Vaboomer -- Baby Boomer Views & News

Mr Maple Reveals the Secrets of His Super Environmentally Friendly and Cheap Method of Making the BEST Maple Syrup

I am maxed out on politics for the moment

--even though I am still glued to MSNBC and CNN. So I want to share with you another of my great food and friend finds--similarly to Peterson's Fish Market in the Keewenah that I wrote about this past summer. And I want you to meet David Kopp--rock and roller, small philanthropist, Mr Maple to students and lecture attendees at Cornell, happy grand-pap, long time husband, and my once a year telephone pal.

David who runs Patrick Hill Maple Farms in Upstate New York has supplied me with the best most scrumptious, least expensive real maple syrup for over a decade.

It is my one real extravagance. I pay about $50 for a gallon of grade B syrup (in two 1/2 gallon jugs). Once opened, I store one 1/2 gal in the fridge. The other sits on my pantry shelf.

I use about a gal a year. I think store prices run you about $6-$8.00 for 6 oz. So you can see what a savings I am getting. 

And it is so delicious. Maple syrup is one true American food and its production--both by the trees and the syrup maker cannot be outsourced or rushed. Sugar maples are native to North America making maple syrup at home. Grade B is great for cooking and it also has less of an impact on blood sugar--fewer spikes. Making maple syrup is a slow process and takes a lot of fuel.

Recently I placed my annual order--laying in my supply and thinking about luscious pancakes that I make from non-gluten flours, all topped with Dave's maple syrup.

We got to chatting about environmental issues and

Dave began describing a phenomenal method he uses to boil the maple sap down to maple syrup.

For those of you who don't know, the ratio is 40 to 1. Forty gallons of sap to one gallon of syrup. That's why sugar houses are mostly out in the woods in the middle of the sugar bush (a grove of maple trees)--so all that steam can boil off during the sugaring.

 I've never been to Dave's sugar house--in fact we've never met in person, but I did go to a sugar house once in the Catskills and it was magical. I'll describe that experience another time. What I want to share today is Dave's method of boiling the sap down to syrup. Traditionally, wood was used to heat the huge flat pans in which the sap boils down to syrup. But Dave uses another and amazing system.

I asked him to write up his method, which he says other people are using as well and some for home heating!! Here are two sites I randomly pulled off the web: Commerical burners, a second site just google waste fuel burners. I was wowed at the idea of heating with used motor oil, used cooking oils and other waste liquid fuels.

Below is David Kopp's description of Burning liquid waste fuel to make maple syrup:

Using waste fuels such as used motor oil, paint thinner, brake fluid, oil, really any liquid waste that will burn, can be used simply and cheaply to produce high power heat.

I use an old 3 phase electric driven ray burner which spins the dirty fuel into a cone in the fire box of a 5 x 14 maple evaporator. To adapt the unit to single phase electric, I cut a hole in the 3 phase motor housing removed the windings and welded a pulley on the drive shaft of the fan. 

Next I mounted a small single phase electric motor, belt drive. 

I pump the window screen filtered fuel thru a ½ inch pipe with a small gear pump from an outside tank into the building to the burner and then back to the tank. This makes a continuous circulation of fuel. In this feed line next to the burner I installed a tee with a valve between the tee and burner and a valve between the tee and return line. Now I can regulate pressure and amount of fuel to the burner.

The fuel travels thru a tube down the center of the fan drive shaft, dumping out of a ¼ inch hole into the fire chamber. The high volume of directed air from the fan now spins the fuel into a cone. A hand held propane torch lights the fuel cone. A perfect burn (no smoke) is achieved by adjusting back pressure valve in return line and burner feed valve while looking at the fire thru a large peep hole.

A firewall about 3 ft in front of the burner catches about 2/3 of the burning cone and rolls the flames back so the fire is maintained as long as fuel is blown in. This keeps all the bricks in the chamber hot, so you can pass a reasonable amount of water or anti freeze without putting the fire out. Total cost of this installation not including labor $300. Any questions David Kopp 1-800-62-maple

Imagine adapting such a system to home heating--all that noxious polluting waste liquid fuels just waiting to keep you toasty in the winter.

