Category Archives: Itsnotta farm

Sticky Situation

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We did it! We did it! We did it! Hooray! Now that I have Dora the Explorer’s theme song running through my head and yours, let me give you a little update on what exactly we did. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that we have tapped a few of our maple trees to make maple syrup this spring. Well, our minimal research and best laid, however naive, plans, made me host a “boiling party” this past Sunday. I invited a few friends over to sit by the fire with us and see how the day went. I thought it would be relaxed and fun. Roast a few hot dogs, maybe, get at least half of our sap boiled up, and perhaps bottle a bit.

Photo by Sindre Fs on Pexels.com

As life would have it, our plans don’t always work out as we expect. First, our sap is frozen. Stored in the freezer to keep it fresh. That’s fine… but after an overnight thaw, we still had big chunks of ice. No worries, right? Gonna boil it down anyway. Big chunks of ice don’t fit in my shallow pans. Then it rained the night before. Which means our wood and fire spot was fairly damp. We did save some fuel indoors (because we did check the weather!) but the hubby still had a hard time getting the fire going. And he usually has no trouble starting fires. Wink Wink.

Now remember, we’ve never done this before. We have no idea what we are doing. Yet, we march forward… fire going. Pans boiling. Sap levels start going down. Things appear to be working. Let’s put another pan out and try the bar-b-que. Yeah, that will work. We won’t mention the propane bill. I have fed my guests hamburgers. They are gracious, long time friends whom we love. They don jackets and “check on the fire” and encourage the hubby. We drink coffee and complain about the cold.

Hours have past. So, let’s get to the crux of this story. We have “thickened” sap. Our research tells us we can “finish off” our syrup inside on the stove. Everyone tells you not to do the maple syrup inside because it makes everything sticky, but this “finishing off” part needs to be monitored. The temperature checks and precision is needed to get the sap to the syrup stage… so it is okay to do this part inside on the stove. Okay. Stock pot locked and loaded. Two inches of sap from an entire 12 litre bucket. Candy thermometer marked at 219 degrees F. And then we got distracted. Chit chatting outside. Thinking the other was watching the pot boil. Disaster. Our syrup was burnt sugar.

Disaster

Okay, okay. Let’s fix it. I break out the candy molds. Maple sugar candy… that’s a thing, right? The family says add water… we boiled again. Yes! Syrup! Bottle it in our cute maple syrup bottles… wait. What are the floatie things? Eww. Is it supposed to look like that? Google. Apparently, one must filter the sugar sand or niter that remains in sap-syrup. Coffee filters don’t work. I spilled some. The syrup is now thick and sticky…. and drips and drops are everywhere! On my elbows, on my counter, on the stove, in the sink, in pots, pans and bottles. Sticky rolled up coffee filters with sandy grit are piled and discarded. Spoons and taste testers are left on sticky counters. Our friends have abandoned us. This is why they tell you don’t do maple syrup inside. It becomes a sticky situation!!

After 6 or so hours and all that… we have two 250ml bottles of thick, clear, sweet maple syrup to enjoy! (And 9 or so more buckets in the freezer to do it all over again with!) Seriously though, we had fun. We learned through trial and error. We laughed, we panicked, we yelled a little, but in the end: We did it!

We did it!

And so we come to the life lesson of boiling day. So often, we get ourselves in sticky situations, don’t we? We plan an Instagram worthy party with good friends. We think it is all going to be fluffy and romantic. We underestimate the time needed to invest. We think we will get so much more accomplished than we do. We try. We learn through trial and error and mistakes — and Google? We yell a little. Things get burnt. We waste precious resources and get distracted when we should be focused. We end up with big messes that need to get filtered through the One who is in control of it all.

Psalm 40 shows us how to get out of that sticky situation and stand again on solid ground. The stability (with all the sweet benefits) of being in the hands of the one who has laid out “good plans” for us. God no longer wants our burnt offerings, as sugary as they may be to us. He wants honest, raw worship and obedience. He wants us to call out to Him in those times of trouble, so He can lift us out of the mess, and show others the Way. It’s tough work. Sometimes it’s messy and things don’t go as planned. Sometimes we have a lot of cleaning up to do. Often, we get given the chance to do it all over again — and learn from our mistakes, as we work towards “perfection”.

