Sap running the best so far this year

[maple flats]

Today we were tapping and repairing laterals and this afternoon it was running the best it has in the past few weeks. We have had far more tree and limb down damage this year than ever before, so tapping is going much slower. We were fixing and tapping in a 3/16 section today and as I drilled each tap hole a stream literally ran down the trunk, most other days the tap hole was either dry or barely got wet when drilled. I still have about 250 more taps to go unless I find more to add. I added about 30 more today over what was tapped last year in the section I was working.
I like to tap when the sap is flowing good, but it does mean I should have been done yesterday.

[Ghs57]

We just had tremendous winds on Monday. Limbs and trees down everywhere. Not sure how it is in the bush, and we also have about a foot of snow on the ground. I'm not tapped yet, but want to start this week. I still have too many things to do.

[maple flats]

This year is taking far longer than ever before. In the past, even with repairs and when I had 1320 taps I was finished by 1/20 after starting about 2 days after Christmas. This year so far I only have about 550 taps in and still have about 250 to go. It seems with all the limbs down, every critter in the woods chews on the lines and not just the tree rats chewing at the trees. I normally have 2-3 mainline repairs and use 2-3 rolls of lateral line for new drops and repairs (I change all drops on a 3 yr schedule) but so far this year I've had 8-9 mainline repairs (downed trees or limbs put a section of main on the ground where it go chewed) and in lateral I've gone thru 12 coils so far and I still have about 250 more taps to go. At this point the areas that were to get new drops have been done.
I'll be back out shortly for another long day of fixing and tapping, then I likely have enough sap to do my first boil of the season. I left the pumps on all night and the temp. only got down to 32 this morning. It's headed back up now to about 35-36 F today, then tomorrow will be below freezing all day.

[spud]

I never get animal chews in my woods. Either i'm lucky or the Keep Out signs really do work. Two days after we finished tapping we got a big wind storm and then a foot more of snow. I have no idea if any limbs are down. The snow is so deep my 4-wheeler with chains cannot go far into the woods.. The snow should melt a bit this week but still I hope no sap runs till the middle of March.

Spud

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

We have about 6 feet in the woods, some mainline buried. Super cool:o

[maple flats]

Yesterday when I got to my bush, I was pleasantly surprised. I looked in the vacuum tank before adding fuel to run the pump more, and it had about 700 gal in it from when it started flowing late morning the day before. I pumped it out and I had my first boil of the season. My other woods had about 150 gal so I was off to the evaporator. The pans are now sweetened and I drew about 14 gal so far. Today I'll be going again. We had about 27F overnight, the woods usually run 2-4 degrees colder. It's go time.
At the top of my hills where I have 3/16 lines I ran into 4' deep snow just off the open field to the west-southwest but about 30' into the woods the snow was only about a foot deep. That time I tapped in the 4' deep snow I got wet, as I had not taken my snowshoes. Then the next day I had them, but since I was tapping and fixing lines more than 30' into the woods from the open field, I no longer needed to wear them. At this point with the warm temperatures we've had the last 3 days, I may not need them anymore, which is good, because they slow me down big time on the steep hills I'm working in now. Still likely have about 200 more taps to go and those lines all need repair, plus I'll be boiling. Walked the woods for repairs on completed and tapped line repairs, again I had some big limbs on a few lines. One was about 20' long and was on a main, it was about 8" diameter. That was a struggle to lift and move the end over to get it off the main. I almost had to go get my chainsaw.