Earth Day 2015

" A thing is right when it tends to preserve the
integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic
community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

- Aldo Leopold, author, scientist, forester, ecologist, conservationist and environmentalist. Born in Iowa, he spend most of his life in Wisconsin.

recycle. conserve. don't litter, take a walk or

hike. swim in the ocean. enjoy the outdoors. turn

the lights off. plant a tree. or a vegetable garden.

or a flower garden. carpool. start a compost pile.

buy local. go "green". tell the kids to get off the

internet/stop watching so much TV and get off their

asses. reduce water consumption. check your tire

pressure. drive slower. go camping and sleep out

under the stars. go with compact fluorescent bulbs.

stop taking up space. do something.

Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin senator and governor. This video was shot in Avoca, WI 2015.

Read more!

"Sugarin' 2014"! Tappin' maples!

Spent the long weekend tapping trees, sorting through equipment (what we have & what we can't find), putting up additional lines, chopping wood....the set-up before burning sap into syrup is labor intensive. As we got a later start than usual this year, we were glad to see the sap is still running. My guess is our take won't match 800 gallons like last year, but as we tell our father - it's all about the journey. Back we go next weekend to burn that sap into syrup!

 

Brother Jas checking lines.

 

Zol.

 

View from the cabin.

 

Me - with tubing. I know - the beard. Never had it that long. It's for a Shakespeare play I'm doing in Milwaukee this June.

Molly.

Read more!

"Sugarin' 2014"! Laying lines!

Laying out the tubing to collect maple sap is a bitch. It does make our job easier once we start collecting maple sap and burning it. It's this - or going up to each tree and grabbing a bag or bucket and hauling that all the way back to our burner. I'll take the lines.

The snow came half-way up our calves and was crusty on top, making the trek up the hills slow going. About 3,000 feet of tubing later, we're finished! Next trip:  tappin' maples!

Click on READ MORE! to see the rest of the pics.

Brother Jas by the fire.

 

Me & my coffee.

 

Zol #1 shot.

 

Zol #2 shot.

Read more!

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Jason and I are up north "sugaring". You know - the maple sap into syrup thing. Can't think of a more pleasant way to spend time with Jas then on his birthday...in the woods....creating something from Nature with our own hands.

Read more!

3,000 feet of hosing.

That's basically what my brother and I strung out in the Northwoods in anticipation of sugaring time late March, early April. It's a more efficient way of collecting maple sap which we then burn into maple syrup. Compared to collecting sap in buckets, we increased production over 3x. It's more work now - less work later on and more syrup.

Click on READ MORE and take a look at that pictures I snapped.

Read more!

My brother - the beekeeper.

Jason not only makes his own maple syrup but is now into bees. Check out his apiary at an undisclosed location in western Wisconsin.

FB users click here for link. And here's another view of the bees bee-ing.

Read more!

Have you had your maple syrup this morning?

I did. Let me know if you want some pure, organic Wisconsin maple syrup - made by my brother and I. Delish.

Read more!

TGIF! presents...Dad resting to "Gymopedie No. 1".

My father and Molly resting to Erik Satie's "Gymopedie No. 1" while my brother and I are "sugaring" in southwestern Wisconsin. Here's the link for FB friends.

Read more!

TGIF! presents...sap running.

'Bout as slow as molasses - or maple sap - ain't it? That's why pure maple syrup is so expensive. Takes time for the sap to flow from the trees to containers. It's only a small window in March/April when it does this. Then you have to transfer the sap to drums that feed into your evaporator. Then you have to boil the sap to a certain temperature, yielding about 1 gallon of pure maple syrup from 38 gallons of sap. And you can't leave the evaporator all day 'cause about 10 things could go wrong. And once you've collected your syrup you have to boil it again to 180 degrees to finish it off. And chop wood, drive out to the site, construct your evaporator, buy the bottles, etc. It's tedious and monotonous but when you taste it and you know it came from your hard work, it's worth it.

Read more!

A fond "adieu" to "sugar on snow".

That's what the indians called maple sap. Quite a successful season...450 gallons of sap (roughly) compared to 150 last year. Click on READ MORE! for some images of the Ircink brothers' last weekend of sugaring.

Read more!

Ircink maple syrup. $8 pint bottle.

Read more!

Love & Maple Syrup.

The title of this post is a Gordon Lightfoot song I had never heard (can't find it to post here but you can look on Amazon). Great yield this year, better than last season, largely due to my brother modifying his collection technique.

Found a podcast on maple syrup in New England from the editor's of Yankee Magazine...if you're interested in hearing more about syrup production. I know you don't have anything better to do. We'll go up this next weekend I think to finish most of the sap off. Good times. Click on READ MORE! to see how stopped by to say say, "hello".

Me, Brad, Greg and Jas. People will stop by now and then to check out what we're doing. Sometimes they stay for a while and imbibe.

My dad with Jas' dog, Molly.

Brad and his wife, Joy.

Greg and his son, Henry.

Read more!