I had a long conversation with someone at the place where I buy my local honey.  Apparently, the drought in OK is part of why there’s no possibility of local maple syrup.  You’d have to go through way too much water to be able to get enough sap to make syrup.  I haven’t done enough research to verify whether this is true, BUT the trees need to be at least 12″ across, and that will take years.  I will buy a couple of maple trees, but it’ll take awhile to for them to get big enough for me to tap.

I’ve been trying to find the least expensive way for me to get my fix in the meantime.  Though the syrup wasn’t a bad price at this place, it’s a grade B – which is for cooking – instead of the grade A that you’d use on pancakes.  Which means I could make a maple syrup pie, but I’d rather have it on pancakes.

I’m planning on a trip back to VT in September for a wedding, so I’m looking at prices in that area.  I can pick up a gallon (and ignore my hubby’s teasing on how much I spend on it), so we can have a fix while I’m figuring out what else to do.  A gallon bought in VT will be much cheaper than buying from this place that only has grade B.

On the other hand, they have local honey, which is yummy.  They have loose leaf teas and they carry other things that I’ll continue to buy.  I’d rather buy local, or buy from companies that are being careful of what they sell to me.  It’s time for us to eat healthier and more naturally.  Which will dovetail into the garden I want to grow, so yay.