Who knew that my delicious organic maple syrup was made by left over dirty motor oil!

And considering that OPEC has just cut production again link to Mother Earth Story

 got to do something and fast.

Standing in My Happy Socks

I was wearing my pink and lavender heart happy socks yesterday while I was interviewing Debbie Wiener, author of the new decorating book, Slob Proof! Real-Life Home Decorating.

Debbie was zooming off to Austin for this weekend's Texas Book Festival  founded by Laura Bush in 1995.

I didn't tell Debbie I was wearing my favorite socks, because I felt pretty slobby (but happy).

After we chatted and I looked her up on the web family friendly design I felt a lot better about interviewing her at my kitchen table in the wake of getting my kid off to the school bus: toast crumbs, bills to be mailed, yesterday's newspaper, library books to be returned, a bag of apples that never got to the fridge, breakfast plates to be washed. Her take on home design is functionality as well as beauty.

When she told me that her husband used to wipe his pizza greasy hands on the curtains

and so she only uses blind type window coverings now, I thought my kid's room strewn with books and jeans was not too bad.

I liked her down to earth humorous/happy approach. I think you will, too.

Ok, why was I wearing my happy socks yesterday? I was reminding myself

that standing in happiness is a conscious choice

(like picking what socks you wear). And that brings me to my second book for today, "The Happiness Factor: How to Be Happy No matter what!" by Kirk Wilkerson (Ovation Books) I'll tell you a lot more about that one after I've had a chance to chat with the author. But as a teaser, the thrust of the book is that each of us can choose to be happy whatever the circumstances of our lives.

I really like this book even though it is very Christian-religious oriented and I am not in with the program of organized religion. But since this is not a book that proselytizes, I am good with the author's personal slant. Those of you who are active in your religions will really like this POV. What appeals to me is the notion that you have individual power to select the good, the loving, the compassionate in any situation in your life and that being appreciative or what Wilkerson calls having a gratitude attitude fills you and your life with abundance.

During the worst of the divorce upheaval a few years ago, I instinctivly clung to any fragment of happiness and love I could find: an argument-free home, feeling ok about leaving my sneakers in the middle of the living room floor overnight (that slob comfortable home factor), accepting that a few comfort-eating-middle-of-the-night cookies (gluten free of course!) and the pounds that resulted were ok, seeing the smile return to my kid's face.

Reading "The Happiness Factor" reminded me of the work of Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel read about peace replacing hate who received a Noble Peace Prize for his work on the Holocaust. Happiness, Wilkerson reminds us is not about being "jolly", although that can be a good thing, but as Weisel's life and work teaches us, appreciating the depth of the human spirit to find its humanity even in the worst excesses of evil and hate.

So, in this moment of national political choice,

I urge us all to choose love and compassion, inclusion and involvement, problem solving and thoughtfulness, balance

and even-temperament, sincerity and honesty (Obama leadership) instead of erratic pugnaciousness, hate mongering, finger-pointing, sarcasm, and division (McCain leadership). I am convinced we will be happier as a people.

And in these dicey economic times of scarcity, we need to be filled with gratitude for every bit of richness in our lives.

I'm putting a sign over my front door that says this is another gratitude attitude house.

However the election goes next week, I'll be wearing my happy socks

(finding my inner relaxed happy slob)--either in celebration or to concentrate on any crumb of happiness I can. And true to Debbie's slob proof design attitude,I won't worry about any crumb that drops to the floor.

Hey, Americans, If You Are Scared About Voting for a Black Man for President--Vote for His White Half!

If some folks are having a hard time voting for Obama the First half Black President, why not just vote for his White half!!??

See Sen Obama's own self-deprecating funny response on Comedy Central's the Daily show: Obama -- Comedy Central