Tapped in Allegan County

[JYb.shopteacher]

Drilled 53 taps today, most ever on my little farm. Hoping to have a nice run this weekend.

[Michiganiac]

I am in the southeast corner - between Otsego and Merson Corners..... 216 taps.

I expect we will have enough to start boiling Monday...

[Balrog006]

NW part of the County here-set the rest of my 26 taps today about 10am. Sap flowing down the tree before I could finish drilling holes and set the tap.

I’ll start boiling sometime tomorrow depending on how full buckets are in the morning.

[Michiganiac]

We ought to have a pancake breakfast in Allegan for producers sometime in the next few weeks

....
:)

[JYb.shopteacher]

We ought to have a pancake breakfast in Allegan for producers sometime in the next few weeks

....
:)

Might have to wait till after the season, I quite often have people stop by, as I’m outside and in the open, but I always feel rude, being too busy to entertain

[Michiganiac]

Yeah.. Good idea....

How about Villiage Inn in Allegan... Maybe we can donate them some syrup and get them to make it an event.....

[Pdiamond]

Hey Joe, Good to see you got in so many taps this year, I'll bet the kids had fun helping with that. We had initially planned to tap last weekend but my uncle passed away and we had to attend his funeral. Had a lot of good memories of deer and fish camps with him and my dad over the years, still was rough. I'll be getting things done this week for this weekend though and we should be up and going by Sunday. Then just have to wait for at least 100 gallons or more of sap to start the evaporator. Good luck with your season.

[Balrog006]

52F and partly sunny tomorrow, I smell another run of sap starting! ;)

[Michiganiac]

Yup. It will run some today with it being sunny. But tomorrow it should take off... I have my 500 gallon feed tsnk insulated - so timing is important. I only want the coldest possible sap in it - so I guess I will get started picking up sap tomorrow evening - and leave it in my outside steel tank so it can cool overnight - and I will put it in the insulated tank first thing in the morning.

I hate sap getting cloudy.

[Michiganiac]

It ran better overnight than it did yesterday - and it's still running well.. I will go pick up before dark.

I had 1 barrel running over this morning. 6 trees on a 25 gallon drum....

[Balrog006]

It ran better overnight than it did yesterday - and it's still running well.. I will go pick up before dark.

I had 1 barrel running over this morning. 6 trees on a 25 gallon drum....

They were just getting rolling yesterday-I had 8 gal on 26 taps. 27 gal today, more than 3x as much.

[Michiganiac]

Yup it's running hard - sugar is down from last year. Picked up 450 gallon sap on 219 taps.

Now boiling 24 hour UFN....

[Michiganiac]

The warm nights shut it down. It may pick up again after the cold nights forecast for this weekend - but I am not holding my breath....

[Balrog006]

The warm nights shut it down. It may pick up again after the cold nights forecast for this weekend - but I am not holding my breath....

Pitifully short season if it stops now, it’s early yet.

[Michiganiac]

Stick a fork in it.


It's done.


Sap is down to 1.2 brix. Might as well boil pond water...

[Balrog006]

With the freezing overnight and the 40’s and 50’s since Sunday I’ve a couple of the best one day runs this season. Not sure of the sugar content as I have too much competition for my time right now and it was all I could manage to get it all boiled.

Will finish it tonight or tomorrow depending on how much ran late yesterday and overnight since I collected at 5pm.

Should end up with 4-6 pints from this last run though.

[michiganphil]

Yes, this week was very unexpected.
Some guys around me pulled taps last week, but in the last 3 days I have made 25% of this season's crop! It aint over til it's over.

[Balrog006]

Yes, this week was very unexpected.
Some guys around me pulled taps last week, but in the last 3 days I have made 25% of this season's crop! It aint over til it's over.

Agreed, 10 forecast says it’s over and I’m going to start pulling underperforming taps. But I’ll wait until things are well and done with no hope of returning before I remove them all-the weather guessers may yet change things and we’ll see another run.