West Sumner Sugar House 2015

[West Sumner Sugar]

Well we all know things are off to a bit of a late start but its starting to happen...slowly but surely. Our trees in the Lewiston/Auburn area are finally thawing and putting out some decent sap. Things up in Sumner are still pretty cold. If we were on vacuum we would probably be pulling in more sap. Our Sumner sugarbush was thinned out this past summer revealing a ton more maples that we can now get lines to. Should have some big improvements next season...maybe vacuum...probably try some 3/16 tubing as well.

We will be firing the evaporator for the first time on Sunday. We should have 250-300 gallons ready to go to make some steam for Maple Sunday.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page for picture and video updates throughout the season. Happy Sugaring!

[abbott]

Uh-oh. Sounds like I'll have competition for "Biggest Maple Producer in Sumner" pretty soon.

Must be warmer down here in South Sumner. With today's 180 gallons of sap I actually have 10 more gallons of sap now than at this time last year. I'll boil that off tomorrow and hope for more by Saturday.

[West Sumner Sugar]

It will be a little while before that happens. We still need to figure out a vac system up there with no power. Once we do...watch out! :)

We finally pulled off our first 4 gallons of syrup on Sunday. Its been a tough season so far with low sap counts to date in Sumner, and freezing tanks, hoses and valves with what we transport up from L-A. Weather is looking up so we should start getting into some normal sap runs everywhere.

[West Sumner Sugar]

We had a good weekend this past weekend. No issues with freeze ups because that was getting old. Hauled up over 400 gallons of sap from L/A and collected 200 or from Sumner. Evaporation rate was real fast till the weather changed Saturday afternoon so we called it quits. Season total up to 14 gallons of syrup. Everything we pulled off and pressed was light. Got 36 glass bottles filled and the rest in plastic. Should be a decent week coming and hoping for 1 more after that.

[eagle lake sugar]

I'm glad things are flowing for you guys. We're having a tough start up here in the county. It was -14 here this morning and didn't get above freezing until 2:30. It's running a little now, but give me a break! Hopefully when it finally starts really running, it will last at least 3 weeks.

[Mitchman]

We are in the same predicament here in the W. Mts. very cold mornings, but Monday things got a little better with some decent sap running. The better conditions are coming your way !!!!

[West Sumner Sugar]

We finished out the season with 32 gallons. Overall a average season for us. We were happy to make some fairly light product early in the season, it did darken up a little more as time went on but overall some nice looking syrup. It is neat to hear many people are shipping our syrup out of state as far as the west coast. Just for an order for 12 pints shipped to NY last night.

We did have the camera handy for most of this seasons activities so we put together this video of how we do it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPlWd44VoUA