Willowcreek Sugarhouse 2018

[red maples]

Well its getting close I think. So many different forecasts out there. Every app., news station, and website has something different and they change hourly. welcome to New England right? but at least a little consistency would be helpful.

Had quite a bit of damage in the woods from storms this fall. all of that is cleaned up and trees and branches off the lines, had a few snap as well but all fixed.

No school today, snow day, so heading out to finishing changing out some old drops, about 50 to 60 to go. then hopefully start tapping maybe get done this weekend so I can get some sap flowing and start chasing leaks and get things tightened up.

Pretty cold winter so far hopefully we can get some good sugar content to the sap this year but we will see what temps we'll get.

Good luck everybody and have a great season!!!

[BlueberryHill]

I was hoping to hold off until February before I drill any holes but comments like this are making ma want to go out and start this weekend. Planning to keep an eye on it and see how the extended outlook is on Sat. AM.

[Russell Lampron]

It's nice to see you back Brad. I still have too much to do before I can tap. I wish I had gotten my new arch a couple of months sooner than I did. I do have it all bricked and the pans are on it so I am close to finished with that project. I have some repairs to do to my releaser which won't take to long and I've got to fix my RO from when it froze up on me. I hope it only needs the prefilter housing and not any of the pumps.

Good luck with the new season.

[red maples]

Well it depends on what you have for taps. I never tap my buckets this early. but since the majority of my taps are vacuum its a closed system and they will run even after the season is over.

[red maples]

I was hoping to hold off until February before I drill any holes but comments like this are making ma want to go out and start this weekend. Planning to keep an eye on it and see how the extended outlook is on Sat. AM.

Well it depends on what you have for taps. I never tap my buckets this early. but since the majority of my taps are vacuum its a closed system and they will run even after the season is over. Not sure why it did that twice... whatever!!!

[red maples]

ah... kids and sports and house stuff and work... so much gets in the way for maple!!!

managed about 65 taps yesterday morning but everything was frozen up tight so no drippy holes yet!!! Had few things to do this morning about to head out and get to it. 1 kid has basketball game around lunch time then after that back to it. hoping for 2 to 300 by days end. then finish up tomorrow get the vac turned on and see how tight things are!!! gotta get it done before the Pats game!!!! but recording to make the best out of the daylight. and to fast forward through dumb stuff.

[red maples]

well the weather reports lied again for last week. but when are ever really correct anyway. especially when you are talking about 0-5 degrees, but in our passion that can make a crappy run be a mega run or 1% sugar to 2% sugar. So anyway....

back at it this weekend, I have 420 taps in had a few little fixes here and there that I missed, Got the RO put together was hoping to clean it but everything froze up and never defrosted to so water to clean the machine!!!! there is water in it so no worries of drying things out.

hoping to finish tapping today and get RO finished and collect some sap over the next couple days. we'll see what the weather does and if the trees can get thawed enough to let a little sap come through. and maybe just maybe I can get a little January syrup if I am lucky!!!!

[Russell Lampron]

It's good to hear that you are making progress Brad. Things are starting to come together here too.

[red maples]

Well I got tapped in early since the last few years had some pretty good Jan. thaws. but not this year.

So here we are creeping up on mid February and still no syrup. I got about 50+ gallons of sap but that was line cleaning nasty sap that ended up dumping. Smelled like metabolism from the end of last season. this weekend never got going after the cold temps. got the last 75 taps in across the street I haven't turned them on yet still have to put in the releaser.

So today on the 500+ on my side of the street, I was hoping for a good day today but got home from work and vacuum was at 15"..... **** and only about 25 gallons in the tank. big leaks somewhere after I have been working to get good high Vacuum this year and it was at 25.25 yesterday. So took a walk and and found some smaller stuff then found 3 big chews must have been from today. Got things back up to just shy of 26" still gonna spend some more time in the woods see how high I can get it. Managed another 50 gallons before it cooled down. we are just about frozen here and hopefully things will get back to defrosting on Wednesday. maybe 50 on thursday. and 7 day looks pretty good. with maybe 1 or 2 cooler days in there.

