When we were kids one of our favorite late winter, early spring treats was Jack Wax.  Jack Wax is made from Maple syrup.  We had to gather nice, clean snow; you don’t want dirt in your snack.  It was much easier to set a pan on the porch and let the falling snow fill it up.  However, Mother Nature does not always cooperate and sometimes we had to dig under the top crust to find clean snow.  While we were outside our Mom would boil the Maple syrup to make it thicker, probably to the soft candy stage.  When the syrup was just the right consistency, Mom would pour it in squiggly patterns on the pan of snow.  We had to wait for it to cool, the hardest part, and then with tooth picks we got to pick up pieces of the maple candy.

The Maple Sugaring Season has started here in upstate New York.  The nights are below freezing and the days are warm, so the sap travels up from the roots and back down again. There are commercial operations in our area that make Maple Syrup to sell.  They have sugar houses with huge vats to boil the sap into syrup.  There are also many hobbyists that gather sap and boil it down for their own use.

My Dad and brothers were hobbyists for a season.  We were all very excited that they were going to make us Maple Syrup.  They tapped some trees and gathered buckets of sap.  They started a fire in our little fire pit in the back yard and put a huge pan on the grate to start boiling the sap.  It takes forty gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  That’s a whole lot of time to spend feeding a fire and adding sap to the pan.  There was also the nuisance of the ash that kept falling into the pan.  My Dad did most of the actual work; my brothers got bored with watching the sap boil and ran off to play with their friends.

Now that I know how much time goes into making Maple Syrup, I appreciate the farmers that spend the early spring sugaring!  Pure Maple Syrup is the best and it makes the best Jack Wax!

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My sister, Sara, is our guest blogger Today!  I think she should write more often, the imagery is wonderful.

Yesterday was one of those days where the world around me seemed to be waking up from its winter slumber. Early in the morning, as I walked to get the newspaper, with flashlight in hand, I startled a rabbit near the fence. Then I heard my beloved cardinals calling to each other. They are usually the first birds I hear in the morning during the spring. To hear them when it is still dark out foretells the coming of early morning light and longer days. My soul warms with thoughts of spring as I walk back down the drive.

When I return home from taking my boys to school the framing crew is at work on the home going up in front of my house. Though the construction only began within the last two weeks, it is something that I have dreaded for the eight years that we have lived here. But, as I clean up my kitchen, the muffled music playing outside mingled with the hum of saws and the rhythm of hammers, becomes a welcome sound. It is movement, motion, growth. It is spring. This thought dawns on me as I watch a bluebird flutter between the fence and our fire pit chairs on this sunlit February morning.

I am not sure that the bluebird actually winters somewhere warmer because I have seen them in this area during the winter for many years. They were frequent visitors to my home in January of 1999. My dad was at a rehabilitation hospital and my mom stayed with us for ease of travel. On several days we saw them perching on our neighbors roof and they came to roost when my dad came for a day. He sat on the chilly sun porch and watched them. They just seemed to be a glimmer of hope for all my family that was there that day. The little bluebirds, the resilient robin and the cedar wax wings brought us such peace and joy that year that seeing them always conveys that same sense of hope for me. That hope is like the coming of spring. New life, new growth and new chances.

So, my day continues with this spring fever. I need summerness! Not sure that that is a word but it describes my feeling. Food always helps express a mood or feeling. I am going to make summer. I start a beautiful orzo and pine nut salad, make fresh  and start the grill. The patio is warmed by the sun and the chicken for my pitas is a joy to grill. Dinner is all set for the evening.

By the time I get home with my boys, it is cloudy, cold and the wind has picked up and there is a bite in it. The boys have been saying for two days that they would have a snow day on Wednesday but for dinner we will still have summer, created from my spring fever.

The snow day is here. Though, my beloved cardinals were calling each other this morning, the blanket of winter has returned. Tonight, dumpling soup will be served. Food to express the mood. I want to be warm. Maybe that want to feel warm is still spring fever!

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