Blog — Marjorie Farm & Forage

Fancy schmancy maple syrup evaporators cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to buy. And who knows? Maybe someday I’ll go there. But for my first year at this, and only 16(ish) tappable trunks I’ve identified on our property, I was looking for something a little less…committed.

I spent the first few years here thinking we didn’t have any maples at all. Then I learned that birch trees (and others!) can also be used, but we definitely don’t have any of those larger than 12 inches. Last fall, I finally went on a mission to comb the deeper parts of our woods and ended up identifying a good number of red maples and one big honkin’ sugar maple!

As temperatures started to climb above freezing last week, I went back out to the trees I had tied green ribbons around to start tapping. And again, trying to stick to a lean budget, I forwent (forgoed? foregoo?) the more aesthetically pleasing metal buckets in favor of these new hanging bags from TapMyTrees.

And just like that, I was off to the races!

I had read somewhere that I needed to keep the sap cool until I had collected enough to boil down—and to treat the sap like milk, not water. It couldn’t just sit around forever until I had collected gallons and gallons or it could spoil. So even though I only had about five gallons by last weekend, I knew I had to get an evaporation situation going sooner rather than later.

Why evaporate? Well, it takes about 40 gallons of tree sap to make 1 gallon of what we recognize as syrup. When it comes out of the tree it looks pretty much like water. And although I use our trusty indoor wood stove to slowly evaporate sea water all winter to make salt, the amount of time required (and steam created!) from doing a whole batch of syrup inside makes that a not-so-recommended activity.

The Mainers I asked, who have been doing this their entire lives, said “Just build an evaporator out of cinder blocks, of course.” Cheap? Check (cinder blocks are only just over $1 each). Materials? Check (local hardware store). Quick? Check (I put this puppy together in less than an hour). Burns calories on the weekend and pumps up your biceps? Bonus!

Click through for a time lapse video of my build!

I used 18 cinder blocks and some assorted bricks from around the yard. You want the firebox itself to be as insulated as possible, so I poured some sand in the cinder block holes (also cheap at the hardware store). Then, the trick is to try and divert as much of the fire smoke as possible away from the syrup itself so that flavor doesn’t overwhelm the delicate maple.

A couple more cinder blocks at the back, with their convenient holes, make for a perfect chimney of sorts. Make it as tall as you can without getting too wobbly! Once the fire is going, you’ll start to see if there are any cracks or holes where smoke is escaping that it shouldn’t. You can either fill those with more sand or cover with bricks. I opted for the latter as this is only a semi-permanent installation—once all this ice melts I’ll be looking for a slightly flatter area in our yard to make an improved version. I also think I’ll add some more flat stones on top (like the one I have on the left here) all around for a more “finished” look.

But heck, for my first go this turned out pretty well. I had ordered this steam pan from Amazon because I was in a bit of a time crunch, but they’re probably readily available from local cooking and kitchen supply stores. The lip of it rests on top of the cinder blocks, suspending it above the fire. Once I’ve collected more sap, I’ll be adding a second steam pan to the front.

Click through for a brief video “review” of my first maple syrup.

And speaking of collecting enough sap—I was so excited to get started with my first 5 gallons that I just went ahead and started boiling. But remember that 40:1 ratio I mentioned? Yeah, that doesn’t “boil down” to a whole lot when you only start with one bucket full. So even though I was checking it every half hour or so, it ended up going just a teensie bit too long and getting rather…toasty. Tastes a bit like a burned marshmallow.

But hey—it worked! I totally made something sweet out of watery-looking tree sap. And now I know I just have to start with a lot more volume, and keep adding sap to the pan as it boils until I end up with a hearty amount at the right temperature (219 degrees F). Also, I think I may opt to “finish” the syrup on the regular stove inside next time so I can keep a more controlled, watchful eye.

So to recap, that’s:

(18) cinder blocks @ $1.25 each = $22.50
(1) bag of sand = $4
(1) 6-inch steam pan = $33.50
Assorted brick pieces and extra stones (free for any self-respecting country person)

Not bad for $60 total.

And these monkeys? Well, they had a nice fire to warm themselves after running around in the snow all afternoon. And they’re going to grow up thinking this kind of thing is normal. Which pleases me. A lot.

I don’t really remember that much about moving to Maine, other than it was the year my life changed forever. When I was born I lived in Chicago for a little while. It was a nice place that we lived in. I do remember that there was a lot of green. Then we moved here. Now this was a smart option. I love Maine!

I had to clarify what Sam meant by “green” there, because our Rogers Park neighborhood did have a lot of grass, trees, parks, and beach access to Lake Michigan. But no, it turns out he was remembering the color of the walls in our condo. I’m actually surprised he remembers anything at all; we moved to Maine in December 2013, during an ice storm, when he was only one and a half years old.

Looking back at pictures from 10 years ago, all I can think is: Look at how clean everything was! The appliances were shiny. We hosted high tea and cocktail parties. We even had professional cleaners come in once a month.

