tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63272785559817074052024-03-17T18:29:42.195-07:00Kopp's CropsKopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-77887308044166377262018-04-08T19:14:00.004-07:002018-04-08T19:14:59.480-07:002018 Sap Season Has Begun... And (Temporarily?) Ended<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Well, the 2018 syrup season is upon us. Sort of, anyway. These two pictures pretty much sum up our season so far.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sk113mlGp0g/WsrK_alZJPI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/hmyKPVeJuTEpVxC8Qy9VWbklC4tsCtiwgCLcBGAs/s1600/Frozen%2BSap%2BBucket%2B2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sk113mlGp0g/WsrK_alZJPI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/hmyKPVeJuTEpVxC8Qy9VWbklC4tsCtiwgCLcBGAs/s400/Frozen%2BSap%2BBucket%2B2018.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">Yes, that is a sap-cicle running all the way to the ground. This bucket full of sap, but is still more than half frozen, on April 8.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4uX99PC2728/WsrK9jxCYlI/AAAAAAAAA3M/MUulQdCAedccTUJkdhTpF4CWs9UXXQt0QCLcBGAs/s1600/Glowing%2BSyrup%2BBottles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4uX99PC2728/WsrK9jxCYlI/AAAAAAAAA3M/MUulQdCAedccTUJkdhTpF4CWs9UXXQt0QCLcBGAs/s400/Glowing%2BSyrup%2BBottles.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;">Hello, Gorgeous! Thankfully we did get one good boil in before the latest cold snap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So we shall see. If the warmer weather doesn't some too high too fast, we should have another boil this coming weekend. If not, at least we've got a couple gallons in the bottle!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span><br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-66218922155324364372016-09-15T07:42:00.001-07:002016-09-15T07:42:58.063-07:00Honey and Maple Syrup at Brenda's Log Cabin: Sept 15-17 & 22nd-24th<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It's that time again! Time for the Isanti County Unique Boutique & Antique Tour </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/UniqueBoutiqueandAntiqueTour"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">https://www.facebook.com/UniqueBoutiqueandAntiqueTour</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and your chance to stock up on Kopp's Crops honey and maple syrup. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Once again we're selling at Brenda's Log Cabin, stop #8 in this year's brochure on the boutique Facebook page. Brenda's is closed on Sundays, so plan your visit for today through Saturday (Sept. 17), or next Thursday the 22nd-Saturday the 24th. While you're at it, make a full day of it and check out all the fun shops on the tour!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you miss the boutique but don't want to miss the sweetness of Kopp's Crops, please feel free to email us at koppscrops@gmail.com to order directly. </span> <br />
<br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-91747360274988900062015-09-16T18:26:00.000-07:002015-09-16T18:26:06.319-07:002015 Honey - Now Available<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kopp's Crops 2015 honey is here! The bees were very busy this summer, collecting the abundance of nectar generated by our not-so-dry summer. Now we've finally had a chance to extract the bounty (leaving enough to get our worker beesthrough the winter, of course), and bottle it up for all to enjoy. The maple trees also had a great year, so we still have 2015 maple syrup left, tool. Quite a nice product family portrait, don't you think?</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-paG-lZyKfGE/VfoN0YX-K0I/AAAAAAAAAyc/1C4o60fn148/s1600/IMG_7818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-paG-lZyKfGE/VfoN0YX-K0I/AAAAAAAAAyc/1C4o60fn148/s400/IMG_7818.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We haven't had a chance to update our ordering sidebar, so please ignore the drop-down boxes on the right. If you would like to order for pickup, USPS shipping or explore local delivery options, email us at koppscrops@gmail.com, or message us through our Facebook page.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;"><u>2015 Kopp's Crops Prices:</u></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">1lb Honey: $6</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">3lb Honey: $16</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">5lb Honey: $25</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">12oz Maple Syrup: $10.50</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 19.32px;">32oz (1Qt) Maple Syrup: $22.50</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 19.32px;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the area this weekend? Look for both honey and maple syrup this Thur-Sat, 9am-5pm at <b>Brenda's Log Cabin</b> (440 319th Ave NE, Cambridge, MN), part of the Isanti County Unique Boutique & Antiques </span><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Tour (www.uniqueboutiqueandantiquestour.shutterfly.com). </span></span></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-91769266644987076112014-09-25T07:59:00.001-07:002014-09-25T07:59:05.151-07:002014 Honey is Here!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ah, autumn in Minnesota. The leaves are beginning to change, there's a slight chill in the air, and Honeycrisp apples adorn market shelves. Time to replace those iced coffees with your favorite hot tea, sweetened with Kopp's Crops Honey!</span></span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zmz88NVALtg/VCQsHnuRUZI/AAAAAAAAAvU/1_f2AifhuIE/s1600/IMG_7009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zmz88NVALtg/VCQsHnuRUZI/AAAAAAAAAvU/1_f2AifhuIE/s1600/IMG_7009.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana;">This year, we are offering our wild flower honey in three sizes: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">One pound inverted squeeze bottles for $6</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">New! Three pound squeeze bottles for $16</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana;">Five pound value size for $25</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ready to sweeten up your day with Kopp's Crops honey? Email us at <a href="mailto:koppscrops@gmail.com">koppscrops@gmail.com</a> to pick up at our farm, ship via USPS, or explore Twin Cities area delivery options. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">In Isanti County this weekend? Look for us at Brenda's Log Cabin Thursday 9/25 - Saturday 9/27 on the Unique Boutique & Antiques Tour: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/UniqueBoutiqueandAntiqueTour">https://www.facebook.com/UniqueBoutiqueandAntiqueTour</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-23839669230547828672014-05-02T09:42:00.001-07:002014-05-02T09:42:41.250-07:00Finally - Syrup for Sale! But for a limited time only...<div class="mbs _5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Maple Syrup for sale! Because of this spring's not-ideal-for-syrupping weather, it's another "Limited Edition" year for Kopp's Crops maple syrup. But if you like your syrup on the darker, stronger-flavor side, you'll love the few bottles we managed to squeak out! We're selling through <b>Brenda's Log Cabin</b> boutique on the </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Unique Boutique & Antiques Tour in Isanti County</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> this weekend and next. Click on over to the Tour's Facebook Page </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/#!/UniqueBoutiqueandAntiqueTour" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">here </a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">for a map and additional details. Brenda's Log Cabin is </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"># 10 on the flyer - please note, she's closed Sundays</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you can't make it to the tour, email us at koppscrops@gmail.com to reserve your bottle today (please do not order via the website). Chances of a sell-out by the end of the month are high!</span></div>
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Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-56692166047779381382014-03-24T19:48:00.001-07:002014-03-24T19:48:38.322-07:00Hope (Of Sap) Springs Eternal<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dear Minnesota: Do
you want to be a serious maple syrup production state or not? Please decide, and deliver weather
accordingly. With great haste. Sincerely, Kopp’s Crops and our fellow Minnesota
Syrup Producers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A couple weeks ago we made our annual pilgrimage to
Wisconsin for syrupping supplies. Then yesterday
we tapped our first 75 trees, in the hope that the 10 day forecast holds true
and we see some sap-loosening temperatures come our way. We had high hopes coming into 2014; last year
we had our most prolific season ever. Granted,
“ever” for us is only five years, but still – it was pretty awesome. Twenty gallons of golden goodness
graced our boiling pan and filters. At
40 to 1 sap to syrup conversion, that means we collected, carted around, and
cooked down around 800 gallons of sap.
