tonyhibbett
Landlord.
Yesterday my neighbour had her silver birch brutally hacked because the leaves were clogging her gutters. I went to inspect and thought it was starting to rain. The sap was dripping on my head from the wounds above. I have set out some jars to collect some of it but most is running down the trunk and into the earth and the tree is bleeding to death. The sap has little flavour. As per instructions, I bored a cork sized hole at an 80 degree angle into the trunk and inserted a bored synthetic cork with a tube connected to a demijohn, which is collecting a small amount of sap, but mostly it is bleeding out of the wounds above. Hopefully these wounds will self heal. A proper tree surgeon would have advised against pruning at this time.
Meanwhile I could possibly harvest enough sap to justify an experimental brew. Following the classic Berry recipe, this involves cooking a gallon of sap with orange and lemon rind, topping up with water, adding the juice of the citrus fruits plus some white grape juice concentrate. Smacks of the the old 'Stone Soup' story to me: place stone in boiling water, add salt, pepper, bones, cabbage leaves and so on. Yet thousands of birch trees died in the process of peasants relentlessly bleeding them to death.
Meanwhile I could possibly harvest enough sap to justify an experimental brew. Following the classic Berry recipe, this involves cooking a gallon of sap with orange and lemon rind, topping up with water, adding the juice of the citrus fruits plus some white grape juice concentrate. Smacks of the the old 'Stone Soup' story to me: place stone in boiling water, add salt, pepper, bones, cabbage leaves and so on. Yet thousands of birch trees died in the process of peasants relentlessly bleeding them to death.