Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2019

[red maples]

I guess its time since I started tapping yesterday. wanted to start on Saturday but windy and cold not worth being that miserable in the woods. Only got in about 150 on Sunday but I knew that was all was gonna get in late start and then had to call it quits to grab a quick bite at lunch and get my son up to portsmouth for basketball. so the rest of my day was shot. Got right in the woods after work today and got in about 125 more. Could have done a few more but had a couple of fixes to do but getting there. Will hit it hard again after work tomorrow snow or no snow. then again on Wednesday should have the house woods done wednesday at dark hopefully I know I have a couple more fixes. get the vacuum running and releaser set up and stuff too. Hoping for a snow day but I don't think its gonna happen. would be nice though I could used a full day in the woods.

Woods across the street look pretty good except for the one end tree fell over Friday night from all the wind... GREAT. wasn't expecting that. Was a nice sugar maple too but the roots on the back side of the tree rotted out which I didn't notice when I installed it 2 years ago.... have to dig the mainline out of the ice too. oh well so have to fix that and fix a few laterals as well. then we'll get that on line.

Sugarhouse is in pretty good shape not much to do there. Just have to do a quick straighten up. Clean tanks and install the RO membranes when the sap runs.

Looks like the weather is gonna be kinda up and down the next couple of weeks we'll see, there is definitely PLENTY of moisture in the ground from this past year with all the rain we had. More ice in the swamp than I can ever remember having at this time of year. Hoping to get the first boil out of the way this weekend sometime. that is if we get some sap. looks like a little cool down to mid 30's for next week but you never know forecast could change tomorrow and probably will!!!

hopefully get buckets up the following weekend.

Looks like this year is gonna be a strong march season. Hope its a good one!!! good luck everybody.

[Russell Lampron]

Hey Brad, It's good to see that you've finally started your blog. I was thinking that you would have started tapping before yesterday to catch the early runs. Hopefully March will be a sap tsunami!

I tapped yesterday too. I concentrated on the harder stuff to get to so that the coming snow doesn't slow me down too much. I wanted to tap on Saturday too but didn't think that the tubing would slide onto the taps too good with it being as cold as it was. We missed a little sap last week and we're gonna miss a little more this week. If we don't get rained out on Saturday I think that I can finish tapping then.

Good luck and happy sugaring!

[red maples]

Yeah we missed a little but honestly I don't think it was too much maybe enough to sweeten the pans and a couple of gallons. not too worried. this only looks like about a 3 day warm up. but the ground is so frozen. even the warm up last week wasn't enough to melt the snow in the woods and not enough to melt the ice in the swamp it did a little but you could still walk on it. So not too worried. If the extended forecast holds true we aren't gonna make much syrup until the first week or so of march.

I didn't tap in earlier this year it didn't pay off last year so I figured I would go back to watching temps again. I am also working more hours now and hip is bothering me a little it runs in the family so been putting off going to the doc. got a little behind on house wood and stuff this year just no time. But all in for the season. We have winter break for the last week of Feb. So looking forward to that week to get a bunch of stuff done!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I was and still am a little behind on the wood for my OWB. I did the smart thing and filled the sugar house woodshed first so that I have plenty of dry wood for the evaporator. I have the oil furnace to heat the house when I run out of wood for the OWB. With as much rain as we had last fall I was lucky to get as much wood done as I did. I should have enough to get me through March though.

[red maples]

yeah mine is in a pile covered never even got it stacked. I usually do sugaring wood every 2 years. I have a bunch chunked and covered just in case but should have plenty. If I use 2 cords it is alot I generally use as much for maple weekend as I use for the season. Nice high concentrate uses way less wood!!!

