Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Making Syrup


 The last two years we have been tapping a few box elder trees in our yard and making syrup.  We just use a couple food grade 5 gallon buckets to collect the sap, with plastic tube connectors as taps.

It is amazing how much fluid moves up and down the tree trunks.  Then we just boil off the liquid in a turkey cooker.  We go through a tank of propane to get a quart of syrup, so not the most cost-efficient way of doing it...  But it is still fun.

Once it is boiled off most of the way, we take it inside and finish it off on the stove-top.  You have to boil the syrup until it boil at 7 deg F above the boiling point of water.


Wednesday, March 11, 2015

My former place of employ



http://lm-eagan-pictures.blogspot.com/

Thanks Tim for setting up this site and going out and taking pictures.  It was a good place to work and I was sad when it closed.  Seems like such a waste.

I have been at Trane for 4 years now (how is that possible!), the closing didn't really affect me negatively, though you never know.  I do miss my short commute, and working on airplanes.