Though we have collected sap for some years now, every year the process becomes more refined. But this year was drastically different. The sole reason was because of a home-school family we met through the Salem Farmers’ Market. This family went all out when it came to the maple syrup making. They tapped hundreds of trees and bought a commercial boiler to process the sap. They agreed to process our sap with their equipment if we could get enough sap to make it worth it. So the challenge was on, and this was the reason Mom and I were pushing 30 gallons of distilled water out of Wal-Mart. Not necessarily for the water, but for the jugs.

     In a couple of days we had a total of 60 taps in maple trees all over our our neighbors’ properties and a couple on our own. This was over four times what we had ever done before! How were we going to gather it all, bring it all back to the house, and take it to the Colemans?

     The answer came through a blessing, a willing younger brother. Together we were able to collect about 389 gallons of sap, bring it all back to the house, (with the help of a car) filter it into 30 gallon drums, they had loaned us, and take it over to the Colemans for boiling.

     It’s so exciting to see how each year expands beyond what we ever thought possible, especially this year. But so is the way of God’s work in our lives. He always has a goal set before us, though it takes much patience and a willingness to expand our borders. I have learned much more than just how to process lots of sap. And I hope this encourages you not only to do the challenging, but to do the impossible!

Untitled from Jonathan Staddon on Vimeo.

1. Discipline.
2. Chalk slates vs paper.
3. Older helped younger.
4. Encouraged to read Christian books.
5. Wooden toys vs plastic.
6. Students expected to quote scripture.
7. Heated by a wood stove.
8. Dressed appropriately. 
9. Children brought their own lunch or sometimes went home for lunch. 10. Children walked / rode horses to school. 

We all enjoyed the field trip very much. This was only part of a very encouraging time with the Stelzls.

James, Daniel, and the three oldest Bateses stopped at Hocking Hills State Park on their way home which gave us some time for family night with our Grandparents.

After supper and Rook our Grandparents had to leave. Just after saying good-bye and seeing them disappear out of our driveway we heard somebody honking; James and Daniel had arrived! After greeting them and showing them where they would stay we played a few games of chess before going to sleep for the night.

The rest of the week flew by as we played ping pong, hiked, went bird-watching, felled trees, rode bikes, played chess and many other exciting games. On Saturday we were invited to  attend the 40th anniversary celebration for the church that the Bates family’s pastor had started in Clarksburg. At the service the Bateses were such an encouragement as there whole family joyfully sang together. We were blessed and encouraged to have the Bates family visit. Their joy and dedication to the Lord shone through as they diligently took care of younger siblings and helped out in innumerable ways. Praise the Lord for such a Godly example.

More pictures from James coming soon!

This year we tried an experiment tapping Red Maple and Sugar Maple to see if their was any difference in taste or looks. We wanted to tap twice as many Red Maple as Sugar Maples because we had heard that Red wasn’t as sugar-concentrated. Unfortunately, the store we ordered our spouts from was out of stock. Michael, David and I ended up putting twelve taps in Sugar Maples and eight taps in Red Maples on the 13th of March. Last year we left the taps in for about four weeks and harvested just under 100 gallons of sap. But this year we left them in for only one week and we harvested around 150 gallons of sap! Though two big sap producing Sugar Maple trees fell down last spring in a wind storm, we managed to find replacements.

When the harvesting time had ended we calculated that the Red Maple trees produced about 5 gallons per tree totaling 40 1/2 gallons of sap, boiling down at a rate of 80 to 1. The Sugar Maple averaged 9 1/3 gallons per tree totaling 112 gallons of sap, boiling down at a rate of 55 to 1. After 99 hours of boiling every drop of the150 gallons of sap it all came out to equal 3 gallons of pure maple syrup.

This process would have been impossible if it wasn’t for everybody’s help hauling sap to the house, taking shifts through one night (because of the overload of sap), and watching the sap boil so that I could take short breaks.

Proverbs 13:19a
“The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul”

For instance, we usually we spread out our lights all over the house, inside and out. This year we decided to put all 2000 of them in the living room! Usually we go to Grandma and Grandpa Brannon’s for cookies and a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. This year we will be taking our gifts with us in the car! Usually we have family and friends visit us around Christmas. This year we will be visiting them!

But most importantly, usually we think that if we ever did it any differently it would lose a lot of the fun. This year we found out that isn’t true! The spirit of Christmas is not based on traditions! It is the relationships with God and others that make Christmas what it is. Circumstances may be different, but the historical facts and spiritual meaning behind the traditions still make Christmas (whether at our house or not) the best time of year!

Check back soon for the Christmas Cookie Contest!

A couple of weeks before the Festival we read Psalms 40:9-10 which gave us an idea that we scribbled down, the next Sunday I suggested it in our Sunday school class, everybody liked it so we scheduled to have a meeting after church. In the meeting many possible ideas were suggested and numerous questions asked. Did we have enough time to put it together? We decided we could and registered. Another meeting was arranged for the up coming Saturday. All that week our family had many delightful and exciting conversations around the dinning table.

Finally the long awaited Saturday arrived. Those who could, piled in the  car and headed for the church. The meeting was well organized and each family left with an assigned responsibility. We had began the 2009 “Evergreen United Methodist Church” float!

Our contribution was to make some banners: first, a long banner in front of the float which introduced our theme which said, “The fruits of the spirit are…” we decorated it with fall leaves, baskets of apples, and bright fall colored letters; secondly, two banners for the side of the float which had the name and location of our church, and the life cycle of an apple painted on them.

Our next meeting took place on the following  Thursday night, two days before the parade! We presented our banners and started putting the float together. We miraculously found exactly 9 red wooden apples, for the nine fruits  of the spirit, to go on our plywood tree, painted green. Unfortunately we weren’t able to completely finish the float because of the approaching darkness of night. So we consented to finishing the project the morning of the parade.

Early on Saturday a group of us met at the  church to continue our joint effort on the float. After a breath taking ride from the church to Salem, we enthusiastically put on the last touches before moving into line with the rest of the parade.

We quickly found out how much coordination it took to toss candy to onlookers. Unfortunately we ran out of candy before reaching the end of town, where the people  were packed up to the side of the floats, but were delighted to  “proclaim his righteousness throughout the congregation” of Salem! Later while walking through the fair grounds we unexpectedly found out our float was chosen “Best Float” and given first place!

The next Sunday I read Psalms 40:9-10 in church and exhibited the trophy to the whole church. It would have been impossible if every member in the church wouldn’t have taken some small part in the whole project of the float!

I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart: I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

Psalms 40:9-10

- David: I missed their help and encouragement in my school work and music.

- Daniel: I appreciate their morning hugs, and smiles throughout the day.

- Michael: Their help with kitchen clean-up has saved me many hours and enabled me to move faster to other projects each morning, a luxury I no longer enjoyed while they were away.

- Donald: I realized how far ahead Mom and Esther planned in order to stock up on food we needed. That way we never had to go to the store.

- Dad: The three things I missed most were her presence, smile, and counsel.

It was lonely without them, but we had fun working together so Mom could take a week off for her much deserved retreat.

]]> http://staddonfamily.com/2009/09/19/staying-alive/feed/ 4 http://staddonfamily.com/2009/06/18/whats-that/ http://staddonfamily.com/2009/06/18/whats-that/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:08:57 +0000 Jonathan http://www.staddonfamily.com/?p=2825 As we were enjoying a wonderful lunch outside, something in the orchard caught my eye. “Oh no! Michael look what’s hanging on the apple tree! Quick get your Equipment. Do you need help?” I ran to get the camera and followed him to the orchard. The following video is what was in the orchard and how we took care of it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.