2 weeks ago according to the long range forecast the whole month of February was too cold for sap. but how quickly things change!!! But I am ready!!! for when it comes.

[Russell Lampron]

As early as you tapped I thought that you would be making syrup by now. I started tapping Saturday afternoon after I got out of work and again until noon yesterday when it started to rain hard. I've still got about 200 taps to drill. If I can get an afternoon off from work I may be able to get them done. If not I'll finish them Saturday then when it warms up enough I will be able to turn on the vacuum.

Other than that I'm ready too. With all that I had to do I didn't think that I would ever be ready.

[Dill]

I wasn't seeing much more then a dribble today. Glad you are getting the same results. I'm missing the tiny hose on my home woods releaser so no idea how my vac is doing.
How wet are you getting in the woods? Can't trust the ice in mine kept breaking through.

[red maples]

I thought I would be making syrup by now too. the warm ups have been coming off very cold weather so by the time the sap is ready to break loose it freezes up again. but now the sun is higher in the sky and there is alot of ice right at the base of the trees so once the sun can hit that a little and get the base defrosted I think the sap will flow hopefully warm enough to do that today and tomorrow with no sun fingers crossed.

Yeah Dill same here. with so much rain this year lots of water in the woods with multiple thin layers of ice with an air gap between them, just enough to hold the ice as the water levels go down. tough going!!!

looks like pretty good sap forecast for at least the next 7 to 10 days. but don;t have much faith in forecasts. since the long range forecast changed by more that 10 to 15 degrees warmer. but ready to go. I am even gonna tap buckets on Friday tomorrow. gotta do some more time in the woods today gotta get the vac as high as possible. was at almost 26" back down to 24" yesterday. need some do some active squirrel removal. took out about 15 last year. and they are still bad!!! think I might have a porcupine in one spot too man they can just rip through the tubing 3 big fixes already in spot. he needs to go !!!

[Russell Lampron]

You still haven't gotten enough sap to boil yet? And here I am thinking that I'm missing the first good run. I'm going to have that remedied this weekend though. I'll be pulling in sap when it starts running Sunday.

Good luck getting rid of the tree rats and porcupines. They do a lot of damage.

[red maples]

its been getting better by the hour. its coming in pretty good FINALLY!!! actually managed over 100 gallons today!!! vac back to 26" and holding steady. 8:30 pm and its coming in stronger than it was at 3:30. it took along time to get going today since it was cloudy.

[BAP]

Brad, did that earthquake shake the sap loose for you? Must have been right under you.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad, did that earthquake shake the sap loose for you? Must have been right under you.

What time did that happen? I was sitting at the table eating my dinner when I heard a noise that made the dog jump and bark. That was somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 this evening. I didn't feel any rumbling or anything just heard the "what was that?" type noise.

[BAP]

Russ, I didn’t feel it but saw it on channel 9’s website. I think they said it was around 9:30am.

[red maples]

yeah I ended up with close to 200 gallons on the day before I went to bed and woke up to another 150 gallons on the over night. The Center was in my town, East Kingston about 2-3 miles from my house. I work at Exeter High school and it was about 9:30 am it felt like a Truck vibrating the ground but a little stronger.

Stubborn trees this year took a friggin' Earth quake to get them going this year... :lol:

[red maples]

Well had 505 gallons to boil last night. sugar average about just 1.1-1.2 so pretty low but after sucking out the water and filling the Evap it was a quick boil as usual for the first one. I was so close to syrup probably could have taken a maybe a little but decided it was better to leave it. Nice aromatic to it. nice to smell the sweet!!! although unfiltered still a nice flavor a hint of butterscotch to this batch never had that before. looks to be amber/rich. was the smoothest pan sweetening day I have had to date. but I was very ready which was a blessing. I even had my defoamer in liquid form. And I even remembered to add it right when it started boiling so no foam overs this year on the sweetening I think that was first too!!!

got a basketball game today and some other family stuff to do. So not too much maple today. Just to get ready to tap buckets/bags on Sunday after basketball tournament in first 1/2 of the day. not expecting any sap today. high of 34 here I think. But big warm up for next week so gotta be ready for big sap!!!! hoping to boil just about everyday this week by the looks of things but we all know that can change in few hours!!!

