Boiling Down the Sap

I had collected nearly 4 gallons of sap over the past 2 weeks, so I decided to boil down the sap to syrup. For this I broke out a new toy that I bought last month: the Bayou Classic Propane Burner. I bought this for 2 reason, making syrup and making beer.
Compared to last years very slow boil down on the grill, this thin was Awesome! I was able to get from 4 gallons to 1 gallon in about 3 hours and then moved it into the kitchen to boil off the remaining water.
I finished with just under 16 oz which is a good yield. Hopefully we have one more stretch of sap running days before the month is out and I can make a bit more.

Collecting Sap 2010

Today was a beautiful Saturday morning so Miles and I went out and tapped Maple trees to make syrup. Last year we did this for the first time. Now we have a tradition!

Goals for 2010

In the dark days of winter, I do think a lot about my garden goals for the upcoming year. While I have a lot of things I could work on like increasing the garden size, trying new vegetables varieties, and more local food field trips, the main goal I have for this year is being able to complete a Dark Days Challenge next winter.

I wanted to do this this winter, but I knew that I did not preserve nearly enough to make 20 local meals this winter. I did a fair job last year even though I didn't really have a plan, but I know I could do better.

To do this I will need to grow more in the garden, freeze and can more from the CSA, and possibly preserve items from the local farmers market in order to be ready. I will keep these things in mid as I plan my garden next month.

Renewing the CSA

Today I sent in the check for or CSA at Many Hands Organic Farm. Last year was a rough year for growing fruits and vegetables in New England, but considering the weather, they did a nice job giving us a reasonable share each week. I have signed us up for a Summer CSA vegetable and fruit share with pick-up on Wednesdays. The pick-up times and locations changed a bit this year, but I think it will still work out fine for us.

Shares are still available if you you live in Central Mass and are thinking about joining a CSA.

Slacker Blogger Returns... With News Link

So once the snow piled up on the lawn and my preserved vegetables were gone from the freezer, I stopped having a lot to blog about. I have not lost my interest in local food and environmental issues, I just stopped posting. I did decide that it was time to kick off my 2010 year with a post about Lawns. Today, I read this yahoo story about how green lawns may be contributing to global warming. To me, this is not really news and, in fact, more incentive to rip out my whole lawn and plant a bigger organic garden. It did make me wonder: are people unaware that maintaining a green lawn is not environmentally friendly?

Fortunately, I will not need to change my lawn care practices to be more "green," much to the chagrin of my neighbors.

Local Beer Field Trip: Wachusett Brewery

It being a Wednesday of Vacation week, I decided to take a short drive to Wachusett Brewery in Westminster. My buddy Ray met me and we took the short tour and enjoyed the standard free samples that come with the tour.
We go to see where they make the beer. They are a craft brewery so they only use grains, hops, water and yeast.
It thaks them about 2 weeks to go from grain to beer. We got to see the large tanks where the beer ferments and is stored befor being carbonated. All of their beers are ales.

We also got to see where they bottle and fill their kegs. Impressive to see them fill a full barrel of beer in just 1 minute!

Christmas Day Meal: Local Beef

It may look like a mess, but Christmas Day we had a delicious Chateau Briand. I got a whole beef tenderloin from Blood Farm in Groton and it was smothered with a mix of onions and mushrooms sauteed in butter. The cut I got from Blood farm was more than 6 pounds and after trimming, we had more than 5 pounds of roast and were able to get steak tips from the scraps.

To prepare the beef it was baked at 500 for 25 minutes to brown it. Then it was rested for an hour, sliced into 1 inch thich slices and then baked again for 25 minutes at 375 (20 minutes would have been medium/medium rare).

It was served with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and rolls. It was Delicious.