The perfect mix of warm days and below-freezing nights kept the sap
moving so long that we stopped boiling before the sap ran dry. But 2012? A crazy
week-long February heat wave took temperatures so far above freezing, even at
night, that the sap went shooting for the treetops and never looked back. Same number of trees, barely a gallon of
syrup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vQji-sEc7EA/UzDekh3XPqI/AAAAAAAAAt4/mFepfHF7JSI/s1600/IMG_6439.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vQji-sEc7EA/UzDekh3XPqI/AAAAAAAAAt4/mFepfHF7JSI/s1600/IMG_6439.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This photo of one of our frozen taps pretty much sums up the 2014 season so far. A couple of days with just enough warmth to
get the sap moving, then BAM - another deep freeze. In a normal year, we’d be wrapping up the
season in the next couple of weeks. This
year, we’re just hoping, still hoping, the sap run starts before it ends. So what’s it going to be, Minnesota? A significant syrup season, or straight to
summer?</span></div>
<o:p></o:p>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-84217671375521387972013-07-31T18:49:00.001-07:002013-07-31T18:49:20.490-07:00A Little Bit of Bragging...<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aIhj7fOV1hQ/Ufm6AEDue5I/AAAAAAAAAqk/UsmMvFNUL-c/s1600/IMG_5572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aIhj7fOV1hQ/Ufm6AEDue5I/AAAAAAAAAqk/UsmMvFNUL-c/s400/IMG_5572.JPG" width="266" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This past weekend, the Kopp family took in the joys of the Isanti County Fair. First stop: the open class displays, where county residents show off the products of their crafting, baking, artistry and gardening. Friends of ours took first place on some photography and vegetable categories - congratulations to Bridget & Dave! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then with great anticipation, we headed over to the canned goods, and were honored to see two blue ribbons dangling from our entries! Our mushrooms beat out a beef jerky competitor in the "Dried Miscellaneous" category, and our best Grade A light amber reigned victorious in Maple Syrup. Next year we'll aspire to the purple Grand Champion ribbon. Thank you, Isanti County Fair Board!</span><br />
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<br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-25709365761383905362013-05-01T19:21:00.002-07:002013-05-01T19:22:37.636-07:0099 Bottles of Syrup on the Wall… And 99 Stockpots to Wash<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">May 1 and it’s snowing again in Minnesota. We only wish we were joking. About the only thing this weather is good for
is finishing out the Maple Syrup Blogging Season. So let the bottling summary begin!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">here are few tasks here at Kopp’s Crops that dirty
more dishes than filtering and bottling maple syrup, which is why we save up a
few days’ worth of boiling output before we bottle.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">That means we’ve got three or four pots
dirtied up before we even start – the pots in which the syrup was finished
& stored.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The full syrup pots go
back on the stove to heat, partly as an additional pasteurization step, partly
just to make the syrup less viscous and runnier so it flows through the filters
more quickly.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Our filters are housed in
a straining pot that started its life as a regular old stockpot, but now has
holes drilled in the bottom so the filtered syrup can drip through the holes
into yet another clean pot (or three) waiting below.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_0QU9LPdd2c/UXSSAdVd2nI/AAAAAAAAAfo/cMiOCDHlUYo/s1600/IMG_5187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_0QU9LPdd2c/UXSSAdVd2nI/AAAAAAAAAfo/cMiOCDHlUYo/s320/IMG_5187.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We use the double filter method for our syrup, with a
disposable pre-filter inside our reusable cone filter, which is made of Orlon. Orlon filters are the gold standard for syrup
straining, because they filter out even the smallest bits of concentrated
minerals, called sugar sand (harmless, but annoyingly gritty on the tongue). But the tight weave of the felt-like fabric clogs
up easily, so the pre-filter removes larger debris before it has a chance to gum
up the Orlon and slow down the filtering operation to “molasses in January”
speed. When the pre-filter collects too
much gunk, like larger granules of sugar sand and small bits of leaves and bark, we just swap in a new filter to speed things
along. At this point in the season,
patience is not our strong suit. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally filtered into a second round of clean
stockpots, the syrup is once again heated to 200 degrees to ensure that the
syrup will be hot enough to make our tamper-proof plastic caps seal properly. Then we pour the steaming hot syrup carefully….carefully…
carefully into an insulated coffee pot with a spigot for easy bottle filling. Quite the upgrade from last year’s “ladle
& funnel & try to keep the spilling to a minimum” method! Each bottle is filled, wiped and capped, then
set aside to cool before labeling. We’ve
been blessed with a bumper crop of syrup this year (99 bottles just in the first bottling batch!, so we’re swimming in beautiful
bottles of sweet syrup. The sidebar on
the right shows the sizes and grades we have for sale. When you’re ready to order, just give a yell –
we’ll be in the kitchen washing out the mountain of stockpots! </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-16745188187555012212013-04-21T19:41:00.000-07:002013-04-21T19:41:39.621-07:00The Finer Points of Finishing: Part 2<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Once the clear sap has boiled the day away and whittled away
into an inch of golden goodness in the bottom of the boiling pan, it’s time to
drain it into one of our big canning pots.
