We have a river birch in our front yard and I have watched a squirrel lie on a branch with all four legs hanging down, drinking birch sap from a small spot and then apparently falling asleep on that branch, lying motionless for a long time, all four legs dangling below.

I see why folks were drawn to those steep hills, peace and quiet, knowing your family is safe. The sound of running water is so peaceful... This is my news channel now. God Bless

We used to chew on birch twigs as kids. It always reminded me of the flavor of tea berry gum.

My cousin in Huntington,WV & I just giggled over something I want to share. We realize we had been raised on bacon grease!!! Our Mom& all r Grandmas always poured all the bacon grease into a crock that was kept to the right of the stove. So when something needed a little grease to get started a big spoon full of bacon grease would get dipped out. So green beans, fried potatoes, pork chops started the same. I was 25 years old before I tasted green beans cooked with a bit of olive oil & garlic.

What a strange coincidence that just today, I was doing a little shopping at a small, local produce market and they had Birch soda pop... I commented to my husband that it was the first time I’d ever seen it, and I’ve lived in the Appalachian mountains (foothills) all my life. Thank you so much for providing this knowledge‼️ 🇺🇸❣️God bless❣️

I have been a big fan of yours and your family for quite a while. I usually don't write much on the internet, but I wanted to thank you for being so genuine. Your videos and Fluty Lick Homestead's remind me of my childhood. I'm Native American and was born and raised in Oklahoma. I come from a large family that was very close when I was a child. We'd all go to the woods and dig up wild onions, morels and maybe fish, but Gramps would tap the Birch trees with a spile that he had used as a child. He used to cool his coffee in his saucer. Unfortunately, they have all passed but your videos give me that same 'safe' and 'warm family' feeling I remember having when Gramps would have Sunday Dinner at his home. All the kids would take turns on the ice cream maker handle, Grandma would make apple pie from the tree in the back. I got some Greasy Beans from Jared at Fluty Lick. Those are the best tasting pole beans I have ever eaten. And I have eaten my share. On Sundays the kids would also sit around a #10 galvanized tub and snap beans and/or shuck corn saving the shucks for Gramps. He rolled Bull Durham or Prince Albert in the carefully trimmed shucks. When season was right we'd spread corn on screens to dry, help Grandma render lard. I have always thought Heaven was like that. Thank you for taking me back to the best times in my life. God Bless you, Matt & The Pressley Girls.

You can plug the hole in the tree with clean fresh whittled plug made from a birch branch.

That was pretty kool! "What did you do last weekend." " We went to the woods and drank from a tree." You folks don't get bored much, do you? I love how you all are always studying on things. That's my family and I love it!

Here in Maine we have commercially made birch beer as an alternative to root beer although it’s non-alcoholic. Very refreshing!

I noticed all the beautiful bird sounds in the background.

Wonderful to try different things! Alas, all we have to make from our trees would be turpentine. Pine trees are prolific in our mountains as are Douglas fir and Larch. The Larch are great for wood stoves. The Larch are beautiful in the fall as their leaves turn bright gold! We don’t have the reds you have back there. Lived in Virginia and the fall colors were breathtaking. God gives a glimpse of heaven in the fall.

Thank you for including us as part of your family experiment. We grew up in the northeast, NY and PA and tapped our maple trees right on our paved streets with sidewalks, different, but still a connection with nature. I wonder if you could boil down birch sap and make a syrup as we did with our maple sap... if you keep going you get a sugary candy. This is a lovely connection to extend and brings our American family into a shared reality so far away from the angry, burning cities we're enduring. "It's in the dew of little things that the heart finds it's morning and is refreshed." God bless you.

It was sassafras here in Alabama, I remember digging the roots up and "the old folks" would cook it and make rootbeer. It was great for digestive problems. I keep some roots in my pack to this day

Red bird singing "Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty".

We tap our birch the same as our sugar maples; place the spile below the largest limbs of the tree. When sugaring off, we have to be extra careful with the birch as it tends to burn quicker than maple. No fixing burnt. Thank you so much for your thoughtful videos 🌸

I studied survival in the military and since then. I’ve read about this and several varieties of wild beverages. I really appreciate you sharing this because watching is better than reading. When I was 14 we spent the summer just outside of Fairbanks, AK, surrounded by birch trees. I wish I had known this back then. We made birch bark Christmas Cards hand painted. I sure would have tried doing this had I known. Thanks so much for sharing this! You have a beautiful family!

Here in Sweden they make juice, cordial and syrup from birch trees. Never done it myself but I’v tasted it and it’s really nice

Funny my Dad was talking about this the other day, they chewed the inner bark for a treat.

