Into the woods at 9:00 AM to clean the evaporator. The goal was to complete by 3:00 PM. We achieved the goal. Very easy to clean the evaporator this season because it only cooked sap from 20% of our usual number of taps.
Still have to clean finishing and bottling pans. Wash filter press, milk cans and the floor. Then bring equipment back to the farmhouse.
Into the woods by 6:00 AM to bottle the last milk can of syrup. It was a small batch and ready to filter by 6:45 AM. Done bottling by 7:30 AM. Back to the farmhouse by 7:45 AM. 9 quarts.
Season total: 21 gallons.
We have to review and recalculate our sap numbers. We are happy to get 21 gallons, but it seems high based on the sap we collected and our expected yield per tap.
Into the woods at 11:00 AM to get syrup on the finishing pan. Small batch only took 35-40 minutes to get to density. Done bottling by 1:00 PM. 3 gallons and 2 pints puts us over 18 ½ gallons.
One more batch to finish and bottle from the last of the evaporator.
68 today.
Try to identify a catchy tune that plays on the radio during the season. This season: Ava Max – Kings & Queens https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH1RNk8954Q
30 overnight. Sunny and high 50s today. Picked up buckets and covers from the woods this afternoon. They are in storage. Rain forecast for tomorrow so its prudent to get the buckets in.
Remaining work: two batches to bottle and clean the evaporator.
37 overnight. Sunny and 63 today. Felt warm. We did not get a sap run. Checked the trees at 8:00 AM. A few had sap, but it was 1 Brix.
Took down buckets and pulled spouts. Dumped any sap in the buckets. Done by 9:00 AM.
On to the evaporator. Emptied sap from the evaporator into buckets. About 17 gallons to finish. Got the pans off and rinsed. Went for a tank of water. Replaced pans. Filled the flue pan with water and later cleaning solution when the water was boiling. Sap to finish went into the front syrup pan. Evaporator going by 11:45 AM. By 3:30 PM all the remaining sap cooked and into the milk can. Two batches to finish and bottle. Separated this last syrup from the evaporator into its own batch because its typically darker and did not want to mix with the earlier batch.
We’ll end up with around 20 gallons. Somewhere along the way we under counted sap collected.
19 overnight. Sunny and 41 today. Should be sap weather, but not much happening. Spouts wet and dripping some. It won’t freeze tonight so trees will drip overnight. We’ll check in the morning if the amount and sugar content is high enough to collect. But that will be the end because the weather pattern changes and the taps are old.
21 overnight. Sunny, 34 today. A north wind made it feel colder. Spouts wet, but ice in the buckets. 20s tonight again. Warmer tomorrow. We’ll see if we get usable sap. Weekend warms so this is the last opportunity.
32 overnight. 38, sun early, then cloudy and breezy today. Into the woods by 6:30 AM. Water run again. Fire going by 7:00 AM. One batch into the milk can. Done by 10:00 AM.
Day’s Cooking
7:00 5.5”
8:00 4.25”
9:00 2”
9:30 .75”
10:00 done
Forecast for next two days is 20s at night and upper 30s/lower 40s during the day. But the taps are getting old with some dried up already and sugar content is down. Have to evaluate if its feasible to collect any sap that runs.
44 overnight. 65, sunny and breezy today. Did not expect 65. A cold front moves in overnight with a forecast low of 23.
Into the woods at 3:00 PM to collect. Picked up 55 gallons: about 1 gallon of finished syrup because of the lower sugar content. Some buckets empty while others were full on the same tree. That’s expected at the end of the season.
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