MapleAcres

3 overnight.  Up to 38 during the day, but it was cloudy. And with the cold days the trees need to time to warm up again.  No sap.

Into the woods by 2:00 PM to clean the kitchen.  Then by 3:30 emptied the milk can into the finishing pan and started the burners.  Take about 2 hours to finish.  Got all our bottling equipment ready while waiting for the syrup to finish.  We go a new hydrometer this year.  It has both the Baume and Brix scales.

By 5:30 the syrup was ready.  Filtered it.  Then into the bottling pan.  We bottled 30 quarts.  Back to the  house by 7:30 PM.

Its snowing this evening.  2-4 inches expected.  Tomorrow up to 38 again, but cloudy.  Looks like Sunday may be a sap day with partly sunny and 41 forecast.

After five busy days to kick off the season we had a day of rest today.  Low overnight 0.  Today was cloudy with a few snow flurries.  Cleared late afternoon.  Temperature around 30.  No melting however.  Tomorrow is also cooler.  But over the weekend the weather pattern changes again.  We get warmer.   Forecasts are for upper 40s.

Got a new tank of propane gas.  And a refill for our small propane torch.  We use the torch to help thaw frozen pipes.

We plan to get the R/O setup this weekend so we are ready for the next sap runs.  We got a heating element for the wash tank.   This should reduce the time we spend waiting for the water to warm to 90 degrees through friction from circulating through the pumps.  The heating element runs at 220 V and can heat the water in the wash tank in 20 minutes or so.  The complete wash cycle should take around 30 minutes compared to 8 hours without the heating element.

It was -5 last night.  We had 225 gallons of sap in the collecting tank.  The challenge was to keep it liquid in the collecting tank, as it was pumped into the storage tank, and as it flowed through the pipes into the evaporator.  If it froze at any point we were finished because we didn’t have the means to thaw it when its so cold.  With a little planning we were able to prevent freezing.

We put a tank heater in the collecting tank overnight.  That kept it mostly ice free expect for a little on the top.

We used warm water to prime the pump so it wouldn’t freeze. And we waited to prime the pump until we were ready to use it.

Cold pipes can cause sap to freeze as moves through.  We started a fire in the evaporator. Took apart the pipes and rested them in the steam raising from the evaporator.  This warmed them enough to prevent the sap freezing as it moved through.

It was cold all day expect between 2:30 and 4:30 when it hit 28.  Tonight is cold again: its 5 already and may get colder.

Into the woods by 7:30 AM.  Back to the house by 6:50 PM.  All tanks are empty.  One  milk can full of syrup.  A second milk can about half full.

We’ve had a busy start to this season.

Snow must have started around 3:00 AM.  It snowed until 3:00 PM.  We got about 4 inches.  But we also had wind with it to blow the snow all around.  This was unexpected.   It was cold too: about 18.  We expected the cold but not the snow.    Even though it was cold and snowy we had work to do.

We had sap so we went into the woods to cook by 7:00 AM.  A slow start because our pipes were frozen.  Each year we re-lean that liquid does not flow up hill.   We didn’t properly drain the pipe last night so sap froze in it.   We took the pipe apart and actually held it over the fire in the evaporator to thaw out.

Three batches into the milk can.  Another 225 gallons boiled through.  225 remain for tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also cold.  Low around 10 with high about 25.

A truck arrived with our supplies: bottles, filter aid, hydrometer, R/O tank heater.    And we got our R/O membrane.  A neighbor picked it up for us when he got his supplies.   We will wait until the next run to use the R/O.

And the TV station came again this year to do a story.  Here is a link to that story.
http://fox11online.com/news/local/lakeshore/syrup-season-begins-early-in-manitowoc-county

Connected the gas tank so we can use the gas burners for heating water.   Moved the tank heater to the collecting tank so its ice free for tomorrow.

Back at the house by 6:00 PM.

