Tapping in Ontario

[Brookmaple]

Took our first boil off Thurs. Mar. 11 producing 1.5 gallons from 55 gallons sap. No rain it the sap, but the syrup was dark amber with a very high sugar sand content. Ran very well Monday and Tuesday this week. Buckets overflowing. 10-15 cms snow today, high winds, now -5 C. Forecast looks good with several nights well below freezing; days just above 0. Gradual warming trend predicted new week.

[ca2devri]

I would like to know how you guys in Elgin and anywhere to the southwest are finding this year?


this is my first year, so nothing to go by, but I've made almost 20 litres from 45 taps so far. I have about 50 gallons of sap from Sunday waiting to boil but nothing since then. We're covered in snow and frozen solid now. I would have been expecting to be working in the garden by now!

I just bought a sap and syrup hydrometer and Sunday's sap measures just about 3% which I guess is good. Some of my trees are going like crazy and some haven't given me more than a few cups of sap.

Chris

[Ewetopia]

it ran good last week and has now frozen up until 03/29ish...... i have made 18 L on 26 taps (all dark), with about 200 L of mostly frozen sap to boil before the next big run (i hope)

[timbers]

Timbers do you know the Chamber's from Villa Nova or the Watt's around Townsend?

If you do, do you know how they are making out this year?

Not sure how they are doing. The two guys near to me from st williams are retired.
Ian

[argohauler]

I got to the bush yesterday afternoon. Went to the line tank and the mainlines were dripping. We had a high of -1/30 yesterday with lots of sun.

Looked like a winter wonderland in the bush today. Around 4 inches of snow in the bush. 3/4" of ice in the holes I run through.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h280/Leah_Anne/ChrissCameraMarch24001.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h280/Leah_Anne/ChrissCameraMarch24002.jpg

The few buckets I had around the shanty were dripping a bit if they were in the sun. Rebored them a little deeper and they were almost running like new taps even with the cold temp.

I redid one mainline and found where a limb had come down and broke the blue line 6 inches from a tee and also broke that tee. Will need to get help to stretch it back together.

I then did some more buckets in the neighbours bush.

I checked the mainline just after 6 and that line was trickling while the others were just dripping.

Looks like we'll get at least 4 days run, starting Tuesday.

Will bore some more out today.

[ca2devri]

Ewetopia,

We're pretty close. I'm just west of John Wise and Hwy 4 south of St.Thomas.

Crazy cold we're getting right now. The forecast makes next week look like it will be a big sap run. Maybe that will be it? It should be warming up after that.

Chris

[crackher]

hey guys is it a good idea to freshen up the holes on the buckets this time of year? will it increase the yield?

[Brent]

This question comes up time and again every year. Same answer every time. When the holes start to dry up, reaming them up will give you maybe a day or two of slightly improved flow, but that's about it.

[BryanEx]

This question comes up time and again every year. Same answer every time. When the holes start to dry up, reaming them up will give you maybe a day or two of slightly improved flow, but that's about it.

I agree. Dr. Tim Perkins has posted about reaming holes repeatedly. It ain't worth the effort but makes you feel good that day. :lol:

[H. Walker]

Does anyone on here know where to sell bulk syrup in Eastern Ontario, or anywhere in Ontario for that matter?

[Brent]

Atkinson buys syrup. The have a charge for doing a lead test so you need a decent amount to justify the cost ($ 50 I think ) for doing the test.

http://atkinsonmaple.com/

[argohauler]

hey guys is it a good idea to freshen up the holes on the buckets this time of year? will it increase the yield?

It worked for me in 07. I had made 66 gallons in March, it got hot and then it froze up April 4th to 10th and I rebored the lines and buckets and finished up on the 23rd of April. I made 77 gallons in April. Everybody gave up cuz there trees dried up!

[KenWP]

It could have been just that the trees decided to give sap again.In 2009 I never got a drop for almost 2 weeks end of march and then it got cold again and it poured for 3 more weeks untill the trees budded.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Just looked at the long range from Accuweather.com, it's supposed to be unseasonably cold through to the end of April. This could mean one of those years that gets talked about for years after where producers who normally make 30-40 gallons, make 55-60+ gallons of syrup.From looking at the short term forecast it might be a good idea to issue a bigsap warning for Ontario and Quebec for mid to late next week.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Here's the link to the long range: http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/anderson/story/47495/long-range-says-real-spring-may-be-further-delayed.asp

[MudnMaple]

Does anyone on here know where to sell bulk syrup in Eastern Ontario, or anywhere in Ontario for that matter?

