Crawford County 2020

[Irish Ridge]

Monday, Feb. 17
45 taps, tubes, and buckets have all been put in place and are now waiting for the weather to cooperate. At least 10 trees were dripping slowly after drilling. Glad to have all work done by noon as snow started falling around 10 a.m. Yesterday afternoon using a skid steer to plow the quarter mile path out to the woods was simple enough as long as I remembered not to put the blade down at much of an angle. There is no frost in the ground at all and it was very easy to take the middle crown out of the path. Some cold days ahead but good weather in the forecast for the weekend. Have a good season everyone.

[clifford5555]

Hey Irish,

Good Luck to Ya!

This is my second season doing syrup and I put my taps in today! All taps facing south were dripping already! 1 was very cloudy and tasted funny like wood, we shall see.

My yard has 2 Large Norwegian's, 1 Small Norwegian and 1 Huge Silver: Last year I did 8 taps on them and had 80 gals sap= 1.5 gal syrup. This year I did 11 taps and my neighbor let me tap his Norwegian so I got 13 taps on 5 trees this year!

I'm in Fox Crossing, Winnebago County and I think its time!

Thursday supposed to be -5 degrees then Saturday 40 degrees Hoping to see some serious flow this weekend!

Now back to building my RO system from scratch! And I bought a Hydrometer too! Very Excited!

[medic5794]

Clifford I cook down in Appleton. I use a RO as well. I plan on tapping this coming weekend. If you want to come see my operation during the season just send me a message!

[Irish Ridge]

Clifford, Second season? It's not too late. Get out. After another season you will be too addicted and you will be in it for good. You are already talking "RO"s. Anyway, after a few more cold days, I agree with you, the run will be on. My other thought and we will see how it plays out is that is this might be a quick season with the lack of frost in the ground. A few years ago we had a short season and some who delayed tapping right away lost a good chunk of the season. Working on gravity, every day sap runs is important to me.

Best of luck to you and Medic5794 this season.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Irish Ridge, Glad to see your still are hooked and doing another syrup season. We are not going to tap until the 29th, it may be a mistake but have to much to do first. I will give a report after this weekend.

[Irish Ridge]

Hi Sugar Maple, The season is upon us or at least knocking on our doors. I'll be following you and the usual suspects over on the Vernon County thread. Glad to hear you did well out west. Can't help but smile and think of a different day and age. Now I'll have to get out my Deadwood dvd's. Today, I am back in the skid steer moving snow from Monday. Then the snowshoes come on and I will be brushing snow off of buckets and tamping down my trails from tree to tree. Tomorrow (Saturday) it is moving snow around the sugar shack and wood pile to give us some room to work. I forget your signature close from a few years back...I believe it was "tap on."

[ChaskaSap]

I’m across the river and north (TC). My first year doing this I just popped in 15 taps. I have 25 more to put in and now just waiting for temps to cooperate. Hoping for the best....fingers crossed.

[Irish Ridge]

Morning ChaskaSap and here's to a good season for you. I am hoping for a little run over the next 4 days. Then cooler for a few and next week Sunday and on looks great. I remember my first years doing this. Learned something most every day. Went to our local True-Valu store last Friday to listen to a presentation for hobby sappers. It was put on by a rep from Roth Sugarbush over in Cadott Wisconsin. You might want to check out their website. They have lots of 2 and 3 minute videos you can click on sharing best practices for operations our size. It's a great feeling when you can watch one and say, "good, I am doing this part right."

[ChaskaSap]

Thanks Irish Enthusiast, I’ll definitely be checking it out. I’ve been fortunate to have a coworker who’s been at it for some time. He gave me ins and outs. Regardless the more education the better.

Excited as hell!

[Irish Ridge]

Sunday, Feb. 23rd. Last couple of days the temps did their job. Trees on the top of the ridge are dripping fine. Lower down the north facing slope, and in more shade the drip is much slower or not at all. It didn't take much to get a Kawasaki mule stuck in very wet snow and slush. The walk back to get the skid steer did provide time to consider carrying and using the mule tire chains next time out and the old line that all 4 wheel drive does is allow you to get stuck further in. Collecting sap early tomorrow morning while the ground is still hard is the first item on the new weeks agenda.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Those HBO Deadwood series were great, our gold claims are more in the central Black Hills down by Hill City. My weekend getting around was with the snowmobile, a real mule night have worked better for you:lol:Glad the sap was flowing, our hillside faces more north west to north,with very little sunshine on the ridge road.

[Irish Ridge]

Monday, Feb. 24. Sap was flowing in all buckets. On a one to five scale some trees were at a slow one but many more at a better two and a few at a medium (3) flow. We'll be getting a fire going either Tuesday or Wednesday. After tossing the ice in the buckets sugar content was just below 3%.

[Irish Ridge]

Thursday, Feb. 27th. Collected all the sap just as the freeze came on and can say I have just under a gallon and a half of syrup for the season. For my gravity operation, tapping a week early paid off. Waiting now for the trees to turn back on again. Setting up buckets Saturday. I have to know the wind tipped some over the past few days. Looking to collect again Sunday or Monday.

[clifford5555]

Hey Guys, Just checking back in with ya. I tapped on the 17th as well and got a good run those 3 or 4 days after!

I boiled down about 11-12 gals on Thursday so I could try out my new RO system I built. It was by far the easiest boil I have ever done.

Spent 3 hours running RO, after I figured out how to use it. LOL that took 12 hours a.k.a Wednesday. Had only about 3 gallons of sap left after that.

Then boiled outside 2 hours, brought it inside to finish and had 22 oz of gold Light syrup about 2 more hours later. I was blown away that I did it all in a few hours. I barely touched my wood pile. Unreal.