Thankfully there’s a handy-dandy spigot in the corner to make the job
easier. After our most recent 12-14 hour
boils, we’ve drained out about four gallons of near-syrup at this stage. Then it’s off to the turkey fryer to boil off
the last gallon of water. The ring of the fryer
burner is a perfect fit for our canning pots, and the propane burner is much
easier to control. Also perfect for
roasting hot dogs, if a person needs a little protein to balance out the sugar. Plus, it keeps us from making a mess of the
kitchen stove. On the burner, the syrup
gently boils for quite a while with little attention, but when it gets close to
finished, watch out! That baby can boil
over in a heartbeat. Sadly, we know this
from experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9HCbeChtkr8/UXSSvSt0zJI/AAAAAAAAAgE/MO8DEeXuEno/s1600/IMG_5206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9HCbeChtkr8/UXSSvSt0zJI/AAAAAAAAAgE/MO8DEeXuEno/s320/IMG_5206.JPG" width="213" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The syrup is officially finished when it reaches the magical
66% sugar content, or boils at seven degrees above the boiling temperature for
water. In most cases that would be the
expected 219 degrees, unless the barometric pressure is all wonky. For those of you who have been following the
April weather in Minnesota this year, we think you’d agree there may have been
some barometric wonkiness. So rather
than rely on a thermometer, we let our hydrometer tell us when it’s quittin’
time. The hydrometer measures the
density of the syrup, to give us a more precise measure of the sugar
content. We dip our handled hydrometer
cup into the hot syrup and let the hydrometer float gently inside. When the red line is visible above the syrup
line in the cup, we call it a day. And
thank our lucky stars we avoided another sticky syrup spillover.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-14714312217647393472013-04-17T19:38:00.000-07:002013-04-17T19:38:24.170-07:00The Finer Points of Finishing, Part 1<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9VrniPoEtrY/UV-S9F81nOI/AAAAAAAAAdM/86S_ogf77iQ/s1600/IMG_5071.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9VrniPoEtrY/UV-S9F81nOI/AAAAAAAAAdM/86S_ogf77iQ/s320/IMG_5071.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So after five or so hours of boiling, our 40 gallons of sap has
magically turned into a gallon of syrup, right?
Oh, if only. To “finish” the
syrup to the proper 66% sugar content in the pan would be to risk overshooting
the evaporation and scorching the syrup.
Thus rendering the syrup inedible, and leaving the evaporator operator
sobbing in the corner of the sugar shack in the fetal position. Nobody wants to see that. So the trickiest part of the entire syrup
operation might be deciding when to pull the pan off the wood stove and transfer
the near-syrup to a large pot to be finished over a more controlled heat
source. Pull the pan off too early, and
we waste lots of time boiling off water we could have boiled in the more
efficient flat pan. Pull it off too late
and, yup, we’ll be playing “Taps” for our fallen batch of syrup.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BKKhtmZnbVs/UV-Tw0wCs-I/AAAAAAAAAd0/krtzibYjHb4/s1600/IMG_5089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BKKhtmZnbVs/UV-Tw0wCs-I/AAAAAAAAAd0/krtzibYjHb4/s320/IMG_5089.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maple Sap Streaming into the Boiling Pan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since we’ve engaged in a couple of 12+ hour, 180 gallon
boiling marathons this season, we’ve faced an even more difficult
decision: when to quit feeding the fire
at the end of the night? Once the last
of the sap has left the barrel and streamed into the pan, there’s still quite a bit of
boiling to do. So rather than staying up
another two hours to feed the fire and pull off the pan to cool, we stop
stoking the fire and let the residual heat of the stove and the sap do a little
more evaporating before morning, when we'll fire up the finishing operation. As you might imagine, estimating how much
evaporating happens while we’re sleeping is like estimating how long our kids' good mood will last after the maple syrup sugar rush wears off. In other
words, nearly impossible. We nearly lost
our first batch this way – we woke up to nearly-finished syrup in our pan, just
a smidgen away from scorched syrup.
Thankfully, we were still a few points away from the magic 66% sugar content
for finished syrup, so we didn’t lose any of our sweet amber goodness. Sweet dreams, indeed! </span><o:p></o:p>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-7904799410940662412013-04-14T19:24:00.000-07:002013-04-14T19:24:44.839-07:00Boil, Baby, Boil!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9XfcL1gXpTk/UV-UTPlzLcI/AAAAAAAAAeA/yejcZgqvsaw/s1600/IMG_5110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9XfcL1gXpTk/UV-UTPlzLcI/AAAAAAAAAeA/yejcZgqvsaw/s320/IMG_5110.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First of all, we want to be clear. Even though this incredibly long stretch of
cold weather has extended our season and will give us our biggest syrup haul ever, we
still want spring to arrive NOW just as much as anyone else in Minnesota! We’re willing to call it quits
on sap collection. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We’re ready for warmer weather. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Any day now, thanks!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mu4b8Y5BkIQ/UV-TwSJDi4I/AAAAAAAAAds/r-j6sqJSrA4/s1600/IMG_5088.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Mu4b8Y5BkIQ/UV-TwSJDi4I/AAAAAAAAAds/r-j6sqJSrA4/s320/IMG_5088.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sap Delivery & Preheating Mechanism</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But in the meantime, when the world gives us sap, we make
syrup! No matter how cold it gets
inside, it’s toasty warm inside the Sugar Shack. To keep the sap at a rolling boil, we add wood
to the stove every 10-12 minutes. We use a mix of oak and maple. Nope, not for a
smoky flavor, but because our oak is drier and contains more BTUs so it burns hotter, while the maple is
wetter and burns longer. This keeps the
fire burning at 750 to 800 degrees Fahrenheit, as measured by the thermometer
mounted on our smokestack. The
thermometer has an ominous name; “burn indicator” is stamped on the
bottom of it. <i>Boil,
baby boil… syrup inferno! </i>No, no
infernos, please – that’s why we have a panel of cement board mounted between the stove
and the back wall, and a fire extinguisher mounted prominently near the door of
our Sugar Shack. Safety first, syrup
second! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To make sure the syrup keeps boiling steadily as we add more
sap to the pan, we use copper tubing to carry the sap from our 55 gallon drums
into the pan. The tubing has a valve like our house’s plumbing, where we can adjust the speed of the sap
flow. And the copper wraps around the
smokestack twice, so that the sap is already preheated a bit by the time it
goes streaming into the pan. During the
height of the boil, we try to adjust the flow to keep about 3 inches of boiling
liquid in the pan for optimal evaporation.
