Rogue Sap

Rogue Sap, this is my new favorite roadside refreshment.

Straight from the maple tree the sap drips into the bucket waiting to be boiled down into nice amber syrup.

Clear, just sweet enough and slightly sticky to the lips. I’ve never heard of anyone drinking straight sap before but I’m not one to ever turn down tradition. It was tasty and refreshing; it honestly tasted like simple syrup. You want to be careful though as I was told that raw sap should only be consumed in small quantities otherwise you may give your self an upset stomach.

Maple sap is better used to make maple syrup as it takes 40 gallons of maple sap to make just one gallon of maple syrup. A single tap can produce around a gallon of sap in a day during optimal weather conditions.

The Salted Cod does not condone stealing any hard dripped sap from maple farmers. Luckily I was in “Wheeler” county where they have the rule of the land.

Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat

The New York Times ran an excellent article yesterday on the young farmers movement. The Times interviewed the two young farmers who left life behind in Brooklyn to start the The Hearty Roots Community Farm in upstate New York. I found this article to be quite inspiring as I've thought about doing this myself for some time.

It's nice to see some of my peers finding success in this field...

Click here to continue to the New York Times article.

Happy Johnny Appleseed day

Johnny Appleseed was a very well liked man. The apple variety he planted generally grew fruit that was too sour for eating and baking. Most of his apples were turned to hard cider. Therefore people were excited to see him because he was the guy bringing the booze. He was one of our country's leading conservationist responsible for many plantings and he was born in Leominster MA.

In celebration of this special day I’ve posted the lyrics for all of you to sing the “apple picking song.”

"Picking apples, picking apples,'Til we're done, 'til we're done, Picking all the apples, Picking all the apples,'Til we're done, 'til we're done.

Climb a ladder, climb a ladder,In a tree, in a tree, Hello everybody; Hello everybody, Look at me, look at me.

Making applesauce, making applesauce swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish
Pouring the applesauce, pouring the applesauce in a dish, in a dish.

Eating applesauce, eating applesauce,Yum, yum, yum; yum, yum, yum. Eating all the applesauce, eating all the applesauce. Now we're done, now we're done."

Artist unkown

You could also visit an orchard to celebrate…