[Dill]

I wish it wasn't such a big warm up. I don't want or need 70 deg.

[BAP]

I wish it wasn't such a big warm up. I don't want or need 70 deg.
Hopefully, the weatherman are wrong again and it doesn’t get that warm.

[Russell Lampron]

It looks like you are off to a smooth start. It sure takes the pressure off when you are ready to go.

[red maples]

I don't want 70* either.

Didn;t get as much sap over the weekend as would have liked. too cold saturday and didn;t get going as good as I would have thought on Sunday either. only got a combined total of about 150 gallons. go figure. I think it is just really cold in the back of my woods yet and things really haven't broken loose.

It was cold last night too we were at 16* in the woods and 19 at the house. so it took a long time for things to get going so only about 50 gallons so far today as of 2:30 pm. and right on cue its clouding up but no freeze for the next 3 nights forecasted so we'll see how long the sap lasts. no boiling tonight. gonna save it for 1 more day. no sense in firing up the machine for 200 gallons.

I did get in 30 sap sacs yesterday and have another 25 or so to put in. seems every year I loose a few and gain a few. last year lost 20 big roadsides because they sold their house and new folks didn't want me to tap their trees but gained 20 from another place but they were selling their house and the new people want to make their own but they haven't tapped their trees yet. but managed to pick up another 10 for now maybe more. As much as the buckets are a PITA the sap is always a tick sweeter than the vac sap.

Hope everyone else is getting a boil over weekend or getting ready to. good luck all.

[red maples]

Quick update: Figures as soon as I need more late nights we are shorthanded at work so need to be in earlier all this week... but making syrup so its worth it.

Had over 700 gallons by Tuesday. so made first syrup of the year. It was very tough to filter though. Had to break down the press several times but then when checked it after it was about was about WAY over heavy so that makes sense.

sap slowed quite a bit over the last 2 days to have about 350 gallons for Thursday night. but cam home from work yesterday and vac. pump was limping along not sounding good at all only at 15" thought uh oh. but belts were failing I knew I needed new ones on there so had back ups ready to go. switched them out and back in business. Don;t think missed too much considering. then once things got going Releaser issues. The mechanism on the newer lapierre releasers has a little spring loaded plate that changes the direction of the vac to move the piston to shut off the vac to the holding tank of the releaser and was dumping but then getting stuck. took off the top, flushed it with hot water adjusted one of the stop pins and lubed it and it seems to be working good now.

I hope the forecast holds strong for the next weeks.

Hope everyone else is going well!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I combined my syrup from Tuesday and Wednesday's boils and had 16.5 gallons to run through the press. About half way through the press clogged up and I had to stop. I was too tired to deal with it so I left it for later. The density was right on so I know that it is just too much nitre in the syrup.

You didn't miss anything yesterday. I only pulled in about 70 gallons with no vacuum or releaser issues.

[Amber Gold]

I had problems filtering the first batch of syrup too. I had to break the press down after a few gallons. Worked OK the rest of the night. The second night's syrup filtered better, but then I wasn't messing around and put a full press together. I wasn't making much on the first night, so I should've been able to get by on a 1/2 press.

[red maples]

yeah last nights boil filtered better not great but better. lots of niter. a little worried my pump might be going but hot syrup taking the pressure right to 80 or 90 pressure is just too high. never had that problem. doing the same amount of DE that I usually do. maybe a little more to compensate for the extra niter? I don;t know.

Ended up with about 150 gallons of sap today. with no sun and slow warm up its about what I expected. sugar is up to 1.25 so thats better it was down to a hair under 1 yesterday but that was several days without a freeze. What a difference the new belts made for vac levels they were tight before but I think since I put the new ones on its running about .5 to 3/4 of an inch more of vacuum and releaser is working perfectly again. but got things pretty tight been running between 25.5" and 27" depending on outside pressure. lots of water to deal with in many parts of the woods right now with rain and snow melt so its not too easy getting to the swamp maples.

hoping for big sap tomorrow but will have to save it and boil on Sunday have to go basketball tourny for my son in Bow. So if they win keep winning we won't be home until about 8pm. Then if we loose then they play again on sunday afternoon then sunday night. I hope they win so we don't have to go back on Sunday... but then they go again next saturday. its a big tournament.

