12 overnight. Sunny today but only up to 27. This weekend it warms. Some forecasts say up to 50 which is getting too warm.
Into the woods by 7:00 AM to start tapping. Had 100 buckets out by 8:30 AM. Sunny and up to 40. Sap starting to move but the ground is still frozen.
Returned to the woods by 4:00 PM to tap 101 more. Planned for 100 but discovered we drilled an additional hole.
We also crushed one bucket after it fell off the tractor and was run over. Oops.
Taps
Feb 28 25
Mar 2 75
Total 100
Tree Pressure
Mar 6 18 PSI
Mar 7 2 PSI
Mar 8 10 PSI
Mar 9 5 PSI
Mar 10 0 PSI
Mar 11 0 PSI
Mar 12 0 PSI
Mar 13 13 PSI
Mar 14 0 PSI
Mar 15 11 PSI
Mar 16 13 PSI
Mar 17 7 PSI
Mar 18 6 PSI
Mar 19 12 PSI
Mar 20 12 PSI
Mar 21 3 PSI
Mar 22 0 PSI
Mar 23 0 PSI
Mar 24 0 PSI
Mar 25 -1 PSI
Mar 26 1 PSI
Mar 27 3 PSI
Mar 28 0 PSI
Mar 29 2 PSI
Mar 30 0 PSI
Mar 31 0 PSI
Apr 1 0 PSI
Apr 2 0 PSI
Sap Gal Brix
Mar 3 85 2.5
Mar 6 70 3.0
Mar 9 110 2.0
Mar 12 35 2.0
Mar 14 100 2.0
Mar 16 100 1.9
Mar 18 90 1.5
Mar 20 105 2.0
Mar 27 35 1.5
Mar 30 55 1.5
Total 790
Bottled Qt Pt 500 250
Mar 20 29 2
Mar 23 31 2
Apr 6 12 2
Apr 7 9
Total 81 6
Total gals: 21
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.