Tapping Maple Trees!

We have a new and very addicting hobby.....

This year we finally tapped our trees.We put out 36 taps and so far, we have boiled down 360 gallons of sap from those taps! We have made over 9 gallons of syrup! I am so thrilled for many reasons but the biggest two are:

1. We have our *own* source,off of our *own* property of healthy,WHOLE, sugar!

2. It is SOOOO much fun! From start to finish it is absolutely fascinating.....

The buckets hanging on the trees and hearing the drip,drip,drip......The taste of the clear,sweet sap......The smell of the steam as the sap boils down and starts to become concentrated......
Tasting.....Finishing off the syrup....Watching the golden syrup pour of of the ladle and waiting to see the "apron" which lets me know it is done......Filling my jars....Letting the children lick all of the bowls,spoons,funnels......Putting my cooled jars of syrup away.....Pancakes with maple syrup that we made ourself!.....Making maple cream,sugar,candy and butter! I plan on posting recipes/methods for all of the things I have tried.....I am amazed at how many delicious things you can make out of just 100% maple syrup! This is a dream come true of mine!

Peanut butter

A year or so ago I stopped buying the "junk" peanut butter and determined to keep it up...Since then I have been only buying REAL peanut butter....Well,It takes some getting use to but we like it.......HOWEVER.....I made something really wonderful recently!! Peanut butter "Spread" that tastes SO much like junk stuff but is healthy! I was thrilled.....We all loved it and I could actually eat it for dessert......

Peanut butter spread.......

1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 TB maple syrup
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla

Melt the peanut butter,butter and coconut oil together on very low heat.When combined,add everything else and beat/whisk until smooth.Pour into container and refrigerate!

Delicious!!!!!!!