That is so awesome!! Growing up in the Appalachian mountains of PA and around Amish and Mennonite country drinking birch beer soda was a commonality! Every time I go home to visit I go to one of my favorite pizza/sub restaurants and get the white birch beer, or at the Amish stores. Certainly blessed!!💖🌸🌼

The birch sap tastes like water because that's what most of it is. To make maple syrup from maple sap, it takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. I'm sure it would be about the same for birch.

This takes me back to my time in Bybee, Tennessee. A mountain backed right up to the house and each spring we would climb up and tap a big ol' birch and get a couple of gallons of the sweet sap. We plugged the hole with a Beech plug and far as I can tell we never hurt the tree and we used the same tree every spring. Thanks for sharing y'all!

I've never done any birch sapping but I've made a lot of sassafras tea when I was a kid.

We make birch syrup from birch sap. It's not as sweet as maple syrup, but still very tasty on pancakes. We don't have sugar maples where I live in Western Canada, but you can make syrup from the sap of any maple tree with varying degrees of sweetness. We just take what the forest gives us and are thankful for it.

I was amazed the first time I chewed on birch bark. I thought it was wintergreen flavored. We called it Cherry Birch. From the western mountains of Va. Love your Channel! Thanks.

looks like a fun experiment and Matt provided more proof of my theory on the genius of Appalachian people . Most people would see the rain and call that a failed experiment . the Appalachian genius kicked in and he made a rain cover for the birch tree syrup. Outstanding!! 😁💥💯👍

The stereo ambient sound alone is incredible; worth the price of admission.

What a beautiful place. You are lucky to live there. Your family seems so content and at peace with life. Thanks for sharing.

i remember my mamma talking about birch beer long ago, I never knew what she was referring to but i think this video explains it! i'm glad to see Corrie again!!

Birch bark makes a nice fly rod handle also is rot resident, good stuff. Makes tasty smoked chicken. Interesting it makes a drink , think look into this, thanks. I forgot its makes a good fire starter.

My friend and I were just talking about birch sapping in the Catskill Mountains in NY! Her family has a maple sapping operation there but there are others that tap birch trees!! Thanks for sharing!! I enjoy your videos!!♡

I like this idea. I tried birch syrup more than once in Alaska..but my heart goes back to Maple Syrup. Great adventure video!

I've heard of people making syrup from birch sap but I don't know anyone that does. Here in Central Wisconsin it's all about the maple syrup in the early spring. We had a short season this year so I imagine prices are going to go up if you don't make your own. I know a number of people that tap the maples in their yard so they can make enough for themselves for the year. I also know many people with woodlands that features a lot of maple who cook syrup and sell to a wholesaler for a little added cash. My brother-in-law did sapping for a number of years and that was always great fun as it was a signal that winter's grip had been broken and the warm weather was soon to be returning. He has since stopped cooking and know sells the sap to a mutual friend of ours, who is wheel chair bound, and he cooks and sells to wholesale to supplement his income. Another great video! Thanks!

I remember a restaurant i went to as a child and would order Birch beer. Which is similar to Root beer. So when you ordered it they'd bring you a small birch twig so you could chew the bark.

Black Birch contains Methyl salicylate which is also found in the wintergreen plant and is responsible for the unique minty flavor.

Watching your videos has lowered my blood Pressure 😂. Thank you 🙏 for your videos

When I was a little feller I would go cut birch twigs for Granny to use as snuff brushes. I would chew on me one on the way back to the house. More good memories. Thanks y'all!

This makes sense. Gramma always made “birch beer” (soda). Of course no carbonation. I never knew how and I bet this was what she did. Loved it as a kid. We weren’t allowed to have soda growing up so it was always a treat for us.

All I can say is WOW.

Way back I used to hide under the tall bed in the back room that smelled like an antique shop; I'd squeeze in-between old wooden fruit crates that were used to keep old canning jars. Every one of em had lids just like the lid on your sap jar. Crazy...how that lid was able to dust off them ol' memories. The more I watch your videos the more they just open me right.

I like how this (at least) gives us inspiration to think about how different life was so long (or not so long, in grand scope) ago. The small things we take for granted, almost can't fully appreciate. Thanks for another interesting video!

Had Birch shine! Made in Maggie Valley NC. My son found it in a log while Bear hunting.

I seen a video from Canada where they boiled the sap down and made syrup, like you do with maple sap.

The woods and mountains are so soothing.