Keep following along. The Mitton crew has buckets full of more chances at perfection sitting in the freezer. And if you receive a cute bottle of syrup from Itsnotta Farm — ignore the floaties –and enjoy the sweetness! Just know it was painstakingly life lessoned and prepared for you with lots of love and time!

I Speak for the Trees

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Welcome back! In case you haven’t been following along, we are headstrong into our first attempt at maple syrup making here at Itsnotta Farm. One of the first things we needed to do when we decided to tap a few trees, was to figure out what trees to tap! Not all trees are syrup producers and not all producers are good ones. We knew we had a few maples, but not true sugar maples. So, we did what everyone does: we googled it. Which helped. A little. There are no leaves on the trees this time of year, so branch position, bark texture and subtle other clues are supposed to help. I’m sorry, but tree bark is tough to distinguish. Really. Rough? It’s all rough and buggy and torn up and wounded to me. Who knows? Just poke some holes in there… if stuff comes out, the sap is running.

And so began my muse: trees. A really broad scoping thought, I know. There are a whack load of thoughts about trees out there, but let’s just touch on it, shall we? We have just over an acre and a half of “forest” on our property. No real trails. Thick with bush and trees “au naturel”. Trees rot and fall and succumb to various viruses and afflictions. We have a big one near the chicken coop that needs to come down. We have a large surround of cedars which is quite nice coverage for the wind… the birds love them too. Not to mention the vast trail systems here in Ontario. Or the Crown Land and woods literally everywhere. Rain forests of central America? Let’s not even go there. Needless to say, we have a lot of trees in our world.

Photo: Matt Artz via Unsplash

We plant 600 million trees annually in Canada… and I don’t know if that includes all the private trees we throw in the ground or not. I plan to add a few fruit trees to our place — which I hope will add to the diversity. The birds will probably get to the fruit before I do. We were chit chatting about tree planting a few weeks ago… apparently it is not for the faint of heart. True planters hike through unkept wilderness fighting off heat, sweat, mosquitoes and other menacing buggies. Not to mention scrapes bumps and bruises from branches and brambles along the way. I’m sure there is mud too. Nope… not for me. A few holes in open field with my nursery raised apple tree and I have done my part, right?

Still, trees are pretty cool. They communicate not only to their surroundings, but to each other through chemical signals and can warp sound waves to change what we hear. Research suggests that being around trees is good for our mental and social well-being. A study conducted by the University of Illinois and the University of Hong Kong found that the denser the forest, the lower the stress. Research also suggests that nature experiences help us to feel kinder toward others. This is partly because they release chemicals called phytoncides. When we breathe them in, it can reduce blood pressure, lower anxiety levels, and increase pain threshold. I often tell the hubby I do love a good “soak” in the forest. Must be all the chemicals I breathe in. Or maybe it’s just the quiet.

“The Tree of Life”

It’s no wonder that the tree has been a symbol for life across so many genres of study. I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Seen it as a jewellery piece or art deco. Obviously branches and life giving oxygen are intertwined within the symbol. “I am the vine, you are the branches”. The biggest connection, and my original thought process for this post, was the Garden of Eden and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Such a critical piece of our Christian heritage. I cannot imagine living in a perfect world — the perfect garden — with its abundance of fruit and colours and wildlife — and it all being lost because of selfish desires.

We have just tastes of it now — maple trees and sweet sap. Apple trees and rich fruit. Mighty oaks and cedars that tower and protect us from wind. The colours of fall leaves or the beauty of teak and mahogany. How marvelous is “the tree”. We take it for granted. We have so many. They are so common. We don’t see the forest for the trees. We must take the time.

