Tapped in lackawanna county

[Z/MAN]

It wasn't easy this year with the huge snow pack but I finally finished tapping. My hat is off to you guys that have to tap most years with snow shoes. They work but they are by no means easy. The trees are flowing and I should be boiling this weekend. Finally!
Paul

[Maplewalnut]

Good luck Paul. Looks cold again this week. Maybe if I summerize the sleds we will get some sugaring weather?

[frontiersman1985]

As of now i have 20 taps in. Im in Factoryville, pa. Its my first year, hope it warms up soon! Maybe tomorrow i will tap some more!

[Z/MAN]

By this time next month you will be hooked bad. There is no stopping you now.

[Z/MAN]

Boiled down 74 gallons this afternoon. 50 degrees here but the trees are sluggish. 74 gallons in three days. (not good) Main line just dripping not flowing. Guess they are still trying to thaw out. Running out of time.

[Z/MAN]

Wow! Finally got a break today. Been boiling like mad since Monday. Felt really good to get some much needed sleep last night. Hardest run I've seen in my 9 years of sugaring. It's below freezing now and going below tomorrow night and then again Tuesday and Wednesday night. Buds are still looking good. Latest I ever made syrup! Went from almost nothing made last week to probably my best season ever. Who would have thought???

[Run Forest Run!]

Paul, how much sap did you get this past week? How much finished syrup do you now have?

Your comment on your 'season' is encouraging to those of us still twiddling our thumbs.

[happy thoughts]

Keep the faith Karen. I'm in an area with similar weather and relatively close to Zman. I've been tapped since the end of Feb and until last week got sap in small spurts. We're usually well done by now if only because the dry firewood supply is gone. In the 4 days it ran last week I collected over 70 gallons of sap from 8.5 taps (pulled one tap last Tues). That's about a third of what we've gotten since Feb. Hang in there! it will come.

[Z/MAN]

Karen, I boiled almost 400 gallons last week although 150+ was brought to me by a friend. Syrup is still in milk cans as I haven't had time to can it so I don't have a accurate count. I believe I made about 10 gallons last week! As Happy Thoughts said they will run. Last week when the weather was great for sap we had terrible runs. I guess they did have to really thaw out but when they did thaw they ran like never before. Be patient and cross your fingers that it doesn't warm right up all at once. Our forecast is great for this week again. Good luck!
Paul

[Maplewalnut]

Nice job Paul....keep at it. One more week and it will be over. Time to buy another pan and utilize that whole arch!

[Z/MAN]

Maplewalnut, I have two years till retirement and that is when we grow and utilize that whole arch. I average almost 13 gph(have hit 14) on that little 2x3 pan and I have stack temps around 2000 degrees. I figure if I get a 2x5 hybrid pan I can really utilize all that wasted heat going up the stack and pull some impressive numbers in the high 20's. 2 more years. I can't wait.
Paul

[Z/MAN]

That's it for me. Boiled 12 gallons yesterday and 6 today. Nursed it to the end. Amazingly my pails on the trees are still giving some sap after not having a freeze since Sunday! Got todays 6 gallons from my 6 trees with buckets. Canned most of it tonight and will finish tomorrow. A terrible season up to a week and a half ago turned into one of our best!! I'll get all the numbers together in the next day or so.
Paul