defiance syrup

[johnnyf]

been a cold winter here in Missouri but the trees are finally running. 160gal of sap getting processed this weekend.

john

[woodchuck]

Outstanding Johnny. You in the Ozark s?

[johnnyf]

thanks woodchuck, we are about 35miles southwest of St. Louis in the town of defiance. caught the syrup bug when my daughter came home from school after learning about the sap flow in science class, that was 6years ago. we tapped one tree that year made a pint of syrup and have been hooked ever since.

john

[chas]

Hi Johnnyf, I'm in Warrenton not too far from you. I caught the maple syrup bug when we took the grandkids to Rockwoods Sugar Festival. Been working on perfecting my syrup for three years now. I'm tapping about 15 to 20 trees. It's a work in progress and yes it took all day when I was working with the small pans. I just got an evaporator pan which did decrease my time. How many trees are you tapping? I'm a small operation. So far I've gotten about 70 gallons of sap. Ed

[johnnyf]

Hi Chas, nice to here you caught the bug. it is a lot of fun and my kids really like helping. I have 25taps out this year and have had up to 40 in past years. So far this year i have collected and processed 110 gallons, another 50gallons sitting on the side of the house frozen. With the freeze we just had and the weather coming up the trees are really gonna run. I got started about 8years ago when my daughter came home from school and told me they had learned about sap flow in science class. that year we tapped 1 tree and made maybe a 1/2pint. been hooked ever since.

happy sugaring

john

[RiverSap]

Greetings John and Chas. I am in North St Louis County right on the bluffs of the Missouri river. This year is my second year. I started when I was thinning out the sugar maple trees on the bluffs to provide a better habitat for the oak, hickory and walnut trees and my wife mentioned I should make maple syrup instead of cutting down the sugar maple trees. Last year I tapped six trees and made about half a gallon of syrup. This year I have 25 trees tapped and have cooked down 100 gallons so far into a little over two gallons of syrup that I still need to bottle. Good to know a few people in the area to communicate with and learn from. Good luck with the season. See the attached pictures for my setup.
915891599160

[WI Sugarpop]

In the pic with the easy up, look on the horizon between the top of the fence and the roof of the easy up. There is a large stack with smoke coming out. That must be your neighbor's huge evaporator.:lol:

[RiverSap]

Good eye SugarPop. As a matter of fact it is. They cook up million gallon batches of Mississippi River sap over there. Chuckles. That is a power plant over on the Mississippi river just up river from Alton Illinois.

[trappercharlie]

glad to hear its not too late to start tapping I just joined this site and its my first year so im hoping to get info from here I live in Maplewood but will be tapping mostly in the defiance area.

[RiverSap]

Charlie you posted on last years thread. If you look you will see a bunch of posts in the Missouri area for 2015. Yes it is not to late. We should have a good run after this deep freeze passes.

[unclejohn]

chas, johnnyf, i will be in the st louis area in the next few days (i live in kc). ihope you are still visiting this site. i would like to come by and take some pictures of your operations....please send me a private message on this site with your phone number. i can show you photos of other missouri syrupmakers operations. riversap, i plan to visit you during your cook on monday; will call u well before we show up. good luck to all with the upcoming thaw! john