Maybe someone else could have more specific information but I had heard from a friend that someone right close to your area is selling bulk syrup up around Perth somewhere. Same guy that just had a big holding tank delivered when you received your last shipment of supplies, up on Mother Barnes Rd. If that rings any bells for you.

[sugarstone]

Does anyone on here know where to sell bulk syrup in Eastern Ontario, or anywhere in Ontario for that matter?

go to Ontario Maple Syurp Prod. Assoc. website: http://www.ontariomaple.com/directory/bulk-buyers-of-maple.html

[H. Walker]

go to Ontario Maple Syurp Prod. Assoc. website: http://www.ontariomaple.com/directory/bulk-buyers-of-maple.html

I'll try a couple of names on that list but, I know that the site is under reconstruction because the last it was updated was several years ago. Delta Foods is still listed and they have been closed for at least 3 years and that is one of the problems of no buyers in this area.

[Bruce L]

Walker,did you contact Paul and David?They produce alot of syrup and may know of bulk buyers.

[BryanEx]

Just got around to finishing my first batch for 2011 and I now have 3 gallons of the lightest syrup I've ever made. It actually compares to canola oil in colour. I have bottled up a little of it to keep as a souvenir but otherwise I have no idea what to do with it. I can't sell anything lighter than medium so there's no way for an extra extra light. It will likely end up being blended with late season stuff for the volume. It's cool to look at but sure doesn't seem like maple syrup to me. :rolleyes:

[argohauler]

From talking with my cousin tonight, it sounds like the Mennonites are having an awesome year.

He had a fella call him today wanting to know if my cousin wanted to buy 15000lbs of light that he had made this year!

[crackher]

It worked for me in 07. I had made 66 gallons in March, it got hot and then it froze up April 4th to 10th and I rebored the lines and buckets and finished up on the 23rd of April. I made 77 gallons in April. Everybody gave up cuz there trees dried up!

Agro when you say rebored, di you go depper into the tree? What exactly did you do. I am thinking about this for later this week

[argohauler]

Yeah I went just a bit deeper. I could see some of the spile holes were starting to slime up a bit. The drop lines looked fairly good. I had the time to do it and free help from dad and my father in law. We'll see how it goes, except now it may only freeze nights till Thursday or Friday and more rain come in and at least 2 nights it isn't going to freeze. Could possibly be over here after this week.

[sugarstone]

Just got around to finishing my first batch for 2011 and I now have 3 gallons of the lightest syrup I've ever made. It actually compares to canola oil in colour. I have bottled up a little of it to keep as a souvenir but otherwise I have no idea what to do with it. I can't sell anything lighter than medium so there's no way for an extra extra light. It will likely end up being blended with late season stuff for the volume. It's cool to look at but sure doesn't seem like maple syrup to me. :rolleyes:

Why not try a batch of candies? I personally don't have the patience to make'em...thats my wife's department. Peanuts (Dark or strong Medium), I can handle...

[sugarstone]

I'll try a couple of names on that list but, I know that the site is under reconstruction because the last it was updated was several years ago. Delta Foods is still listed and they have been closed for at least 3 years and that is one of the problems of no buyers in this area.

...good point..
Try Quebec? Depends on how far the buyer wants to truck it I guess. We'll see in a month what the supply is going to be.

[Yellzee]

well, got about 30 gallons yesterday by 5, it stayed warm quite late though so maybe more back there, think that north wind was holding things back. Hoping today is a HUGE day.

[argohauler]

Went back and thawed out the pans. Will drain the flue pan this afternoon and finish it tomorrow, if we get any sap today that is. 2 lines just started to trickle at 12:30. The buckets were running very slowly and those were the ones in the sun.

My uncle told me last night when he came home from work that a further away neighbour was boiling last night. He has 3000 taps on vac.

[ennismaple]

We still couldn't boil if we wanted to - the open top tanks are froze solid and the Zero tanks have a good layer of ice in them. Today's sap should thaw things out so we can fire up tomorrow.

[CBOYER]

Sugarstone. Quebec is on Quotas, even Qc producer are limited..

[ca2devri]

We collected only about 4 gallons of sap from 45 taps yesterday, but it did only got up to about 0 C (near St.Thomas). Today is supposed to go to 3 C and sunny, so I'm thinking (hoping) it will be a big run.

On Sunday we boiled down about 50 gallons, half of it ice. Most of that sap was from over a week ago as nothing ran last week. I know we could have thrown the ice out, but we had visitors helping and wanted something to boil! Got it down to about 15 litres of sweet, ready to add to the next batch.

Chris

[Yellzee]

Sunny and around 7 here right now... can't wait to get home and check the collection tanks.

