MapleAcres

Into the woods at 8:00 AM.  Started the fire under the evaporator.  By 8:30 AM the pan is boiling.  230 gallons of sap were boiled down today.      Here is how the day progressed.

8:00 AM  22 ½ inches of sap in the tank
9:00 AM  20 ¾ inches of sap in the tank
10:00 AM  18 ¼ inches of sap in the tank
11:00 AM  15 ¾ inches of sap in the tank
12:00 PM  13 ½ inches of sap in the tank
1:00 PM  11 inches of sap in the tank
2:00 PM   9 ¾ inches of sap in the tank
3:00 PM   7 ½ inches of sap in the tank
4:00 PM   5 inches of sap in the tank
5:00 PM   3 inches of sap in the tank
6:00 PM   tank empty

And we picked up an additional 130 gallons of sap today.   But this is likely the last collection.   We are heading to warmer weather and that is going to end this season.

We  also finished and bottled anther 26 quarts, 1 pint, and 1  250 ml bottle.

It was warmer today, about 45 although it was cloudy and windy.   It did however warm enough to melt most of the ice in the buckets.  We went out collecting about 2:30 PM.    Picked up 230 gallons of sap.  But this may be the end.   A lot of taps are dry.   Next week the weather patterns turns much warmer.  

We brought in the bottled syrup from the woods.  Its always satisfying bringing the crop in from the woods.  

Tomorrow we will boil and there should be more syrup to finish and bottle.

It was down to 15 last night.  Only got to about 37 today.   Yesterday we had liquid sap in the buckets.  Today we had ice in the buckets.   It would have been better to collect yesterday.   Now we have to wait until tomorrow for the sun to do its magic and warm things up.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer.   We are hoping to collect tomorrow afternoon. 

We resolved all our labeling today.  We had an incorrect phone number on the labels for the 250 ml and 500 ml bottles.   We had a sticker printed with the correct phone number.   Now we can get the 250 ml and 500 ml bottled labeled and available for sale.

Next week’s forecast is for a big warm up:  60s during the day and 40s at night.  That will end the season.

It was cold today along with a wind that make it feel colder.   It barely got above 32.  So nothing happening in the woods today.   But we needed a day to rest.   We have had four days of about 14 hours in the woods. 

Tomorrow we may collect if it warms early enough.  It supposed to get down to 15 tonight so it could take a while for the ice in the buckets to thaw.

Today was warm again.  Up to 53.   It did just freeze last night, about 30.   The spouts were wet but not dripping much.   It needs to be a little colder.   A cold front is forecast to move in overnight which will drop the temperatures again.  We are hoping to get one or two more collections for the season.

Spent the day boiling down the sap from yesterday.   Into the woods by 7:30 AM.  Cleaned out the front syrup pan before stating the evaporator.    It takes about an hour to do that, but makes the day boiling much easier.  Took a batch off the evaporator about 11:30 AM.   That got added to the batch from yesterday.   About 4:00 PM we started bottling.   Bottled 19 quarts and 1 pint.  Stayed in the woods  boiling then until the storage tanks were empty.    Took another batch off the evaporator about 7:00 PM.  That batch just went into the milk can for finishing and bottling later.   By 8:00 PM the tanks were empty and by 8:20 PM we were back in the house.

We collected 350 gallons again today.  That gives us 2000 gallons for the season.  In theory that works out to 50 gallons of finished syrup.  So it looks like we will salvage the season.  50 gallons would be 83% of our average crop.  But we are not done yet.  The weather pattern is still holding.   Tomorrow will be a little warmer, but then it gets colder into the weekend. 

Today was up to about 47.  It did freeze last night but not as hard as other nights.  We went out collecting at 2:00 PM.  After collecting we started the evaporator.   Took a batch of syrup off the evaporator but did not finish and bottle it.  We will do that tomorrow when we empty the storage tanks by boiling what have.

The 350 gallons we collected on Sunday is all boiled through.  Staying last night to boil helped make today easier.  We were in the woods by 7:30 AM and back home by 7:30 PM.

Good weather again.  It was 25 last night and 45 and sunny today.  That’s what we need.   The sap was running, although some taps are dry.  We will collect tomorrow again.   

We did finish and bottle another 26 quarts.  We are up to 144 quarts now.  Slowly we are making progress.  We need 750 gallons more sap.  We have 1650 gallons of sap now.  A few more good runs this week and we may make 2400 gallons and achieve our our average of 240 quarts of finished syrup.

It froze again last night.  Down to the mid 20s.  We like that.  Today was sunny and into the 40s.  We like that too.  The sap was running.  About 2:30 PM we headed out to collect.  Picked up 350 gallons of sap again.  When this sap is finished we will approach 40 gallons of syrup.  Things look much better now then the did last week.  The weather pattern still holds with freezing night and sunny days.  We are hopeful.

We started the day by cleaning the syrup pan on the evaporator.   We are cleaning it much more frequently which lessens  the build up of nitre and makes boiling easier. 

After collecting we started boiling again.   Boiled about 4 ½ hours tonight.  Tomorrow we will start early again and stay until the tanks are empty.

It was still 28 at 9:00 AM.   Hasn’t been that cold for about two weeks.  At noon we checked the buckets. It warmed to about 35 by then.  Even though there was a cold North wind, the trees were dripping.  Not a lot yet.  Still its an encouraging sign.   We will collect tomorrow.  We expect the next week to make or break the season.  The weather forecast sill looks good for sap runs.  

Today is the first day of Spring.

We did bring the bottled syrup from the woods to the house today.

Cloudy.  About 45 today yet.  Nothing happening in the woods.   Tonight the weather should change.  We might even get some snow flakes.  If there is going to be a part 2 to the season, it will happen this coming week with the weather change.   We just hope the taps have not dried out too much.