Crawford county 2016

[Irish Ridge]

The intellicast 10 day weather forecast finally got the best of us and we put in our 54 taps yesterday. This afternoon on our daily walk we decided to check a few trees just for fun. To our surprise, trees on the top of our north facing ridge are beginning to run. Trees further down the side of the hill had dry buckets. At the very least, if something breaks, we are ready.

Actually saw a flock of about 20 robins as we walked in to vote yesterday. Who knows what to read in that....

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Greetings Irish Ridge, Wow what a warming trend, we are not ready for this but looks like it is time to tap. wonder if we wait until February 27th we will miss the first run? did you get any amount of sap today ? This Saturday I hope to get some work done. but looks like I am on my own this weekend. I was up to Maple Hollow in Merrill Wi today, picked up 25 new taps and some needed stuff. They thought I should tap asap. they tap 17,000 trees, what a great thing they have there, Great folks to get supplies from.

[Irish Ridge]

Friday, Feb. 19th

This mornings check was done with bluebird sky's and moderate wind. I found every bucket except two with at least some sap. Most had between a half gallon and one gallon. As the wind was increasing I thought better of collecting it hoping that the extra weight will hold the buckets in place. At noon the wind really picked up and now gusts are very strong as predicted. The path out to the ridge is mid season soft already. Hopefully the wind will dry some of it up or it will be a very muddy spring for me.

First collection is tomorrow morning. It was nice to see sap in the hoses. Tomorrow I will really know the sap flow speed. Yesterday we boiled down over a gallon of syrup from last year into maple leaf candy so we have samples when friends stop by this spring to check in on operations.

Here's to a good season in Vernon County my friends. It's not just talk over here in Crawford - the season has begun.

[Irish Ridge]

Saturday, Feb. 20

Got out early this morning to empty all sap buckets. 54 taps and a total of 28 gallons with a total of 2 per cent sugar content. That is the total for the week. So if my results are indictative for others in SW Wisconsin if you weren't able to collect this week it might not have been much of a loss. The nice thing is that it was a nice day boiling and I am all caught up. Just not used to the low sugar content. Taking the day off tomorrow for a little church and a lot of racing.

[Irish Ridge]

Monday, Feb. 22

Collected 12 gallons of sap from 54 taps over the past 48 hours so it has really slowed down. Sugar content remains at 2%. No ice in the buckets again this morning.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Irish ridge, you tapped your trees with your dog, we also had our trusty yellow lab Sadie with us. they like the spring syrup season just like us , except its work for us and playtime for them. enjoy.

[Irish Ridge]

Wednesday, Feb. 24

No change in temps over night brought my sap collection way down. The only good thing is this morning was able to remove ice from the buckets which will save me a bit of time. Weather forecast for the weekend leads me to believe flow will pick up.

[Irish Ridge]

Friday, Feb 26

Brought in 20 gallons of sap this morning. Left the ice from the buckets in the woods and brought up the sugar level to three per cent.
Boiled all day and remain all caught up. Great feeling knowing that a warm weekend is approaching.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Irish Ridge, we will be evaporating Saturday Yes the forecast looks near record temps, Sat low only 38 degrees. I think Saturday will be a big run. enjoy your time with those trees.Next week looks cold.

[Irish Ridge]

Saturday, Feb.27

Your prediction was spot on Mr. Sugar Maple. After attending a benefit fundraiser for most of the day, went out and checked buckets upon getting home. All trees in mid season form. Two trees had buckets close to full and might be full in the morning. All since 7 a.m. yesterday. Spoke with a lady from Cuba City at the event. She was coughing terribly. My wife questioned her about it. Wasn't a cold or illness. She replied that each spring when the maples bud she has her allergy problem. Hadn't heard of that before.

[spike in wi]

We tapped 35 on Friday. Had to go visit the grandkids Saturday and Sunday morning so we didn't tap the other 65. Going to go home early today and tap the rest of them. It looks like the season is on.

[Irish Ridge]

Hi Spike,

I agree, the season is definitely on. Collected sap today and averaged a gallon a day per tree for the past two days. Sugar content was 2.4 per cent. Also, I am now at the point where I am behind in my boiling. Long days beginning tomorrow.

Spike what county are you in? Here in Crawford that wind was wild this afternoon. Around 5 pm I finally shut it down and called it a day.

