MapleAcres

Did not go into the woods today.  It was cloudy until around 3:00 PM.  Did reach 45 but did not freeze last night.   The weather forecast is for rain and snow Tuesday evening into Wednesday.  We may get 4 inches of snow.  Then it turns colder with days not above freezing.  Welcome to March when the weather changes often.

Working outside in the woods gives you a different appreciation for nature.  You see and feel changes happening that you are not cognizant of when working inside.  In the morning there is ice.  As the sun warms things all of the sudden there is puddle where ice was before.  Clouds come and go.  Shadows change as the sun moves through the sky.  Dusk comes and night arrives.   And there are changes of wind, snow, rain, sleet.   At night its just dark and you can’t observer the changes as readily.  But you do see the moon.  It reflects brightly off the snow illuminating the woods.

Today was cloudy, snowy and rainy.  Into the woods by 8:00 AM for a day of cooking.  Cleaned the front syrup pan before staring the evaporator.  Then we had to boil down the sap in the evaporator before we could start on the tanks.   The evaporator got quite full the previous evening.  It was 11:00 AM before we could start on the tank, which was full with 225 gallons.  We got a nice fire going and were able to keep up a good boil.

We are also cutting down our firewood.  We should have 3 foot lengths but a lot of the wood in wood shed is 4, 5 or even 6 feet.  Two things happen with the longer pieces of wood  (1) more heat goes up the stack and (2) it blocks off the air flow of the evaporator.  With the 3 foot lengths were are able to get nice sustained boils for 15 – 20 minutes.  But its more work handling the wood to cut it to size.

Used the tractor to get water in the milk cans.  Brought back 4 milk cans full.

Around 11:00 AM it started to snow.  We got a dusting of wet snow before it changed over to rain around 1:00 PM.  By 3:00 PM it had stopped raining but it started again about 7:30 PM.

By 9:20 PM the tank was empty.   We were in the house by 9:30 PM.  All our tanks are empty now.  We are not expecting sap tomorrow as its forecast to be in the 50s with no freezing tonight.

Here’s how the days boiling went.

9:00 AM   22”
12:00 PM   20 ½”
1:00 PM   18 ½ “
2:00 PM   16 1/2”
3:00 PM   14 1/2”
4:00 PM   12 ¼”
5:00 PM   10 ¾”
6:00 PM   8 ½”
7:00 PM   6”
8:00 PM   4”
9:00 PM   2 ¼”
9:20 PM   empty

Sunny and 40s today.  Froze last night.   The sap ran.  We picked up 235 gallons today.  That makes 1060 gallons for the week.  This was a busy week.   We bottled 27 quarts today.  That was four batches from the previous days.

Since nothing was pressing this morning, we went into the woods at 10:00 AM.

Tomorrow we will boil again.

It was cloudy and in the 40s today.  It did actually freeze last night.  That was  unexpected.   But the sap did not run.   It was not cold enough.   The next two days are 40s and 20s.  Hopefully there will be sap.  Monday is back to 50s, then the rest of the week 40s and 20s with snow possible Tuesday night.  

Spent the day cooking sap.  Into the woods by 8:30 AM.  We took three batches from the evaporator.  Tomorrow we will bottle.     A neighbor came who is also cooking syrup this year.   He was unable to keep up this week so he gave us about 60 gallons of sap.  By 5:30 the tanks were empty.  Back in the house by 6:00 PM which early this week.  

We have 1425 gallons of sap so far.   This should be about the mid-point of the season.  1200-1600 more gallons of sap should come yet.

Here is how the day cooking went.

9:00   22”
10:00  21 1/2”
11:00  18”
12:00  15 1/2”
1:00   12 3/4”
2:00   10 1/4”
3:00   7”
4:00   4 1/2”
5:00   2 1/4”
5:30   empty

It was in the 50s and cloudy today.   It did not rain.  Only a few sprinkles.  The sun tried to come out around 1:00 PM, but soon gave up.  Around 6:00 PM the warm air hitting the cold snow caused the mist to raise from the snow.  You are seeing the snow melt.  Eerie and pretty.

Into the woods by 8:30 AM.  Cleaned the front syrup pan on the evaporator before starting boiling for the day.   Got a batch of syrup off the evaporator around 1:00 PM.  Bottled that plus two batches from yesterday for 26 quarts, 1 pint.  Had trouble with LP gas burner today: it was not burning at full strength.   We know the tank we are using will empty soon, so we thought it was just running low.  Nope.  Turned out the valve was not open all the way.  Oops.

Here is how the day’s boiling went.

A full tank is 23 inches and 225 gallons.

10:00 AM  22 ¼
11:00 AM  20 ½
12:00 PM  19
1:00 PM  16 ¾
2:00 PM  14 ½
3:00 PM  12 ½
4:00 PM  10 ½
5:20 PM   8 ¼
6:00 PM   7 ½
7:00 PM   5 ¼
8:00 PM   4
9:00 PM   2 ¼
9:30 PM  empty

We still have the small tank of 175 gallons to cook down tomorrow.   No new sap because of the warm weather.