Into the woods by 8:00 AM to get the evaporator setup.  With 625 gallons of sap in the tanks we needed to start the evaporator and cook.  Took 2 hours to get things cleaned and setup.  By 10:00 AM we ran sap into the evaporator and lite the fire.   By 10:30 we had a boil.  Cooked  until 5:00 PM.  Emptied the 175 gallon tank.   We use the 175 gallon tank to hold concentrate from the R/O so emptied it first so its available when we get the membrane.

Change in the weather pattern today.  22 overnight.  Cloudy, but warmed to upper 30s about 10:00 AM.  Trees started dripping a bit.  But then a front moved through accompanied by a gusty winds.   The skies cleared and the temperature dropped.    By 3:00 PM it was 27.  The rest of the week the forecast is 20’s for the highs, teens for the lows.   No sap.  But we’ll get caught up cooking.

We knew the sap would run all night because it didn’t freeze.    But we thought we could wait with collecting until Monday.   We checked the woods at 1:00 PM.  It couldn’t wait.  We called for help and prepared the tanks.  Set out collecting by 2:15.  Finished by 5:00 PM and had 625 gallons.  Quite a few full buckets.   We don’t know the Brix yet because we haven’t got all our tools and supplies in the woods. We’ll check it tomorrow.

Tomorrow morning we have to get the building ready and setup the evaporator.  We have to start cooking.  Without the R/O we have 30 hours of cooking ahead of us. 

The weather is forecast to turn colder for the week so we aren’t expecting sap.  It snowing this evening. Not supposed to accumulate.

Its started.  Season 99.

Buckets and spouts all washed during the off-season. 

We had a warmish winter because of El Nino.  We had some days below zero, but a lot days above normal and some even above freezing.  Not a lot of snow:  about half of normal totals.  Because of the warmer winter we expect an earlier season.    There is still frost in the ground in the woods, but not as deep as the past two seasons when we had very cold winters.  

Today’s forecast was upper 40s and sunny.  That’s maple weather.  We had a crew of 5 lined up to tap.  Started  tapping by 8:00 AM.  It goes fast with a big crew.  One drilling holes. Followed by another setting the tap and two more following the buckets and covers.  By 11:30 AM we had 400 taps out.  After luch we finised tapping by 2:00 PM.  500 taps.  That’s the most taps we’ve had in 30+ years. 

By 10:00 AM the sap was moving in the trees.  There were dripping fast after the spout was in.  Although a fresh tap will always run a lot because you are releasing the pressure.  The forecast is no freezing overnight so Sunday or Monday we may collect already.  Next week it turns colder again, so we want to pickup liquid when we have it.

Waiting to get our R/O membrane back from cleaning.  We sent it off mid-June.  We expected it back by Sept or Oct so it could ship without worry of freezing.   No such luck.  It arrived at our equipment dealer in mid-Jan, but we couldn’t ship it then because of the cold.  Neighbors are heading to the equipment dealer next week and will pickup the membrane for us.  We are so disappointed with the customer service of our R/O manufacturer.

Tractor troubles again.  Oh no!  The tractor started and ran fine since we had the electrical re-done two  years ago.    Even today it ran fine with several start/stops as we moved through the woods tapping.    After the second stop after lunch it would not start.  Not even turn over.  We thought it might be the starter because the lights worked demonstrating we had power.  One of the crew had a Jeep so we transfered bucket/covers to it to finish tapping.  This worked because of the low snow depth in the woods.   Cousin David stopped out after his work.  He is also a mechanic.  He  got his tools and came back to look at the tractor.   Methodically tested each part of path to start the tractor. Took out the started and battery to test back on the work bench.  Starter fine. Battery dead.   Charged the battery and returned to the tractor in the woods to re-assemble and test.   Tractor started right up.  But the question remains: why did the battery suddenly go dead?   This makes us nervous and we’ll need to monitor it during the season.

Bottled the last of the syrup today.  81 gallons for the season.  Above average.

All the buckets and covers are in.  Finishing and bottling pan clean.  R/O back in the house.  Tomorrow we finish washing milk cans, bring back various utensils and the syrup.  Wash the floor and take down the clock and unplug the radio.  By 1:00 PM we leave for the airport.

Song of the season:  Fight Song, Rachel Platten