This video is so calming and those woods are beautiful the Birch trees omg I can just imagine what they smell like I also love the sounds those birds make they are so melodic and I like the sounds as you all crunch the leaves when you walk on the ground.

Thank you for sharing this. It reminds me of my family from Tennessee.

If someone was stranded in the woods, and knew what a Birch tree looked like,they could have water!!

I enjoyed this video, my family never did this that I know of. The cadence of your voice sounds like home to me. 👍

17:05, it`s so clear and beautiful looking! Wow!

There's gold in them thar hills. Appalachia has fine resources to go with the people. Blessings family. This is so much fun. The camera work is unequalled...great angles etc. Thank you family ...you really are the epitome of what the legendary appalachians are to us here in Australia NZ...our cuzzies from Gt Britain and we love it. I'm sharing these with everyone I know and they are blown away....some of the comments are "They even look like us" haha. Good stuff.

Never heard of birch syrup! See? I’m learning so much being a subscriber to my Appalachian roots!! SO grateful!! Thank you from my heart♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️🙋‍♀️🙏🏻❣️

Watched this again. And yes, you can buy bottles of Birchbeer (non alcoholic) just like you can Gingerbeer and Rootbeer, But to make your own would be so interesting and for kids a treat. Yall are so much fun to watch. God Bless

I'm enjoying your videos, this one reminds of some of Townsends videos. If you're not familiar with Townsends they do 18 century cooking, drinks, and life. They have several drinks like this. Nice seeing all the Rhododendron.

The sap needs to be boiled down to get the sweetness, its like maple sap tastes like nothing really till we boil it down into syrup, it takes about 4 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup , I found your channel by accident and am so glad I did, my husband is from the Canadian Appalachian mountains

Just stopped by to say Howdy, coming atcha from good ole East TN. That's just how we roll! Blessings

Wow! You’ve got quite a bit of liquid from the Birches. We have a lot of Birch here but ours are not as big as yours. Thanks for sharing.

Birch beer... Childhood favorite. It is still bottled and sold.

I live in east Tennessee Gatlinburg area. I have never heads of birch sap or tapping the birch trees. I have lots of birch trees around more house So I will be trying this... I enjoyed this video Thank you...

Hi Tipper. I grew up with Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer Soda. You still can buy it in certain places. It's very unique taste. Like root beer, just very unique. I still get it here in Indiana. I love your videos, and family. TY for all your work. Beautiful Place. God Bless 💯

I am from Latvia, Northen Europe. Scandinavian, Baltic and Slavi people are collecting birch sap in spring. Tastes like a little bit sweetened water when fresh. Has diuretic and clensing function. But you can ad raisins, lemon juice, black current twigs, bit of suggar or nothing at all and let ferment in warm room for about 4-5 days. Taste in between and see witch ingredients and wich stage of fermenting you like better. At the end it becomes fizzy. Then you can put the drink in bottles and store the variety you like in cellar till summer. I have 8 birches tapped for a family of 5 this year. People make soft drinks, beer, vine, and syrup from it too. Must close the hole you made in the tree with a twig, so that the tree doesn't lose sap, and it is easier for the tree to heal.

I recognize the ole-timey one piece lid for the jar. Haven't seen one in many years. Remember playing with the rubber seals as a kid.

My Dad would dig up sassafras roots and make us drink the water

Thank you for sharing your life and family with us

This was very interesting thank you

Always, been a sap sucker, for new tree drinks. Will try this ASAP! Matt, your drill performance, riveting!

we liken it to wintergreen , also rootbeer , and even pepsodent toothpaste . thank you maam and god bless .

I live in south dakota and the black hills are steep like that also ... a great cardio workout when you go hiking. So beautiful there where you are

Simpson Springs In Maine made birch beer and it was my absolute favorite soda ever ❤️👍

This was so interesting! Thank you. All I want to do is come live in Appalachia.

My new favorite channel. Thankyou, I adore everything about this!☺❤

Birch sap is commonly known for its detoxifying, diuretic, cleansing, and purifying properties, and can be drunk fresh straight out of the tree. Cartographer Olaus Magnus mentioned briefly in 1555 that Scandinavians were tapping birch for sap and using it as a fresh drink. The taste is actually not bad.

Love the experience. Also love the light above your sink. 😊

Birch trees tastes like wintergreen. My dad would cut twigs for us to chew on. However Spring always reminds me of digging sassafras roots to make tea. We also made maple syrup in the spring, as soon as the sap starts to flow. Can’t for get about ramps, we are digging them now. They are a required taste, you either like them or you hate them.

