Maple syrup and cough drops

It is "winter". It is time to tap those maple trees and make some syrup. I can't even begin to tell you how crazy excited I was to try making maple syrup this year. I really, really, really, really want to live off of the land as much a possible, so this just seemed like the natural thing to do.

First of all, Sugar Maple trees are not native to this area. Years ago, someone must have planted them on our property, so we are lucky to have a few trees. As soon as the weather was 'just right' I made Kyle tap those trees. Who knew collecting sap was so easy? We have been emptying these sap jars like crazy! Obviously, the sap flow has a ton to do with weather conditions. It has to be below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. 

Sap, sap, sap. It is so easy. That's where the ease of syrup ends. You literally have to boil the sap ALL DAY LONG. All day. No joke. It is really horrible. I don't even like maple syrup. Our first syrup experience wasn't that great. We had 6 gallons of syrup and got less than a half pint of syrup. I am pretty sure we are doing something wrong. You have to boil all of the water out of the sap, and once it gets to syrup it should boil at 219 degrees. Some people say 220 is the sweet spot. I haven't figured it out. How long are you supposed to boil it? Too short and the syrup is runny. Too short and the syrup has weird sugar crystals in it. And then straining the syrup...oy! How do you strain syrup?!?

I have to say the only thing I have liked about this experience is that it is something Kyle and I do together. Yeah, we stayed up until 2 am both times, but we worked together and it was fun. I totally don't want to make any more syrup, but we tapped the trees and I am going to see this through. I realize they are trees, but I want to respect their "sacrifice". (I am not a hippy.)

I have no pictures of our completed syrup because I am embarrassed by it. One jar has nasty crystals in it and one is like brown water. *sigh*

Because it is winter, it is also the time for colds. My boys are super duper picky about what they use as cold remedies. I am picky, too. I don't want to pump them full of crap. I usually buy the all natural stuff...and then I realized I could probably make this same stuff myself. So I went Pinterest crazy. I found an awesome recipe for cough drops and a Vapor Rub recipe. Cooper LOVES the vapor rub. Find the recipe here. It was so easy and I don't know if it works, but he thinks it does. The cough drops are awesome. And they were so so so so so easy. You boil a cup of honey to 300 degrees and add some lemon and eucalyptus essential oils. (Stir the honey a ton, it can burn.) Then you drop the honey mix on some parchment paper in "drops" and let the stuff cool. That. Is. It! 

Looking back at this post, I really don't know what cough drops and maple syrup have to do with one another...