I have about 230 holes to drill give or take left behind the sugarhouse. man it was soupy going today heavy wet snow huge snow and water puddles we got alot of rain on the over night last night on top of 7 inches of snow. what a mess. but got a few laterals rerun that branches knocked down and froze under ice. 2 more lines to tap in and thats all done well tapped anyway still have to chase leaks etc.

man yesterday was tough going only really got in a few with an inch of snow in the woods couldn't see where ice was and fell a few times. First step in the woods and whooooop on my a$$. all my crap went flying. luckily had enough clothes on it padded my butt a little. caught my boot laces on a stick for another one and fell forward that one hurt a little. Let out a "what the F" that apparently echoed though the woods and my son heard it back at the house as he was bring in some wood.

back at it tomorrow. only have 1 more lateral to fix and then just tapping. I know I need to change out a couple of drops destroyed from squirrels but they go pretty quick.

this weekend will be chasing leaks and getting things up and running and tightened up I think. then will be ready to go for when the season really starts when ever that might be. As much as I don;t want to loose sap I also hate getting the pans just about sweet then have it sit in the pans for a week or more but we'll see how things go.

[red maples]

Had more fixes than I thought really slowed me down tapping. but should be able to finish my woods tomorrow morning. Sap was running really hard today. Freeze up for the next few days the long range forecast changed a bit and has things warm up and should get the season humming along by thursday/ Friday just in time for February Vacation!!! perfect Timing.

after I finish my woods I will get the releaser hooked up and and wait for a thaw so I can start looking for leaks.

in the mean time I still have to fix the main line across the street and re-run 2 or 3 laterals. then tap that in its only 75 taps but more sugars over there.

Thursday/ Friday I can start to get tanks clean and stuff. If the forecast is correct then we should be boiling next weekend I hope.

[Russell Lampron]

Sounds like you're getting things done down there. I've found some things that have slowed me down in my woods too. It's just part of the game I guess. The forecast is looking better for me too. I should be able to turn on the vacuum Thursday to flush out the lines and start saving sap on Friday. If all goes well we could both be boiling on Sunday or Monday. I'm hoping for Sunday.

[Amber Gold]

Brad, are you ready to go yet? I'm all tapped in, lines flushed, pump working, releaser working, RO primed and ready...It's party time!

There's always something to do in the woods. There's more taps to add, lines to fix, leaks to find...something.

[red maples]

just about ready but sick as a dog. nasty head cold. got in all but 70 taps on sunday but that was about it. Still got out in the woods last night though to finish those last 70 taps. I was up at henry's across the street from your woods Josh. had to get a pallet of pellets. just finished unloading those.

I will get the vacuum pump ready to go tonight. Then turn it on tomorrow afternoon and just work on chasing leaks and get the lines cleaned out a little. not expecting too much tomorrow its been a cold few days and only 8*F this morning. over cast for the warmer part of the day. so really not expecting too much tomorrow friday should be better hopefully and saturday sunami?

and if I have the energy get the RO going and flushed out on Friday night is the goal. if not I will do it on Saturday.

I got my loan paid off in December that I took out a few years ago when I added on my tank and RO room, new releaser, a 200 amp electrical system installed, SS tank and a few other things. so thats nice so this year maple weekend will pay for candy machine finally and I think I am gonna save up for a brand new Vacuum pump and electric releaser. for the 2020 season. These older vacuum pumps are good for what they are but way too many little issues. If I was home all the time and could be hear to watch them that would be one thing, but I need to have them run and not worry about things going down when I am at work.

How do you like your new vacuum pump josh? now that you have a little time on it now.

[red maples]

in the same boat. not enough sap to float.

Last night was able to get 2 sections tight at 28.5".

this afternoon got the 3rd and 4th section turned on and stayed pretty good for the 3rd dropped to about 26" found a few little chews and 1 big one and got it back up to 28".

4th section was pretty bad. Dropped all the way down to 19" yikes. had to replace a 20 foot section was riddled with little fine holes. guessing red squirrel. had about a 4 inch section that was basically chewed 1/2 the tubing off that top of the 4 inches. got that fixed. had a few other little fixed here and there and we are back to 28" at the releaser. hopefully it stays at 28" but I sure there might be ice around too.

