Season is approaching, Minnesota sugarers!

[buck3m]

I keep stopping by here to get my "tapping fix." I'll be back on the family farm on March 8 and then will get to work. My dad's got a big pile of dry wood ready so we should be in pretty good shape to get things rolling if it happens to get warm early. The long term forecast shows cooler than normal in March, last I heard, but I'll probably start tapping around March 12. That's in east-central MN.

[SilverLeaf]

Similar long-term outlook from Paul Douglas yesterday:
"A cooling trend is likely after March 4, unusually cold weather likely from March 5-11. No prolonged spells of springlike weather - yet."

As much as I loathe the thought of another cold spell (it's -8 as I type this - brrr!) there's some comfort in it - it at least brings some clarity to the start of the season. When the weather's nicer the first couple weeks of March there's always that nagging thought: "should I get out and tap early??" ;)

[mntapper]

According to accuweather the forcast is for a colder than normal march, no good tapping weather until around the 20th. But who knows how accurate they can be on long range forcasts? All we can do is be patient and keep our eye on the weather.

[elm creek guy]

This weather is brutal its gotta end soon

[Minnesota Acer]

Well, I got over anxious this year and jumped the gun, because last year I had two silvers in one guy's yard that produced nada and left like I tapped them too late. So, I swore to myself that I would tap them early enough this year. Well, I tapped them on Feb 15th (tail end of last warm weather) hoping against hope something would flow, but if nothing else, they would be my test taps. I checked them Feb 17th after the windstorm and nothing but tipped buckets. Well, I've left them alone since then, but went to check them today after work figuring I'd make sure they were ready for the next snowstorm coming through. Well, much to my surprise, I found sap, albeit, mostly frozen in the lines and buckets (ca. 1-2 cups/bucket). So, that was encouraging. I figure they ran on Tuesday (3/1/11) when the temp reached 40 at the lunch hour. So, my plan is to tap next weekend (3/12, 3/13). Couldn't believe how excited I got to see sap in the buckets. I'm so ready for this season!

[benchmark]

Friday, had an "employee appreciation day" for work out at the Audubon Center. Pulled up that morning and noticed they had already started tapping their trees. Had to sit around that morning for some events (of course all i could think about was Mapling after see trees tapped) but, that afternoon was free time so after lunch hour i found Ty, the person in charge of the Maple Syrup operation, and headed out with his helper and tapped trees for the afternoon. Couldn't have ended a workweek better!:)

[sk8heaven]

In just my third year doing this, I am so badly hooked now that I turned down a trip to a conference in Palm Springs the week of March 20 as I dont want to miss out on the "fun". Crazy? Yep! I bought a new canning/filtering unit, added a 24x36 pan with a warming pan, added a double 54,000 btu propane fired burner,.... sitting here tonight putting bags on the bagholders so that I can hit the woods this weekend. We still have a couple feet of snow in the woods up here in Bemidji, but I think the wheeler will get around to my sugar maples.
I dont think the sap will be running for another week or so, but I will be ready! Palm Springs can have their 80 degree weather, I will take 40s in the day with teens at night.... for weeks I hope!

[lastwoodsman]

I put out 30 bags Sunday afternoon and will get another 70 out this Friday. Even though I kept all the trail plowed with the ATV all winter I can drive around anywhere after that 50 degree weather made the bottom foot ice. I am only about a mile as the crow flies from the the Northwoods Audubon.
Everything is ready in the new sugarhouse.--
Woodsman

[sk8heaven]

I put my 50 taps in today ...I was able to go around on the wheeler ... only had to winch myself out once:lol:
I got back to the house and ordered 50 more taps and sack holders.... I was going to wait till next year to expand but...........
I was glad to see sap dripping already as I was putting in the taps. Here come the short nights! Yipee!

[muddyfootprints]

I put in 98 on Tuesday and another 70 today, had a few that were dripping right away but most of the tapping was before noon. I will check tomorrow to see whats there.

going to try to get the little sap haulers to help tap a few more tomorrow and the rest of the taps go out on Saturday....

[buck3m]

Tapped about 140 trees yesterday, March 9. About half were running but very slowly. Fun to see them drip!

Plan to tap about 120 more today, all on buckets. We are east of Rush City.

If the forecast for the next two weeks is accurate, it should be a series of good sap runs. Except for highs in the 30s next weekend, and today, they are calling for highs in the 40's and lows in the teens. Of course, the extended forecast seems to change significantly daily.

Good luck to all. May this be a good season for us.

[Tonka Grove]

Tapped this week too, very slow. Hope today is better, with this weather its gotta run.

[elm creek guy]

Put 25 out today in esko none dripping but with all this ice on the ground it might take awile hangin 80 tomorrow. Come on sap!