Found a new 270 gallon tote for $150.... compared to buying a used one for 100$ and paying shipping this seemed pretty good. No cleaning required and no stink forever!

[can'twaitforabigrun]

The latest I've heard on the bulk syrup front for everyone wanting to start selling bulk syrup is that Peter Kennedy out of Millbrook, Ontario represents LB Maple Treat and will buy bulk syrup in eastern/southern Ontario. Your best bet would probably be to contact Maple Treat and ask them about it. Also, google them and check out their operation, 100,000+ taps and there own bottling plant. Not sure how they can operate separatly from the Co-op federation in Quebec, maybe it's because they are so large like Lapierre Farms.

[CBOYER]

LB Maple Treat is under coop rules in Qc for production, and they are one of the authorized buyers for Qc producers. They transform a lot more than they produced They have is Head office in B.C., could help to buy outside of Qc??

[Bruce L]

Sap really never took off until 6:00 or later,here it is 9:15 and I still have the vacuum pump running,have to go pump one of the tanks up to the large holding tank or it will be over the top before midnight.Had another producer in to visit just at dusk,he was surprised at how the sap was flogging in from the pump,never even looked at his bush today.
Bruce

[argohauler]

Not much sap yesterday. Lines just trickled. Better be big sap today! It may not freeze tonight because of rain/snow moving in for Thursday and Friday. One weather report says it's going to freeze Friday, the other zero. After that no freezing. :(

[Yellzee]

Good run for me, dragged 90 gallons back to the shack by 6pm, and it was still running pretty well, given that it was still about zero at 10pm I wish I could have gotten out there this morning to empty the tanks again.

maple Flu coming on... need to get home early to check the tanks

[RyanB]

Hardly anything ran yesterday for me in the Fergus/Arthur area. Slightly ran around 5pm but quit soon after. Some tree's started at 10am this morning and I am hoping the others kick in shortly and flood my pails. Havn't boiled or collected for that mater in over a week!!! Once the snow hit last Wed morning the temps dropped below zero and didn't come back above until yesterday!

Ryan

[Jerome]

Mostly ice in my jugs collected about 10 gal yesterday but probably have 50 frozen solid hopefully today it will thaw.

[ennismaple]

Sap's running hard today. With what was in the tanks after yesterday's run and today's sap it'll be a big day! The Beast will get a hell of a workout before the day's over. LittleEnnis had it roaring just after 11 am and I doubt he'll be done before midnight.

[Brian66]

Ice forced appart a coupler just before my collection tank yesterday, as a result I got nothing, not a drop. Just a big pile of what looked like ice poops on the ground. Running good today though. Boiling tomorrow.

[ennismaple]

BIGTSUNAMISAP ALERT!!!!!! We're barely able to stay in front of the sap today with the RO and The Beast. Our double vertical bernard releaser is dumping at 90 second intervals. We're gonna go through a pile of wood and a bunch of drums today!!!!

[can'twaitforabigrun]

We gathered 100 gallons yesterday from 120 taps on 75 trees, there was lots of ice as we hadn't gathered since the 21st, cause of the cold. We were expecting a big run today, but only gathered 40 gallons, was still running when we gathered at 4:30, hopefully more tomorrow. Long range calling for consistent highs around 6/7 lows -2- -5!

[BryanEx]

Eastern Ontario... all I can say is HOLY BUSY!!! From kickin' tires to building the whole darn car with a week off in between. :)

[Bruce L]

Started off at 10:30 this morning with the 800 gallon holding tank full,refilled after lunch when I had it near empty,refilled again at suppertime,not sure how low it was then,and filled to the top just before dark so the tubing tanks wouldn't go over tonight.Woodpile disappearing fast,I can see part of the back pile now.

[argohauler]

Not a very big run here today. Got around 800 gallons to boil tomorrow.

[Yellzee]

Found tanks badly overflowing at about 4pm,,, GRRRRR!!! New large holding tank sitting at house that i haven't got back there yet.

Emptied one of the 45 gallon holding tanks, spent 2 hours checking taps for leaks (almost all the taps leaking ... don't think I'm a fan of the new straight in taps).

Emptied the other 45 gallon drum.

8pm, emptied another 45 gallon drum.. sap still running fairly well. So over 135 gallons of sap.

Don't think we got any frost last night in our area...

She who must be obeyed may just go out and check the tanks today during the day to prevent another overflow..

[ontario guy]

we collected 135 gallons on 113 taps yesterday, at 10 gph needless to say i have some sap left today. I think we are going to make our years worth of syrup in this 7 day period. My wood pile took a beating last night as well.