I did an experiment this year and used mostly solid clear seasonal spouts. Last year I noticed that the CV2's kept leaking at the seam in the tip where 2 sections fit together. the only CV2 I used this year are where I tapped below the lateral line(went to a talk about tapping below the lateral line minimal sap loss when using the CV2's) so anyway I did notice that the CV2's were leaking. zero leaks with the solid same tap just not CV. you could see little air ripples coming from the seem. I was able to tap them a little until they got past the seam. but this is the highest vacuum I have ever had. granted some of the woods are cooler and sap isn;t really running but still 28-to 29" not using CV2's hmmm. we'll see how much sap I get this season and how hard the runs are with the higher vacuum.

I have 1 more section to get turned on tomorrow let that clean out then start saving sap. Things are very frozen in the woods not sure if we are going to get a boil out of this one. but we'll see.

[Russell Lampron]

I haven't noticed the leaking issue with the CV'2 like you are. Are you using a 5/16" bit? When my taps are seated in the tree I can't even see the seam.

Like you I haven't gotten much sap yet. I was hoping to boil Sunday night but I don't think it's going to happen.

[red maples]

yeah you cant see the seem they are exactly the same spout just one has the insert with the ball and the seem is just at the tip. oh yeah I buy the stainless 5/16 tapping bits. anyway. the seam in far enough in the hole shouldnt be an issue. here is the next theory...

could there be frozen sap building up in the of the spout and pushing on the ball and pushing out the tap just enough to cause a leak?

[red maples]

Well things barely got thawed yesterday there was sun butit was filtered with clouds all day and not that warm.

collected 50 gallons... there is not going to be enough to do anything with I am guessing. So not optimistic about a boil at this point.

tried to turn on the 4 and last section only to find the ball value frozen. had to wait until later to and was able to open it up. Vac dropped from 28" to 23" so need to get out there today and see where the leaks are. that is one the really good thing about have my woods in sections I can shut down different section to check for leaks. and makes startup easier to pin point leaks as well as each section averages about 120 taps.

[red maples]

got about 75 gallons of sap yeaterday totaling 125 gallons. not enough to do anything with. today was nothing wind never broke past 36* it was generally line cleaning sap anyway. was pretty green and nasty. My woods are ready with the exception of a cracked sap ladder base but Its an easy fix with a little PVC Glue. can't get to it now until everything freezes up again. rain really made things WAY worse in my woods it was already flooded and is even worse now. no where for the water to go.

Might need an alternate tank and releaser spot if the water doesn't recede will have to run the line in a little more and make some something to set in the tank. so its out of the water. will also need to reconfigure vac to releaser line. I'll figure it out.

Doesn't matter anyway if the forecast stays the same doesn't look like a thaw until march 9th for here anyway.

just hope I have sap in time for maple weekend. Plenty to do between now and then anyway.

At least Josh got some sap!!! he has those crazy running trees.

[Russell Lampron]

I hope that the water recedes and that you don't have to do a lot of relocating to make things work. The sap didn't run very good here yesterday either. With my RO down I'd expect to be getting a sap tsunami but it ain't happening. I hope everything works out for you.

[Amber Gold]

Brad, there's always something. Hope you get things figured out without too much hassle.

[Russell Lampron]

Sometimes it seems that sugaring is just going from one catastrophe to another. There's always something frozen, broken or burnt. It's all part of what makes this hobby fun.

[red maples]

that's Very true. the water under the ice flowed out through the culvert so thats good and the ice around the edges was fairly thin so no moving of anything. just had to chip away some ice.

Got end tree fixed across the street and everything over there is tapped and have as many buckets up as I am gonna do this year besides I misplaced about 30 to 40 buck taps so if I can find them I can do more but with this bum leg of mine right now I don;t really want to haul sap. (somehow pulled an a$$ muscle Piriformis which runs right next the sciatic nerve so its pretty uncomfotable rightnow)

not much sap today trees are still frozen form the hard freeze. got a whopping maybe 50 gallons today. nothing yesterday was only really above freeze for a few hours. got all my major fixes in the woods done here and everything turned on and I am running at 27.5" at the releaser I am VERY happy with that.

What I do for across the street is run a 1" vac line out to the street and through the culvert well there is a section that a tree fell on a didn't realize it was frozen in the ice. well there must be a little sap in that vac line from a back up at the second releaser and sure enough frozen... sooooo gonna have to dig that section out the ice. I think its gonna be a chainsaw cut. so that should be fun hopefully I don't cut the line. but if so OH well.