These days, I feel pretty successful if we can keep the outside detritus confined to the doormat—but more often there’s snow and sunflower seeds on the floor, hay strands on the table, and sand in the corners.

As a wise friend recently commented about farm life: it may be messy, but there’s a lot of love.

Now in Maine there is a lot of meat to eat. We’ve eaten bear, deer, chicken, turkey, squirrel, and lot of other stuff. Oh and moose chili! How did we get the bear? Someone gave the meat to us. So let’s just say mom ordered a new freezer for our garage. Then we got a deer. We also got the head. How many times have you gone to your freezer door and gotten a deer jump scare? Yeah that’s right. None. Cause you don’t live in Maine.

So about chicken. You probably know about one of the times we almost ate some roosters. Right? Turkey? Ooh boy…well, mom tried going turkey hunting a lot of times. None of them were successful. So if you hear mom talking about turkey she “got” just remember: She got them from someone else.

It’s funny that when I asked Sam to write about his life here, meat was the first thing he wanted to talk about. It’s actually only been within the last 2-3 years that we started incorporating a lot of wild food into our diets.

I’m what you call an “adult onset hunter”—although I grew up camping, fishing, and gnawing on sourgrass in our Nashville yard, no one in my family hunted or owned firearms. And although I was fascinated by especially Michael Pollan’s accounts of wild boar hunting, those activities weren’t in our brains when we were considering moving here. Now, I feel fortunate to live in a state that provides so many opportunities and encouragement.

Click through for some thoughts on hunting in general.

That said, trying to break into the scene here as a 40-something female “from away” has been challenging and incredibly frustrating at times. And though I’ve been at it for three years now, as Sam notes above: I haven’t actually shot anything yet. Still, getting to know other hunters and foragers has proven to be a great way to make friends—and fill our bellies with barters and gifts.

Now we go on to a fun meat topic: squirrel. Ya wanna hear our story? One day mom and my sister were outside and I was getting ready to go outside. That’s when I saw that our cat, Max, was trapped in our screened-in porch. So I opened the door to let him in. He went back in and that’s when I noticed he was watching a squirrel outside of the screens. So I closed the door and then I saw a squirrel inside the screened in porch! And if you want to know how the squirrel got in, it’s because he chewed a hole though one of the screens.

Click through for the Instagram post on Shirl the squirrel.

So I went in and crept up to him. Then he started to run around. And that’s when Max came zooming in and tried to get the squirrel. Mom started yelling “What’s going on in there?” She saw what was going on and told me I should try to save the squirrel. So I ran around the porch chasing after Max while the squirrel’s tail was in his mouth. I really wanted to save the squirrel. That’s when I got ahold of Max. But it wasn’t two seconds before he zoomed out of my hands.

Then he actually got the squirrel in his mouth. So he killed the squirrel and walked around the house with her in his mouth while blood was dripping out. I got really sad because squirrels are really cute. So mom got the squirrel from Max’s mouth and put her in a towel so we could hang her skin/fur on my door.

I love that condensed sentence that moves right from putting the squirrel in a towel…to hanging the hide on his door. Nevermind the entire day it took me to skin, flesh, and stretch the hide. Or the following days it took to smoke the hide, part out the meat, and make a stew.

Keep in mind this was a red squirrel—one of the smallest species in North America at only 200-250 grams. But partially to help Sam deal with the guilt of accidentally letting the cat out that killed her, and partially due to my own interest in learning to brain tan hides, I was committed to using every microscopic part.

So…yeah. Let’s just say I’ve come a long way from trimming tea sandwiches and dusting the candelabras that adorned the green walls of our Chicago condo.

So my next topic is seasons. I like each season for different reasons. Winter is probably my second favorite season. I like rolling around in the snow and making snowmen and all that stuff. Spring? Well I like walking around seeing all the plants re-growing.

Now comes my favorite season: Summer. School is out! We have lot of yummy food! We go to summer camp! Every kid should love summer. And then comes fall. Another one of my favorites. Fresh apple cider! Maple syrup! Its definitely a really awesome season.

I had asked Sam to think about how his life here might be different from kids living in big urban environments. His answer above probably could have been written by any kid. But, I do like that we experience climate and seasons in a very immediate, sometimes inescapable way.

For several weeks every summer, we’re humid and slimy and miserable. And during the winter, we spend most of our time crowded into the small living room with the wood stove. But even though we’re not always comfortable, I’m at a spot in my life where I prefer that to consistent climate control.

Things like angle of the sun, direction of the wind, and sudden snow melts all have direct impacts on our lives. That makes me feel less like just an observer, and more like part of the landscape.

Well I have to go now. Hoped you liked this blog! See ya!

P.S. We might be doing some videos and other stuff soon. Oh and probably a little corner for me! Where I talk about video games, books you should get, and lots of other stuff!

And then…there is the inescapable draw of culture and technology. The stuff that all kids are into, no matter where they live or how many squirrels they have hanging on their bedroom doors. I’m glad we get to live in both worlds.