With this setup, we can boil the excess water off 50 gallons of sap in about 6 hours. Or about fifty rounds of adding wood to the fire. Not that we're counting.</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wT0OCj6inXE/UV-PMRqbkNI/AAAAAAAAAcY/k4n7dMo8ry0/s1600/IMG_5077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wT0OCj6inXE/UV-PMRqbkNI/AAAAAAAAAcY/k4n7dMo8ry0/s400/IMG_5077.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<o:p></o:p><br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-17786539896736633172013-04-06T18:21:00.000-07:002013-04-06T18:21:06.999-07:00Quicker Collection<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-StM5yqi5D-c/UV-U7ZbjN7I/AAAAAAAAAes/lAAqDVx963U/s1600/IMG_5174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-StM5yqi5D-c/UV-U7ZbjN7I/AAAAAAAAAes/lAAqDVx963U/s320/IMG_5174.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">See that beautiful photo there? That nearly full bucket of fresh,
begging-to-be-boiled sap? Yes, that’s
what we’ve been waiting for. The sap run
is at its peak, and we aim to collect every available drop. A couple of years
ago, the bottleneck of our syrup operation was the boiling. We solved (or partially solved) that issue by
upgrading our stove. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So now our bottleneck is sap collection.
The 55 gallon plastic drum bungee corded onto a wagon </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(aka the “collection cart”)</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, towed by our four
wheeler just isn’t giving us the efficiency we’re
looking for. There’s still the stopping
& dismounting from the four wheeler at every tree. The unhooking of the bucket, the dumping of
the sap into a larger 5 gallon bucket, the rehanging of the bucket, the
replacing of the lid that has inevitably fallen into the snow at some point in
the process. The trudging through the
snow to the next tree, the dumping of 2-3 trees’ worth of sap into the drum,
the remounting of the four-wheeler.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat for one hundred trees.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjPLYiFYJMY/UV-QgWcG0EI/AAAAAAAAAcw/uUKVKjvajc0/s1600/IMG_4814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYLAciTXW-8/UV-OOMU2cMI/AAAAAAAAAb4/d_TfmqxYRDU/s1600/IMG_4855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYLAciTXW-8/UV-OOMU2cMI/AAAAAAAAAb4/d_TfmqxYRDU/s320/IMG_4855.JPG" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjPLYiFYJMY/UV-QgWcG0EI/AAAAAAAAAcw/uUKVKjvajc0/s1600/IMG_4814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LjPLYiFYJMY/UV-QgWcG0EI/AAAAAAAAAcw/uUKVKjvajc0/s200/IMG_4814.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But we’ve seen the future, and the future is plastic. Plastic tubing, to be exact. With some assistance from good old fashioned gravity. Most of our land is pretty flat, but we do
have a nice slope on the southeast side that we’re using as a trial run for sap-collecting
tubing. Before the season started, we
a</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">ttached a length of one-inch diameter plastic tubing to a series of mature
maples. At the top of the slope, the
tubing is attached higher on the tree, and by the bottom of the slope it’s only
a couple feet off the ground. A carpenter’s
level assured us that we had a consistent downward slope of tubing with no
level spots for sap to pool. Then once
it was time to tap the trees, instead of hanging a bucket from a metal spline on each tree along the slope, we used plastic taps. The plastic taps have small tubes attached to
them that splice into the main tubing, giving the sap a clear path out of the tree, down toward lower ground.
At the bottom of this sap water slide?
One of those beautiful blue 55 gallon drums, already partially full of clear, pure maple sap. </span><br />
<o:p></o:p><br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-11406606296432304362013-03-31T17:52:00.002-07:002013-03-31T17:52:53.319-07:00Easter Eggs<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We're "dyeing" to show you how we spent the afternoon yesterday! One egg-dye kit, six juice glasses, two preschoolers, and thirteen hard-boiled eggs. We didn't start with this unlucky number; we started with sixteen. Three were so excited to be dyed that they could burst (and did) in the pan. And some of our eggs had a head start on the dyeing. Six of our laying hens lay brown eggs and two lay white eggs, so of today's eggs, eight were white, two were brown, and four were green. Yes, green! Dr. Seuss wasn't quite as far-out there as you thought (although we'd still recommend staying away from green ham). We don't have green-egg-layers of our own, but one of our friends thought the girls would enjoy having some green eggs and sent a few over. The multi-colored baker's dozen made for some interesting egg-dye outcomes that we thought we'd share with you. Before you judge the craftsmanship of the dye job, though, please remember - the primary artists were ages two and a half and four!</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JjrXZxXoC1Q/UVedtF8m47I/AAAAAAAAAag/8WVl_mIJH4Y/s1600/IMG_4925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JjrXZxXoC1Q/UVedtF8m47I/AAAAAAAAAag/8WVl_mIJH4Y/s400/IMG_4925.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our Easter eggs, prior to dyeing: seven white, four green and two brown.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8vkTofksquM/UVeeYfu5V6I/AAAAAAAAAa0/HEy80mdxYbY/s1600/IMG_4956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8vkTofksquM/UVeeYfu5V6I/AAAAAAAAAa0/HEy80mdxYbY/s400/IMG_4956.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The white eggs turned out about how you'd expect - pretty pastels. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3e5pvCmL7bE/UVedp7cNPnI/AAAAAAAAAaY/gYPYcOaAJF8/s1600/IMG_4949.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3e5pvCmL7bE/UVedp7cNPnI/AAAAAAAAAaY/gYPYcOaAJF8/s400/IMG_4949.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The brown eggs did okay in the darker color dye. Starburst breakage pattern courtesy of an overexcited two and a half year old. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yi3cp40vZOw/UVeecFttniI/AAAAAAAAAbE/xm8Zvi0NF3A/s1600/IMG_4959.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yi3cp40vZOw/UVeecFttniI/AAAAAAAAAbE/xm8Zvi0NF3A/s400/IMG_4959.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The green eggs were a bit of a mixed bag. Yellow dye on a green egg does not lead to an attractive outcome(back). The egg on the right was dyed with masking tape around the middle - the middle stripe is the original egg color.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gPpnWl2jE6c/UVehGMy9BgI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/xEMjPW4G_RE/s1600/IMG_4964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gPpnWl2jE6c/UVehGMy9BgI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/xEMjPW4G_RE/s320/IMG_4964.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy Easter from the hens (and humans) of Kopp's Crops!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-41583774868165065382013-03-30T18:57:00.000-07:002013-03-30T18:57:47.661-07:00Nectar of the Gods<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YIccpWsdXJE/UVeN4Irt1sI/AAAAAAAAAZs/u8A4vY7Lo28/s1600/IMG_4977.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YIccpWsdXJE/UVeN4Irt1sI/AAAAAAAAAZs/u8A4vY7Lo28/s400/IMG_4977.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The trees are dripping!