[Amber Gold]

Jeez Brad, hope your luck turns around.

[Russell Lampron]

Oh the joys of tapping in a swamp. You gotta want it!

I had problems with sciatica a couple of years ago. It took steroids and a **** load of visits to the chiropractor to fix that. If your leg problem is anything like that I feel your pain.

[red maples]

yeah sucks I'm hobbling around slow going but getting it done. yes Russ Pretty painful. Gonna hit the doc after maple season. I'll make lots of advil. Still exercising it that seems to help get through work which I am on my feet all day.

Trees are still slow going. Wind didn't help much today but the trees are beginning to get a bit of a ring since the sun is warm so thats nice and sap finally coming in a little better. Not Quite enough to sweeten, looking forward to the big warm up to really get things going.

Got everything running across the street today after finally getting the darn vac line free of the ice. Kicked my a$$ last night. Ended up splicing it an adding a piece. but its good now got that online fixed a few leaks installed a new saddle found 2 hollow trees pulled those and vac is pretty steady at 26.5" happy with that for now. had to adjust a sap ladder to a loss of .5" but better vac transfer past the ladder so thats the trade off. but getting more sap on those 120 taps. a little more thawing and we should need some swimmies I hope anyway.

worked on cleaning the sugarhouse a little and bring some wood in setup the filter press. I think I am just about ready a few little things but close very close. just need a little more sap.

Have fun everybody

[red maples]

ah yes the first boil out of the way. ended up with 444 gallons(nice round number). sugar is high too. averaging I think about 1.75%, bucket sap was 2.25% but there was only 45 gallons of that, across the street I collected 75 gallons and that was about 2% (that is about 66% sugar maples and the remaining are reds) and combine that with my 1.33 remaining vac sap on my reds over here. I wasn't expecting to draw off as it usually takes just over 500 gallons of raw sap to get a draw off and took off about 2 gallons. so that was very nice. looks like its dark but a lighter dark just about amber.

Even with early sap (which isn't always the best sap some line clean out stuff and holding it for a little longer) I got it up to 16% easy. which really made for a quick boil after filling the rig and sugar rinse I ended up with about 35 to 40ish gallons to boil. It does take a little bit longer to boil when you aren't really drawing off just the 2 gallons right at the end.

I was surprised how good that sap was coming especially with very little sun and since it got down to 22*F here the night before. I think the trees are just starting to wake up. Even some of the bigger roadside trees arent awake yet but when they run they run. This warm up should get things going for sure. Nice rings around the trees now. Guessing the the sugar will drop and syrup will darken by saturday but hoping for a good run!!!

Didn't freeze here last night it is bouncing around 32*F this morning. Left the vac pump on last night as it was still coming a little at 35*F last night. curious to see if it was worth it.

[Russell Lampron]

Similar situation here. I had 440 gallons for my first boil. Got it sweetened to 12% in one pass and boiled for an hour and 10 minutes. Drew off about a gallon of Amber which may be Golden when it's filtered.

It's showing 31* here this morning and like you I left the vacuum pump on last night. Went out at 12:45 to shut it off and found that the ground was still soft and the temp at 33*.

[red maples]

ended up getting about 100 gallons on the overnight so that was a nice surprise . sap was coming much slower but only managed 275 gallons total with the over night and that was by 10pm. so no boil.

so got about 75 gal on the over night last night another good surprise. I am hoping for a little more than 600 gallons by the time I finish processing all the sap

The stuff I made the other night very good flavor and after the crap settled out (not filtered yet) i did a quick test and 55 on the meter... so nice amber. I will heat this and filter tonight.

in the mean time while waiting for sap I have been getting lots of stuff done and made for maple weekend. I won't be boiling Saturday or Sunday so hoping to get the rest of the stuff made. and get things cleaned up outside he sugarhouse after we get some more snow melt.

My son has a basketball game sunday afternoon. his team made it to the final championship game. thankfully all of the end of season awards and championship games are on the 31st and not Maple weekend!!! phew...