Mark

[Yellzee]

Oh oh, she who must be obeyed tried to help out and check sap and now has the 4 wheeler stuck in the mud out back... sounds very happy.

apprently over 45 gallons so far this morning.

She has now carried the car battery through the swamp to the barrels and is pumping them out...

am I going to hear about this one.

[ennismaple]

We had a record day yesterday - 133 gallons of syrup made in 12 hours of boiling. LittleEnnis had The Beast roaring and I'm sure he ate a big hole in the woodpile. The RO mostly behaved and we didn't break anything so it was a good day!

[cvmaple]

While I was resting up for work yesterday, the collecting crew gathered 102 gallons from 68 taps. Road trees were emptied twice due to speed of the run and all woods trees were overflowing or up to the rim. It took 2 full hours to collect from the woods and storage is becoming a bit of an issue. Woodpile has already taken a beating so this is going to be a busy weekend. What a change from last year!!!! cvmaple.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

We gathered 85 gallons today, twice as much as yesterday, but still not as much as we should be getting with way the temperatures have been. It must be all the snow in the bush, still 8-16 inches most places and using the ski-doos to gather. I also think it may be the slight northwest wind we've had the past few days, it really cools the branch tips way up high. Anyone else experiencing the same thing or want to offer up your theories on the strange season?

[argohauler]

Took off 51 litres yesterday for a total of 461. Around 800 gallons to boil today.

2nd night it hasn't froze. Hoping Environment Canada's forecast for tonight is right. Calling for -4. Trees just got thawed out again.

Starting to hear peepers out in the fields.

Extended weather not looking so good. Rain for Monday. The year of rain systems that have us at around 16 non freezing nights in March..

[Yellzee]

Going to take me the next day or two to get caught up anyways....

wood pile disappearing rapidly... the hemlock slab wood I got from a nearby sawmill sure has the sap boiling.

[HV Maple]

Wondering how the sap was running today. Been sitting at +8 C (46 F for our Amerifriends) for the last 3-4 hours. Winds from the North / NorthWest have picked up and the pressure is dropping.

Suppose to get just below freezing tonight, high of +10 tomorrow. Not sure if this will be enough to recharge the trees though. Sunday looks ideal - hope it runs like hell!

Needless to say, I'll be boiling all weekend.

[Bruce L]

Thought it would be a slow day today,but those new Leader check valves had other ideas.Neighbour dropped by to see how they performed,we have them in half the bush,whole bush will be on them next year,now if only we had the wood.800 liters so far from 975 taps(some buckets),we can maybe make another 100-125 liters and wood is gone!

[argohauler]

Woohoo! Finished what I had in the pans and it was the darkest I've made this year. 51 litres. Started fresh and am making amber. Just what I was hoping for. Made 34 litres yesterday for a total of 495.

We gathered the trees that we gathered Wednesday. Even without a freeze and 2 days running there were some overflowing buckets. If we could of had a freeze, I think we would of had BIGSAP.

Well, it got to -1 last night. The ground feels pretty hard out there this morning. Will I get BIGSAP today? I sure hope so!

[Yellzee]

runnin good this morning here, we had about -2 at my place. ABout 65 gallons by 1pm. getting pretty behind... talk of a new evap for next year seems to far off at this point.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 42 gallons today and 40 yesterday. Tomorrow could be the biggest run of the year; -6 tonight and up to 12 tomorrow according to Environment Canada. Just wondering how many gallons Ennis Maples has pumped out with that new Force 5, after the "sap tsunami" of the past few days.

[argohauler]

I guess it didn't freeze good enough last night. Taps only ran a little bit. They trees are just itchin to run big if they could only get a freeze.

Took off 39 litres of amber for a total of 534.

Got 700 gallons to boil tomorrow.

I'm not very optimistic about our weather anymore. They can predict the highs, but not the lows. And more friggin rain. They got 4 days out of 6 with rain!

[cheesegenie]

Didn't freeze hard enough here niether last night. Has anyone noticed the poor yeild this year? I am tapping sugar hard maples and getting 50-1 or even less. Hard on the dry woodpile.

[Brent]

Didn't freeze here worth a darn either, but I think we got
something about 400-500 gallons. I boil, she is the sap hauler, and she doesn't bother with numbers much. I boiled non-stop from about 1:00 to 10:30. RO running, SteamAway bubbling. Think we made something like 100 litres. The wood consumption is astonishing. I had maybe 3 to 3/12 cords put down and didn't think we had enough so we got the Menonites to send down 3 more cords. I don't think we'll get through my stuff. We'll have the Menonite maple well seasoned for next year.:D

[SPM in King]

Froze here yesterday and last night. Good frost on the roof and frozen mud on the ground. The problem is too much sap. The barrels overflowed yesterday. As of this morning, I have 1200L + to get through. Should be a long day. And the sap just keeps flowing. In years to come, I'll think back on 2011 as the great one!