The trees are dripping! The sap
is finally flowing and we couldn’t be sappier… er, happier! We’ve tapped one hundred and thirty trees
this year, so 2013 tops our tapping tally to date. Sadly, many of the buckets are still dry and
sap-free, especially the ones deeper in the woods where the temperatures still
struggle to get above freezing. But the
ones that have sap in them are a beautiful sight. It may look like plain old water, and even
taste like it, but it is the nectar of the gods. Or at least the nectar of the god of pancakes,
IHOPysus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The sap's sugar content is its most important quality.
Red maples, which make up the majority of our tapped trees, typically
have a sugar content of 2.0-2.5%, while sugar maples have a slightly higher
2.5-3.0% sugar content. This makes the
standard sap-to-syrup ratio about 43:1.
Yes, over 40 gallons of sap just to walk out of the boiling shack with
a single gallon of syrup! Sugar content
in the harvested sap declines until it’s boiled, so we boil as often as
possible to maximize our syrup. But we
also try not to boil until we’ve collected over 40 gallons of sap. Our boiling pan is two feet by four feet, so
it takes almost two gallons of boiling syrup just to keep the pan covered and not scorching. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After our first sap collection yesterday we used a hydrometer
to test the sugar content of our haul. One
tree pumped out a whopping 4% sugar - sweet!
But by the time we collected from all the trees, the average sugar
content was 2.3%. Well within normal
range, and with fifty gallons of sap in our barrel, well worth firing up the
wood stove for our first boil of the season.
The fruit of our labors? One
gorgeous gallon of golden goodness. All
hail IHOPysus!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-65777135078002996412013-03-27T19:46:00.000-07:002013-03-27T19:46:38.467-07:00Cute Chicks<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Is there anything cuter than a baby chick? How about a whole flock of baby chicks? Just in time for Easter, we've got a few new residents at Kopp's Crops. And by few, we mean about 125 of them!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8743XeQlkis/UVOumy0z9GI/AAAAAAAAAZY/0v86vOvkm1s/s1600/IMG_4921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8743XeQlkis/UVOumy0z9GI/AAAAAAAAAZY/0v86vOvkm1s/s400/IMG_4921.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-80053908427816465252013-03-17T19:42:00.000-07:002013-03-17T19:42:47.993-07:00Waiting for Spring to Spring Forth<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w_P5ggfB39s/USrXAsMD07I/AAAAAAAAAYg/uzez-chnBOk/s1600/IMG_4810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-w_P5ggfB39s/USrXAsMD07I/AAAAAAAAAYg/uzez-chnBOk/s320/IMG_4810.JPG" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Waiting, waiting, waiting… we’re still waiting for sap. We tapped all our trees on Wednesday, when it
looked like the temperatures would creep above freezing. Not so much.
All we’ve got to show for our first few days are a couple of buckets
with a half-inch of frozen sap in the bottom.
It’s always a balancing act – if we tap too early (as we apparently did
this year), we risk having the holes in the trees heal up before all the available
sap is collected – the trees actually start healing the minute they’re tapped. But if we tap too late and miss the beginning
of the sap run, we’ll miss out on the delicately-flavored light amber maple
syrup that those first days will bring. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our other sugar sources, the honey bees, are not happy about
the lingering freezing temperatures, either.
We’re not really worried about them freezing in their hives, since we
wrapped all the boxes with black tar paper to keep the wind out and the heat in. And even on a sub-zero day, a cluster of bees
and their body heat can reach 80 degrees.
But the bees still leave the hive for their periodic “cleansing flights,”
also known as “taking a little bee dump outside so they don’t turn the hive
into giant latrine.” Some of those bees
won’t survive out in the cold long enough to make it back to the hive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The bees that don’t freeze their little bee butts off
outside the hive are probably getting a tad hungry by now. To keep our honey-creators alive through the
winter, we left 60-70 pounds of honey in each hive to provide enough sustenance
until spring. But with winter continuing
to stretch out, we’ve had to supplement their winter stash with some sugar
water. When they suck the sugar water
out of the feeder, they’re tricked into thinking the spring nectar is
flowing. Oh, if only we could trick <i>ourselves</i> into thinking spring is so
close! </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-39539965176561754782013-03-10T19:15:00.000-07:002013-03-17T19:43:03.204-07:00Easing Into the Season<br />
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<i>When days are warm but
nights still freeze<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<i>The sap starts flowing
in the trees…<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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For the past few weeks, when 10:14pm rolls around, you’ll
find us on the couch, eyeballs glued to the TV, fingers crossed, waiting for <i>just</i> the right weather report. The maple sap run starts when the daytime
highs climb a few degrees above freezing for a few days in a row– the sap rises
from the roots toward the warm, sunny branches.
But when the air temperature drops back below freezing at night, it
flows back down to hide out in the warmth of the ground. Up and down, up and down. Except for that bit that flows by our taps and
into our buckets. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Since we haven’t seen that sought-after five-day forecast yet,
we’ve just been easing into the season so far. First, we cleared out the Sugar Shack and
brought the equipment out of hibernation.
Buckets, taps, storage drums, and the big kahuna: the boiling pan. Everything
needed to be completely sanitized, to ensure that all the sugar-eating bacteria
were eliminated. The taps were small
enough that we could boil them to get them squeaky clean. Everything else got a good scrubbing with
bleach and elbow grease. The wood
boiling stove just needed a good once-over to get rid of the spiders and other
creepy crawlies that made their winter home there. Then we stacked a full cord of dried, split
wood neatly beside the Sugar Shack. We
tapped the tree closest to the house as a tester tree. And then, we waited. And watched the weather report. And waited some more.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMWF87f5rZM/TYAYOoLge0I/AAAAAAAAACs/eBSJlL8WirQ/s1600/IMG_1273.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IMWF87f5rZM/TYAYOoLge0I/AAAAAAAAACs/eBSJlL8WirQ/s320/IMG_1273.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Saturday, we just couldn’t stand the waiting any more. With daytime temperatures projected to be
right about freezing this week, we decided to tap the first 25 trees. We chose a stand of trees on the southeast
slope where it’s a little sunnier, and maybe a little warmer. And now we wait again, for the first flow of
the sweet sap of 2013…<o:p></o:p></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-29056613098968035072013-02-24T19:24:00.000-08:002013-03-17T19:43:13.881-07:00Feeling Peckish<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0wqRFDEigU/USrWZYSBGRI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/0Lh8T7oSF4U/s1600/IMG_4802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N0wqRFDEigU/USrWZYSBGRI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/0Lh8T7oSF4U/s320/IMG_4802.JPG" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We humans of Kopp’s Crops have a serious case of Cabin Fever
with a side of Spring Fever. But we
think the chickens are feeling it even more acutely. After a winter of being cooped up (pun
intended) inside, they’re feeling a little peckish. As in, they’re pecking at each other. A couple of the hens who fall to the bottom
of the proverbial pecking order (yes, a phrase that did indeed originate in the
chicken universe) are sporting some feather-free bald spots above their tails. Hopefully as the weather warms up and they
get outside more to stretch their wings, their appetites for each others’
tailfeathers will wane. If not, some
chicken coats may be in order.
