MapleAcres

As anticipated, the trees ran all night. We collected 275 gallons. Many full buckets. Nice clear sap. And 3 Brix; that was a surprise. Started collecting by 2:00 PM. Done by 3:15 PM. There were four of us collecting.

While collecting, start thinking through the steps to use the R/O. The 11 hours from yesterday reminded us how nice the R/O is to use. The R/O was in the woods with the hoses connected and a tank of water. It needed the membrane and a flush with 200 gallons of water. By 4:14 PM the membrane was in and all final hoses connected. Then we flushed it with water. Should be ready to use in the morning. We can process 50 gallons an hour with the R/O. We should be done by 12:30 PM or 1:00 PM if we don’t have problems.

Froze overnight because there was ice on puddles. 33 by 4:00 AM. Cloudy with snow flurries then light rain.

Into the woods by 9:00 AM to bottle. Wanted to finish the milk can from last Sunday when we had the cloudy syrup. Figured out why we had cloudy syrup: didn’t tighten the filter press plates enough. We saw syrup bubbling out. Didn’t seem like much but must have been loose enough the cause poor filtering. Verified today the plates were snug. No leaking/bubbles. And clear syrup.

1:00 PM before bottling and cleanup was completed. In between we washed collecting and storage tanks so they were ready by 2:00 PM for collecting.

There will be another run this season. Weather looks promising and the frost is out.

Back to the farmhouse by 5:00 PM.

Into the woods by 4:00 AM to cook. Back to the farmhouse by 3:00 PM: 11 hours. With the R/O we’d have finished by 9:00 AM. But with a poor season it didn’t seem reasonable to start the R/O even through it’s in the woods. Concerned we wouldn’t get enough water for washing the R/O after each use. We are cooking old school.

Five batches into the milk can.

28 overnight. Sun appeared by 10:30 AM. By Noon it was sunny and temperature up to 40. The trees started to run: 60 drops a minute: one drop per second. Pressure was negative until 11:00 AM then rose to 16 PSI. But the late start of the run means there isn’t enough sap to collect today. May run overnight. Forecast is 31. Hoping we can collect tomorrow.

Last night’s snow flurries did accumulate to 1/2″ overnight. Everything was snow covered and white again.

The day cooking.
4:30 22.00″
5:00 20.75″
6:00 19.25″
6:10 batch
7:00 16.50″
8:00 14.50″
8:00 batch
9:00 12.25″
10:00 10.00″
10:30 batch
11:00 8.75″
12:00 6.25″
12:15 batch
1:00 3.75″
2:00 2.00″
2:15 batch
2:30 0.50″
2:45 done

Into the woods at 3:45 AM. Raining hard. If the temperature was colder it would be a lot of snow. Rain stopped by 5:00 AM. Snow started at 6:30 AM. Not much accumulation but everything is white again.

Done cooking by Noon. Five batches into the milk can. It helped the sap was 3 Brix. The steam from cooking condensed in the building causing everything to get wet.

The frost came out. The sidewalk by the building was covered with 2” of rain water when we left at Noon. When we returned at 3:00 PM to check buckets, the water was gone and other other puddles drained too. With the frost out the water can soak away.

Tree pressure was 5 PSI most of the day. 25 is the forecast for tonight with sun and 45 tomorrow. We anticipated collecting tomorrow. But at 3:00 PM we checked the buckets. Many were full. Must have run all night. Trees that ran well other seasons are finally producing: another sign of the frost coming out. The buckets wouldn’t wait until tomorrow. Collected 215 gallons at 2 Brix.

Got a milk can of water while pumping sap into the storage tank. And brought in wood in preparation for tomorrow.

Snow flurries late this afternoon.

The day cooking.
5:00 16.25”
6:00 14.25”
6:00 batch
7:00 11.5”
7:45 batch
8:00 9.5”
9:00 7.00
9:00 batch
10:00 5”
10:30 batch
11:00 2.75”
11:30 1.50”
11:40 batch
12:00 done

160 gallons at 3 Brix. The run from yesterday continued all night. 34 overnight with rain. Cloudy with showers today. High of 42. It’s satisfying to find full buckets. Not all the buckets, but enough to feel good about. Trees that hadn’t dripped seem to be waking up. There were still big chunks of ice from the cold days of the past week. Dumping the ice brought the Brix up to 3.

Checked the buckets at Noon to confirm we could collect. Then back at 2:30 PM to wash tanks. Started collecting by 2:50 PM. Solo. Done by 5:00 PM. We can empty 100 buckets an hour working solo.

The buckets had the nice ping of drip, drip, drip that we haven’t heard before today during this season.

Snow forecast for tonight. 2-4 inches of wet snow. We’ll cook in the morning.

18 overnight. Started sunny. By 9:00 AM it was 35. Turned cloudy and up to 38. Sap tried to run. Ice from the spouts. Without the sun it didn’t warm enough to melt. Season keeps dragging on.

18 overnight. Sunny and up to 30 today. The sun helped warm the trees. A few spouts wet. Pressure a rousing 2 PSI. Forecast for tonight is 20s again.

17 overnight. Sunny and 27 today but the wind made it colder. Cold tonight again. And cold tomorrow. Rain/snow Tuesday through Thursday.

Into the woods by 8:30 AM to prepare for finishing and bottling. Brought the milk can of syrup to the farmhouse last night so it wouldn’t freeze. Brought over water and the pans and all equipment needed for bottling. First bottling of the season so our equipment wasn’t in the building yet. Syrup on by 9:30 AM. Syrup was closer to finished then anticipated. By 10:00 AM we were over density and had to cut back with icy sap from the evaporator. Filtering by 10:30 AM. Bottling by 11:00 AM.

We had a special order for a wedding of 192 50 ml maple leaf bottles. They take a long time to do because its a lot of handling. Bottles fill quickly so you have to watch carefully and then move on to the next bottle. Takes 20 seconds per bottle. Took 1 ½ hours for all 192 bottles. 192 bottles @50 ml is 2.1 gallons of syrup.

Tired to regulate the temperature between 190 and 200. Our temperature checks indicated we were successful, but by the end we had cloudy syrup. Syrup looked good in the 50 ml bottles but the larger 250 ml and quart bottles weren’t to our standard so we put back into the milk can to finish and filter in the next batch.

After clean up, back to the farmhouse by 1:30 PM.

We had a dusting of snow overnight. Enough to make the ground white, but no accumulation. 28 overnight. Cloudy and 33 today. Down to the teens tonight.

Prepared for bottling tomorrow. Washed finishing and bottling pans. And let the propane gas flow into the lines. That can take an hour.

Brought the milk can of syrup to the farmhouse. If the temperature drops into the teens, we don’t want it to freeze.

At the beginning of March, 40 degrees feels warm. But the end of March, 40 degrees feels cold. 35 overnight. 28 was forecast. Day started sunny, then turned cloudy. Temperature up to 42.

Freezing night are forecast to return. We’ll see what mother nature gives us.

35 overnight. Cloudy with some rain today. Up to 40. Forecast turns a little colder the next few days. We’ll see what happens.

Based the sap we collected so far, we have 20% of a crop. With 200 taps we expect 35-40 gallons of syrup. After finishing and bottling we project 7.5 gallons which is 20% of a crop.

Had a video meeting with other producers from across the maple belt. Most report a down season with some similar to us. In northern MN and MI they haven’t started yet. Same in northern ON. Higher elevations in NY are still going. No word from VT, NH, ME or QB.