I’m still rambling on about sap and syrup; it is what maple syrup makers do in March. The 2024 maple syrup season has been extremely odd. There was much angst in early February about whether it was too early to tap, even though the temperatures were good and the sap was flowing. I tapped almost a month earlier than normal and I’ve collected a reasonable amount of sap already. I have over 3 gallons of sweet syrup already in jars, and another 3 gallons ready to finish and bottle. Temperatures over 70 degrees this last weekend seemed like they were going to shut down the syrup season as quickly as it started, but now our forecast indicates we might get a bit more season. It has been sweet, but I may be ready to be done before the trees are.
One of the sweetest parts of our season was the free maple syrup demonstration event that we did this last weekend. We are just starting to get the word out about what we’re up to here at Iowisota. The priority goals that Dennis and I have for this venture are to steward the resource, share the resource, and share information that can help others to better steward the resources they’ve been entrusted with. We didn’t have huge numbers of people at the event, but we truly enjoyed the guests who came. We were able to share a fun experience and share information about not only maple syrup production but also tree identification, forest management, and history of the land. Oddly enough, we get a lot of joy out of talking about trees! We learned a lot about what worked (and didn’t work) in our registration systems and publicity. We look forward to doing a maple syrup event again next year, and we have more ideas about what types of programs and events we can offer here throughout the year. It was inspiring.
Another very sweet thing today was the murmur of rain on the metal roof of the house. I am a bit of a worrier. It is so odd for Northeast Iowa forests to be crispy dry in early March, and I worry about drought; I worry about the health of the trees. But today rain came, and I loved the sound of its soft song on the roof. I hope to hear it again often this Spring.
Soon I’ll stop talking about sap, and I’ll be rambling on about all the wild things I’m finding to eat in the woods. I did happen to notice some stinging nettle shoots poking up from the ground this afternoon... But that’s a topic for another day!
A comment about the syrup picture... The series of bottles of syrup are different colors because they are from different times in the same season. The first syrup of the season is usually lighter in color and has a more "vanilla" flavor. The later syrup is usually darker and has a more "maple" flavor. It is because of changes in chemical compounds (flavors) that the tree puts into the sap, and also because of the microbes that start to grow in the sap later in the season (when it is warmer). It's all good stuff!