Seriously. You can actually buy
peck-proof coats for chickens! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The pecking really took off a couple of weeks ago, when the
weather dropped into the sub-zero, egg-freezing zone. Our hens stayed comfortable with their thick
winter feathers and the collective chicken body heat, but the eggs they laid in
the colder corners of the coop didn’t fare so well. Of the five or six eggs laid each day by our
eight hens, we were lucky to retrieve one before they froze and split their
shells. Then all the sudden, those
frozen eggs started sporting mysterious, jagged holes. The hens were pecking at their own eggs, as
if they were in some twisted poultry version of the Donner party. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fearing the ongoing loss of future omelets, we took a
two-pronged approach to exterminate the egg-pecking. First, we dug out the plastic eggs from the
girls’ Easter baskets to use as decoys.
Go ahead, ladies, let’s see you try to peck through that tough
plastic! Then we filled all the
pre-pecked real eggs with yellow mustard, which chickens apparently detest. Yes, dear hens, it may just look like egg
yolk, but trust us – it’s kryptonite to you! It took about five days, but they finally
tired of the pecking prevention measures and started leaving the eggs intact,
just in time for the winter warm-up that allowed us to once again enjoy fresh
(unfrozen) eggs!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-75837074830225704962013-01-13T19:16:00.002-08:002013-01-13T19:17:54.005-08:00The Science of Sausage-Making<div class="MsoNormal" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">It has been said for decades “you don’t really want to know how the sausage is made.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, here’s your opportunity to find out how our venison sausage is made, with nary a stomach-churning description to be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unless you’re vegetarian, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you are, we probably lost you at the title of the post, didn’t we?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those still with us, read on for a peek behind the curtain (or into the grinder).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The secret to venison sausage is… pork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, pork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True, venison alone would make a nice low-fat sausage, but it would also be a dry, tasteless sausage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sausages need fat for flavor and juiciness, but what little fat venison has just tastes nasty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really gross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So before we grind our venison for the sausage, we trim all the fat off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enter the pork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most venison sausage recipes call for a mix of venison, pork fat, and pork lean, with the pork fat & lean at a 1:1 ratio.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We trade off a little of the flavor and juiciness for a lower-fat sausage, so we buy pork butt roasts that are probably closer to 75% lean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We grind the meats separately, then plop them into a giant plastic tub, 25 pounds of meat at time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next, the spices, which get mixed with water into a spicy slurry, so that they mix more evenly with the meat. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For our favorite wild rice bratwurst, we soften up 16 oz. of wild rice by pouring boiling water over it, let it cool, pour off the water, and repeat the process two more times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the meat, spices, and wild rice are well-mixed by hand, we load the mixture into a sausage stuffer, where we pump it into natural casings made from beef intestines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Ok, we lied.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That may have grossed some of you out…sorry!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We promise, that’s the last time.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We twist the casings every six inches to form the individual sausages, creating a long, somewhat festive meat garland to adorn our freezer for the coming months (in tidy vacuum-sealed packages of four). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zE7qb3a6KR8/UPLItYf1IjI/AAAAAAAAAXk/2kNX20JZIN0/s1600/sticks.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zE7qb3a6KR8/UPLItYf1IjI/AAAAAAAAAXk/2kNX20JZIN0/s320/sticks.JPG" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We use manufactured collagen casings for our smoked snack sticks (think Slim Jims, only larger in diameter, with a fraction of the ingredients, and way, way, way tastier), for which we use 60% venison, 40% pork, and a different spice blend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since these sausages are eaten cold or room temperature, we have to add cure (sodium nitrite) to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, particularly the ones that cause botulism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cure is also what gives sausages their trademark pink/red color and adds some distinctive flavor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After stuffing the casings, we load them into our refrigerator smoker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, you read that right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our smoker is made out of 1940’s refrigerator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More on that in an upcoming post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We smoke the sausages at 125 degrees for five hours, then at 170 until they’re fully cooked with an internal temperature of 156 degrees, then cool and freeze them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This year we tried making hotdogs for the first time!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We made them the same way we made the snack sticks (but with larger-diameter casings and yet another spice blend), but smoked them for only an hour and a half at 125 degrees before raising the temperature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After they reached the requisite 156 degrees, we gave them the full Minnesota treatment – we pulled them from their sauna and threw them into a refreshing ice bath to cool them down quickly and preserve some of the <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uCsN5YX9R7c/UPLIocQkuqI/AAAAAAAAAXY/EPGPRfElLQs/s1600/brats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" eea="true" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uCsN5YX9R7c/UPLIocQkuqI/AAAAAAAAAXY/EPGPRfElLQs/s200/brats.jpg" width="200" /></a>internal moisture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the collagen casings are kind of chewy compared to the texture of the wieners, we peeled them off before freezing them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The final tally:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>100 wild rice bratwurst, 25lbs of chipotle snack sticks, 13 pounds of hot dogs, and a fully-stocked freezer full of savory sausage to go with our cellar full of sauerkraut!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-57990865472243417952012-09-10T19:17:00.000-07:002013-03-17T19:43:35.749-07:00Sauerkraut Season<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was the best of times, it was the wurst of times… it was sauerkraut season.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sauerkraut is among the most unpleasant canning tasks we have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is definitely the stinkiest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a nutshell:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>we take an inherently unpleasant-smelling vegetable and let it ferment in our garage for three weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We start by shredding the cabbage with an old-school, antique three-blade kraut cutter into a 10-gallon crock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the crock is completely full of shredded cabbage, we pack it down with a wooden ram until the top is covered with cabbage juice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we sprinkle in a handful of salt – a quarter cup or so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we fill the crock to the top again, tamp it until it’s under cabbage-water, salt it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Repeat until the crock is full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we set it aside to ferment for three weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, that’s twenty-one days of stinkiness in our garage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hey, at least we’re smart enough not to try to do it in the house!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over the fermentation period, the sugar in the cabbage turns to lactic acid, giving the sauerkraut its sauer-ness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Normally we’d actually let it sit there for four weeks, but this summer’s heat sped up the fermentation process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The most important part of sauerkraut success (aside from making sure we have enough salt – mmmmm… salt…) is making sure no kraut is exposed to the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Air + sauerkraut = a stinky, moldy mess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ve found that the best way to keep the air out is to cover the cabbage with a white kitchen trash bag full of water (double- or triple-bagged to avoid leakage).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water not only makes sure that the plastic is sealed into all the cabbage/crockery crevices to keep out the drafts, but it also puts some weight on the kraut to keep it submerged in the cabbage water for more even fermentation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bwzITEaET84/UE6d2eYzvdI/AAAAAAAAAWw/H44oqjMhsfs/s1600/IMG_3925.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bwzITEaET84/UE6d2eYzvdI/AAAAAAAAAWw/H44oqjMhsfs/s320/IMG_3925.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sauerkraut is preservation method agnostic – frozen or canned, it tastes about the same to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since canned foods usually last longer than frozen ones, we decided to can the first 36 pints. But after those four batches, we were a little “sauered” on the canning, so we froze the rest, and we’ll just plan on using it first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that we have all these pretty jars of kraut, Jason’s looking forward to deer season to get some venison sausage to go with them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-91740578885773492122012-08-10T13:09:00.001-07:002013-03-17T19:43:50.446-07:00Doing the Can-Can<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sorry, folks… we know it’s been a long time since we posted. But right now everything in the garden is
going gangbusters, and we’re working night and day to get it all picked and
sold, frozen, canned, dried or given away. Nothing hurts a farmer’s soul worse than
perfectly good vegetables going to waste.