[sk8heaven]

Had to go check the 50 i put in yesterday.... managed 2 gallons of sap - just enough to boil down on the stove for immediate placement on some waffles saturday morning. Its not going to get above freezing this weekend, but the first 50 are in - the next 50 this weekend.

[buck3m]

Put up the rest of the buckets today, for about 260 total. Many dripping steadily but none going gangbusters. Got about 3 quarts max in the best bucket, about a pint each average.

Still got some work to do to get everything set up, but hoping to have enough sap for a first boil on Saturday or thereabouts.

[SilverLeaf]

I got all hepped up today with these reports of dripping sap, and put in 30 taps, not wanting to miss anything. Bone dry. Every one of 'em.

That's ok - I'll be putting the rest in this weekend, and have no doubt with the weather forecast that the run will start next week.

Good luck everyone!

[benchmark]

I was down by Grandy around noon today, pulled over on a side road next to a nice maple to stop for lunch. Couldn't help myself, grabbed a drill out of the truck and drilled a small hole in the tree. Bone dry... I figured I'd be able watch a little bit of sap run down the tree while i stopped for lunch. Got home this evening, checked the couple of trees tap by the house, looks like one had started to drip slightly.

[Minnesota Acer]

Went tapping yesterday and the sapwood was rather damp, which was encouraging. Check 3 test taps that I last checked on the 4th and they haven't done much, but what was in buckets was frozen. Have 2 other test taps that I put in last weekend and have had varied results. One with about a quart in it, the other with about a gallon. So, I'm totally pumped for this week and see how the sap flows. Come on bigsap! *l*

[sk8heaven]

Put my second 50 taps in today. The 50 I had in previously I had emptied Friday evening (very little - 4 gallons) 12 or 15 of those had over half a gallon of frozen sap in them from Friday evening - some had none. With 40s coming up this week I am hoping for some good sap collection this week. I will see how my new setup for evaporating works before I add any more. Getting fired up! Drip baby drip!

[warners point]

I just talked to my Dad and he will have about 60 taps in by tomorrow. Another guy we let tap has his 80 taps in. I can't get up to the sugar bush until Friday evening. I plan to spend several hours Friday night putting in another 100 taps unless Dad gets ambitious. Need lots of sap to do a boil on Saturday evening.

[elm creek guy]

101 in north of duluth today bring on the 40s!

[buck3m]

We would probably have already done one boil, but the new evaporator is being delivered today, so I hope to do a first boil with it tomorrow. We've got about 200 gallons of sap right now hanging on the trees and should have a whole lot more soon with 39 deg, 42, then 52 predicted today through Wednesday. I just hope that it gets below freezing at night as often as possible. Wednesday shows a low of 35. But you never know until it happens. Should be a good week regardless.

Good luck to all. A deluge of sap is about to hit!

[sk8heaven]

Trees are waking up - some had 1/2 gallon of sap, some had a half a cup. Gathered 24 gallons of sap from my 100 taps today, tried out the new evaporator setup and it worked pretty well. Moved about a gallon and a half of concentrated sap into the house to finish tomorrow - should get about a half gallon of syruo by my calculations. Yummy! I already have friends and family mentioning that their syrup cupboard is bare....hmmmm....wonder what they are implying?

[WI Sugarpop]

Bring over the free syrup!

[Minnesota Acer]

I agree with sk8heaven, the tree are starting to wake. Haven't checked all taps, but checked on four and three have put on a gallon since Sunday. I tapped on Sunday, Monday, and today and all times the sap was flowing when trees were tapped. It's starting to flow!

[buck3m]

Was shooting to sweeten the pans yesterday, but took until today to get the new evaporator cleaned and all set to go. Gathered about 225 gallons of sap (left the ice in the buckets) and then let dad have the honors of lighting the first boil. Will have a lot to learn about this evaporator, I'm sure, but definitely got a hard boil when we had the fire well stoked. In the AM I'll boil for a few hours to see what it will do. Just came in from the woods after checking that everything was put to bed properly, and it's still above freezing. Hope it freezes tonight for a better flow tomorrow.

[buck3m]

We've collected lots of sap over the last few days here in east central Minnesota. We had three days in the low 200s, then two days with about 300 gallons. Sap didn't run much yesterday because it didn't freeze. Probably the same situation today.

Found out the new evaporator can do 40 gph if I fire it right and run it shallow, but it's cruising at about 35. I'm sure there are some tweaks I can do to up the boil a bit. No preheater on it now.

Should be all caught up boiling tomorrow morning. Canned about 3 gallons of syrup for visiting friends on Saturday. Will probably can up the rest of the syrup we've gotten so far later this week when it's cold again.