Ok off to the sap!!!

[red maples]

my estimate of 600 gallons was a little off. missed out on some sap across the street having releaser issues. my old hobby releaser acting up. dumps but won't break vacuum to reset. doesn't like vacuum over 23-24" which worked perfect for years but now that the system is tight enough and running at 26.5-27.25 it just doesn;t like that. I am gonna try a few more things see if I can get it to work. got rethink it for next year. as well as new set up for my woods here. If I go to an electric releaser I can move the whole set up closer to the sugarhouse. and use my bigger mechanical over there. Had to leave extra sap in the tank because of rising water from the snow melt and rain.

So boiled out 450 gallons and made some syrup jumped right to dark. gonna filter out the niter out of the back pan today always lots of niter from the sweetening boil and always goes much lighter after I do that. Light on bucket sap too since there hasn't been a freeze in some time. and light sap across the street sugar was lower so didn't make as much syrup. good boil over all though. sap was beautiful nice and crystal clear was able to concentrate to about 16.5-17% first time I ever went that high. what a difference in the amount of concentrate in just a few points there. the last few years I going to 14-15 but 16-17 quite a bit less boiling. need to keep the membranes very clean and do a flushing with some permeate about 3/4 the way through the recirc to keep the good flow. I start it at about 200psi and goes to about 250 psi by the time it hits around 15-16%

I felt bad for my son yesterday when we were collecting buckets. he was carrying a bucket about 3/4 full and tripped on a vine did a face plant in the mud. spilled most of the sap. He felt bad but we've all been there!! I lost a full buckets once walking through deep snow foot went through a soft spot got my foot caught between 2 rock and lost both buckets. ooops!!!

and oh yeah my oberdorfer pump on my filter press is going. so need to order one ASAP. It was tough getting the syrup through. It was a little slow last year but I didn;t think anything of it. but trying to filter yesterday was SLLLOOOOWWWW.... and the pressure never went past 50psi. just not enough gusto to get it through the press. I mean there was alot of niter but even charging the press was tough going. and I like to filter my syrup pan at the end of the night and that was slow too and that was thinner and hotter. I noticed it being a little chattery too.

oh well hope everyone got some boiling done. Freeze tonight and good sap weather on the way. Should make for a fun week. need lots of syrup by next weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Replace your Oberdorfer pump with an air operated diaphragm pump. I replaced the hand pump on mine with AOD pump years ago and love it. It's good to hear that you made some syrup. I made almost enough to restock my shelves. Looks like good weather ahead.

[red maples]

I made some syrup. not enough to restock yet. very slow yesterday 140 gallons and today so far maybe 25. just not enough sun and only 38*.

i think what I am gonna do actually in a few minutes. is pull out the old bullet proof sp2 and hook that up. run that line into it and that one runs a constant 23-24" then the releaser should work perfectly. never had an issue when it ran at the lower vac. but I don;t want to sacrifice any sap because I have to run 75 on a lower vac. I will loose sap in my woods. hopefully it will work.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap didn't start running until almost 2 here this afternoon. When it started it came in hard and fast. It wasn't the best run that I've ever seen but it's the best I've seen this season.

UVM did a study on vacuum levels and sap production a while back and found that 24" was where you get the best results. I don't think you'll leave as much in the woods at those vacuum levels as you will with a malfunctioning releaser.

[red maples]

I did get the old BB2 working again basically the same as the sp11 I think. good bullet proof old pump. I maxed it out at about 280 taps a few years ago took too long to catch up when the releaser dumped. So I put it all back together switched back the the wiring to the right direction for the setup added oil and ran a little rough but once it warmed up ran great got everything hooked up and on 75 taps very tight system guess what pulling 27" so the releaser dumps once the pressure drops to 24" pop... the releaser resets. So I am just gonna go with that for now. I think I am gonna throw in a little regulator and get it down to 24" so there is no hang up at all just to get through the season.