[Russell Lampron]

As cold as it was today I was surprised to see that I got 150 gallons of sap here too. It looks good for tomorrow too.

[red maples]

more releaser woes... the float rod keeps hanging up... I don;t know. I have a big leak somewhere I need to find only at 22" but sucking some serious air. and releaser backed up twice yesterday. I have had this for 4 years and except for the bottom seal broke after the first year it has been extremely reliable. missed out on most of yesterday's sap since I didn;t want to risk things backing up etc etc etc. gotta find the leak first. It was coming in pretty good until the clouds showed up then it slowed right down. It ran perfectly all friday night and had 450 gallons total by morning which I RO. while I was taking apart the releaser again then to my son's bball games. got home about 8:30 and started the evap at 9:00. filtering going much easier now. still not perfect but much better. lots of niter but filtering out the syrup pan at the end of boil each time has helped with charging the filter before the heavier stuff comes through.

they only had 6 players and the first team was Weare they won 55 to 26, My son scored 20 points and had more than 1/2 of the rebounds. then they played Goffstown and they had a 6th grader that I think was 6'1" but which my son and the other tall player on the team were able to stuff him a few times but the he was just good and had easily 8 to 9 inches on them both they lost 60 to 33. but my son made 3 - 3 pointers but couldn't make a lay up in the second game to save his life. but hit every one in the first game... I have to give them credit for keeping it that close. they were big and pretty good and very physical and were fouling the heck out of our boys and only called for 1/2 of the fouls. but without that 6'1" kid he made about 40 of their their points. on the last play of the game the other 6th grader on our team landed bad on his foot and broke a bone and a bad sprain just on a 1/2 court buzzer beater shot. wasn't pretty. So on to to the looser bracket with 5 kids 1-6th grader 3-5th graders and 1-4th grader. anyway enough about baskeball it was just fun to watch.

[Dill]

I hear ya on the releaser issues. I've got my vac pump off now too. Not sure if your town does a basketball tourney but we are sponsoring the one here in town this year. We sold a lot of syrup last year to bored parents who wanted to get out of the gym during down time between games.

[red maples]

I got the releaser fixed. after taking it apart yet again this morning, I figured out, finally, that the bearing on the tripping arm was bad and seized up so when the float push rod went up it was sticking in both the opened and/or closed position. but a quick trip to the hardware store for a new bearing $10.79 and we are back in business. I didnlt even think to check it out because its spring loaded when I took the spring off there was no tension on it and it moved freely but as soon as I put the spring and there was tension it would get hung up.

I think with the colder temps the leak is frozen right now so I will have to wait for a better thaw tomorrow to find them. I think it might be several smaller chews but its just a guess right now Vac is pulling a little over 27" right now. but since its cold and nasty only 36* not much coming in anyway but a little sap is still better than no sap!!!

[Dill]

hmmm good idea, never thought of checking that.

[red maples]

I hate to say it but things are running pretty good. all except the weather here. the night temps are just not cooperating. the original forecast which would have had me boiling everyday is now about every 3rd day. not good for production and I hate holding sap. my first draw this year was just right at the amber/dark border( which I had to call dark) but went dark quickly after that and I have made some very dark as well. with holding sap and lack of night freezes guessing its gonna be more Very Dark. but it has a really good flavor. with lack of good runs I am only at 30 gallons which is way more than last year at this time for me since I made most of my syrup in march last year.

still having issues with drawing off heavy and plugging the filter press. I don't know I can usually get it with-in a point but can't seem to hit it this year. Heavy nighter too. I'll get it... I will boil tonight but need to strain the back pan and do a quick rinse that usually helps get things cleaned up and also lightens up the syrup as well.

