Ashland Speaks

By Lula Anderson

Spring has definitely sprung! Every day different weather, sometimes, every hour different. My yard was covered with robins last week, and my crocus has finally started blooming. I have one pansy from last year blooming, and my snowdrops are in full bloom. Watching the bird feeder, I have seen the return of wrens along with the black birds, including the red winged variety. It's spring-cleaning time, Open the windows during the nice days, air out the house after the long, cold winter. I go outside and see all the damage the winds have done, and each day clean up something. It feels so good to be moving around again.

As in the past few years, the burn ban is in effect from March 15 through May 15. Although it seems that we have had plenty of rain/snow this year, the top layer is dry due to the winds, making conditions ripe for fires. A single spark from your outdoor fire can burn acres of land. Is it really worth it? Leaves and branches should be composted to enrich the soil, and papers shredded or recycled. Please think of others before you light that (illegal) fire. One of the fires on Long Island was started by a family making s'mores in their backyard.

We have less than a month to get your taxes in. This year Community Action of Greene County is coming to Prattsville to help several families do their taxes. There is free help available if you reach out. Community Action is always a good place to begin.

We welcome Scott Zielono and Jennifer McKeon to the Mountain Top as the new owners of Decker Funeral Home. John Gulino will be working with them to ensure a smooth transition. We are glad that they are keeping the name and personal service that we have long had. John and Jennifer spoke at our last WAJPL meeting, and put many minds at ease. Jennifer said to feel free to make an appointment with them if you have any questions on existing accounts with them, or to talk.

Thanks to all who sent cards and called me wishing me well. I'm improving every day, and am so glad I got to recuperate at home. With Johanna next door, I have had several visitors from people who had time to wait until their hair appointment and wanted to say "Hello".

Snow Birds call and check in regularly during the winter, but they're not ready to come home just yet after checking on weather conditions. Jack Gates and his daughter have been spending time with me. Good to see him again.

Prayers and get well wishes to Janice Maben and Dot Giordano. Sympathy to the family of Lois Hunt.

AS I REMEMBER IT

We're in the middle of our annual Maple Syrup Festivals. All over, organizations are holding pancake breakfasts with real maple syrup. Sugar Houses are opening to let the public see how sap turns into syrup. Of course we all have to go home with at least one bottle of that liquid gold. I had a conversation not too long ago about tapping trees. First question asked, how do you know when to tap trees? Anyone who grew up here knows the right weather conditions. Sunny days over 34 degrees, and below freezing nights. A west wind is okay, but a southern wind will not make sap run. What month do you tap? Whenever the conditions permit. Some farmers only tapped during the full moon, others during new moon phase. Is snow bad for syrup production? Not really, as it keeps the roots of the trees insulated making the sap search for the warmth.

Back when I was young, the farmers hoped for a snowy spring as they could use sledges to harvest the sap. Horses would be hitched up and the broad sledge would be drawn from tree to tree in the bush. First step is to drill the hole and insert spiel, hang the bucket and cover and go on to the next. Question: How long does it take for the sap to start running into the bucket? Hopefully, while drilling, the sap is washing the wood shavings from the hole so when the bucket is hung, it already starts filling. Every morning we'd go out and remove the ice from the buckets. Sap takes longer to freeze, so the ice was water. The remaining liquid would be emptied into a large vat, and on to the next. Horses were perfect for the job as they didn't need a road to travel on. If the sled fit, they'd go through. Back to the sap house and the sap would be put into another large vat which fed into the evaporator. We all had wood fired arches at the time, so someone had to be around to feed the fire, and check when the boiled liquid was ready to be released from the first arch into the second and so on until the hot liquid reached syrup stage. Some farmers used the drop of syrup into cold water method, some used the cold spoon method, where a cold spoon would be put in, and you could feel when it felt like syrup, but a candy thermometer was the best choice. The crucial stage was at the very end when a few minutes could take it from watery syrup to sugar, or worse burnt.

I don't know who came up with the idea of connecting the trees to plastic tubing which led the sap to one large collection barrel. Mad collecting sap so much easier, until the squirrels chewed a hole in the tubing. Reverse osmosis took the majority of the water out of the sap, shortening the cookoff time. When you're dealing with hundreds of gallons of sap, it was quite a welcome addition. When you think that it takes an average of 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup, that's quite a timesaver.

Very few people still use wood fired arches to boil anymore, but I, for one, miss the mornings when you'd go around and see the steam pouring out of the old wooden sap houses lining the roads. It really was down time for the farmer, as he, and his crew, got to sit around watching the sap boil and feeding the fire. Few farm chores are quite so relaxing.

So, go out to a farm, buy a gallon of real maple syrup, and enjoy the history.