MapleAcres

Didn’t freeze last night.  Today started foggy;  then rain moved in.  There is a large slow moving low pressure system in the middle of the country that is pulling warm air to the north.  Its dominating our weather now and will until about Sunday.    Its brining cloudy, warm days of 45 or so, nights that don’t  freeze, and drizzle or rain.  Maybe even a thunder storm.  

It was 10:30 AM before we went into the woods.  Since we have a spell of warmer weather we decided to make a run though the woods to pick up any sap there.  It won’t keep with the warmer weather so better to pick it up.  And this may be a season where we have to fight for every quart of finished maple syrup.  There was not a lot of sap in the buckets.  A few with a quart of sap.  Many with only a cup.  A few full, but those were most likely missed in the prior collection.     In end we collected 50 gallons of sap: enough to make five quarts of maple syrup.

When the warm air hits the cold snow a foggy mist forms as the snow melts.  It rises from the snow in the woods and looks almost ghostly.  It was rainy and warm today.  Up to 47.  Last year at this time were we fighting with the cold. 

Into the woods by 7:30 AM to start boiling.   By 10:30 AM a batch was ready to come off the evaporator.  Added it to the batch from Monday.    Then we finished and bottled.  25 more quarts.  Up to 62 quarts total now.    Took one more batch off the evaporator about 6:30 PM.   Watched carefully so the batch would be ready but there would still be enough sap to shutdown the evaporator but still empty the storage tanks. 

The forecast is still warm and rainy.   That is disappointing for maple syrup makers.

The next four or five days we are forecast to have warmer weather and rain showers.  Its not going to freeze at night which is not good for us.   Its likely going to  be slower in the woods. 

We were out collecting today.  Picked up another 300 gallons of sap.   We also boiled tonight for a few hours which will help make tomorrow a shorter day. 

We cleaned the syrup pan on the evaporator today before collecting.   It had a surprising amount of sugar sand burned tight already.

Tomorrow is another day of boiling.  The goal is to stay in the woods until the storage tanks are empty. 

We also placed our order with the printer for labels, a maple syrup themed cook book, and business cards.

Sunny days and freezing nights are supposed to give sap flows.  We are getting some sap but not as much as hoped given the weather pattern.  Something else besides just sunny day and freezing night must be needed for sap flows.  It was not as cold last night.  Only into the low 20s.  And up to about 50 during the day.  Again it was sunny.  The sap moved, but not enough to collect.  There was a quart to two quarts in most pails.  We plan to collect tomorrow.

We did boil today.  And bottled again.  We started boiling at 7:30 AM with the goal of emptying the storage tanks.  That meant pushing through 300 gallons of sap.  By 11:30 AM we took off the first batch of syrup.   By 3:30 PM the second batch was ready.  We finished and bottle both batches together which gave us 26 quarts and 1 pint.

We didn’t expect any more syrup but by 8:00 PM another batch was ready.  We took it off the evaporator but did not finish and bottle it.   

By 10: 00 PM we were back in the house.  So it was a 14 ½ hour day.

It was down to 18 again last night.  By 9:00 AM it was already above freezing which was good.  It eventually got up to 44.  We are getting sunny days and freezing night, but its getting too cold to run well.  We had help lined up to collect today.  But we had wait until it warmed and the trees could drip before we collected.   We started collecting at 2:30 PM.  We thought we might get only 150 gallons of sap but we were surprised to collect 300 gallons.

We cleaned out the syrup pan on the evaporator.  Better to clean it often then wait for the sugar sand to burn on.  We also had some electrical work done.  We now have a light that points into the wood shed and another light that points behind the building by the tanks.    Both areas were dark before. 

Tomorrow we will boil.

Into the woods by 7:30 AM to start the evaporator.  It was cold again last night.  It was down to 10 at 6:30 AM.  The tanks did not freeze.  But the pipes to the evaporator did.  No liquid was in the pipes overnight.  We think as the sap from the tanks hit the cold, smaller pipes that it froze.  We took the pipes apart and warmed them the gas burner.   That worked to get them open.   It was 9:30 AM before we had a fire going under the evaporator.  

It was nice sunny day.  It got up to 44.   The sap started to run, but again it was so cold over night that it takes time for the sun to do its magic.  There was not enough sap in the buckets to collect today.  We hope to collect tomorrow.

We did cook through the 300 gallons of sap from yesterday.  Ended up the first 10 quarts of maple syrup for the season.

A few visitors today.   We were able to get both parents into the woods.  Mother, who is 82, was tasting the partially finished sap from the evaporator and commented “That’s the good stuff.”

This is the “good stuff.”  Beautiful spring day.   Sunny and nice in the woods.  The wonderful aroma of cooking maple syrup.   And family with us.

We collected 300 gallons of sap today.  It was cold again last night: down to 17.  That freezes everything hard.  The buckets had ice in them.    By 10:30 AM  it was above freezing.    We knew we would collect but had to wait for the sun’s rays to do their magic to  melt a lot of the ice in the buckets.

While waiting to collect we washed out the collecting tank, storage tanks and evaporator.  That meant a water run with the tractor and milk cans.  After washing we had to connect the pipes from the storage tank to the evaporator.  

We also enlarged the opening on the collecting tank by cutting off a 1 ¼” lip on the top.  That added 2 ½ “ to the diameter making it much easier to dump the collecting pails in the tank.

By 3:00 PM we were ready to collect and set out.  By 5:00 PM we were done and had 300 gallons of sap.  Tomorrow we will fire up the evaporator.

It was cold last night, down to about 19.  That freezes everything so hard that it takes a long time to warm up during the day.  It was sunny today and up to 37 or so.  The trees were dripping.  Walked through the woods this afternoon.  A few pails were full.  Many are half full.  We will collect tomorrow.    We would have collected today if we had help lined up. 

Spent the day getting the building ready.  We had to replace some damaged fire brick in the evaporator.  Also worked on getting the niter out of the syrup pan.  Its hand scrubbing with at fine abrasive. 

Tomorrow we have to get water tot he building and wash out the tanks for collecting. 

Just wish it wouldn’t get so cold at night because it freezes everything so hard.

Another great day for tapping.  It was down to 20 overnight.  It was sunny all day with a North wind at 5-10 mph.  The wind was a little chilly.  It warmed to about 34.  We went into the woods by 9:00.  By 9:30 we were loaded up and out tapping.  Worked until 3:00 PM.   We got out about 325 taps.  With the 75 from yesterday we have a little over 400.  We again lost exact count.  It likely between 400 and 410 taps.

Next we get be syrup building ready.  We have to setup the evaporator, wash the storage tanks and connect the pipes.

The weather forecast for the next week looks ideal for sap with freezing nights and days into he lower 40s.

Arrived in WI about 12:30 PM. From the air on the plane ride in from Washington DC we can see the snow cover over the fields and woods.  By 2:30 PM we were out in the woods getting organised for tapping. We washed the buckets during January and brought them into the woods during February. Our shipment of bottles arrived about two weeks ago. We are ready.  By 3:00 PM we started tapping. The sap is definitely moving in the trees. We see a good steady drip after setting the tap. Wish we would have taped last week. We would be collecting now. We did get 75 taps out by 4:30 PM. It was nice in the woods. The sun is warm. The snow is not too deep: maybe 8″. Tomorrow we hope to finish all the tapping. We have two or three helpers coming. The weather forecast sounds like it will be ideal for sap the next 5 days or so.

The tap from Saturday had about 2 quarts of sap. And it tasted very sweet. We were not able to formally test it with our hydrometer, but it seemed much sweeter than we normally get.