Our 14 taps produced more than 20 gallons of sap in the last 24 hours and we're struggling to find enough five-gallon pails to hold sap for processing. We've covered the stove with seven pots that progressively concentrate maple sugar. To avoid losing a large batch by accidentally burning syrup to carbon (it's happened!), we try and store each day's yield of finished maple syrup that boils at 104C in quart canning jars. It's not that hard to keep from adding new sap to yesterday's ever more yellow concentrate and routinely consolidating the finishing syrup, see photo below.
 |
| Wood-burning Cook Stove with Seven Pots Boiling Sap to Syrup |
Fish That Die Feed Other Animals
Fish that die from natural causes become food for a variety of animals. I wondered what sort of animals were rooting around the piles of small dead fish that accumulated near the outlet of the pond so I set up a trail camera that automatically takes photos of anything within its view that moves. Many crows have visited the fish sushi bar along with a single turkey vulture. I was hoping to see some mammals - but so far: none.
 |
| Two Crows Eating Fish |
 |
| Turkey Vulture Snacking on Dead Sunfish |
No comments:
Post a Comment