Anyways THIS IS IT! THE WEEK WE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! Let the good times drip!

Im so worried this is gonna be a lot of warm days in a row and I see 60 degrees in the forecast for Mar 9th...so we shall see. I hope these cold nights keep it running!

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?35288-RO-Homemade-System-Problem In case u want to see my RO

[Irish Ridge]

5555 it sounds like you have the operation dialed in pretty well. I also did alright with the warm days last Sunday through Tuesday. After that, nothing. A check this afternoon revealed that the taps are running again, but slowly. This will be an interesting week. I won't even try to make a prediction.

[clifford5555]

Yea they were dripping very slowly....I did collect about 7 gallons of sap today, but when i took the hose off the tap to see how much was flowing , it was a real slow drip. I was kinda hoping to get 10+ gallons today!

[Irish Ridge]

Thursday, March 5th. High winds and gusts all days. A rain shower around 7 a.m. and the temps had dropped enough so that by 4:30 snow was being driven in the strong wind. Enough weather reporting. The morning was spent gathering sap which is pouring out of the trees. My wife took care of evaporator duties until 11 a.m. when all sap was collected. Sugar content continues to be well over 2.5%. Some tests of 5 gallon buckets actually brought readings over 3%. They also brought a smile to my face. Predicted from the start that this might be a very short season so I am taking it when I can.

Friday, March 6th in the a.m. Heading out to stand buckets up again. Next report - Saturday evening.

[Irish Ridge]

Sunday, March 8th. Can't complain about the run from Friday into Saturday. Way more than enough to keep me busy. Easily over a gallon per tree and about the same with the late Sunday afternoon collection. Instead of being completely boiled down this evening, it now look like there will be work done in the rain Monday. Sugar content is a good 2.5 to 3%. My rough estimates put my yearly total at my lowest year so it is now how the rest of the season plays out to determine final numbers. Robins are back, if that means anything. Come to think of it so are the flies, bees and red winged blackbirds.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Irish ridge, last Wednesday the 4th when I gathered there were not any moths, but Saturday night the 7th when gathering our pails had a lot of moth action. They gather around the tap and sneak in to the pails thru the hole in the side of the bucket. the snow cover we had up top is gone now but as of Monday the 9th there was still 8 to 10 inches of snow in the valley by the sugar house.Sure hope for a weather change. God Bless.

[Irish Ridge]

Friday, March 13th. Update for the past week. Made a big collection on Wednesday and what was going to be an average size catch up boil became an all day event with the fire roaring until 11:30 p.m. Finishing on the gas stove on Thursday gave us 2 more additional gallons of syrup. We are just below our average for the year with 9 gallons of syrup. Anything from here on out will bring us to our average or above average year. Sugar content continues to be right around 2.5%. To everyone in the southern part of the state, here's to a strong end of season run this next week.

[Irish Ridge]

Sunday, March 15th. Sap has been running off and on but enough to get a very nice collection and a full day of boiling Monday. Sap is still clear, a little bit lower sugar content with 2% being the average.

Monday, March 16th. We got a fire started by 8 a.m. and then the trip to the woods began. We completed that by 11 a.m. and had an excellent collection from the past 24 hours. For my gravity trees, it was well over a gallon per tree. A light mist for the first 24 hours wasn't much of a bother. The ground was solid enough to allow us to venture into the woods a bit further on the trails. Less carrying is always nice. Back to the fire...

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Well Irish Ridge sounds like you have everything under control, I still have valley snow and mud still is not a problem,Up top the ground seems firm and not to greasy.Being off grid for a few days a guy forgets about the pandemic but the ride home brings me back to reality and stress level goes up. stay healthy my friend.

[Irish Ridge]

Tuesday, March 17th, Well, everything was under control until this morning. I went out to collect sap and found that I had the best 24 hour run ever. My total average was approximately 2.25 gallons per tree. My favorite tree was well over 3 gallons. Unbelievable. Now I am simply enjoying a nice sunny day, low wind speed, and trying to figure out how my next few days will look especially with rain coming. That and tossing another log on every now and then. Sap on.

[Irish Ridge]

Tuesday, March 24th,

The past week were good runs and long boils. Second best year at this point and should not be hard to make it my best year. A long boil yesterday and then on to the gas stove to finish a batch made for a long day. Fire was started at 7 a.m. this morning. Collection of sap this a.m. includes collecting buckets. We boil until finished today. Just can't complain about anything with this season. Longer than the most recent. A recap will come in a day or two.

Tuesday, March 24th at noon. Way to much sap in the woods. Only half the buckets were brought in. Definitely will work through the night to keep pace with the trees. Wednesday the rest of the taps get pulled. Just burning time right now.

[Irish Ridge]

Friday, March 27th. As promised, the remaining taps were pulled on Wednesday. Problem was (good problem) that there was plenty of sap in the pails so the question was now how to get this all boiled. That project continued all day and evening Wednesday. A rain delay Thursday morning allowed for catch up on things and then more boiling in the afternoon and evening. Friday we finished all boiling and finished on the gas stove. 2020 was our best year yet. With 47 taps we were able to produce 21.5 gallons. The last week produced some very dark syrup. Fun watching the color change over the course of the season. Only one batch this week had excessive sugar sand. Sugar content in the sap remained high all season. It was a long season for us with taps going in on Feb. 17th and sap really running Feb. 21st. There was one very slow spell in there but a very strong end of season.

RANDOM THOUGHTS- Peepers announced their presence on Wednesday evening. Complete firewood supply was used. Do I get an RO? Where are the turkeys? Except for a lot of clean up, we are done here on Irish Ridge. Hope everyone has or had a successful season.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Glad you had a record year, now time to start cutting wood for next season, split, stack, and Ibuprofen. Oh boy.