[spike in wi]

Irish ridge, We're in Grant county north of Lancaster. Windy here too, but only blew off one bag. We've got about 70 gallons of sap from the first 35 taps. A little more work on the evaporator today get it fired off tomorrow. One guy has about 16 taps to install today and we'll have our 100 in. We don't have a brix tester so don't know sugar content. Spike

[Irish Ridge]

Hi Spike,

Your results were about the same as mine. Full pails for me. Didn't collect sap today as I was watching the fire all day. Tomorrow morning I plan on shoveling a little snow taking a walk to the trees and removing ice in the pails and then get back to boiling. Should be caught up by Tuesday evening. I can handle this pace real well. Saturday a woman from Cuba City told me her allergies were acting up. She said when the maples bud, she gets it every year. Had never heard of that. Perhaps a short season??? No opinion from high on Irish Ridge.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

I found out this weekend my daughter in law is also allergic to maple trees,that would sure be a problem for us. the maple trees have been putting out some sap runs, we tapped on Feb 20th, and have have gathered a total 720 gallons of sap.

[Irish Ridge]

Thursday, March 3

Just got back from a walk in the woods. The last 48 hours below freezing have left my buckets solid ice. With the sky hazy and temp now at 35 my lines are first starting to thaw. Where they are still frozen I have sap backing up indicating a renewed flow. Looking forward to a nice run over the next three or four days. Total snow for me two days back was 3 inches or so.

[Irish Ridge]

Saturday, March 5

A walk in the woods revealed much ice remaining in my pails. Flow continues to be very slow. Snow and freezing rain late Friday afternoon didn't help matters. The day Friday was spent "finishing" just over 4 gallons on the gas stove in the kitchen. Sunday afternoon will be my first boil since last Monday. Will be stopping by a sugar bush on Vineyard Coulee about a mile away later today to see how their operation is going. Will report that info as well with my next report. "Come on trees, work with me."

[Irish Ridge]

Monday, March 7

In the past 24 hours I have been ranging from 1.5 to 3 gallons of sap per tap. Sugar content is right around three per cent. Just under to be exact. Frost is really coming up and the woods are all mud.

Friends in Vineyard Coulee have six gallons finished as of through Sunday evening. Their operation is 50 taps but are weekend warriors because of work. They will have a lot of sap waiting for them at this rate.

A long night ahead for me with a whole lot of sap just waiting for me to evaporate.

[lulugrein]

Same here in southern Vernon county. We tapped 15 more trees yesterday and 18 hours later a few of the 4 gallon buckets were nearly full, others with 2-3 gallons. What a run!

[Irish Ridge]

Lulu,
I can say it now that you can confirm it. i was going to write yesterday that a couple of my trees were just shy of 4 gallons. That was then. OK, let me tell you about now. Spoiler alert - it is not good. My trees have shut down. 50 trees and just 30 gallons in the past 24 hours. Some pails were close to empty. Buds are very evident now. Ants and flies all over the place. Looking at the long range weather, it is a steady string of warm days and nights.

Was feeding the fire until 10 p.m. last night. This evening I am shutting down at 6 p.m. Two more long days of evaporating to go and it is very possible I might just be finished for the season. Don't even want to begin thinking of clean up.

[spike in wi]

Irish Ridge,
We're pulling the plug on production this year. Sap that we collected today was cloudy and the buds are really coming. No sap flowing at all now. This was our first year and are happy with what our (new to us) evaporator did. We still have two turkey fryer's with quite a bit of sweet in them to boil down yet so will end up with about 12 gallons in this week and a half. All in all we learned a lot and had fun doing it.
Spike

[Irish Ridge]

Thursday, March 10

Thanks for the update Spike. I am glad you enjoyed the season. Sure went by fast. My last rough boil outside is going on right now. When I went out to collect this morning. I had no sap over the past 48 hours. What was there was cloudy, with the beginning of mold on the bottom of a few pails. My wife agreed to tend the fire this morning and I just completed removing all apparatus from the woods. After our finish work over the gas stove over the next few days,we should have roughly 10 gallons. A short season, but very content with results. As you shared, we also learned and had a great time. Visitors stopped by, had syrup on clean snow for the first time. We actually had some sugar cones handy so that made it even nicer. Will probably have one or two more updates for the season...