So this month, we’ve been doing the can-can. Can we can it all? Yes, we can.
And can. And can. Our houseguests last week (Michelle’s
parents) even got conned into canning with us! </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We started off our canning marathon with green beans. We grow stringless varieties called Bush Lake
Blue and Slenderette so we don’t actually have to “string” them. We just break off the tough stem end and break them into inch-long pieces so they fit in the jars better. Green beans are a low-acid vegetable, so they
have to be pressure-canned in a canner that can process jars under 10 lbs of
pressure, to make sure all botulism spores are killed (it takes 240 degree heat
to kill them, not just the 212 degrees of normal boiling water). We hot-pack our beans, meaning we heat the
beans before they go into the jars, then fill them to 1” below the rim with
boiling water. A teaspoon of salt, a lid
with the seal softened in hot water, and a canning ring screwed on “finger
tight” to keep the lid in place during processing, and we’re ready to carefully
place the jars in the canner. After ten
minutes of off-gassing the steam inside the canner, we can put a weight on
the canner to start bringing it up to pressure.
The beans’ twenty-five minute timer starts when the dial shows we’ve
gotten to 10 lbs of pressure. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You could say we’re going in ascending order of messiness, because yesterday we tackled sweet corn. Naturally, the kernels have to be cut off the cob before they can be put in the jar, and it’s not a neat process. (<i>Note to selves: next time, sweep up errant corn kernels from the floor <u>before</u> picking up the 22-month-old from daycare. “Yummy! Corn!” She was too fast to stop.)</i> We also pressure-can the corn, but we “cold-pack”the jars with raw kernels before adding our boiling water. It increases the processing time, but we think it gives us crispier kernels when we open the jars in winter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /> </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wFnw62KW7VU/UCVpHM3vLGI/AAAAAAAAAWU/Uqp2i_IkRlQ/s1600/Aug+Canning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wFnw62KW7VU/UCVpHM3vLGI/AAAAAAAAAWU/Uqp2i_IkRlQ/s320/Aug+Canning.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally, today was tomato juice day. A motorized juicer made short work of a table
full of tomatoes – way faster than our old hand-cranked food mill. Tomatoes have higher acid, and since acid kills the
spores that produce the botulism toxin, we can safely hot water bath our juice
by submerging the jars in a huge pot of boiling water for 40 minutes. It’s a lot faster than pressure-canning because
we don’t have to wait for all the pressure to release before taking
out the jars and starting the next batch.
But over the decades, tomato varieties
have been bred to a lower level of acidity, so we add some lemon juice to each
jar just to be safe; there’s no reason to take chances! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It has been said that there is no sweeter summer sound than
the laughter of children, the waves of the ocean, the chirp of crickets or <<i>insert your favorite summer sound here</i>>. For us, it’s that little metallic “tink!”
that a jar makes when its lid seals completely, as if to say “You can relax now
– it worked!”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-16113158842807202912012-07-22T19:37:00.001-07:002012-07-22T19:38:17.611-07:00Busy Bees in the Garden<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We have lots of busy bees in the garden these days (and we
don’t just mean our daughters)! We
really mean the bees – our honeybees.