I am thinking of a bubbler for the flue pan too. but mine is a drop flue so have to get the pipe sizing correct. too bad copper is so expensive but if it helps and lightens things up a bit and keep the pans cleaner and less niter then its worth every penny. Josh I think we need to plan a trip after the season to See Russ. and check out how he made his. and would be nice to see you too Russ and Anthony if he is around.

[Amber Gold]

Brad. I'm on board. Lets plan it after the season. I haven't been there in a while, so would be good to see what he's been up to.

[Dill]

We need a bubbler as well. And I have extra high pressure air that I'm just bleeding off. Granted the all dark all the time makes grading easier.

[Russell Lampron]

You guys come on up. Let me know ahead of time and I will make sure that Richard is here too. For homemade stuff the bubbler is the best thing that I have made for my sugaring operation. It sucks making dark syrup all of the time. I was there for a while and now that I'm on the other side of the spectrum it sucks to make all light syrup too but not as bad as making all dark.

[red maples]

Well... I haven't posted in a few days because there was really nothing to post about. didn't get a freeze for 7 nights. and haven't boiled in I think 5 so... we finally got a freeze night before last so got 100 gallons (it never got over 37* here and cloudy yesterday) added to my 100 gallons and 50 that I collected from across the street... 250 gallons but I have some permeate saved form the last RO so I can clean the machine. and enough sap to boil for a few minutes and get the Evap freshened up.

but I was able to finally finish and install a 1/2" 2 pipe sap ladder for about a 100 tap line that works awesome. and I had about 80 feet or of 1" 30p laying around so I ran that length from the releaser out and and ran 2 side mains into it and connected it in with y's instead of T's to get a better flow. I have to say its alot more expensive than black water pipe but its really nice to be able to see the sap in the line because since my slope on most of my mainline is so flat its easy to get sags so I can see where sap is pooling and getting hung up. I just wish it were cheaper but I can change out a little at a time and fell the pain so much. there were no saddles on this stretch so it didn't take too long.

gotta start getting ready for maple weekend and stuff too.

alrighty heading out soon,

[red maples]

oh man.

well... after ROing yesterday I could smell some metabolism... very common with too many days on vacuum with no freeze. I could smell it too after I took off the good syrup I could smell it pretty strong. Have to see what happens with it.

Now that was a heck of a storm we got a mess here I hope other people did better than me by the amount of posts since yesterday I am guessing no.

after boiling yesterday came in grabbed a bite to eat then hit the sack for a few hrs. got up at 12:30 am and was on the tractor by 1 am and there was already 10 inches of snow and man it was heavy. there were already many large branches down across the driveway in front of the sugarhouse... great. so cleared up by the house and grabbed a chain and hooked on the branches and pulled them down the driveway and pushed them off the side. dug up my driveway and yard pretty goo since there was no frost in the ground at all. so then I the power went out at 2:30 there was quite a bit of lightening snow too. had headphones on so didn't hear and thunder. I think all total we got about 15 inches the last 5 or 6 inches was fluffier since it dropped to about 29*

finished up with drive way best I could by about 3:30. got my little generator I use for pumping sap hooked up to my wife's yurt to keep the snow melting off and keep the pellet stove running.

grabbed a quick nap and some breakfast back out got everything else and the cars cleared off. got the generator out I haven't used it in a couple of years (which is a good thing) but had to out the old gas and change the oil put in new gas 3 pulls and she started awesome I thought I would be pull it all day!!! got it all hooked up ran extention cords and came in to grab some lunch and poof the power came back on. so got that cleaned all up. the a quick nap. headed out in the woods to see the damage, over all not as bad as I thought but still bad enough. 1 main down, 3 broken laterals. lost about 7 or 8 trees over all. they broke off higher so I will keep the taps in but they will go over the summer. got the main line back up best I could and still have to fix the laterals just worked on removing branches.

back to the house and cut up the 3 big branches between the sugarhouse and chicken coop so I could get to them.

shower and dinner I am wiped out!!! I think as soon as my butt hits the couch I will be out!!!

Hope everyone else is doing OK!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Sounds like the storm hit you pretty hard. The wind blew so hard that it is hard to know how much we actually got. I only plowed as much as I needed to to get in and out of the driveway. I didn't want to dig up the lawn any more than I needed to.