As kids we would scrape the pulp, mix with sugar and chew it. We called it our birch chewing tobacco. Still love the flavor of birch and buy birch beer in the grocery store.

Birch pitch Birch pitch (also called tar), a glue-like substance made by heating birch bark, has been used to fasten stone blades to handles in Europe since at least the Middle Pleistocene (approximately 750,000 to 125,000 years ago).Dec 17, 2019

I've heard of it but ya'll have done something I never have. Very nice to see all three of you together today learning more and teaching us more about birch trees.

Have always wanted to go birch sapping. Have not tried the birch sap, but have had a birch beer. It is a wonderful drink. Thank you for taking us along on another adventure. Looking forward to the next video already. 🍀

If the sap tastes like “water” perhaps it would be good to reduce it to concentrate the flavor a bit more. GREAT video, I sorely miss the sassafras tea my father used to make. Thanks for this video. L 👍👍

So where I live in southern Oregon on the coast there weren't any Birch trees. Of any kind. I like the weeping birch best. So I had to drive to a nursery on the other side of the state and bought about a 1/2 dozen of each. (So using Appalachian terms, I went and bought me Mess of Birch Trees lol) Now I started my own forest of birch trees. Maybe in another year they'll be big enough to get some birch juice out of them.

This was very interesting. If I could do this, I surely would. Walking is very difficult now. Thanks for sharing. Looked like a fun family day.

FUN to watch & instructional !!!

Very interesting. Never have heard of this sapping . Thank you for sharing .. God bless.

Birch Sap is great for flavoring moonshine. My grandfather and uncles made Birch Moonshine, and I'm sure some folks do that today..

I have done some research on this. from what I have read I have learned that the best time to tap trees for their sap is in the early spring when the temperature drops below freezing at night but warms above that during the day. that's when the tree sap flows the most. A small hole with a tap is best. the way you drilled them is good. you should make a cork from the same wood to plug the hole when you are done. and if you are in an area where water is needed and hard to come by any tree can be a source of water that is drinkable.

Our favorite drinks as kids when we went to NY to visit my Dad's family was to get Creme soda, sarsaparilla and birch beer soda!! Living WV we could occasionally find creme soda and sarsaparilla but never could find birch beer soda. At 74 they are still my favorites although still hard to find sarsaparilla and birch beer. When I visit eastern PA near NY I always stock up on all three!! One thing I did grow up on is sassafras tea!! Loved it and still do. It is supposedly a carcinogen but I am 74 and still here. My grandparents used it as 'a spring tonic to thin the blood from winter!!! We live in Davie County NC now. I wonder if there are birch trees here. I would love to do it!!

I enjoyed this video so much. Thank you.

Loved this posting thank you

Thank you Tipper for the Birch sap water video. Moving to East Tennessee soon and will go and locate a birch tree and try some tonic water. In the woods were I currently live I would locate Sassafrass plants and make a root beer like tonic water from the roots.

gives a whole new literally meaning to go eat bark.This is also something I didn't know. pretty cool. I don't think it will hurt it just to do that.

Really enjoyed that. Thanks.

Luved this video and so many of your other vids too. Now I'm going to have to do a search of your other vids I want to watch! I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains now, but grew up on L.I. I can tell my experience with Birch, which is a bit different. First, I knew what the soda was. Birch soda was not something we had in our house, but I did try the soda a couple of times as a kid, it was an exotic soft drink we maybe got while on vacation. Tasted like Root Beer! That's what we thought at the time. Then, when I was a teenager and started camping/hiking upstate NY, NJ, there were always birch trees, lovely smell and taste. Love seeing them here!

Thank You for sharing.

The first time I have ever heard of birch sapping. How interesting!

We chewed birch inner bark like gum and made birch tea as well. This was back in West Va.

I really like this video. I remember my grandaddy talking about making birch oil and making homemade chewing tobacco. And I'm 62 years old. Thanks. I really appreciate and enjoyed this .

Years ago when my dad and I would go grouse hunting, he showed me this tree and we would break off some small limbs and chew on them while we hunted. Tastes great!!!!

Wonderful video! Maple trees, as you mentioned, produce amazing sap, syrup, and sugar, but here on the Canadian prairies, it’s too cold for sugar maples; there is, however, a small industry in birch sap harvesting. The “birch water” needs to be boiled and boiled, but eventually birch syrup will result, much milder than maple, but quite lovely on waffles. Brand new subscriber who loves your content.

I love your videos.... Reminds me of back home in murphy

Love your videos will try Birch sapping someday.

I enjoy birch beer (non-alcoholic) when I find it in a store.

I’d love a knot tying series...please! 😬