Category: 2008: Season 91

Started the evaporator for the first time this season. We boiled down the 200 gallons of sap from yesterday. But no finished syrup yet.

The gaskets on our storage tank valves seem to have worked. No leaks from the valves. We did not collect today, but likely will over the weekend again.

Today’s count:
400 taps
200 gallons of sap boiled
0 quarts of finished syrup

We collected the first 200 gallons of sap for the season. Looked at the buckets at about 9:30 am. A few were full. Quite a few had 2 quarts. So we got the tractor and hooked up the collecting tank and went out to collect. Its a bit hard walking through the snow. Sometimes the frozen crust holds you.  Other times it breaks.  Its up and down and up and down. And it fills your boots. By 11:45 we had 200 gallons of sap. And there were still some buckets to empty, but they will wait until tomorrow.

Today’s count:
400 taps
200 gallons of sap collected
0 quarts of finished syrup
A “dusting” of snow

The forecast is for up to 1” of snow tonight. But by 7:00 am the snow stops and the sky clears. Today it was about 37 with an overnight low of 20. We did not collect yet as there is not enough in the buckets. We did get the roof opened up. We open the roof of the syrup building so the steam from the evaporator can get out. And we setup the storage tanks. Last year we had a leak on the storage tank valves so we are trying a gasket to help keep it sealed. The snow is melting. The snow piles and snow banks are getting smaller.

Setup the evaporator pans today and started getting all the equipment cleaned and ready. Most of our equipment is stainless steel so it only needs a quick rinse. The storage tanks are old milk tanks. All stainless steel. We use the snow from the roof to clean them. The floors get rubber mats. The evaporator just needs a quick rinse. We also collect the snow melt from the roof into a milk can for water.

The buckets have anywhere from a pint to two quarts of sap already. It was up to 45 today, which is warmer then expected. But it was down to 12 overnight so took a while to warm enough for the sap to flow. We hope we can collect tomorrow. It may snow Wednesday night.

Today’s Count:
400 taps
0 gallons of sap
0 quarts of finished syrup

All 400 taps are out. We did 75 this morning and 75 more this afternoon. Takes about 2 hours to do 75 taps. It was above freezing today. About 32 or 33. The sap was moving again. One tree was dripping at 120 drops per minute. Tasted the first sap of the season today. Its fresh, clear and sweet. Tomorrow we work on getting the building ready. Its supposed to be 36 or 37 tomorrow and we do expect the sap to flow.

Each tree has a personality. Over the years we get to know trees that run well and trees that are so so. We favor the good runners. And some trees have sweeter sap. We favor those too.

Today’s count.
150 more taps.
400 total taps.

It was warmer today, up to 25. Felt like quite the heat wave compared to yesterday. This morning we tapped 75. Took a lunch break then tapped 60 this afternoon. Most of the taps put out this afternoon had sap flowing. We are expecting the coming week to be good for sap runs. Its still forecast to be in the upper 30s during the day, with some maybe up to 40s. Hoping we can finish the tapping tomorrow. We are planning to put out 400 taps.

Todays count:
135 more taps
250 total taps
0 buckets run over (and ruined) by the tractor
0 pairs of gloves soaked (and ruined) by spilled gas

Its cold working outside. It was about 11 or 12 today with a north wind. We started the day getting the power tapper running. It sat in a cold garage all winter long. It took quite a few pulls plus cleaning the spark plug to get it running. We headed into the woods about 9:00. Loaded the tractor with buckets, covers and spouts. Then headed deep into the woods out of the wind. The sun was shining bright and the rays warm even though the air was cold. As we moved from tree to tree drilling holes, driving in spouts and hanging buckets we got quite warm. Although we perspire, we can’t take off any layers because of the cold. Its OK as long as we move, but the cold penetrates if we stand still for too long. The snow makes walking hard. We break though the crust and sink in about 8” or 10”. So why do we tap when the weather seems so adverse? Because the sap is already running in the trees. As the sun warmed the trees the sap starting flowing. As the hole was drilled sap starting flowing out. It froze quickly once it met the cold air, but the trees are ready. The weather forecast for the next week is for mid to high 30s during the day and freezing nights of 25 or so. That is sap weather. And we want to be ready.

Today’s count:
115 taps out.
2 buckets run over (and ruined) by the tractor.
1 pair of gloves soaked (and ruined) when the gas can for the tapper leaked.

It was down to about 0 last night and reached about 12 during the day. But the sun is warm. On south facing surfaces you can feel the sun’s warming rays and see the snow melting. Soon the trees will wake from their winter slumber and the sap will flow. We had a “proper” winter for the first time in many years. Over 60” of snow. Cold, with no prolonged warming. There is about 15” of snow in the woods now, but in places its deeper. There are some maple syrup producers who tap in January and make finished syrup in January. This used to seem abnormal, but with effects of global warming the maple industry is watching this early tapping closely.

Today we got our LP gas tanks filled. We use LP gas for finishing the syrup and bottling. We had three empty tanks from preceding seasons that we needed filled. And we had to chop away the ice from the syrup building doors so we can get them open.

Tomorrow we plan to start tapping.