It's too bad that your trees and tubing got damaged. I hope that you get everything back together soon. The saps going to start running again.

[BAP]

That stinks having that kind of storm damage. We got 15” but it is a dense snow but not really sticky, so there wasn’t any damage. I hope you get everything tightened back up before sap starts running again. Good luck.

[Dill]

Wow, we didn't get hit that hard over here, never even lost power. These storms really change rapidly in a couple miles. Hope you get it all fixed easily.

[red maples]

spent another 2 hrs in the woods this afternoon found another tree snapped in 1/2 over the main and across 2 laterals. got that straightened up. I think I got everything back in close to pretty good order... good enough anyway!!! I still need to get across the street I think that needs to thaw a little before I can get at it and see if I can fix that. the main it on the edge of a swamp since its the lowest point and there is a bunch of tall brush that is leaning over the main line so its sagging pretty good and only one branch broke so not too bad over there.

yes very sticky snow. it kept going back and forth and the temp kept going up and down a degree or 2 for a few hrs which was just enough to get a little snow in the trees then it froze enough with the wind to for all the wet snow to stick and it was just too much throw in a stiff breeze and lots of popping and cracking!!!

turned on the vacuum and its at 26" but I know there is some frozen stuff so have to wait for it all to thaw to see if there is anything else leaking.

glad you all faired better. lots of clean up in the woods this summer. more firewood!!!

[Russell Lampron]

You always need firewood but busted maple trees isn't the way that you want to get it. Glad your up and running again.

[red maples]

agreed russ...

Sap has been running a little strange here. I was definitely expecting more sap but 1/2 my woods weren't producing because there were colder since the Sun doesn't hit them good until the afternoon. buckets on road and field edges running weird too I have some smaller trees about 10" out producing 18" and 20" trees and other bigger trees that are running like crazy. almost perfect sap weather here finally but need maybe 2 or 3 degrees warmer day temps. but I will take it.

its amazing what good sap weather will do. My syrup has lightened up to almost amber and sugar is 1.75 / 1.80 which is the highest it has been in 2 years maybe 3 years. I hope it keeps up that way fingers crossed. Its nice when sugar is that high RO goes faster and man you make alot of syrup on so much less sap. I love it.

about 2:00 just as things started running really hard the vac dropped to 19" but needed to collect everything else so ran and did that then back in the woods. it must have been iced up. found 1 tap out 2 really hollow trees. a few little chews her and there and darn red squirrel chews again had to replace 15 ft of tubing its in the same spot as usual because they can walk along the 5/16th tubing and start chewing. It still had ice in it. I might invest in a roll of that metal wrapped stuff just for that section. and it figures is all the way in the farthest back section of the woods.

[Russell Lampron]

It's amazing how you always have the most trouble in the area that's the hardest to get to. The sap has gotten sweeter here too, not great but better.

[red maples]

that 1.75 was an average of bucket and vacuum there just happened to be alot of bucket sap in that run. its averaging about 1.4-1.5 or so right now. with these really good sap temp since the storm the sap is really nice and the last draw of last night was at 43 on just 6 from amber. might get that tonight. and so aromatic... syrup was some of the best I have made in some time. hoping tonight is just as good!!!

Not fun collecting buckets in 2 feet of snow but the trails are cut so today should be much easier. heading out to collect now!!!

looks like a freeze up for the weekend just a few more confections to finish some cleaning and snow removal and should be all set hoping I can get everything done this weekend so there is no stress for the week!!!

[red maples]

aint got nothing since friday... quick boil on Friday. its 33* highest temp since saturday(34). turned on the vac pump for s&g's and got a few gallons. honestly I think someone screwed up and switched february and march. It has given me some time to get stuff done for maple weekend. So I am ahead as far as that goes. its weird because the sun is warm but the air isn't. looks like it might start to warm tomorrow a little each day right into maple weekend don;t know when the trees are gonna start flowing again from the very cold nights.