Steve.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 80 gallons today, snow coming tonight then rain tomorrow. Hoping Wed., Thurs. Fri. will be the big days of the year. With so much snow still in the bush, we would normally not even be close to halfways done, but I'm afraid it won't freeze much after this upcoming weekend. It's days like these past few where I wish I had vacum.

[argohauler]

Trees have finally quit running, with the last freeze being Tuesday night.

Took off 63 litres of amber today for a total of 597. So that's 131.5 Imp. gals. and 158 USG.

By the looks of tonight's forecast, I think I'm done.

Got just over 200 gals. to boil tomorrow.

It was snowing snowballs, sleeting, and raining all at once this evening.

[Brent]

So you didn't like the snow and sleet part and sent them on up to us. Thanks a bunch.

We got about 750 gallons of sap today and boiled it all but about 20 gallons that came in late. I think we could easily get another few runs. There is no change in the tree tops yet. With all the work to get the new-to-me rig running I sure hope there's more in the season. It's neat to see it finally all come together.

[Yellzee]

I can use a break in the sap, looks like more coming mid week.

I am far enough behind I might have to toss some out tomorrow as it's gonna go bad on me.

Up to 84 litres ... given that I put in about 20 taps a week or so late I'd say I'm doing pretty decent. Especially with about 200 gallons of sap in the tank.

I've been getting about 2 gallons of syrup for every 70 gallons of sap.

Trail likely impassible after the rain today.

[ennismaple]

We made 109 gallons Friday, 75 gallons Saturday and 65 gallons yesterday. All was medium except the first few runoffs Friday and Saturday. As long as we keep the tanks clean and process it fast we're not making amber yet. We should get enough drums of that later this week. We'll likely exceed 1L syrup per tap tomorrow.

LittleEnnis and I had everything fine tuned and humming along all weekend. At one point on Friday I had the RO concentrating, The Beast running off 1L of syrup every minute or so, the Sirofilter humming along and was filling and labelling containers all by myself. It's a pleasure to boil when everything is problem free!

We haven't totalled up and crunched the numbers yet but it looks like the CV's are producing the lion's share of the sap right now. Yesterday we averaged 0.75 gallons sap per tap but our 2 bushes that are exclusively CV's produced over 0.80L per tap so the rest is likely closer to 0.70L/tap. The next week will be the litmus test for the CV's vs the other spouts we're using.

[Brent]

Just came back from the bush with another load (4:00pm).
We've got 400-450 gallons of sap from the vac and the 75 buckets aren't going to give up much more that may 15 gallons. I'm relecutant to boil with such a small amount but with the warm temps I don't want to lose it either. Going to start the RO now.

PS made the first batch of maple cream today with the new D&G machine ... at least she tried while I was in the bush.
Man is this thing fast. Before she could get all the syrup in there was cream cpming out the top. YUM

[argohauler]

Boiled the last 200 gals. yesterday and got 11 litres for a total of 608 and it went dark.

Looks like we're done down here in the soggy south.

Got to service the argo, clean the 2 line tanks, and then start hauling water back to the bush to finish off what's in the pans tomorrow.

[Yellzee]

Still trying to get thru the weekend sap before it goes bad. Batch I finished last night was amber but delicious, sap in tank looking a tiny bit cloudy be refiltering before putting in pan clears it up... will have to taste carefully as it finishes to make sure it's ok. Might use another 70 gallons of the 150 or so in the tank.

almost no wood left, think I may dump most of the sap sitting around anyways and boil the new sap that should come tomorrow or Thursday

[longbeard]

Well, haven't had much time to keep up with the posts here with a record year in this area. I decided to finish it off yesterday and boil what was remaining - ended up with almost 1 litre per tap which is a record for me, probably could make more but that is enough and it is getting pretty dark.
Had many long days keeping up on the 2x 6 so will be glad to hook up the new to me 2 1/2 X 8 coming at end of season (the 2 X 6 was sold, for the guys that were interested).

This year has been a lot more fun that last spring and can only hope for another one in 2012.

Turkeys are gobbling big time in my bush, so have to get ready for other activities!!

