Category: 2016: Season 99 Page 2 of 5

Into the woods by 7:00 AM to cook.  Cleaned syrup pan.  Prepared the R/O.    R/O running by 8:05 AM done at 1:00 PM.  Setup an extra 100 gallon tank for R/O water.  We’ll need that for cleaning the R/O.  Five batches of syrup in the milk can.  Finished cooking by 3:00 PM.  Back to the house by 3:30 PM.

28 overnight.  Sunny and 45 today.  Trees not running.  This is the end.  We’ll start taking down the buckets after the rain on Wednesday and Thursday.  We don’t have complete totals yet but we’ll end up below average.

Between Saturday and today we had a run.    Collected 400 gallons.  Some pails were empty with others were full.  But its getting less sweet.  About 1.8 degrees Brix.   A sign we are reaching the end.     

Into the woods by 1:15 PM to check buckets.   It was clear we needed to collect.  Washed tanks and set out by 2:30 PM.   With the muddy trails we couldn’t drive out normal route.  That meant more walking with full collecting pails.  But better to carry then get the tractor stuck in the mud.   One helper arrived by 3:15 PM.  Finished up by 5:30 PM.  Tomorrow we cook.

We’ve had freezing night and warm days, but no real sap runs.   The taps have been out 4 weeks.   We are coming to the close of the season.  The warm weather hurt us.  A few days of warm weather we can recover from but almost two weeks is pushing it.   Likely one last pass through the woods to get whatever sap may be there, then pull the taps and get into clean up mode.

Raining now.  Today is Easter.  Early this year.

24 overnight.  Sunny and 42 today. Taps wet but not dripping much.   That warm weather hurt us. The taps are no longer fresh and not likely to produce much more sap.   We’ll try for a few more days, but the season is likely ending.   Producers on vacuum tubing are likely doing okay.

9 overnight.  Sunny and up to 37 today.  After the storm moved out last night the sky cleared and the full moon illuminated everything outside because it reflected off the new snow. 

Into the woods by 7:15 AM to cook Wednesday’s 140 gallons.  The pipe from the storage tank to the R/O was frozen.  Had to take it off to thaw it over the evaporator.  Had the R/O going by 9:30. It finished by 11:00.   Done cooking by 12:30.   Three batches into the milk can.

Put a milk can on the finishing pan at 11:30.     Bottled 29 quarts.  

The trees seem confused by the weather.  Even with the freezing night and sunny day they did not drip.

Back to the house by 3:30 PM.

No real blizzard overnight.  Snowed 6”-8” but no wind with it.  This morning at 5:00 AM it wasn’t even snowing.  Didn’t seem like much of a storm.  By 8:00 AM snow started falling again.  As the day went on conditions slowly got worse.  Now at about 5:00 PM we are getting whiteouts from the blowing snow.    It should taper off by tomorrow morning.  But it does get cold tonight:  teens for lows.

Plowed the yard with the tractor.  With the blowing we may have to do it tomorrow too.

Checked the syrup building.  All is well there.  Hopefully tomorrow we can cook that 140 gallons.

Yup, we are forecast for a blizzard.  8-12 inches of snow with 30-40 mph winds.  Snow started at 11:45 AM.  After Midnight the blizzard moves in with the winds and heavy snow.   Although the snow fall gets heavier every hour preceding Midnight.  Ends after 1:00 PM Thursday.

Into the woods by 9:30 to check the buckets.  Not a lot:  pint to quart, some with more.  But very nice sap.  So we got organized to collect.  Called help.  Fueled the tractor.  Washed tanks.  Started solo by 10:45 AM.  By 11:30 had two helpers.  Finished by 12:30 PM.  140 gallons.  Snow started falling while we were collecting.  Didn’t accumulate yet because the ground was still too warm. 

Battened down the sugar shack for the storm.  Setup up the tank heaters.   Checked that all doors are securely closed.

Snow coming in from the Northeast.  The woods actually looks pretty now as the snow sticks to the trees making them all white.  Snow has been accumulating for the past hour already. 

Blizzards are energizing for us.  Its enjoyable watching the storm rage from the kitchen window. 

After the storm weather pattern looks favorable again for sap.  18 Thursday night.  But high 30s and upper 20s Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

35 overnight.  Mostly cloudy today and up to 52. 

Into the woods by 7:00 AM.   Started the R/O before 8:00.  Had to run the R/O for about 30 minutes to get sap to fill the evaporator before starting the fire.  After last weeks crystallized syrup pan, we had very little sap in the flue pan and none in the front syrup pan.  By 10:00 the 225 gallon tank was processed.   Pumped over the remaining 175 gallons to process. By 12:20 all the sap was through the R/O.

Meanwhile we were emptying batches into the milk can every hour.   5 batches in the milk can and a full milk can at the end of the day.  By 2:00 PM we stopped firing.  Back to the house by 2:45 PM.  About 5 ½ hours of hard cooking to process 400 gallons of sap.

5 ½  hours is a quarter of the time compared to not using the R/O.   The R/O is meeting all our goals:  using less wood;  less time cooking; water to use and nicer syrup.  However we are much busier during that time.  Constantly checking R/O flows.  Drawing off every hour;  Checking the water holding tank and filling milk cans with the overflow water; Firing; Getting wood.  Almost no time to sit. 

Running a wash cycle on R/O to keep the membrane clean.  The tank heater is working now.  Took about 30-40 minutes to warm water to 90 degrees.   Last year we ran the R/O for 5 hours to warm to that temperature by friction.  After the temperature is 90 degrees then we add the cleaning powder and  run the R/O until it hits 113 degrees.  But it has a sensor and turns off by itself.

Wednesday into Thursday the forecast is for a snow storm.  Amounts still shifting.  Was 6”-10”.  Now 8”-14”.  We get wind too so blizzard conditions are possible.

25 overnight.  42 and sunny today.  Trees dripped.  Went out collecting @3:00 PM.  Picked up 400 gallons.  It had been 8 days since we last collected.  800 more gallons of sap and we’ll be at an average crop.

Snow storm is forecast for Wednesday evening into Thursday.  6”-10”.  Of course that can change.  Spring storms are hard to predict.  Right now we are in the center of the path for the storm. 

Tomorrow we’ll cook.  Not as cold tonight.

25 overnight.  Up to 40 today and sunny.  Sap started dripping.  Not enough to collect today.  We’ll collect tomorrow.  Tonight should be down to 20s again and 40s tomorrow. 

First day of Spring today.  Next seek is Easter already.