Well, all that got forgiven when she blessed us with glorious weather in the 70s for a few days and made it go away.
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
There are still a few pesky mounds scattered here and there, but those should all be history by the end of the week.
Unless, of course, she goes off her meds again and throws us another zinger. Which is entirely possible.
This is Wisconsin after all.
I am happy to announce that the 2013 Sugarbush was a complete success!
Not only was it a success, it was a banner year for sap collection with over 100 gallons collected from our taps. We set out 18 this year on new trees, and 14 of them ran like gangbusters. Not sure what the deal was with the other four…
This last weekend we boiled down 50 gallons in one day, and let me tell you we are beat, tired and sore.
When I tell people that making maple syrup is more of a waiting game, it is a partial truth.
Lots of wood has to be chopped, and unfortunately Rick gets stuck with that detail. In an ironic sort of way, most of the wood we used came from an old maple that we used to tap that perished last year.
Before we can even get started boiling, there has to be a good base fire going to get the pan nice and hot. This is always a test of patience (which I personally have an issue with, but I’m working on it) and will eat up the first hour of the day.
But while that is going there is always other prep that has to be done, like hauling all the sap to the boil area…
And getting it strained for the first time.
When we have the first 25 gallons in the pans, the waiting game really gets going.
Which entails checking the fire every half hour to make sure it’s going hot enough to boil the sap down. My thighs got a huge workout from all the squatting.
Since the weather is turning warmer (YAY!! ) it signaled the end of sap collection and all the buckets and taps had to be removed from the trees. All that snow we received a week ago was now melting creating a mud pit that we had to walk through to get them all.
What a mess!
But it was well worth the long hours and muscle aches and general exhaustion when we did the math and discovered that our final tally for the season was just shy of 3 gallons. Actually, it was 2 gallons, 3 quarts and half a pint.
I like the “just shy of 3 gallons” total. Just rolls of the tongue a little easier.
While I’ve been pouring over my Mom’s collection of recipes, I’ve also been sifting through cookbooks that I’ve had laying around the house for centuries.
One in particular had a “flag” on a page that at one point in history must have piqued my interest (obviously), and once I looked at it several reasons why became clear:
1. It was simple;
2. It had the word “Cheesecake” in the title; and
3. It had the word “Chocolate” in the title
What wasn’t there to love about it!
Ready?
Here we go!!
Filling:
Muffins:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a bowl combine cream cheese and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Set aside.
In another bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Make a well in center of mixture.
In another bowl combine egg, milk and oil. Pour into flour mixture; stir just until lumpy and moist.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups half full. Add 1 tsp cheese filling; top with remaining batter.
Bake in preheated over for 20 minutes. Dust with icing sugar, if desired.
These muffins turned out moist and delicious!
Naturally, I did a couple things slightly different. Instead of using a regular 12-cup muffin tin, I pulled out my Texas-sized/ginormous 6-cup muffin pan. This only yielded 4 muffins, but it was perfect for a “test” batch. With this size pan I had to cook them a little longer than the 20 minutes called for in the original recipe.
The other tiny difference was I always add my sugar on the top of the muffins before I bake them, that way they settle a little bit into the batter and you have nice sugary crunch when you take a bite.
Overall there wasn’t a single thing I didn’t love about these muffins! There are not overly chocolatey and the cream cheese filling added a nice little decadent factor without stealing the show completely.
Definitely a keeper!!
If it was the beginning of April, yesterdays weather wouldn’t have irked me so much.
But we are past the halfway mark of the month and I’m starting to question Mother Nature’s sense of humor, because obviously this is some kind of sick joke being played on us.
Despite this unfortunate setback to the promise of Spring flowers and garden prepping, we are spending the day boiling another 20 gallons of sap under sunny skies and balmy temperatures in the 40s.
Maybe this isn’t so much a joke but a mood swing.
Edit: Make that 25 gallons of sap (there was stuff in the tree buckets yet).
I don’t like to repeat previous posts, but last year on this day I made an exception and I’m pulling out that card again today.
As everyone knows by now, I have a lot of love and respect for my Mom, and that is why I like to place her front and center every year on my blog, just like she was front and center in my life.
So here ya go, the original post from April 19, 2011.
:::
This time of year is always hard for me.
Not just because I’m so sick of winter that I could puke and crave the warmth of the sun and the fresh spring air.
No, it’s another reason that brings about a lot of memories. I wish that I could say that these were good memories, but they are not. They are reminders of an event that was very painful for me, and others in my family.
You see, 12 years ago today I lost my best friend: my Mom.
This picture was taken when she finished nursing school in the mid-1950s.
As I’m sure you have guessed, today is not the only day that I think about her, but it is one of several days a year that I miss her the most.
When she quietly passed away, she was finally free from the pain that she had endured from Rheumatoid Arthritis for 7 years. For those years, she was unable to do the things that she loved the most: garden and crochet. She had to end her nursing career early on in the disease because her entire body became affected, and at the time there was no medically known way to deal with it. She became a guinea pig to the medical establishment, whose doctors were the best in the world.
I was looking back at some old files on my computer the other day, and found something that I had written around this time 8 years ago.
A real keepsake does not need to be a piece of jewelry or an item that is displayed in a home. I feel that it can be something that a person carries with them in their mind and heart. It has special meaning; a presence. For me, it is my hands. I look at my hands and see my mother, and the gifts that she gave to me.
She taught me that my hands could make meals that would feed my family. They could dig the ground to plant seeds that would grow to can vegetables to store for future meals. They would work the land, feel the dirt and pull the weeds. They would also nurture delicate flowers to blossom and grow; to show beauty.
Her love for playing the piano that she passed down to me with lessons, encouraging me on with her words as my fingers played the notes and listened from the audience as I played in concerts.
The patience and time my mother would take to teach me how to knit and crochet…to create beautiful slippers, potholders, and afghans. The blankets that I make, asking for her guidance as I work each stitch, hoping that they will turn out as beautiful as hers always did.
My hands look older than their 38 years. They have planted many gardens, crocheted blankets for babies and families. Blazed trails and built bridges. Flipped burgers and cleaned tables at restaurants They have wiped tears and nursed cuts. I look at my hands and see a lifetime.
My children often ask me what my mother gave me that I cherish the most.
And I tell them about my mother’s hands.
These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I think about her. There are many other wonderful memories, like how we always used to spend our birthdays together (since they were a day apart) either getting our hair done, going out to eat or meeting up at a casino to gamble (one of her favorites).
One thing I never do is make this a sad day for myself, because there are so many wonderful things that I have in my life because of her. The many things she taught me that I am able to pass down to my children and grandchildren.
I have to tell you I am not a fan of these kinds of posts. I do not like to talk about sad things. So instead of this being something sad, I would like to think of it as the remembrance of a truly remarkable woman and all of the good and happy things that her life represented.
Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.
Phyllis Mary (Papenheim) Larson
October 22, 1935 – April 19, 1999