Self-reliance
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Maple Tapping Time In Central Wisconsin
It’s that wonderful time of the year again: maple tapping season in Wisconsin! The temps have begun to warm up above freezing during the day time, while dropping below freezing at night time. This is the time I keep a very close eye on the weather. When we have at least a week straight of the right temperatures, I drill a test tap to see if any of that sweet delicious maple water is running. I’d say most folks don’t do a test tap, they just go for it all right away. For me I like to test one tree to see if it’s flowing before tapping them all. I…
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Pressure Canning Chicken At Home Is Easy
Pressure Canning Chicken at home is easy, and with the rising cost of food these days, it’s a great way to get more for your buck. I buy my chicken in bulk from Sam’s Club, or wait for my local grocery store to have sales on their chicken to stock up. When I pressure can, I like to fully fill my canner with jars instead of just canning a few at a time. Most canners are designed to hold eight pint jars or seven quart jars. Large canners can hold 18 pint jars in two layers, but only hold seven quart jars. Make sure you have extra chicken on hand…
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Maple Tapping On Leap Day
We started maple tapping on Leap Day. I’ll take it as good luck sign! This sapping season is much earlier than usual for me thanks to the warm up we’re experiencing at the end of February. This made for perfect conditions to start sugaring. I usually don’t begin tapping until mid March. This year is a little different, which is fine by me. Early tapping helps to keep the collected and stored sap cooler so it lasts longer. There’s lots of snow still on the ground which I can use it to insulate my sap buckets and keep them cold. It’s very exciting when it’s time to tap the trees…
