The Essence of Imbolc
Where I live we are blessed with a gift from the sugar maple trees - maple syrup. We tap several trees on our land to collect the sap & boil it down into this sweet treat. The snow is still deep when we place the taps & as the season progresses the snow melts & the sap runs. We need to place the taps low so that when the snow melts they aren't over our heads!

The season to me is:
Sight-Snowshoes tracks leading from one tree to the other & steamy windows in the house from boiling the sap for hours.
Smell-The wakening woods & the smell of the syrup just about ready on the stove.
Sound-The "tink" of the first drops of sap hitting the bottom of the buckets. It's amazing how it sounds like music from the different tones from each bucket.
This photo shows a drop of sap as it leaves the tap & joins the rest in an almost full bucket.