I seem to get myself into these weird predicaments. Remember my train station momen t ? This was worse. This was not just in my head, this was for real. Real, real.  It all began with a little wanted ad on Freecycle. Innocent. Harmless. I asked any of the local gardeners if they had any berry bushes that would need thinning out come spring. I received lots of responses. One woman, whom we will call by her last name, Grace replied to tell me she had a blackberry bush she would let me dig up. I could come by the next day and dig it up anytime I wanted. It was to the right of her driveway and was a “big prickery mess of a plant.” Adi and I were so excited. I felt horrible all day and really wanted to get some fresh air. We grabbed the shovel and gloves, then piled in the truck and followed her instructions on how to get to her home on roads without street signs.  We quickly found her home, located the “big prickery mess of a plant” and proceeded to dig. I was thankf...

Post disclaimer: Please excuse the overly detailed blogpost. I am writing it for two reasons; first, so that I can remember all the fun facts I have learned over the last few weeks and secondly, so that someone else might learn a few things.  Being new to the New England culture and a homeowner with massive maple trees in our yard, I somehow decided that I wanted to try my hand at making maple syrup.  So, with a Christmas gift from Gil’s aunt, I purchased 4 taps and a few books on the process. Here is a quick summary of what I learned:  -the process of getting sap from maple trees and turning it into maple syrup or sugar is called sugaring.  -the Native Americans were doing this and taught the early immigrants about maple sugaring.  -for every 1 gallon of sap a tree yields, there is another 1000 gallons of sap running through it’s fibers.  -the term for the maple sap moving throughout the fibers of the tree is called “running”  -t...