket, a spout (called a "spile"--why they need a different word is beyond me), and a lid. A set costs about $11 and should last a long time.

The sap flows in waves, called "runs." In the late winter, if the days are above 40 degrees F, and the nights below freezing, you get a run. Otherwise the taps just sort of sit there.

This past Wednesday we tapped, as we were expecting 4 days of favorable weather starting the next day.

The first step, if required, is shovel a path to your trees! Lots of snow this year.

Next, choose your spot (healthy wood only, not near a tap from last year) and drill a 5/16" hole 1.5" deep, and slightly angled up. A piece of tape on the bit helps you get the right depth. Helpful hint: make sure your cordless drill is adequately charged!

 

Next, insert the spile. It should push in easily, maybe needing only a bit of encouragement from a rubber mallet.

Next, hang the bucket from the spile.

Next, attach the lid. This helps keep snow, rain, and bits of tree bark or lichen from getting in.

The lids are thin sheet-metal. I've found that attaching a C-clamp helps keep them from flipping up in a wind.

 Now wait for the drip drip drip!

We probably have 2 dozen sugar maples on the property, some of great size, and we could vastly increase production if we wanted to. No plans for that, however.

As I write this, it looks like the "run" will be over for awhile. This run was not a particularly good one (one of the days in the middle was colder than forecasted). We got about 3 gallons of sap--enough to start a boil. I'll show that process in another post.

Harvest Monday - 13 January 2014 - January Thaw!

Welcome to Harvest Monday at Eight Gate Farm, brought to you by Daphne's Dandelions!

While there is considerable debate as to whether it is a real statistical event or not, "January Thaw" has been something I've looked forward to every year since I moved to New England from Santa Barbara, California (wait, what?) o-so-many years ago. One source says it occurs annually around January 12, and right on cue, it arrived this year. Temperatures "soar" into the 40s and even 50s (F) during the day, and the nights might even be above freezing. All right, so it isn't spring, but we'll take it. It is supposed to continue this week, and if it does, there is a good chance the snow might completely melt. Until the next storm, that is.

So we took a trip to the vegetable garden yesterday. The raised beds look like krep, to be honest. They are lumpy from frost heaves, and there is standing water because it can't drain into the soil which is still frozen a few inches down. The paths still have snow.

However, the Brussels Sprouts were exposed, so it was a good time to chop the last of them planted in spring. And in the cold frame, carrots were available for picking. We took a few, enough for dinner. Some were still completely frozen in, and trying to pick them only snapped off the leaves. They won't grow anymore, of course, but we still should be able to dig them out in early spring along with the ones we left untouched. Here is what we harvested, laid out in the snow:

This made a nice addition to a delicious supper of Beef Stroganoff.

Yes, we have plenty of carrots and Brussels Sprouts in the freezer we could have used, but it sure is fun to pick and use something, anything, in the garden in January!

If you have a January Thaw in your area, I hope you are enjoying it! Sadly, winter is far from over.

Harvest Monday - Seriously! - 30 December 2013

A Sunday trip to the garden proved fruitful! After breaking through the crusty snow, of course.

 

Now that's a cold-frame!

 

Inside, carrots are looking pretty good! They even seem to be growing a little, though the soil is now frozen around them, too frozen to pick. Might as well leave them for a month or too and see what happens.

 

 

The kale looks no better nor worse than it did before winter. Maybe it will put on a growth spurt in spring.

 

But aha! Brussels sprouts can be harvested! They look a little raggedy where they were above the snow, but under, nice baby sprouts.

 

 

So we get something fresh for our supper. The sprouts were sauteed with our storage onions. The meat is beautiful, tender venison steaks which I "harvested" in November. The Kitchen Goddess soaked them in milk for half a day, then marinated them with our own dried herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage), chive-flower vinegar (the idea for which was provided by Daphne), and olive oil. The starch was saffron risotto. Complementing the repast was a lovely organic Cabernet Sauvingnon from a wonderful family-run, all-organic winery, Yorkville Cellars, in beautiful Anderson Valley, California. Delicious!!

 

As proud as I am of it, I won't show you the nice buck I got, to spare the feelings of those who might be opposed to hunting.

 

More shots of the garden as it looks now.

 

The raised beds look like graves.

 

I told you I like the way corn stubble looks in the snow.

 

Almost time to prune the blueberries.

 

So it goes to show us cold climate gardeners can get a winter treat now and then.

 

Happy New Year to the Daphne's Dandelions community!

 

Harvest Monday - 23 December 2013

No harvests, but...

Happy Festivus!* to the Daphne's Dandelions community, from Will (The Gentleman Fahmah) and Diana (The Kitchen Goddess) at Eight Gate Farm!

 

*The holiday for the rest of us! (Thank you Seinfeld)

 

It's the time of year

when all the spicy farmer porn appears.

(a holiday poem).

 

I really liked Daphne telling us what seeds she is buying, and why. Continuing that theme, here are my purchases for the coming season. I'm trying to keep it to two sources this year, with the largest order from Fedco. I like the company, and the free shipping on seeds if you order $30. But I'm not happy with the fact that you have to order cover crops and tubers/onions from 2 other Fedco web sites, and the shipping is high. But the prices themselves are low, so take your choice. 

