Finally in the Game

[hodorskib]

I held out as long as I could. Put out 75 taps, all buckets, yesterday around 10am. Collected 85 gallons this morning at 7:30 with all of them just starting to drip and a nice coating of ice. Went back at 4 and collected another 75 gallons. By far the best run I have had in years. Sugar is same as it has always been. 1.5%. My little 2x3 has been going since 11 and with tomorrow being a holiday it will be going strong all day. Can't believe it is only February 19th and things are this good. The forecast looks good and there will be many long nights to come. Hope everyone else is doing well.

[markct]

Glad to hear it! i drove by your house friday and saw the evaporator out by the driveway so figured you were gettin ready to go, it been a good year for me so far, up to 90 gallons of syrup as of today.

[hodorskib]

Picked up 25 gallons last night and had buckets with ice and several taps were still fozen. All were dripping and hopefully with today's warm temps we will see a good flow. However, to my surprise several buckets had moths, we call them sugar moths, brownish with reflective eyes if anyone else has to collect in the dark This doesn't usually happen until the end of the season. Hope it isn't coming soon.

[hodorskib]

Picked up 40 gallons tonight before the heavy rain. Will boil off tomorrow as long as the wind isn't really cranking. This should put us at 6 gallons - halfway to what we want to make this year. Over the past 12 years the earliest we have ever made it to 5 gallons was March 10th. Hoping/prayer or just not wanting to give in, maybe March will bring some much needed cold temps. The next couple of days have some promise!

[jmp]

Sugar moths in my buckets as well. And like you I see these guys later in the season. Strange year so far.

[hodorskib]

Well, we did not have very much flow this weekend so we decided to drain the pan and finish everything off. Then cleaned everything we could wash. We managed to bottle around 5 1/2 gallons which is a little better than half of what we wanted to make this year. The syrup was clean with great taste however, after doing the math we ran about 66:1. I keep saying it is about quality not quantity but this is the by far the weakest sap in 12 years. A few weeks ago I ordered all the parts for a do it yourself R/O made with residential parts. Everything is being delivered today and hopefully the season will run a little bit longer so I can work out any issues so next year it will be going from the start. Hang in there everyone.