Tuesday remained cold and windy, but that was forecast. Since there was nothing pressing in the woods we went looking for a new collecting tank. Our metal 200 gallon collecting tank is at least 50 years old. Its hard to maintain. So we went to Fleet Farm to look for new tanks. We wanted a polyethylene (plastic) tank because its translucent (see through) so we can see how much sap is in the tank. With the metal tank we always had to guess. We looked at several styles but settled on 200 gallon tank. It has marks on the side indicating gallons so we can tell how much sap is collected. It also has bottom drain so we can completely empty it. We have to rig up the pipes yet for draining it. We had a false start on the piping because we didn’t measure the fitting sizes correctly.
Monday was a busy day. The weather started warm, but turned very cold. About 1:30 am it was 50 degrees. About 8:00 am a cold front moved through. The wind shifted to due north and the temperature dropped. By 10:30 am it was near 25. Then the race was on to beat the ice forming in the buckets. The 125 taps from Sunday had enough to collect and we wanted to get it in before it all turned to ice. We did. Only about 50 gallons, but better to have it then let it freeze. It was cold collecting. The north wind bites. Meanwhile a fire was started under the evaporator to boil. Spent the rest of the day boiling. The clouds lifted and the sun came out, but it remained cold. By 4:00 pm we drew off a batch of almost finished syrup and by 5:00 pm we had the first 2 gallons and 1 pint bottled for the 2005 season.
Sunday was again a nice day: sunny and warm, highs near 50. It gets quite warm working in the woods. But the warm days help settle the snow. There is about 18 inches of snow in the woods. We always need water to wash out equipment. Without a well on-site that means hauling water with the tractor. Well, Dean got smart. He noticed that the snow melting from the wood shed roof was just running onto the ground. So he put a milk can under the gutter to catch the snow melt. We filled two milk cans, 20 gallons of water. We finished tapping the last 125. Actually a few more. The total tapped is about 418. We always seem to loose exact count. By 3:00 the tapping was complete. And then it was time to collect.
The trees tapped on Saturday had dripped enough to collect. So we cleaned out the collecting tank and storage tanks and set out. We collected about 175 gallons of sap. Pumped it into the storage tanks and called it a day. We will start boiling on Monday. The weather for the coming week is to turn cold again. Nothing we can do about that. March weather is always changing.
Saturday was a nice day: sunny, highs about 40. Ideal to start off maple syrup season. About 1:00 pm we headed out to the woods to begin tapping. By 5:00 pm we had 275 tapped. The sap was flowing. The tap hole was wet after drilling and sap flowed after the spout was tapped in with a hammer. After hanging the bucket, you can hear the ping, ping, ping of the sap hitting the bottom. We had two tapping teams. One person drills and puts in the spout. The other person follows behind to hang the pail and place the cover on the pail. We do all our tapping with a hand auger. This is a good workout. Larger syrup producers use gas or electric powered drills.
Heading back to Wisconsin on Saturday. We are going to start tapping. Saturday, Sunday and Monday look to be nice days, but its not certain the sap will flow. Its been cold. And the trees may not be up to sap flow yet. Last year we tapped on March 9, which was quite late. The 10 day forecast is for more cold. About 27 for highs, which is too cold for sap flow. But the sap has to flow some time because the trees need it to produce leaves. So we will tap and be ready for whatever nature gives us.
So it begins again. We made a trip to pick up supplies this past Tues, March 1. Needed bottles and other basic supplies. We are also looking to replace our collecting tank. We have a metal 200 gal tank since some time in the 1950’s. Its time to replace it. Looked at some plastic tanks that are easier to maintain. Buckets and spouts have been washed and are ready. We plan to tap this weekend. The weather is still cold, but it will break soon and we want to be ready to get the sap.
The only consistency with maple syrup season is that every year nature gives us something different. The 2004 maple syrup season at Maple Acres proved that again. Final production numbers: 2345 gallons of sap collected. 52 gallons (208 quarts) of finished maple syrup. Doing the math: it took about 45 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of finished syrup. That’s more than is considered “normal.” The “normal” figure is 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of finished syrup. When more sap is needed it means the sap is less sweet. Our tests during season showed about 2.2 Brix which is a little low. (Note for next year: in January we will have to spread more sugar around the tree roots to get sweeter sap. If only that were true. Nature does all the work and we have no control over it.)
In 2003 we made 75 gallons of maple syrup. 2003 was by all measures an outstanding season. Our production targets are 60 gallons of finished syrup from 400 taps, so at 52 gallons for 2004 we were a little short, about 13.5 % less. But we take what nature gives us. We are still happy with 52 gallons.
The season was marked by three major sap runs with nothing in between. That is unusual. We would normally expect to collect 100 gallons to 200 gallons of sap most days, with one major run toward the end of the season. 2004 gave us runs on March 10-11, March 19-20, and March 23-24 with almost nothing in between. We did most of the tapping on March 10. If we had tapped a few days earlier, we would have collected more from the first run and likely hit the production goals.
It was short season at only 18 days. Tapped on March 10. Pulled spouts on March 27. Most seasons are 25 days to 35 days.
Everything is pretty much cleaned up now and stored. At the end of a season, you are glad its over. Heavy lifting. Long nights. You get tired and vow this will be the last time. Summer comes and goes. In autumn its back to making fire wood. Then the annual North American Maple Syrup Producers meeting comes in October. You meet with other producers from across the maple belt — New England to the upper Mid-west — and swap stories and ideas. But January the buckets start calling you to be cleaned. You know you will be back at it because once you have caught the aroma of the sweet steam rising from the evaporator, you are hooked for life.
See us here on the web at http://www.mapleacres.com next year starting end of February or early March for reports on the 2005 season.
A day of rest. Next up: clean-up and storing everything. And finishing off the last of the sap and bottling the syrup.
Pulled the taps and picked up the buckets and covers. Its just too warm too fast. Next week we may get freezing nights again, but still. People are getting tired. Its hard work boiling through 500 gallons of sap. Still some sap to boil through. And there is still clean up. When the final production numbers come in we will post them.
Too warm today. 55 degrees. Rainy. Low only about 40 degrees. No sap. The end of the season may be fast approaching. We are up to 197 quarts, 49 gallons and 1 quart.