It's that time again! Everyone around here starts tapping for sap. I love it when I see the sap buckets in bloom. Well... now we seem to have these tubes that weave throughout the woods collecting sap instead of the old-fashioned buckets. Up the hill from my house there is a spider web of tubes that takes every drip of sap and distributes it to one main storage bin. It makes hiking a challenge. Sometimes I opt to climb over this intricate web of tubing. Sometimes I do the limbo and go under. I feel like I'm in one of those movies where the thief has to dance and weave his/her way through red laser alarm beams. Hello Ocean's 12 (or is it 11 or 13). Hello, George Clooney. I digress... (Though, I wouldn't mind having pancakes with George.) The best thing about syrup making is that it's a sure sign spring is on the way. Yes, the other great thing is that the sugar shacks will be serving up some maple goodness. I love cramming into a sugar shack on a snowy Sunday morning, smelling pancakes and bacon and wood stoves burning. It's the kind of moment in time where you might just see a community sharing its harvest, or better yet, George Clooney eating pancakes.
