Happy Earth Day to you all.  I wonder how many people realized it was Earth Day today?  My daughters said there was no mention of it at all in their high school.  When we called the grandparents today and wished them “Happy Earth Day”  they thought we said “happy birthday” (very confusing since they are no where near their birthdays).

Earth Day, in this very crucial time, has largely come and gone with very little fanfare.  It’s not that we haven’t tried, but there’s not much excitement about Earth Day.  Maybe we need to give presents or have parades to make a bigger noise and have this day be noticed. 

Actually, not having the usual hooplah on this day is very appropriate.  After all, what is Earth Day about?  It’s a day to stop and think about what we are doing to help keep our Earth home safe, healthy, and happy.  No matter what a person’s opinion about global warming, he’d have to be pretty stubborn not to admit that in order to survive here on Earth, we need clean air, clean water, and healthy soil.  That’s really the whole idea in a nutshell.

Jill Palermo and her mom Judy have come up with a great idea to help us keep focused on the daily things we need to do to keep our Earth healthy.  With the “We Add Up” campaign, you can pledge to make a difference in your own unique way and be a part of a growing number of people who want to improve our planet. 

So this earth day, give a present if you like, have a little parade around your neighborhood, and live like what you do can make a difference.  It can.

Deb

Well, I did say I would come back and finish the tale of our maple syrup making.  We had a wonderful year for our small family operation.  We made 5 gallons of syrup, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s enough for our family to use with some left over to give away.

Here’s how we finish the project.  Once the sap is running, we pour the buckets into clean plastic garbage cans.  These are wash prior to using with a non-toxic cleaner and of course rinsed well. 

Then the sap is poured into a stainless steel pan and boiled over a wood fire for hours.  It takes 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  Once the sap is cooked down outside, we pour it through wool felt and paper filters.  It’s then brought inside to finish to the final syrup stage. 

We can the syrup in canning jars and we’re done.

You might ask why we go to all this trouble to make just 5 gallons of syrup.  The whole process is something that connects us to our land and to each other.  While we love maple syrup, we could buy it in a store.  Somehow, producing your own food makes it more precious.  And we will always cherish the memories of syrup making with the many people we’ve shared this with.  It just makes the syrup that much sweeter.