 



Plant	Variety	Source	Remarks	Cost
Artichoke	Imperial Star	Fedco	Hoping by planting in better soil we finally will get a ‘choke or two	$1.50 (~10 seeds)
Broccoli	Arcadia Hybrid	Fedco	Supposed to not mind a little heat	$1.80 (0.5 g)
	Fiesta Hybrid	Fedco	Everyone says this one is productive	$2.50 (0.2 g)
Brussels Sprouts	Gustus Hybrid	Fedco	We loved “Franklin” but only have a few seeds left, and don’t want to reorder just one item from the source	$2.50 (0.5 g)
Carrot	Mokum Hybrid	Fedco	Had good productivity from “Danvers,” but The Kitchen Goddess wants something sweeter	$1.90 (1.0 g)
Corn	Espresso	Fedco	Bicolor, early	$2.60 (2 oz.)
	Honey Select	Fedco	Yellow, midseason	$2.50 (2 oz.)
Cover Crop	Bell Bean	Fedco	Trying green manure for the first time. Wanted something with good early spring growth	$8.00 (2.5 lb.)
Cucumber, Pickling	Cross Country Hybrid	Fedco	Looking for a replacement for “Double Yield” which did not do well for us	$1.50 (1/16 oz.)
Cucumber, Slicing	Diva	Totally Tomatoes	The Kitchen Goddess’s favorite	$2.25 (20 seeds)
Eggplant	Galine Hybrid	Fedco	Black, bell-shaped, early	$1.70 (0.2 g)
	Rosita	Fedco	Pear-shaped, pink-lavender, heirloom	$1.60 (0.2 g)
Onion (set)	Stuttgarter	Fedco	These have done well for us	$8.50 (1 lb.)
Pea, Snap	Sugarsnap	Fedco	We grew Sugar Daddy but it had too many off-types	$2.00 (2 oz.)
Pea, Snow	Blizzard	Fedco	Looking for a replacement for “Avalanche” which did well, but I don’t want to reorder just one item from  the source	$2.50 (2 oz.)
Pepper, Hot	Big Bomb Hybrid	Totally Tomatoes	Supposed to be faster and larger than “Cherry Bomb,” which we traditionally grow	$3.25 (20 seeds)
Pepper, Sweet	Chocolate	Fedco	Saw them in my “cousin’s” garden; looked great	$1.80 (0.2 g)
Potato	Kennebec	Fedco	First time growing potatoes. I figure if it does well in Maine it will do well in NH	$9.25 (2.5 lb)
Pumpkin	Cheese	Fedco	Hoping that if I grow only C. moschata varieties I will beat back SVB	$1.40 (1/8 oz.)
Radish	Watermelon	Totally Tomatoes	Just for something different!	$1.95 (250 seeds)
Tomato, Paste	Incas Hybrid F1	Totally Tomatoes	Large, productive, did well for us last year	$2.95 (15 seeds)
Squash, Winter	Burpee’s Butterbush	Fedco	Another C. moschata, to complement Waltham	$1.80 (1/8 oz.)

Harvest Monday - 25 November 2013

Awoke Sunday morning to wind, bitter cold, and the first snowfall of the season, albeit just a dusting.

I must have known something was up, as the previous day I worked (and froze) in the garden to put the finishing touches on winter-bedtime. We also picked the fall carrots that were outside the coldframe. Not very impressive, but it is a harvest, and they will be excellent in The Kitchen Goddess's mirepoix for the Thanksgiving turkey, just a few days away!

 

And now, in the spirit of Harvest Monday where it's not just what you pick, but how you use it, I will show you how we finished processing the apples picked in September.

 

In my post of 30 September, I showed how we crushed and pressed 5 bushels of our apples, and put the cider into fermenting buckets. About a week or two after that, we siphoned the buckets into glass carboys for secondary fermentation. Today, it was time to bottle!

 

Here is what the fermented cider looks like:

 

First thing is to wash and sanitize the bottles. A clean dishwasher makes a handy rack for draining them. We use longneck beer bottles--the best kind of recycling! No screw-tops of course.

 

All your other equipment has to be cleaned and sanitized too, even the bottlecaps. Then prepare some priming mixture. This is just brown sugar in water, heated to a boil. This is what will give the cider its sparkle, as it slightly reactivates the small amount of yeast left, whose sediment you can see at the bottom of the carboys above.

 

Then siphon the cider from the carboy to the bottling bucket (just a primary fermenter with a spigot).

 

Then, it's just a matter of filling the bottles: 

 

And capping them!

Of course, you can label them for fun. This is the second year of our "Chucky" label, this year commemorating the maurading woodchuck who met his demise. The first year's label (still a few bottles left) is in the center, flanked by this year's.

 

We also bottled our plum wine (plums from a friend's tree), and the small amount of wine we got from our wretched grape harvest. All told, 3+ liters of plum wine, 1+ liter of grape wine (note the classy name--"Black Rot Wine"), and 98 bottles of hard cider. Here it is on parade:

Now it all has to age. Last year the cider did not mature and develop carbonation for a number of months, but when it did, it was outstanding (it was pretty good to start with). We have high hopes for this year.

If you ever want to make your own hard cider, either with your own apples, or with apples or soft cider you purchase, here is a great concise article from Mother Earth News.

With that, I wish the Daphne's Dandelions community Happy Thanksgiving! Even if you're not from the U.S.!