MapleAcres

Collected 350 gallons of sap today.  It was about 25 last night.  Sunny and up to 38 during the day.  By 11:00 AM the trees were dripping.   Brought water to the woods.  Washed collecting and storage tanks.  The plan was to start collecting at 3:00 PM.  Help came.   After emptying the first buckets it was clear this was a nice run.   Even found several full pails.  And nice clear sap.

Tonight is 25 and tomorrow up to maybe 50 and sunny.  Should be another run.

Tomorrow we cook.  And hopefully collect again.

This story is getting repetitive.  Some rain overnight.   Day started cloudy and windy.  Temperature about 32 or 33.    Around 1:00 PM sun appeared.  Temperature up to 37.  We had melting.  Taps were wet, but not dripping.

Spoke with producers in central WI.   No syrup made yet.  We at least have 10 gallons.  And producers in CT also have cold weather but made a little syrup.    How late will this season go?

Nothing happening with the trees.  Getting tired of waiting. Up to 33/34 today but cloudy all day.  Drizzle stated late this afternoon.  A wintery mix for this evening.

Down to 1 overnight.  Up to 33 during the day.  Sunny until 3:00 PM.  It takes so long to warm when its so cold.  Nothing happening with the trees.  Tonight and tomorrow is a wintery mix and rain.   Tomorrow, rain and 40.   So we are still waiting for the weather to change.

We got about 2” of snow over night.  Enough to make everything white again.  15 over night.  25 during the day.  Sunny, but a cold wind.  Trees are still frozen.

10 overnight.  32 during the day.  And sunny.  There was melting.  And sap was moving in the trees.  The spouts have big sap cycles on them.  That only happens when the sap in the tree is flowing but freezes when it hits the below freezing temperatures of the tap hole.  Operations on vacuum tubing would be able to harvest sap today. But with the older bucket technology we get nothing.  If this happens frequently during the season it negatively effects overall production.

Its snowing now.  1”-2” possible.  Tomorrow only upper 20’s.  But later in the week looks promising.

Bottled 38 quarts today.  Very nice syrup.  Its wrong to be excited that our new fill tube on the bottling pan worked well?  No more leaks from the tube when filing bottles.  And almost eliminated bubbles in syrup because no air was getting in through the cracks in the fill tube.

About 10 overnight.  Mid-20s and sunny.  There was melting where the sun shown.  The March sun is warm even if the temperature is not.

‘Tonight around 10 again.  1-3 inches of snow for Monday evening.

About 28 overnight.  Only about 32 for the high today.  But the sun did appear this afternoon.  Its warmth caused melting.  But nothing from the trees.  Although internally the sap is likely moving.

Two group of visitors today.   And another maple producer stopped over to chat.

Emptied the storage tank.  Four more batches of syrup in the milk can.  Tomorrow we plan to bottle.

Our weather turns colder again.  Down to 8 overnight.  Tomorrow only mid-20s.

Collected 185 gallons of sap today.  Can’t quite break that 225 gallon marker of a full tank.  About 28 overnight.  Up to 40 during the day.  That’s the weather we needed.  Started sunny.  The trees were dripping by 10:30-11:00.  Clouds moved in this afternoon but once started the trees continued dripping.  Still, its a small run.   We should be collecting two or three tanks by this time of the season.

Tomorrow we will boil.  Visitors are coming: two groups of Girl Scouts.

Cold weather returns for a few days now too.

We made syrup today. About 5 gallons in the milk can awaiting finishing and bottling. Today is the first day of Spring. The forecast called for sunny and 40. It was about 28 overnight. We had clouds until 4:00 PM. Reached 40 around 1:00 PM. With no sun and cold this morning sap did not start dripping until late in the day. Maybe tomorrow? We do plan to collect what is there tomorrow as it turns colder over the weekend.