Seraphima.. it really doesn't here, in western NY state, either! We start seeing early spring flowers around the beginning of March (the Snowdrops were blooming in late January this year, poor things.. but they're crazy anyway) and then we have - hopefully- a long, drawn out late winter sugar season. We NEED consistently cold, freezing nights and warmer- above 45° days for the sap to run. The last few years, it hasn't worked that way... we've had either a very warm spell right at the beginning, which hurried the trees into budding, or else it stayed very cold until the last minute, froze and thawed for a week, and then spring burst out for good.
Neither one is much fun... the "early warm spell" is almost invariably followed by weeks of winter again... or even weeks of ideal sugaring weather... which doesn't do us any good at all once the sap has turned "buddy".
Fortunately for us personally, it's only a hobby -10 taps on our big yard trees, which make us 2 gallons of wonderful syrup in a really bad year, and have made us as much as 8 gallons in a crazy season which went on and on...
But we generally get enough even in a really lousy year to use for our own needs- pancakes, etc. I like to have enough extra for gifts... this year, instead of just giving it in the usual pint canning jars, I spent a bit of money and bought these wonderful 12 ounce jars shaped like a large maple leaf, and re-sealed the syrup in them. They were a real hit... and they were gorgeous! Hard to justify the money to do ALL my syrup in something like that, but well worth it for gifts.
When we get lots of syrup, we use it in candy, baking.. all sorts of goodies. I make a maple parfait which is pretty much maple syrup and egg whites with a bit of cream... light and fluffy and with that unmatchable maple flavor.
I've got to get at my inventory as well. When hubby and I took advantage of a couple of stormy winter days and FINALLY cleaned and organized the cellar, we checked the contents of all our various pails, etc... including making sure any mylar bags inside were still well sealed, and weighing the various stuff. So THAT is finally well inventoried and I have a much better handle on that stuff, which is mostly staples like rice, beans, flour, wheat, noodles, and some "goodies" like chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruits...
But I haven't gotten back to the job, and that includes the three large shelf units in the root cellar, and the large old kitchen cabinets with all the canned goods in the other side of the cellar. Ack!!! I don't want to think about it... but I HAVE to get at it, so I don't either overdo the canning of something we have a ton of, or forget to plant extra of stuff we are getting a bit low on.
It's extra difficult because my planning always is meant to include all the adult children and their spouses. In one way, that makes things easier, because if they DON'T end up here for any reason during a big SHTF episode, I KNOW we have enough for hubby and I alone for about 5 years... at least! But if things get bad, I'd want them here... and for far more than just personally wanting to be able to help them survive. They all have skills which would be invaluable for surviving and rebuilding, and I don't mean it to sound like bragging... but anything from building a house, or a still, or machining, or carpentry, or a stone wall.. everything we could possibly imagine needing to do- one or more of them can do everything from the design work to the actual work. Many of my preps over the years have been aimed at making sure I have enough tools, materials and supplies so that they'd have whatever they needed if it all does come crashing down.
The biggest problem would probably be keeping us all from wanting to kill each other after being crowded into a house which normally seems plenty large enough for a few weeks... but I've got a feeling that the necessity of survival would solve most of that for awhile. And it's not that they don't get along- they do, wonderfully (they all live fairly close to each other around a mid size city about two hours from the farm, and frequently meet just to play together- a communal meal, or their pre-arranged Saturday afternoons at the library, or whatever. To be honest.. I think *I'd* have the biggest problem adjusting to a houseful... I do like my peace and quiet and privacy!
'
But yeah, I've got to get all those cans and bottles inventoried and updated. All I need is 24 more hours in a day, and a WHOLE LOT more energy.
Summerthyme
They left me plenty of tea bags though... 
If you don't already have it go to amazon.com and look up The Compleat Meadmaker book and order it in. I've forgotten the authors name, but he has a great number of hints and recipes for using fresh herb vs dried in your 'meads'. Fresh mint and fresh grated ginger root mead? Sounds great. Just watch out for a bacterial problem with fresh ingredients. I hate to over pasturize my honey as it seems to lose so much of its floral nuances, but I do add a campden tablet @1 tablet/gallon to the must 24 hours prior to pitching my yeast starter. Anyway, most of my still meads/melomels I bottle in regular 12oz beer bolltes. That way 12ounces of mead is good for one person servings versus opening a 750ml bottle. BTW, I've found that Straight A works very well for soaking labels off. What do you use?