[Dill]

Yea its nice in the sun but its pretty darn cold out. I had 4 sunday morning and 5 this morning. Even the cows were hiding in the barn this morning with that wind.

[Russell Lampron]

I haven't gotten anything here since Thursday night. It looks like it should start running again tomorrow and then continue on through Maple Weekend. It would be nice to have a Maple Weekend with fresh sap to boil for a change.

[Dill]

I boiled sunday of maple weekend last year. Saturday we boiled water cause we were froze up solid

[red maples]

between work and maple weekend and then work this week just Been super busy... sorry for lack of updates. a little sleepy as soon as I sit I am out.

We had NH Chronical WMUR in the kitchen at Exeter High school on monday got to teach Sean Mcdonald to use a knife and put stuff away in the freezer. Very nice guy. so that will air on April 9th be sure to check it out. then my boss was out had to go to a funeral so I was kitchen manager for the rest of the week.

anyway we had a very good turnout for maple weekend which surprised me a bit with everything going on in NH, Maine, VT etc. had alot of folks up from Boston and many people visiting multiple sugarhouses. did anyone else see the sugarhouse passport thing? didn;t know they were doing that. although I have been out of touch with the NH maple assoc as of late. I think it may have been the second highest profiting weekend I have had to date. people were spending money. It was also nice to have awesome aromatic sap to boil and alot of it. I saved sap for a couple of days since the sap has been coming in slow. and sugar went up a bit and made 17 gallons over the weekend so that was nice. I concentrated to 7-8% instead of the usual 14-16% to make sure I could still boil fairly hard and have enough sap to last he weekend.

Sap flows have been less than expected on vacuum especially with good sap weather only averaging .5 GPD or less (because of the REDS) but 35 or buckets/sap sacs I have on all sugars have been going gang busters and getting between 1 and 2 gpd on a few they have been over 2 gallons. I have neighbors calling up telling me they are full. very weird indeed and some of those have been in for 5 weeks now. only have about 3 dried up so far. and the sugar on those has been at 1.75 with a high of about 2.3 bringing my average sugar all mixed together at 1.4-1.75 which is very nice since last year averaged 1%. I was nervous because the beginning of the season I was getting 1.1-1.2. thought it might be a repeat of last year.

a little warm up but gotta keep the vac even though I aint gettin' much for sap to keep the sap columns open in the tree if that makes sense. In past years when I have shut off the vac for a few days during long warm night spells it took along time for the sap to get going again.

got about 200 gallons but probably gonna squeeze that and do a quick boil just keep the evap fresh. trying not to let the sap sit to long being its a bit warmer.

Fun year so far I am at just about 100 gallons so far which was my total for last year I will pass that today.

Happy Easter Everybody!!!

[Russell Lampron]

It's good to hear from you again Brad. I haven't reached last year's total yet but I'm getting close. I'm at 161 gallons and made 184 last season. I've got about 500 gallons of sap to boil this afternoon which will get me closer.

I had a better than expected turn out for Maple Weekend too. We saw a lot of the passport things too. I think it helped bring people in looking for signatures. Most of them bought something too which made the weekend that much better.

The sap has been running slow here too. I thought it would run better Monday and Tuesday than it did.

Happy Easter to you too.

[Dill]

We only got one of the passports on saturday I think.

[red maples]

Still chuggin along... FINALLY got a freeze last night but I have 2 Reds trees that are budding ( yard trees that get full sun all day and they always bud first) I am gonna do a walk through with binoculars to see if there are anymore and pull those taps.

I lightened up to Amber last night, first true amber that I have made in a few years. but it was a tough boil... lots of foam heavy bacteria. Thought it was gonna be ropey but it was OK. it was a bit tough getting through the filter press too. I ran it right into a blue container and I am gonna put it aside and check it in a few days. I brought a little into the house to check this morning and it was fine. I used it on my oat meal!!! :) It has been just sitting for a bit of course and not a whole lot of sugar to it so it will hurt my hurt my Sap to syrup ratio a bit but hopefully that will pick back up in the next several days. sap is coming in better than it has in a week but still super slow but needs a few more nights like last night as we should be back in business. Good night to get canners emptied and wipe down some stuff.

