Get Your Master’s Degree in Shoveling Snow

In your undergraduate studies (i.e., our first post about shoveling snow), you learned about the perfect, most efficient way to shovel a standard straight-run driveway: Divide and Conquer. Easy, fast, and obviously genius on the part of me, the inventor. But as neat a method as it is, Divide and Conquer will not always work. Sometimes there is too much snow to move quickly. Sometimes you have to shovel a wide open area that can’t easily be divided. It’s time for your graduate studies. Tuition is free. 

Identifying Maple Trees by Their Bark and Branches in Winter [updated]

We like to plan out the maple tapping around Valentine’s Day.  For anyone new to sugaring on their land, the first step is knowing which trees are good maples for tapping.  If you did not identify them in the Summer when the iconic maple leaves were easy to spot, don’t fret.  It is absolutely possible to ID the maples on your land in winter so you can make your own syrup.

Throw away those candy hearts, carrot hearts are the way to show you really love someone

The ingredients in NECCO Sweethearts are as follows: sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, gums, coloring and flavoring.  They’re fun, they’re small, they’re tradition.  But not a good tradition. 

DIY Maple Syrup Tapping System for under $1 [new infographic updated for 2016]

It’s just about time, folks.  If you live in the northern US/southern Canada and have maple trees on your land and you don’t tap your trees for their magical sap, you are missing out!  Maybe you think the setup is too difficult, or maybe too pricey?  We used to think so too, but turns out it is neither!  Check out our infographic below to see our super simple system that brings us a year’s supply of delicious maple syrup for under $1 per tree.