[Brent]

Monday was better to us than we first expected. Finished off 24 gallons. Almost everything this year was medium.
Still looking at 2+ cords in the tent for next year and haven't even dreamed about getting into the 3 cords we had the menonites bring down. Think we've got 2 or 3 years supply of wood. Man this system is miserly on wood.
No peepers in the pond yet, but maybe tonight. Came real close to freeze last night. It might have made -1. Going to start the vac again right now.

JUst went out and measured the wood in the tent. Look like we used 1-1/4 cords so far. Just got the wife's numbers that's in bottles and we're over 200 gallons. 160 gallon per cord. Wow

[Brent]

Tuesday 1:00 pm we have 250 gallons so far this morning. The best trees with buckets are only dripping a drop every 5 seconds. The poorer ones are stopped. The vac system is getting some. We might get another 200 by the end of the day. No peepers in the ponds but the willows are starting to look buddy.

[ennismaple]

We'll bring in another 2500+ gallons today. Not bad considering it hasn't frozen since Saturday night. It's times like this the vacuum pays for itself many times over!

[Brent]

AMEN Ennismaple

My signature is not correct. Looks like we're really got about 475 taps on vac this year. Looks like we're getting about the same per tap off the vac. We'd be shut out if it wasn't for vac.

There isn't a freeze forecast for us in the local 5 day done by the goverenment employees, but Accuweather thinks we'll get a -1 tonight.

[nas]

-1 here at 10:00. Hopefully it drops two or three more. I need another day of boiling to get 1L per tap. They are calling for below freezing tomorrow night too. Bring it on:D

Nick

[Brent]

Yup -2 here already., Ice formed up in the puddles at 10 o'clock.

We haven't had a gangbusters day this year ... maybe tomorrow.

[nas]

Got to -4 last night. Hope it runs good today.

Nick

[HV Maple]

Hey longbeard, where abouts are you in Simcoe?

Got down to -3 here last night, and forcasted to get down the same for tonight. Hoping for one last run today and tomorrow. After Saturday, the low is onloy expected to get to +10:(.

[Yellzee]

Sap I had left got dumped last night... was a bit cloudy and didn't want to make a bad batch.
finished a batch last night of medium that may be the best tasting syrup I've ever made.

Big freeze last night...will be quite a battle on the trail to get sap to the shack.

The weather and I think we are done after tomorrow.

[crackher]

We have had a big slow down from a couple days ago. Like Brent said froze last night here to. I just talked with my dad (sugarin' partner) and the lines are running pretty good. I have a breakdown on the fourwheeler today so that is going to make it near impossible to get and move some of the barrels.

[SPM in King]

Good long freeze here last night. Lines are running as well as they have all year. It's tough to keep up. Looks like I might run low on wood. I have enough for today, then I'm into next winter's firewood.
Steve.

[crackher]

Ha firewood. If I am lucky and the season ends for me this week I will have just enough wood. after that all bets are off....the tire's and used motor oil is starting to look better and better hahahaha:lol:

[Brent]

By 6:00 we've hauled in 600 gallons with a few more trips to do. Not gangbusters like last year when we had 1500 gallon days, but I don't have all the trees tapped that I did last year. (booked into Shouldice for body work)
Tomorrow should be about the same if the weather guessers are close. Calling for -3 here. The next forecast freeze is a week away so we may be buddy before the next freeze. With the vac I expect we'll get slower and slower runs through the weekend.

[argohauler]

It didn't freeze hard enough Tuesday night. Trees did nothing, so I finished off what was in the pans and got 57 litres.

So my grand total is......665 litres.....146.5 Imperial gallons.....176 US gallons.

So my dismal per tap average is....from 1800 taps.... .37 litres.

The season could of been oh so much better if we didn't have the 20 + nights that didn't freeze.

Also my bush, in fact this whole block doesn't run well to begin with. You go 5 miles up the road to my uncles and they run like they're supposed to. Maybe it's because of all the numerous swamps we have. Where my uncle is, he's got rock close and deep crick valleys.

So today is shanty clean up and bring things home and start to wash up.

Check out the weather. Environment Canada has got Sunday at 22 C / 73 F.

[RyanB]

Ran like crazy again here in the Fergus/Arthur area again yesterday! And last night when I came home it was showing -4 in the truck. Should be another good day. From my 50 taps, we have 38L of syrup and we lost at least 15L (had my father running the arch both times...first time he thought the temp had to be 19degree's over the boiling point of water, instead of 219!...didn't hurt anything other than it turned into straight sugar within minutes!!!). Then on Monday he got side tracked with 1" in the pan and burnt the syrup and almost scorched the pan (ALMOST). Oh well, he has been a great help running the little arch as I have been busy busy in the shop! That all being said, with todays run we will be well over 1L per tap here and and there are already big plans for next year!

