Maple, maple, maple

Maple syrup, maple sugar, maple extract, maple trees, maple gene

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who's father-in-law is a real maple sugarmaker in Vermont. The friend was telling me his relation has over 12,000 taps, a million miles of tubing, all resulting in 250 fifty-five gallon drums of syrup. WOW!

"My father-in-law sets up for the season in October and November, then waits."

...and I count my taps, inspect the buckets, check the pan, burner, and fuel in October...

Maybe I do have the maple gene. After all, I thought it was a bit weird being concerned about a season that was 4 or 5 months away. But maybe not... let the boil begin, maple gene, maple me.