Oh mud season has begun. Ms. Minerva would like nothing else than for me to sit my tushie down on the ground so she can climb up onto my lap. But it’s a muddy mucky mess out there! She has to satisfy herself for however long it takes before my legs start to cramp. Bottle babies are so demanding. Cute, though, isn’t she? I always forget what a bottle baby is like. They take up so much time, but give so much back in return. I wonder what our relationship will be like in five years. We are learning so much about each other.
We finished off our first bottle of honest to gooness real maple syrup today. We boiled about 140 gallons of sap, and ended up with 6 quarts and 1 pint for sale on our brand spanking new Etsy shop, plus a half a gallon for our own use. We don’t yet have a grading kit, but we think this stuff is dark amber. What I do know is that it is fabulous. Fresh maple syrup is so much better than the stuff you can buy in stores! Sort of like our honey, compared to what we’ve been able to buy elsewhere. I’m sold. Yum!
I also started our first flat of seeds. Celery, something I’ve never grown before. When I read about growing celery, it sounds like you have to actually walk on water to be able to do it. But I really, really like celery, and I use a ton of it, something which Frank will never understand, nor my kids. I love the stuff, and it goes into almost everything I make. It felt like a real sign of spring to start the first seeds for this growing season.