Ryan

[Brent]

We collected roughly 900 gallons yesterday. One test showed it was 2.4%. All boiled down.

We did get ice in the puddles again last night so we should get something similar today.

Sap runs have be pretty steady this year. No days like last year when we had some days of 1500 gallons when it was so warm it spoilded before we got it boiled. ( smaller evap last year )

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 115 gallons yesterday,second biggest run of the year. Should be good days today and tomorrow, and possibly Saturday after that who knows. After Friday night it isn't supposed to freeze again until next Friday or Saturday night and we could probably see at least one day above 20 C next week. Anyone planning on pulling this weekend, or will most producers wait and see if the sap is still not buddy by next weekend?

[HV Maple]

Must have been a good run yesterday. Collected just over 140 gallons from my 100 taps. I gathered at about 6:30am this morning and all of my buckets have a thick layer of ice on them. Many were so thick, I could hold full buckets upside-down without a drop coming out. Had to bust the top layer of ice to empty.

Looks like the today and Friday are going to be carbon copies of Wednesday!

[Yellzee]

not as good yesterday for me, got about 65 gallons out of the 125 taps.

Need to start marketing some of this syrup I'm making, shack is filling up with bottles.

Froze good here last night as well, calling for frost again to night.

Almost stuck in the swamp yesterday..so tonight will be interesting!

[HV Maple]

Been a quiet day here post wise in this here forum lol. Either everyone is tuckered out from running today or are still busy at it tonight.

Great run here today, another >140 gallon day. Looks like we'll have another two sap running days as well. Getting down to -5 tonight with clear skies.

Runnin the rig as I type this with a big grin ear-to-ear!

[Treetapper]

Did my last boil today. No freeze hear either in the Ontario (banana belt) Waterford area. Pulled all my taps Wednesday. I haven't bottled everything yet but got pretty close to 200 litres from 160 taps. Pretty good year for me considering I didn't tap till the second week of March. Good luck to all that are still going at it.

[Brent]

We had the best day yet here. Something like 20-22 gallons in the filter tank. That would mean 750 - 800 gallons of sap. Didn't get the RO going early enough so the concentration was only about 6.5 - 7%.
I'm getting leg weary. Walked the bush to tighten 1/2 of the taps then started boiling. Finished at 11:30. I think I got to sit down on the stool about 3 times the whole afternoon/night. Got a few things to do next year to easy the work load.

I think Friday will be about the same. Ice forming in the puddles already

[Brent]

Oh yeh ... the peepers were out last night and tonight.

The sugarmaker's fat lady is singing.

[ennismaple]

We're shutting down no later than Sunday, no matter what. Partly because we're sick of it, partly because we have more syrup than we can sell and partly because we'll be out of drums!

Our high pressure pump went on our RO last night - ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH. We had to shut down with a bunch of sap still in the camp tanks and in the woods. A new pump is on its way from Quebec and we should get it tonight. If we get it back up and running tomorrow morning it'll get a hell of a workout on its first day of service! If not, we'll be dumping 6,000+ gallons of sap.

[Yellzee]

Current plan is to start flushing lines and pulling taps Sunday... don't have a pump for cleaning lines, so will try dumping water into the line from each tap and then blowing the line out I guess.

[Brent]

we're getting a run today. It doesn't look to be as good as the last few days, but we've got about 200 gallons in so far.

Bummer on the pressure pump. That really cramps your style. Nothing like the memories of boiling raw sap ... and waiting 4 to 5 times longer between draws ....

[GramaCindy]

We're shutting down no later than Sunday, no matter what. Partly because we're sick of it, partly because we have more syrup than we can sell and partly because we'll be out of drums!

Our high pressure pump went on our RO last night - ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH. We had to shut down with a bunch of sap still in the camp tanks and in the woods. A new pump is on its way from Quebec and we should get it tonight. If we get it back up and running tomorrow morning it'll get a hell of a workout on its first day of service! If not, we'll be dumping 6,000+ gallons of sap.
OMG!:o How awful. I hope the new pump arrives in time!

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 115 gallons yesterday and 110 today. Basically the same amount of sap over the past three days. Light freeze forecast for tonight probably at least another 40 tomorrow. Hoping the sap isn't buddy when it freezes again a week from now. Ennis Maple; you must have made a crazy amount of syrup if you're sick of it.

[Brent]

We had a lite run Friday. Only about 1/3 of Thursday's. Made about 7 gallons.

The late forecast has been updated to -2 and at just after midnight it's already just below freezing.