Managed only 141 gallons sat. 146 gallons yesterday and only 50 gallons by 3pm today although the sap is still coming in really strong strongest I have seen all season and it only got 38 to 39* and its pretty windy here too. but gonna hold off and do a bigger boil tomorrow. with sap across the street and buckets are filling should have a good amount. took a few days though. OK gotta start cleaning up outside and get more confections done. I think I just have to make a little l more sugar and I am done. just need to package candy, and label stuff. Oh need to bottle some honey too. and yes bottle what ever syrup I can gather too.

[Mark-NH]

I have an old SP-11 I got from Parker 10 years ago. I have it on 300 taps. All she does is run every year, without fail with no issues. Oh and maintains 20"+ of vacuum.

[red maples]

oh yes I held on to it it is a runner. the BB2 is older version. bullet proof. I think Russ runs an sp22 if I am not mistaken. I have just shy of 600 on vacuum so had to upgrade.

635 gallons to process today. squeezed it to 16% made 14+ gallons of syrup sugar jumped a bit. a little of that was my syrup pan was VERY sweet. somehow got all but the last 2.5 gallons of syrup through the press too so quickly broke it down quick rinse of the plates and got the last bit through and filtered the syrup pan.

time for just finishing up the wash on the RO and time for bed have to get up at 4am for work.... blah... but I got off on friday.

Oh yes one last thing I wanted to thank WMUR for letting everyone there is no syrup this year!!! yes thanks we are struggling a little bit, they called me and I didn't want a negative story about maple 4 days before maple weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

Yes I'm running a reliable old SP-22. When I got it I was told that you can't run high vacuum with it. I've been running 25" plus for several seasons now and it just keeps on sucking. The trick is to keep the oil full, but not overfull and I use Castrol EDGE 5W-30 motor oil in it and change it at the start of every season.

WMUR has done that to us in the past too. They tell everyone there's no sap or syrup and the people stay away in droves. I do what I have to to have enough sap to boil and I do have enough syrup to sell and will take orders for larger quantities.

[Amber Gold]

That's awesome...thanks. I haven't seen it. I guess it makes news. They called to talk to me, but I guess I didn't get back to them in time.

[red maples]

I am tired.... not a winer but tired... always am afterthe first day friday night is always late wind kicked out but yesterday trying to set up tents. Put me behind at the start. Pretty slow yesterday guessing people were afraid of the weather. wasn't bad wind sucked though man. always something. expecting to get crushed today.

syrup sales pretty good value added not so much and they always do just as good. surprising.

anyway time to get to it. goodluck.

[red maples]

Alrighty!! been a while been extra busy!!! with everything!!! so this will be a little long winded.

Maple weekend lighter crowd and lighter sales. I think a few factors, First negative sap reports on WMUR starting 4 days before maple weekend hurt I am sure. Had a couple that come every year said they were surprised to see I had syrup on my shelves since the news had been saying it was such a bad year. So wonder how many people didn't come out this year. second, Maple month people can visit sugarhouses every weekend. Its very tough for me to be open all month because my kid has basketball every saturday and sunday and my wife pretty much works a second job on weekends. My daughter who now drives, works weekend as well. So I am loosing out there as well. Saturday Weather was bustery and chilly I think it held some folks back.

but sap still tough to come by. and this warm up doesn't help. bud's are popped yet and the smaller folks are pulling buckets??? next week isn't great but still a chance for sap with a possible freeze everyday. guess they are tired of making syrup??? I am only at 50% of a crop if I finished my evaporator out right now. but I have 325 gallons in my tank here and 100 gallons across the street and maybe 25 gallons in buckets and sugar is still 1.25 on my reds on vacuum here so thats good means the ground is still cold. there is still ice in the woods too. we'll have to see what happens.

had 2 tours yesterday girls scouts. smaller tours but still fun. had 1 more scheduled homeschool group but many came down with the flu so they had to cancel and couldn;t do it again until mid April but we will be done by probably next weekend I am guessing maybe next year.