Without them, we wouldn’t have much of a harvest. You could call them our garden
superheroes, born with the power of pollination! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Almost any plant where the fruit or the seeds are eaten (instead of the leaves or the root) relies on pollination to get the food
production ball rolling. Some vegetables,
like tomatoes, beans and peas self-pollinate with a minimum of outside
intervention. They</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> have male and female parts inside the same flower, so the pollen gets where it needs to go within a single bloom. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Corn is pollinated by the
wind carrying pollen from the tassels on top down to the silk on an ear of
corn. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g17ER37YDbI/T_46XL8XQYI/AAAAAAAAAUc/GsCx8XIgcO0/s1600/IMG_3719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g17ER37YDbI/T_46XL8XQYI/AAAAAAAAAUc/GsCx8XIgcO0/s320/IMG_3719.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zucchini Blossoms</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But vegetables like cucumbers, zucchini and other squash
can’t pollinate without insects, often bees. These
vines have separate male and female flowers on each plant, and rely on insects
to transfer the pollen from the male flowers to the female ones. Without ample bees or other insects to do
this important job, it’s up to the gardener to hand-pollinate the plants, using
a cotton swab to transfer the pollen between blooms. Frankly, we can think of a lot of things we’d
rather be doing than gender-typing blossoms and Q-tipping pollen. Weeding, getting eaten alive by deer flies, root
canal… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Nationwide, there’s an emerging pollination crisis because the honeybee population has been declining. Some enterprising folks have built good
businesses trucking hives of bees from one commercial crop producer to another
through the growing season. The bees pollinate
a few fields before packing up and heading off to the next stop, like a
honeybee midway carnival. Maybe that’s
what we’ll do when we retire. If you see
an RV pulling a trailer full of beehives in a few years, give a wave – it could
be the Kopp’s Crops Honeybee Carnival Caravan! </span><o:p></o:p></div>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-17558319697099706022012-07-11T20:24:00.002-07:002012-07-22T19:37:51.400-07:00Mid-Season Maintenance<br />
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We’re smack in the middle of the garden season now! We’ve gotten past the “salad days” when we
eat salad just about every day because lettuce, spinach and radishes are the
only harvestable vegetables. Now we have
enough variety that we can eat out of the garden every night for supper,
without having the same vegetable two days in a row. But we haven’t yet started the canning and
freezing frenzy that occurs when the garden is at is fullest production. ‘Tis the season of mid-season
maintenance. There’s the weeding, of
course. And more weeding. And whining about weeding. But wait, there’s more!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2MqLkbQuvCE/T_46ugnFf2I/AAAAAAAAAUo/-4ZOxsjJwG8/s1600/IMG_3721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2MqLkbQuvCE/T_46ugnFf2I/AAAAAAAAAUo/-4ZOxsjJwG8/s320/IMG_3721.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b style="background-color: white;">Cocooning The Cauliflower:</b><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">As soon as a head of cauliflower starts to form (about 1-2” in diameter), we gather the outer leaves and tie them together above the head, creating a little cauliflower cocoon.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">We do this because when the sun hits the developing cauliflower, it starts turning purple or green or some other color we don’t care to see on our cauliflower.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Using the leaves to shade the delicate florets keeps them nice and pasty white, like Michelle’s legs in March.</span></div>
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<b>Thinning the Beets:</b> Beets are grown from compound seeds, which
means that those Grape-Nuts-cereal-looking seeds that we plant are actually a
conglomeration of up to 6 individual beet seeds. If all those mini-seeds actually germinate,
the baby beets are duking it out for room to grow. We end up having to sacrifice a certain
percentage of the plants, plucking them from the row to make sure the remaining
ones have ample space. Then throughout
the summer, we strategically pick beets from thicker clumps first, to keep
thinning the rows as the beets get bigger and need more room to spread out. We thin carrots and onions this way, too –
we intentionally plant them thickly because as we pick and eat young tender onions & carrots, it naturally allows nearby plants to
spread out and reach their “full potential.”<span style="background-color: white;"> </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R-53XV0dqfg/T_45hHK-4QI/AAAAAAAAAUA/AggjG8fzukY/s1600/IMG_3709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R-53XV0dqfg/T_45hHK-4QI/AAAAAAAAAUA/AggjG8fzukY/s320/IMG_3709.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-go2LfTVkDlk/T_47n_WfqXI/AAAAAAAAAVM/oEKpa0rgPKI/s1600/IMG_3728.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-go2LfTVkDlk/T_47n_WfqXI/AAAAAAAAAVM/oEKpa0rgPKI/s200/IMG_3728.JPG" width="200" /></a><b>Staking and Suckering
The Tomatoes:</b> We staked the tomatoes
a while ago, using baling twine to tie them to metal stakes so they grow tall
& straight and the sun can get to all the tomatoes. Now we periodically “sucker” them. Suckers are tiny branches that start growing
in the crotch of two larger branches of the tomato plant. If we let the suckers continue to develop,
they take valuable tomato-growing energy away from the rest of the plant. So we say, “I’m gonna get you, Sucka!” and
pinch them off. We saw our first red
tomato today, so it must be working!<o:p></o:p></div>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-5126879372142836392012-06-22T12:33:00.002-07:002012-07-05T12:58:42.760-07:00Cambridge Farmers Market Update<span style="font-family: inherit;">Saturday July7th we'll be at the Cambridge Farmer's Market from 8-11am or until sold out. This week we'll have the following available. </span><br />
<br />
2nd Crop Leaf Lettuce...........................$2.00/Bunch<br />
Beet Tops...............................................$2.00/Bunch<br />
Swiss Chard...........................................$2.00/Bunch<br />
2nd Crop Spinach...................................$2.00/Bunch<br />
Kale.......................................................$1.50/Bunch<br />
Red Potatoes..........................................$3.00/Quart<br />
Snow Peas.............................................$3.50/Quart<br />
Beets.....................................................$2.00/Bunch<br />
Small Head Cabbage............................$1.00/Head<br />
Zucchini................................................$0.50/Each (6-12” long)<br />
Dill........................................................$0.25/stem<br />
Basil / Thyme / Mint / <br />
Oregano / Rosemary.............................$0.50/stem<br />
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</span><br />
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">**For those who can't make it or want the ultimate in freshness, contact us about on the farm pickup or call us to place an order to be picked up in Cambridge on Saturday.**</span><br />
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<br /></div>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6327278555981707405.post-3531189222378457162012-06-10T19:52:00.000-07:002012-06-10T19:53:25.106-07:00The War of the Weeds<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What’s so wrong with weeds, anyway? Aside from the fact that they end up making
the garden look shaggier and more unkempt than a final-round contestant on
Survivor, that is. Mainly, we execute
them for crimes against healthy plant nutrition - for stealing the nutrients
our cultivated crops need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To keep weeds from growing in the first place, we planted a
lot of our widely-spaced plants like tomatoes and cabbage on plastic. We rolled out four-foot wide IRT plastic
rolls of plastic, then cut holes ever foot or two to plant the baby
plants. In addition to keeping weeds
from growing (lack of sunlight will do that to you), the plastic has the added
benefit of keeping the soil more moist.
Of course, now the south end of our garden looks a bit like a giant Hefty
bag, but hey – you can’t argue with success.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For the close-together plants that we grow in rows from seed
(like beets, carrots, and the various greens and lettuces we’ve been harvesting
over the past few weeks), plastic isn’t really an option. Our drip-tape<span style="color: red;"> </span>irrigation
system certainly helps – because we’re only watering a couple of inches on either
side of the row, weeds further out than that tend to lack the water to
thrive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">But despite all the preventative measures, somehow the weed
party always gets started eventually.
And there’s just no substitute for good old fashioned weed pulling. We try to do a little every couple of days to
stay ahead of it, but life is life after all, and sometimes it just gets away
from us. So we have days like today,
when we spent a couple hours bending over row after row of small plants,
pulling weeds with both hands until we filled the wheelbarrow! Tomorrow we’ll bring out the grand-daddy of
all weed whackers, the rototiller, to take care of the weeds in between the
rows. Tonight’s much-needed soaking rain means it
will be easier to disturb the roots of the weeds and bring them to the surface
where they can dry out and die. Weeds,
you’ve met your match. Until next week,
anyway.</span><o:p></o:p></div>Kopp's Cropshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07855704821218767537noreply@blogger.com