Deeper still, we must think about why the Creator of the world chose a tree to symbolize life for us. Why was a tree the center of the Garden? Why was the Saviour crucified on “a tree”? Why do we brush them off as so common place that they aren’t appreciated? We burn them up and cut them down with abandon. I could go on. A tree hugger muse this week which could be expanded way beyond these short thoughts. Yet, I hope it sparks some deeper thinking and research for you. Or at least makes you look up at the trees (and beyond).

Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Pexels.com

Playing Possum

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Welcome back, beloveds! I trust you had a good week off. We enjoyed our family day weekend away, despite some glitches – but those are stories for another day. I am home again and working on this post after being outside cleaning up the bunnies. It is a beautiful day… warmer than most spring days and it’s still February! Last year this time, the hubby was complaining about the freezing wind and walking the dog in two feet of snow! We are certainly seeing the effects of global warming here.

Speaking of global warming, a new creature has been making its way north and is being spotted more and more in southern Ontario: The Virginia Possum. Technically “opossum” (possum is the nickname for the Australian marsupial cousins). And if you saw my stories a little while ago, you’ll know that one of then has been frequenting our yard!! At first, there were strange tracks about. I was calling it a fat squirrel… but they didn’t hop like a squirrel, and no, not a bunny either. These tracks had big feet/claws like a raccoon, but not spaced that big. A mystery. Then the dogs (Reese and our furry “granddog”) noticed it in the treeline. Not an escape bunny… but the visiting possum! After being terrorized by two nosy doggies, and a collection of curious onlookers trying to get a picture of it in the dark, I heard it wandered off into our woods. So far, it is yet to be seen again, but I am hoping the nocturnal creature is sneaking snacks from our bird feeders at dusk and dawn.

Mystery Tracks

Why, do you ask, do I want this ugly little guy hanging around when it is very apt to eat my impending chicks? Well, apparently they are the clean up crew and eat all kinds of other junk too! Ticks and nasty bugs for one. Lyme disease producing ticks can be eliminated by one opossum at a rate of 4000 a week! Bring it on! Apparently, they are a very low rabies risk and will kill venomous snakes too! They will eat just about anything, including bones, and apparently are less destructive than raccoons, so our little visitor can hang out in the woods near our house as a welcomed guest. Just stay out of the hen house, okay?

Still, these little creatures haven’t totally adapted to our Canadian winters quite yet. Their little toes and tails are naked, and therefore prone to frostbite. We had a sickly one in the city, living under our shed, and it was a sad looking thing. Ugly as sin. Rodents of unusual size, indeed. (Even though they are marsupials not rodents!) And so I muse….

How good are you at adapting? Are you feeling shunned because you’re not as “cute” as others, even though you have plenty to offer? Do you play dead when approached or threatened? As an introvert trying to blend in to a new environment, I’m feeling quite possum-ish these days. Sharing our faith is intimidating. Building community and walking alongside others takes some confidence. We can’t “play dead” like the opossum when threatened by views that counter our own. Jesus didn’t back down from a fight. He was immune to the venomous culture infiltrating His neighbourhood, and chose to fight back and confront, taking on the disease producing pests of His day. Do we do the same?

Possums look threatening. All teeth and claws and naked, ratty tails. Yet, they stay in the shadows most of the time cleaning up the garbage. They are not destructive either; they don’t chew and prefer already dug dens versus your attic or garage. They try and live at peace with others and just go about their business quietly. A lesson we can also take. How many times have we tried to chew a hole in someone else’s argument, when the simplest way to be welcomed is when space becomes available? Our good looks may not get us anywhere. Peaceful discussion may be the key to building lasting and rewarding friendships.

Life is hard, isn’t it? No one told us it was supposed to be easy. Often we are vulnerable and naked, out standing in the harsh elements getting frostbitten. Yet, with God’s help, we can adapt and play vital roles in even new environments! We can take advantage of what’s been offered to us, and peacefully approach life, doing good and cleaning up the bad. Even when threatened, we can still “play possum” and wait for the opportunity to escape unscathed. Good looks and flashy appearances aren’t always the ticket. Sometimes we just have to hang around in the shadows and be part of the clean up crew.