Birches

The birches are sprouting leaves.

Here's a pic.
Birch-lined road.Pic: Birch-lined road.

Dunno what that would be in English, a birch alley? A birch lane? It's a birch-lined road.

: ) When the birches start

: )
When the birches start to leaf out it's too late to tap them for sap; ours stopped producing sap a week ago.

Remind me to do the how-to for birch sap tapping next year; it's not difficult but there's a few things you need to get right.

... when all you have is

... when all you have is white birches you tap white birches. The sap is about 1/10 (or 1/100? I forget) as sugary as sugar maple sap, and if you want anything but birch water (say, syrup) you'll need to boil it in an underpressure kettle. For much much longer than maple syrup, cos there's that much less sugar in it.
Boil it in a normal kettle and it'll burn to the bottom in no time, cos it does contain sugar ...

Mostly it's a refreshing mineral-rich spring drink, best drunk straight away, or frozen for later use.

Alas, this year is too late

Alas, this year is too late for birch sap in Helsinki: the birches all leafed out over the weekend.