30 taps in Illinois 2/18

[hholt]

Had a great day yesterday setting 30 taps in my box elders. It was a real nice day with no wind and still a few inches of snow on the ground. I had a couple taps on the sunny side start dripping almost immediately. All except three were double taps with drops into 5-gallon pails sitting on the ground on the north side of the tree in the shade.

Now I'm stuck here at work and all I want to do is go look at my trees.........

[Russell Lampron]

I know the feeling. I hate the way work cuts into my sugaring time.

Russ

[hholt]

Cold and windy yesterday!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b163/hholt/2ndboil.jpg

[vermontkyle]

I got a maple tree right outside my office window. Thought this year I would hang a bucket and a piece of clear tubing on it also and set it up so I can see the drips.
Don't know if that would be good for my productivity at work though. Bad enough with this **** website at this time of year :)

[HanginAround]

Cold and windy yesterday!


I guess it was windy.... your sugarcamp blew away! :) :)

[royalmaple]

Where's all the snow? That is not fair.

[Dave Y]

Hholt,
You must be In southern Illinois. I know that they just got a lot of snow around Kankakee. I have familiy in Clifton

[hholt]

yup I'm in Southern Illinois about an hour south of Springfield. It snowed today (nothing stuck) and slipped below freezing again. My buckets are bone dry. I wish we had some honest snow around here. I miss the good ol days when I lived in Watertown NY.....lots of snow there.

[JohnM]

Any Elder Syrup made in Illinois yet?

[hholt]

Holy smokes after a short cold spell with bone dry buckets.....my five gallon pails are flowing over!!! Those trees really started flowing on Monday.
My first two boils were 20 and then 30 gallons. Last night I collected 45 gallons and started my third boil. So far I have boiled down to a strong concentrate and put it in my deep freeze. When I get 10 gallons of concentrate or more I'll finish it off all at once. Right now I'm beginning to wonder if my 1/2 pint will be able to keep up???

[katmike]

I have a 1/2 Pint and around 40 taps and I am keeping up. I am just a little north of you. This coming weekend looks like a challenge though.