MapleAcres

It was down to 13 again last night.  But warmed quickly.  By 10:00 AM puddles appeared.  Past days it took to 11:00 AM for puddles.  It got up to 45 this afternoon.  Sunny all day.  

We had a lot to do today so it was constantly moving to get everything done.  

Cleaned the evaporator pan first thing this morning.  Then got the milk can of syrup into the finishing pan.  When the syrup is finished we put in through our filter press.  Unfortunately we got two of the pieces of the filter press in wrong.  We had to take it apart to correct the problem and then re-filter the syrup.  Wasn’t the complete batch.  We caught it early because we noticed the press was pumping hard.

We bottled 26 quarts.  Used our new digital thermometer to monitor the temperature in the bottling pan.  The syrup should not boil.  We keep it between 185 and 200 degrees.  

Cleaned our collecting and storage tanks.  We don’t want fresh sap in dirty tanks.  We knew we would not have help to collect today again so tried to get an early start.  We also knew a lot of sap was in the woods.  We got started by 2:30 PM.  By 5:10 PM we had the first 200 gallons.   Emptied into the storage tank then back out.   By now the trees and an extra three hours to drip and melt.  A lot of the buckets were now full.  We ended up with 430 gallons.  We had to carry in the last 30 because the tank was full.  

We now have 2320 gallons of sap collected.  There should still be another 400 to 600 gallons coming for the season.

It was down to 12 last night again.  It did warm quickly to 35 and later in the day reach 38.  We had some melting of the snow.  

Cooked through the 230 gallons of sap we collected yesterday.    Had to thaw the evaporator first.  It was not quite solid ice.  It took about an hour to slowly warm it and melt the ice.  Quite unexpected for March 30th.    The heating tape on the tank’s pipes worked well.  There was even a puddle of melt under the pipes.   Sap flowed to the evaporator as soon as we open the valve.

Hopefully not as cold tonight.  Tomorrow should reach the 40s.   We expect sap.  

Here is the day’s cooking.

11:00   20 ½”
12:00   18 ¾”
2:00    15 ½”
3:00    13 ¾”
4:00   13 ½”
5:00    11 ½”
6:00    9”
7:00    7”
8:00   4 ½ “
9:00   2 ½”
9:20   empty

It was cold again last night.  Down to 12.   It warmed quicker today.  Reach about 36 or 37.  That allowed the ice in the buckets to thaw and the trees to start dripping.  It was right around 11:00 AM when puddles appeared.  32 is really a magical temperature. 32 and below, ice.  32 and above liquid.  And the transition is fast.

We had to take care of the paper work to renew our state food processing license so it was 3:30 PM before we got into the woods.  Of course the sun needed time to works its magic too and thaw the ice.  We had no help today so set out alone to collect.  Have to pace yourself.    By a little after 7:00 PM we had 200 gallons.  There were still about 20 buckets to empty but it was getting too dark to see and the temperature was dropping.    We pumped sap into the storage tank.  We put a heating tape on the tank’s pipes.  Its forecast for the lower 20s.  Hopefully we don’t get into the teens overnight. 

Tomorrow we will boil again.   Our evaporator is completely frozen up too.  Its been a long time since the end of March has been this cold or had this much snow on the ground.

The sun is warm.  It starts to thaw and melt during the day.  But its getting so cold at night.  Last night was down to 3.   We checked the woods today.   Some buckets have a quart.  A few are almost full.  But its all ice.  It was dripping because of the warm sun.  It did get up to 33 or maybe 34.   5 to 7 degrees warmer and we would have a nice run.  The sap is moving in the trees.   Tomorrow should be warmer and later in the week we should get even better sap weather.

Last year it was warm weather that paused our season.  This year its cold weather.   Tomorrow is forecast to get above freezing.  But tonight is in the low teens again.   Tuesday is warms more.  So we are hopeful.

Down to about 8 overnight.  Up to 28 during the day.  Tried to be sunny, but around 10:30 AM lake effect snow started.  It snowed pretty hard for a while.  Might have gotten an inch.   The forecast is still calling for warming starting Sunday and going into next week.  We may however need to change our return days.  Originally scheduled to return to Washington DC on April 4 but we are not going to be finished by then.

Down to 5 last night.  Made it to 27 today.   The sun rays are warm and did form a few puddles of melt by 3:00 PM.   

Went into the woods with the tractor this afternoon to clean snow from the trails.  We also brought syrup back.  And the milk cans of water.   There was no point letting the milk cans of water freeze solid with the cold weather.  

Next week it is forecast to warm.  The cold is not as harmful to the season as the warm like last year.  Warm weather starts to close the tap holes.  Cold delays the onset of closing the tap hole.

It was sunny but cold today.  Our snow was the biggest March snow since the 1880s.  Down to 10 or 12 overnight.  Warmed to 30 during the day.  The suns rays are warm and try to melt, but when its stay below freezing it doesn’t melt much.   We are in a  cold pattern now.  Its forecast for several days of teens and 20s.  Maybe by Sunday we break 32.  Next week is 30s and teens.  This is January weather. 

We need to put electric blankets on our trees.  No sap flows now for maple trees need balmy weather, warmer breeze.

We got 8” or 10”.  Quite a bit.  Last night it was wet, heavy snow.  At one point we had thunder with the snow.  This morning it turned colder.   By 10:00 AM it looked to be stopping.   But that was only a ruse.  Shortly after it starting snowing hard.  It was a fine snow that accumulated quickly.   And the wind started blowing and drifting the snow.  Its still blowing and drifting now with light snow.  All in all a good snow storm.

Its still not clear how much snow we will get , but it will be a fair mount.  5”.  9”.  Its right around 32 so snow, sleet, rain are all possible.   It must be colder at higher altitudes because so far its mostly snow.   Started around 10:30 AM.   Forecast to last into Wednesday afternoon.   Then it turns colder with temperatures below freezing during the day and maybe single digits at night.

Into the woods at 10:00 AM to do bottling.  We bottled 14 quarts.  Should have used a little more filter aid because the syrup is not quite as clear as previous batches.  That’s disappointing.  Its still nice syrup.

We are at 135 quarts, 33.75 gallons, of finished syrup.