Last year Thing 1 wanted to try her hand at tapping Birch trees. We found that we all quite enjoyed the flavor of the fresh Birch sap/water so we’re at it again.
I actually found some time to tap one tree today and hopefully will tap a couple more over the next few days
I picked this nice Birch near our house.
You want a good sized healthy tree. We try for a 8-10 inch in diameter tree or larger. We also only tap an individual tree once then let it rest for a number of years before ever tapping again.
I drill a slightly upward angle with a drill bit close to the size of the small end of the tap. Going into the tree about an inch and a half or so. There’s plenty of instructions online of all the technical steps if you want those.
Once the hole is drilled you just hammer the tap into the tree until it’s secure. Hang your bucket and let it drip.
Bucket in place
We check the progress frequently to see how fast the sap is flowing. Also, anxious-to-drink-the-sap kids go out and fill little glasses to sample. That’s the trouble with having a tapped tree so close to home!
After about 7 hours we had a good 3/4 of a gallon. We poured off two quarts and filled some freezable bottles for a cool summer treat. Tomorrow we’ll see how much more we get.
Drip, drip, drip.
Birch water is a great source of minerals and other good stuffs. Check it out! I’m not really a fan of the syrup yet, but I’d like to try Birch beer (non-alcoholic) and Birch ale this year, if we get enough sap. And of course filling up several freezer bottles and popsicles for summer!
On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated as the first U.S. President. *Insert some witty comment about last great president.*
In 1803, Cajun cuisine became an official mainstay of the American diet when the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. At the bargain price of 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million American dollars. Now we have Étouffée and Muffelettas, a deal at twice the price.
In 1926, a pioneer of female flight, Bessie Coleman died. She was the first American woman to obtain an International Pilot’s license from FAI. She learned French and went to France to get what America had denied her due to her skin color. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Determination looked good on you Bessie! Blessed memory!
On this day in 1945, Adolf Hitler and his newly wed wife Eva, committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. There’s no joy in the loss of any human life. But…
In 1975, the horrid Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (AKA Ho Chi Minh City). fell to Communist forces. We still see the damage done to this day both public and private.
Yesterday was our “end of year” field trip. We’ve still got a few weeks left but a little early celebration never hurt anyone.
Before we boarded we spent some time exploring around the docks.
The Sovereign, a City of Seward tender. Lil Mister observing the suspension and breaking system of these old railway cars.Giant puffin mural.Carved sea otter benches.A cool old padlock, somewhere there’s a key to this heart…Spray foam fixes everything!The three munchkins with Dean & I reflecting.He’s so adorable.
Major Marine Tours out of Seward took us out for a 4 hour tour. (Glad it wasn’t three and the weather wasn’t rough.)
Captain Marcelle navigated the “Kenai Fjords 360” throughout Resurrection Bay like a boss.
First thing we see after leaving port are Dall’s Porpoises swimming with our boat. They look like little baby Orcas. They were quite amusing swimming and jumping out of the water, crisscrossing in front of the bow.
Once we were underway the Capt put this nav map up for us to reference. It helped keep our bearings for sure.
Then we saw a bald eagle perched on an enormous rock. We spotted a sea otter in Thumb Cove.
After traveling past Fox Island we saw some Stellar Sea Lions sunning themselves on Mary’s Rock. Captain Marcelle was terrific for getting us excellent views of the wildlife. We had a beautiful day, sunshine, 41-45° air temp and no sea swell! Simply gorgeous spring day!
We cruised past Barwell Island on the east side of Resurrection Bay, which has some WW II era bunkers. Then the best thing happened, another vessel alerted us to a pod of three Orcas just two hours into our tour! What an awesome inspiring moment!
We also experienced a mirage, called fata morgana, of Montague Island. It made the island look like a plateau instead of the peaked mountain tops it has. Once we changed position and could look back at the Island you could once again see it’s peaks and valleys. So weird!
Besides the abundance of wildlife that we saw and learned a few facts about (did you know there were 10 types of Orcas worldwide and three types that frequent our Alaskan waters?) we also learned about history (WW II, Russian exploration, President Harding and the Good Friday Quake) and geology when we passed some unusual rock formations of pillow basalt. It was quite the learning experience!
Our route was the red one. It would be nice to take the blue one some day!
We peeked into Carol’s Cove to observe 6 Harbour Seals on our way back towards the west side of Resurrection Bay where we had a great view of Bear Glacier. Lil Bit was excited for this one, she really wanted to see the seals. It’s nice to see them elsewhere, than in our nets stealing our fish! Then we spotted two coastal mountain goats on the sheer face of the mountain side! And another Harbor Seal in the water along the Callisto Cliffs.
Lil Bit observing the Harbour Seals with binoculars.There were 6 seals sunning themselves.
Nearly 4 pm and our tour is about over, what a wonderful experience! I love seeing the rugged beauty and bounty of Alaska. And seeing landmarks like Cain’s Head which we’ve explored a couple of times on foot. I think Lil Bit counted 8 species in total that we spotted today. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! Little Mister was most comfortable on the bow feeling the wind rush through his hair. Thing 2 wasn’t in too many pics as he enjoyed the freedom of roaming about the boat at will.
I’m very grateful for the homeschooling resources we have with IDEA and the rich experiences we get to have thanks to their efforts. Trips like these would be out of reach for us without them.
Alaska on my mind... 