Still getting sap on the high vacuum. although percentage wise it is less per tap over over 24" it is still coming in even on the over night and we haven't had a freeze since wednesday night. running a constant 27+/-" has definitely helped this year.

made some very dark good tasting syrup (19 on the checker) over maple weekend as usual simmering all weekend. took 2 boils to get that worked out. filtered out the back pan and syrup pan rinsed out the back pan and scrubbed a bit and got it back up to (39 on the checker)

What I did this time was moved over 15 gallons at 10% to get the evap started and get it hot. finished the concentration recirc to about 16-17% then moved that over and boiled that out and then added the sugar rinse over for the cool down. I usually add the sugar rinse to the concentrate in the head tank then boil. it ended up going faster since I was able to draw off more syrup in a shorter time spend in the evap. It lightened up the back pan and front pan. so that will be the new process from here on out. since the first draw is always darker anyway.

have basketball championship game and awards today so saving everything for tomorrow light freeze tonight I hope and flow will pick back up. hoping for 600+ gallons to boil monday. Vacuum working overtime been on steady since thursday!!!

good luck everybody!!! keep chugging away

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't take a head count but I think the number of visitors was down for me on Maple weekend but the sales were good. I set a new record by almost $200. I got the Square and started taking cards this year and I think that made a big difference. I know some people bought that wouldn't have and some people bought more because they could use their cards.

The trees have been going crazy here since Wednesday. I boiled 800 gallons Thursday night and 600 gallons last night and have 500 gallons and counting for tomorrow night.

[red maples]

I haven't been blessed with that much sap. it got down to only 32* last not enough to get things going at all. tonight supposed to be in the low to mid 20's so hopefully its enough to get things going. I believe you guy up there have had better night temps than us. just guessing this will be the last week. but we'll see.

[Russell Lampron]

I'm surprised that you weren't getting good runs earlier in the season when Josh was. It seemed like everyone around you was getting sap while you were still froze up tight. For me it looks like it's going to warm up on the weekend again and then cool down again next week.

[red maples]

Josh was only 1 run ahead of me. I started collecting that run but I had so much ice around the trees that I really didn't get much, not enough to boil anyway. then shut down for 2 weeks. he was getting crappy runs like me. he's got alot more sugars than I do. I have mostly reds. not sure if trees ever really got going this year.

It has been a very strange year to say the least.

Had 540 gallons to boil last night sugar has dropped so only made 8 gallons. Foam was a big issue and steam smelling not so good anymore. started with borderline dark /very dark 25 then ended with 43. tasted again this morning and its not terrible but has a slight bit of I think metabolism. hint of wet cardboard. Had first boil one year before I knew what it was and dumped it. its not buddy yet. scrubbed one of my collection tanks on sunday the other yesterday. pretty nasty after the warm weather. went to seminar about buddy sap, metabolism, slight off flavors and making sugar. basically if you have metabolism you can bring it up to 250* and then add RO perm back to it to proper density and it flavor is gone but it will go to very dark when you do that. never tried it. will make some good sugar though.

pulled 5 taps from around the yard of very swelling buds on reds. the rest seem to be tight. Was hoping for more sap today but only managed about 125-150 gallons total. need one more freeze to keep going but aint gonna happen tonight. too bad. sap is still coming in pretty good at 8pm when I went out to check.

now here is the weird thing I still have ice in the swamp and far back in the woods but I heard a lone peeper at dusk. strange year!!! I am in a cold spot. the other end of my street I heard more peepers and just outside of Exeter there is a pond called brickyard pond and the peepers were quite loud. I was up in portsmouth at a basketball turnament with for my son sunday and the peepers were VERY loud up there. but the buds on all the reds in the parking lot were very tight. go figure.

[Russell Lampron]

I had 700 gallons last night and made 12.5 gallons. I collected another 400 gallons today and should have a pretty good amount for tomorrow night. The temps usually run about 5 degrees colder here than what the forecast says. Last night was supposed to be a low of 24 and it was 19 when I got up this morning.

[red maples]

wow those are good temps for this time of year. not getting those here.

Only had 250 gallons of sap last by last night so squeezed it and and boiled for a little bit. made another 4 gallons. puts me right about 65 gallons for the season. pretty bad. the syrup that I made the other night flavor got better as it sat. Its not bad.

