Maple Brew???

The last few days have been busy and warm.  Unfortunately, that means my MooseBoots journey has slowed.  I have been unable to get to boiling fast enough.  When I opened the barrel today, I found that the sap had started to turn ... it was milky.  I am not sure what the "spoiling" mechanism is, but I decided that I could still boil the sap down, killing any harmful bacteria, and make some maple brew.  Normally, I would not waste the sap for a brew, but we have boiled "milky" sap down  to syrup before and it tastes funny.  Fermenting it though ....

I boiled the sap until it reached 6% potential alcohol.  I then placed it into my brewing bucket.  I tried to gather yeast from a Quaking Aspen ... I have read that it is possible to harvest yeast in this way.  We'll see.  If the yeast proofs, I will use it and try to retain some from the bottom of the fermenting barrel for future use.  If not, I'll pick some brewers yeast up tomorrow.

While walking through the woods, searching for standing dead wood to start the fire, I found that the blueberry bush stems are green.  They are coming back to life.  I hope this year is a good year for them ... last year the bushes did not seem to produce terribly well.  I also found deer sign ... it looks like a doe and a fawn have been wandering around back there ... eating some acorns.  I have been hoping to find some of the skeletal remains of the deer parts that have been given back to the forest.  I stumbled upon this ...

... the perfect start for a bone tool ... if I can keep the dog away from it.  I think it will come in handy on this MooseBoots journey.