Cleaned out the collection tanks yesterday too which probably added to the bacteria. pretty nasty!!! So we start fresh and hope for the best. the buds are still pretty tight except for those 2 and I am hoping that after tomorrow that will begin to slow because there is some nice sap weather coming. Its been a long season and I am tired but I just love to boil!!! most of the bucket guys around here are done and folks are getting things washed up. either had enough or they are out of wood. I am just over a cord of wood used and that made me 100 gallons. so far which is exactly where I am at. Got LOTS of wood and weather looks great!!

and man so after maple weekend I cleaned out the evap and strained the back pan gave it a nice vinegar bath brought everything to a boil and shut it down let it sit for a day. pulled the flue pan up vacuumed out all the ash under the chimney and pulled up the grates and vacuumed that too. did a good brushing on the underside an of the pans as well. and man I am just flying through the sap!!! boiling harder than it has in some time. huge difference.

Good luck to everyone still holding out.

[Russell Lampron]

It's good to see that I'm not the only one still chugging along. The sap's been running real slow here but it's running. I think that this will be the last week though because it looks like it's going to warm up next week.

[red maples]

I don't know sap is really slow and I have dumped that last 75 gallons or so. its VERY cloudy and tastes terrible. the next few days look good and as of today the forcast looks favorable until at least wednesday. the buckets on sugars are still running good. but I don;t know if the vacuum trees are gonna make it back. we got a freeze last night but still only got like 25 gallons in the tank and its pretty nasty. its just building bacteria in the lines with the sun being so warm.

So we'll see what the next few days bring. the sap I have in the evaporator has a little metabolism to it. but figured I might get enough to cook it out. I got nothing to loose by trying right!!!???

[NhShaun]

Also glad to see I'm not the only one in my area still going. Drove around to some other local sugar makers and some taps were pulled some still in. Only collected 85 gallons between the past 3 days. Looks like decent weather till about Tuesday or Wednesday which is when I'll pull my taps. Hoping to have enough firewood to get me thru the next few runs.

[red maples]

I have plenty of wood its the sap thats the problem. I collected 35 gallons on vac today and decided to boil down 1/2 gallon on the stove it tastes pretty bad gonna dump that sap before it freezes and try again tomorrow. releaser is frozen so we are already at 31*F supposed to get to 20+ *F tonight so just have to wait and see if it comes back... you never know???? but I an getting my doubts.

[red maples]

well doesn't look good!!! even after the good hard freeze last night the sap isn't clearing up. still VERY cloudy and boiling down another 1/2 gallon this afternoon it tastes bad. I still have about 20 bags on sugars that are running good and sap is clean and OK so I might just use that and get a few gallons over the next several days until they stop. I will keep trying the vacuum as its not buddy its just severe metabolism like I have never seen. the buds aren't popped at all. weird...

[Russell Lampron]

Wow that sucks. I'm not getting much sap here but my syrup still tastes great. What's weird is that the weather is about as good as you can ask for but the trees just aren't producing much sap.

[red maples]

very weird. I am throwing in the towel its just not coming back. I might try again tomorrow just to see if it comes back but I doubt it. supposed to get down to 25* tonight and sunny tomorrow. I will dump again and see what happens. stubborn trees this year!!!
Mine didn't run early either this year. oh well I will only be about 2 gallons shy of last year but I also made some of the best syrup I have made in a few years too. so I will chalk it up to average. I have a really nice sample for the carlisle and the deer field fair this year!!! just need a good honey sample and hopefully we can get a few blue ribbons. If sap isn't better tomorrow then I am done. good thing I saved my permeate from the last boil I had a feeling!!! its always fun... but the bad part is coming.

And I might have to miss the bascom's open house too which I always go to they have some good classes. wife is gonna be away so have to take care of the kids and get them to sports and work and stuff.

[Russell Lampron]

It's surprising that the trees just don't want to run. I don't know about your woods but mine are wet enough so that a lack of moisture isn't the problem. It's not just us, no one else is getting anything either.

Good luck if you do try again tomorrow. I hope you get a lot of good sap.