Just not enough cold nights to keep the sap flowing strong. tonight is the last cold night in the 20's and below freezing in the next 7-8 day forecast. So this will be the last hurrah. we'll keep the pumps on til the last drop comes in. actually got a 2 day 25 gallons of sap form the buckets too couldn't believe it. Sugar had dropped to 1% on vac even the bucket sugar has dropped to 1.5%. Trees are getting very red here. go a mile in any direction from my house and the reds are popped.

funny though the grade had come up and has tested at 43 to 47 since maple weekend. mine seems to always for lighter at the end of the year has the last few years. especially when you would think it would go dark with higher bacteria in sap. go figure.

Wow it was windy last night... hope there isn;t much damage in the woods. when it was windy vac gauge was reading 26" lowest of the season and is at 26.75 now. lower than usual. could be branches could be just more air with trees moving so much? I don;t know.

[red maples]

pumps are still going. got a freeze yesterday but it was a little short, got down to 28 but really need a couple days of those to get things going again. funny thing is there is still ice in the woods. but night temps just not cooperating. only managed about maybe 125 gallons yesterday. I have only turned the pumps off if things froze up here this year. just want to keep that sap column open. in past years when sap shut down I turned vac off then it seemed to take longer for sap to run on little runs after a big warmup.

so I have 100 gallons of permeate saved. RO is washed right now. So need at least a total of 275 gallons of sap to have enough perm to rinse sugar and then do a final wash (which I usually do 2) and then 300 gallons for final rinse and preserve the membranes.

so I need another 150 gallons of sap. there is no freeze in the forecast. sap is very cloud but still smells and tastes OK. fingers crossed with this warm up today 64* forcasted I just might get it. if not we dump it and finish out the evap tomorrow.

it will be the worst crop for me since 2012. will end up at about 50-60% of a crop. temps just not cooperating for me this year.

and the Red Sox are looking pretty bad too. !!! 2 and 7 and just lost last night 8 to 15 to the diamond backs. What happened to the pitching??? everyone just getting banged up hope they get out of this funk!!!

[red maples]

I guess thats a season!!! too many reds popped yesterday got up to 67* sap was actually coming in pretty good since it was that warm. but sap is pretty nasty now and is actually kinda milky still tastes OK but don;t want to chance ruining whats in the pans already. didn't quite get the amount I needed ended up with 165 gallons at the house and the P.O.S. releaser across the street backed up so not much over there. So thats it the end to a weird season.

Funny how just about every season brings different things that make you scratch your head.

last year was really good temps toward the end of the season but the sap wouldn't flow. this year it was temps that wouldn;t cooperate for me and the very thick ice in the woods. not just the swamp but the woods too which there is still ice even now. I wonder if some of my woods really even got going this year. I don't know. the mystery of mother nature I guess.

this is my 9th year doing this hobby since moving form the back yard roasting pan and with exception of 2014 and 2015, every single year has been different from a crazy amount of rain combined with beavers blocking the culverts and flooding me out with my wood floating through out my yard and woods, water coming from with an inch of getting into the sugarhouse. the 2014 season which was kinda similar to this year where the first boil didn;t happen until march 15th and made 50% of a crop had nothing going into maple weekend to 2015 going the same route but made 125 gallons on just and had my biggest single day run ever and boiled well into April. made syrup in January one year. early february another year. and who can forget the 2012 season when we were done mid march from a week of beach weather. Oh mother nature, She is a fickle lady to say the least.

[red maples]

ended up with about 72 gallons. not good usually finish with 110-125. puts me at about 60-65% of my normal crop. only boiled 12 times including startup and clean out. Weather just didn't go my way here. I think I hung on more than anyone else around me and it definitely paid off.

anyhow. got my evap clean inside the pans anyway, gotta clean out all the ash and stuff out of the arch, all taps are pulled, 1 tank scrubbed. still have to get the relaser from across the street. get the membranes in preservative. RO. is clean just sitting in permeate for now. but should be finished by the end of the week then on to yard work, Bees, wood, and garden!!!

Already looking forward to next season!!! :)

See ya!!!