325 gallons of sap today.  But it doesn’t look like there will be sap for a few days.  We are entering a warmer weather pattern.  It won’t freeze the next few nights.  And we are forecast for rain tomorrow.  That will melt the snow.

Sunny and warm today.  Up to 52.  We were in the woods cooking until 12:30 AM then back into the woods by 8:00 AM to continue cooking.  When we have a big run we have to process it.  Got the smaller storage tank empty by 1:45 PM.  We needed that for the sap we picked up today.  The big storage tank was still full so after emptying the first collecting tank full, the the next tank  had to stay in the collecting tank until we cooked down enough to make room.  We were back in the house by 11:30 PM.  But tomorrow will still be a busy day as we have 400 gallons in the storage tanks.

We also bottled 24 quarts.

Picked up 500 gallons of sap.  Changing cloths and eating a bit then heading back into the woods to boil.  Our storage tanks are full and about 110 gallons remains in the collecting tank.  We have to boil down enough to empty the collecting tank because we will need it tomorrow as we expect to collect tomorrow too.

Today started out foggy and cold.  Down to 18 overnight.  The fog cleared by 8:30 AM.  Then it started getting warmer: up to 42.  We started collecting at 2:30 PM to allow the sun to thaw the ice in the buckets.

We bottled about 17 quarts this morning.  Then washed the storage tanks to prepare for today’s sap.

It was cold over night: down to 13.  It froze so hard we could walk on top of the snow this morning.  When it warms you sink in.  There is still a lot of snow in the woods.  We just got the trail around the building open today for the tractor.  There is still one loop on the collecting trail that is not open.  We have to unhook the wagon and collecting tank from the tractor to manually turn it around so we can drive out forward.

It was sunny all day and warmed to the upper 30s.  The sap dripped.  We will collect tomorrow.   

We got all the remaining taps out this morning.  We are now at 400.  The tractor problems set up back.  The original plan was to have all the taps out by March 4th.  Oops.

This afternoon we worked on opening the tractor trail around the building.  There are two feet of snow in places yet.  Had to use the tractor bucket to dig it out.  Its quite a workout wrestling with the steering wheel with a bucket full of snow and snow under the wheels.  

About 3:45 PM the Pastor from church came to give a blessing of the maples.  Maple syrup is the first crop of the year.   Its proper that we acknowledge and give thanks to our Maker for the crop.

Into the woods by 7:45 AM.   We started Daylight Saving Time last night so we have to adjust our schedules.   Cleaned the syrup pan then started boiling.  Some visitors arrived just as we started boiling.    We spent the day boiling. Our goal was to empty the storage tanks.  By 8:30 PM we were empty.   In two days we boiled through 500 gallons.  We bottled 25 quarts today.  This is the first syrup of the year.  Seems late.  We have two batches of syrup in the milk can to bottle tomorrow.

It was down to about 22 overnight.  The day started sunny, but cold.  Then turned cloudy although it warmed to above freezing.  It even tried to snow but nothing came of it expect flakes in the air.  Then after 3:00 PM it cleared and became sunny and warmer.  Mid 30s.  The sap dripped for a few hours late in the day.  We may collect tomorrow again.  This week’s weather forecast looks promising for sap.

12 hours in the woods today.

We got the H back!   The repair shop called about 11:00 AM.  By 11:40 AM they arrived with their trailer and unloaded the H.   They fixed the generator too so now the battery will actually charge!  We knew it needed fixing.  We had not specifically asked for that but they saw it needed fixing and did it.  We are grateful.  A lot of work, and expense, went into it but it was all needed and we have working tractor again.

Into the woods by 7:30 AM to start boiling.  There were still hot coals under the evaporator from Thursday.   Took two batches of syrup off the evaporator.   As the day went on we thinking of the best use of our time.   We had to dig out the spot where the LP tank goes.  Did that inbetween firing.   We wanted to get out 13 more taps.   Did that inbetween firing too.    But was there sap?

It was cloudy all day.  A little windy, but nothing like what was forecast.  The forecast was for 30 mph winds, but we got nothing like  that.   It was down to maybe 30 overnight so the trees dripped into the night.   There was about 2 quarts in the pails.  A few were half full.  The question became do we continue boiling, or go collect?    The weather forecast says tomorrow will be colder.  Maybe 32.  We can boil in the cold but any sap in buckets will freeze.  So we went out collecting.    What’s liquid today will be ice tomorrow so get it will we can.    We ended up collecting 200 gallons.  A lot of that was from what ran into the last night.  

A neighbor stopped by to help.   Since he had a pickup truck we asked him to get a tank of LP gas for us first.   Last year we picked up an extra tank of LP gas so we would have it.   Unfortunately it leaked out over the year so the tank was empty.   Getting a full tank of LP was also a major accomplishment for the day as we need the gas to finish the syrup and during bottling.  Tomorrow we will be finishing and bottling and need it.