MapleAcres

Only up to 45 today instead of 60s as forecast.  Froze last night.  But still no sap run.  We need a good freeze/thaw cycle of 20s at night and 30s/40s during the day.  We did go through the woods to collect the sap that was in the buckets.   If we don’t collect the sap with the warm weather it can spoil.  Collected 110 gallons.  2.0 Brix.  Its a lot of walking to get so little sap.   But with no snow its easy to walk through the woods.   Its also frustrating to see some dry taps.    But the ground in the woods still feels frozen.   If our weather pattern gets back to normal we will have sap runs.   The sap always moves in the trees because its needed as food for the leaves to come out.

Frequently at the beginning of the season we fight ice.  We would welcome ice this season because sap has to flow for ice to form.

New spark plugs in the tractor made a huge difference.  Its running very smooth now.  No more missing.   It starts right away and fires on all cylinders.

More normal today.  Up to 38.  Froze overnight.  There was ice so must been 29 or 30.  But the sap did not run much.  It was sunny, but there was cold south wind.   The snow is mostly gone.   We looked back at our records.  In 2010 we had a similar warm spell during the season.  It ran from March 9 to March 20.  But before it started we had already collected 900 gallons of sap.  This season we have almost nothing.  Tomorrow is forecast for the 60s.

Thought about collecting today.  Checked the buckets around 12:30.   The spouts are trying to drip, but not much activity.   Maybe a pint in each bucket.  Maybe we collect tomorrow.

The tractor was running rough yesterday,.  Seemed to be missing on a cylinder.  Looked at the spark plugs today.  They need replacing.  A screw cap on one the plugs fell off.  Trying to organize the spark plugs for tomorrow.

Started the evaporator at 10:30 AM.  By 5:30 PM we were done boiling the 150 gallons of sap we collected yesterday.    And got one batch of syrup into the milk can.  Its not a big batch, maybe 2 gallons, but its something.  Syrup will be dark this season based on the first batch.  Warm weather will cause that.

The weather forecast is for warm weather through Sunday.  And now 60s are forecast too.  Not what we want.  Such a change from just a week ago when the high was 12.  Today was 53.  It did freeze last night as there was ice on the puddles.  But sunny and 53 caused most of the snow to melt.

First collection.  150 gallons.  2 Brix.  Down to about 28 overnight.  Up to 48 maybe 50 during the day.    We have about 4 or 5 of these warm days yet until we return to a more normal weather pattern.

Went out about 3:00 PM to collect.  We were hoping for 200-225 gallons based on our spot checks earlier in the day.  We came up short of that.  However when its this warm its good to get the sap in.  Tomorrow we will start the evaporator.

Last week we were tapping with daily highs of 10 degrees and 5 degrees.  A week later its way above normal.

About 25 overnight and up to 47 during the day and sunny.  A lot of melting.  The snow is disappearing.  The trees are slow to wake up.   They did drip today.  We plan to collect tomorrow.  Some pails had a quart.  But they will drip into the night so there will be more sap tomorrow.  It may hit 50 tomorrow.  That’s starting to get too warm.

Worked on the R/O piping again.  Almost there.  A few more fittings.  Of course once connected we still have to learn to drive it.

Cleaned the syrup building and tanks today.  Washed the evaporator. Swept the floors etc.   If we needed to, we could cook now.   Still have to get finishing and bottling prepared.

Down to 17 overnight but up to 46 today.  It took until Noon before melting started.  The trees are slow to respond yet.  Later in the day they were dripping but not enough to collect yet.  We will check tomorrow, but more likely Tuesday before we need to collect.

The next 5-7 days are 20’s at night and 40’s during the day.  That’s the weather patterns we want.   We hope the trees respond.   This weather pattern is 30 degrees warmer than last week.  Its such an abrupt change too.  The trees may not be ready yet as the ground is still frozen.

Up to 37 today.  Partly Sunny.  The snow became sticky from the warmth.  We got all the taps out: 470.  77 taps in the first batch and 95 in the second batch.  We were done by 12:30.     This afternoon worked on the piping for the R/O.   The piping allows us to either run sap through the R/O or draw both tanks into the evaporator.    Tomorrow we work on the R/O connections.

Even with the warmer day the sap did not run.  It may take a few days for the trees to come out of the dormant state.  The coming week the weather is forecast for the 40’s during the day.  Hopefully that triggers the sap flow.

Down to 5 below overnight, but it warmed  quickly.  By 10:30 AM it was mid-20s.  And later in the afternoon reached 32/33.  But the ground is cold yet so there was no melting even with the sun.  But with warmer temperatures the snow stopped squeaking.  It changed to crunching under foot.  A later in the day even stopped crunching.

Tapped 50 in the morning and 48 in the afternoon.  We ran out of the 5/16” spouts so that why 48 taps instead of 50 taps.  We will switch to the 7/16” stainless steel spouts.  We like the smaller spouts because they make a smaller wound on the tree that heals faster.

Sunny but cold today.  About 10 degrees but much colder with the wind chill.  Doesn’t seem like sappin weather, but it will change.  So out into the woods to start tapping.  50 taps out.  Tonight it drops below 0.  Tomorrow we will be out tapping again.  It should be a little warmer, 15, and not as windy.

As cold as it was, some of the taps were dripping.  Sap is starting to move in some of the trees.  The sun warms the south side of the tree and the tree responds.  Its ways fascinating to look at the trees in the cold, snowy woods standing there.   Seems like nothing is happening.   But drill a small hole and liquid starts to flow out indicating the tree is alive.