MapleAcres

Fox 11 WLUK TV from Green Bay, WI stopped by today to do a story on the late start to the maple syrup season.   They interviewed us and another producer at In The Woods Sugarbush.   Here is a link to the story.

http://fox11online.com/2014/03/18/maple-syrup-season-delayed-in-northeast-wisconsin/

Around Noon it warmed above freezing.  Got to up 40.  It was cloudy.  The trees started to drip a little.   It will be above freezing into late night.  The trees may drip overnight.  But by 3:00 AM or so rain moves in.  And by later tomorrow it turns to snow.  So we get a wintery mix of rain and snow.  Thursday and Friday are looking promising.  But next week its forecast to stay below freezing.

Connected the propane gas in the kitchen.

Another day waiting.   About 7 overnight.  Up to 30 during the day.  Cold wind.  It warms tomorrow but with that comes rain or sleet.    Slow start to this season.

Cold over night.  Down to single digits.  Only about 16 for the high today.  Woke to lake effect snow.   Did not accumulate, but it did cover the ice to make that more slippery.    Now we wait for the weather to change.

Started the fire at 2:35 PM.  Had boil by 3:05 PM.  The tank had 10” of sap.  Stayed until 8:00 PM boiling to empty the tank.  The weather forecast for the next three or four days is not favorable to sap runs.  Tomorrow’s high it 20.   Yesterday’s decision to collect was correct.   Otherwise we would have ice in the buckets.

Up to 30 today. About 25 overnight. Sunny.   Cloudy.  Snow flurries. North wind,  A little melt when the sun was out, but overall too cold.   About 25 overnight.

Washed the tanks and setup the pipes to the evaporator this morning.

While boiling we noticed a lot of sugar sand already.  May be a season of sugar sand.   Last season there was little sugar sand.

Small run today.  Collected 125 gallons of sap.  Started at 5:30 PM.  Finished at 9:05 PM.  The only reason we collected is that the sap was liquid today.  Tomorrow and the next few days turn colder again and then we would have ice in the buckets.  Its a lot of work to collect solo and then starting late meant we would collect in the dark.   We waited until after 5:00 to start in order to get most of the run.  It was cloudy until about 1:00 PM.  Then the sun appeared and trees started dripping.  By 4:00 PM the clouds moved in again.  But it did get to 45 and there was melting this afternoon.

By 7:30 PM it was dark enough to turn on the headlamps we have.  Its nice to have the lamp right on your head so you can direct to where you need to see the spout.  The moon was bright for about 45 minutes too.  Then it got cloudy.

Tomorrow we will see about starting the evaporator.

About 4 over night.  Up to 34 late today.  Tomorrow up to 40, but then turns colder with highs below 32.  This is a slow start to the season.

The local newspaper did have story about our sugarbush and a neighbor’s sugarbush.

http://www.htrnews.com/article/20140311/MAN0101/303120125/Cold-delays-maple-syrup-season?nclick_check=1

About 16.  No activity in the woods.  Tonight down to 0.  Tomorrow maybe 32.  Friday’s forecast is for 44 and sunny.  So we are still waiting for the trees and weather to turn favorable.    Of course cold weather is better then warm weather.  Cold weather does not impact the tap hole so keeps the potential of the season viable.  Warm weather accelerates the tap hole closing and brings the season to an end.

The warm weather the past two days settled a lot of snow on the fields.  The plow rows and corn stalks are starting to appear from under the snow.

Did not freeze overnight.  Up to 40 today, but cloudy.  The trees are still in hibernation.

We did manage to get one quart of sap from two taps.  It measures 2 Brix which is typical sugar content.

A neighbor who was a tool and die maker with a lathe and machine shop made a stainless steel spout for our bottling valve.  The spout is about 8” long.  The old spout was made of brass. It had fractured and leaked.    This new stainless steel spout should last well past our lifetime.

Tomorrow is cold: high around 20.

About 20 overnight but up to 50 during the day with bright sunshine.   That got things melting.  But the  trees are still dormant.  Some are tying to drip.   The forecast is for another freeze/thaw cycle tonight so maybe tomorrow we get a run.

A lot of melt around the syrup building and that causes a lot of water.  With the ground still frozen it can’t be absorbed so it causes puddles.    But the snow is settling.  And with warmer weather the snow now packs down so that will make it easier to get around the woods.

All the taps are out: 426.   Started around 10:00 AM.  By noon we had 153 more taps out.  It goes much faster when there are more people helping.  We started with three then another helper came for four.   One drills the hole.  Second sets the tap. Third puts on the bucket and fourth puts on the cover.   By yourself its four trips to a tree.

This afternoon we opened the building.  Shoveled snow from the doors and of the tanks.  Swept the floors.

Overnight it was down to 5.  Reached 40 today, but there was very little melt because it was cloudy.  Forecast calls for upper 40’s and sunny tomorrow.   We wait to see if the trees wake up.