Why Even Bother

Future Maple Syrup

Nothing makes me want to punch someone in the face more than hearing those words. WHY EVEN BOTHER? I like to call it getting stuck in a WEB. When we decided to start bee keeping we went to a beekeeping meeting. We were super excited. Then we went there and even though no one was mean they sort of ignored us because they had all been friends for so long and only met once a month they wanted to spend that month catching up and not meeting new friends. We tried going for several months with the same results. We enjoyed the informational talks and the guest speakers but that was it. On the rare occasion that someone did talk to us they would ask how many years have we been beekeeping and how many hives. When we explained we were new and only had one hive and the mentioned we lived in the city we would get these blank stares and comments like "why even bother". It was like we werent real beekeepers. It was very discouraging but its their loss not ours. I would define a beekeeper as one who keeps bees. So matter is I have two bees or 2 million bees I am a beekeeper.

On our 1/8 of an acre near downtown of our city we have 4 maple trees. Last year we researched if we could tap those trees to make maple syrup and you can. Over the weekend we put in 4 taps and by Monday morning we had 2 gallons of maple water. I guess it may be called sap but we think of sap as thick and this is like water. I got an idea of using or crockpot to boil down the sap into syrup. I thought it was brilliant and as I was googling I see that a few other people did too. Then I saw someone answer to someone like me who doesnt own a maple tree forest or a large scale maple syrup factory. Their answer was for 2 gallons of sap you are only going to get a cup of syrup so "why even bother". There were a few other comments very similar and then when you got almost to the bottom you had someone who said they thought it was an awesome idea. They talked about how you could just turn it on and not have to worry about it scorching, boiling over and you wouldnt have to keep a constant eye on it. Thank you to that one supportive person and shame on you meanie pants people.

This isnt a great pic but we have to put a colander over the crockpot and then drape a thin flour sack towel over it so the steam can escape for fear of what the cat will do to it if its uncovered. That cat!

So last night Mr Ladybug and I  poured one of our gallons in and this morning it had reduced to about 1/4 gallon. We topped it off with the other gallon we had and then I went outside and got the other 2.5 gallons. We are expecting about 2 cups of syrup from all that and we will keep getting the sap water until mid  March and see what happens.  I only need like 12 quarts of pure maple syrup to keep the boy in pancakes for a year. I am an optimist.

So what I am trying to say here is if whats coming out of your mouth isnt encouraing, helpful and positive then WHY EVEN BOTHER opening your mouth!

So with our first gallon of goats milk we made Chevre which means goat in French. It tastes so good. I left some crumbly which may not be allowed in the chreve cheese making rule book I didnt bother to google it.  I plan in putting it on tacos and a pizza later this week. One I rolled in dried cherries which I actually thought was dried cranberries. Mr Ladybug was a little freaked out when I sent him the picture because he thought I had rolled it in raisins. We have a log to do something with and the other log is going with me to share with a friend who is teaching me to make fortune cookies tonight. How fun is that?

I am still moving forward with my goal of freezing two meals a week to have a no cook week at the end of the month. Yesterday I was making a chicken pasta alfredo bake and did not have enough cream of mushroom soup. Well thats embarrassing. So instead of giving up or running to the store which at that time I didnt have a car at home to drive anywhere and it was raining buckets outside and walking was not an option I decided to use the mushrooms I had in the fridge which were getting ready to start looking sketchy anyway and make my own. How did you like that run on sentence?  I have to throw those in there to make my grammar nazis followers cringe. Its like fingernails down a chalkboard for them. I will be freezing tacos fixings tonight and will have a total of 4 meals ready for the last week. Yay!