One more day .... please .... one more day.

[argohauler]

Well, canned syrup into various sized bottles yesterday and am heading to our local Farmer's Market this morning.

Ennis, I think I'd been rammin that sap through the evaporator anyways. 6000 gallons of sap is a lot to throw away. But maybe you wouldn't have enough wood to do the rest of the year then? Good luck in getting it fixed!

[Brent]

We're having a decent run today. Visitors all over the place. Looks like maybe 500 gallons will come in.

The last hurrahhh.

[Brent]

We've got a few hundred gallons in tanks and boiled off a few hundred, so it was a surprising day.

We're going to save what we've got for the folks out for a Sunday drive tomorrow so we can have the evaporator going. Not going to pass it through the RO or the SteamAway to stretch it out for the visitor.

Tomorrow's run ... who knows.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 40 gallons today, probably won't be enough to gather tomorrow with a forecast low of -1. Looks like it the last hurrah will be next weekend, as long as the sap isn't buddy. Still haven't heard any peepers yet.

[nas]

Finished up yesterday. Pulled about half of my taps, and will clean up the rest this week. I had a good season with very close to 1 litre per tap. I'm already looking forward to next year:)

Nick

[Rockwood]

It's all over but the crying.. Saps gone cloudy, pulling and cleanup today..

[BryanEx]

I'm pulling and starting to clean today as well. A slow start to an overall great season. Sap ran perfectly clear until the very last day with sugar content ranging from 3.2 to 4.6 for the entire run. First time I've ever made extra light syrup and lots of it (for my sized biz) and the first time I've had to buy syrup from another producer. Already tucking $$$ aside for new toys for 2012 and planning on a slight re-structure of how to do things next year.

[argohauler]

Had a good market yesterday. Had amber and dark to offer. Medium is sold out. Couldn't believe how many people picked on the dark. One person described it as "INTENSE" flavour. All my dark except for the last day had a really good flavour.

Brought in 2 Argo loads of buckets yesterday afternoon. Was almost T-shirt weather.

Getting more syrup canned this morning.

[BryanEx]

Had amber and dark to offer.
From a grading standpoint, would your dark be known as Ontario Amber? I see Ontario has it's own version of amber versus Canadian standards and is permitted for farm gate sales. I'm just not sure how dark I can go (with good flavour) and still be able to legally sell it in Ontario.

[argohauler]

From a grading standpoint, would your dark be known as Ontario Amber? I see Ontario has it's own version of amber versus Canadian standards and is permitted for farm gate sales. I'm just not sure how dark I can go (with good flavour) and still be able to legally sell it in Ontario.

Ontario Amber and Canada Amber #2 are the same. So same colour too.

Ontario Amber is just for farm gate sales. I was under the belief that a Farmer's Market was an extension of your farm gate and I used them their. An inspector came along and said I'd have to change to Amber #2.

I hate that #2. Makes it sound like it's 2nds of apples or potatoes, culled out stuff, etc.

[argohauler]

Another thing I just thought of. I'm not sure if you can legally use Ontario Amber labels, if you're not a registered farm business?

[BryanEx]

I was ordering up some new grading labels from Atkinson and they had both Canada and Ontario amber labels listed which is what made me wonder about the advantage of either and/or why choose one over the other. I do have a registered farm so that part isn't so much an issue. I guess I'll have to do some research once my cleaning and bottling is done this week. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out I guess - I have all the info listed on my own web site. :lol:

[argohauler]

BryanEx did you see my post #610? I should of maybe edited my post. Things can get overlooked when a new page starts.

I think the advantage of the Ontario Amber is getting rid of that ugly #2 and then explaining to your customers why that syrup is #2. It sounds like something is wrong with it.

Another thing I remebered when I first bought the Ontario Amber grade labels. They told me that I just couldn't sell it outside Ontario.

[Big_Eddy]

I'm done - 106 litres from 100 trees - my best year ever. Good year to have the new evaporator - a lot nicer averaging 16 gallons/hr under a roof, than 4-5 in the rain!!.

Now it's time for clean up, then I'm sure there is a long list of other "tasks" I've been neglecting these past several weeks.

[Yellzee]

Pulled the plugs yesterday, sap that came Sat was clear for me after filtering. My holding tank was a bit cloudy but the couple pails I have for test were both clear so suspect it was just time to clean the holding tank anyways.

I haven't bottled the last 2 batches as I ran out of bottles on Saturday but I'm around 130 litres for 125 taps, best year by far.

Interesting to hear about the inspector coming by Argo... did he give you any other comments or just that you should change to #2?

I don't have a farm or a high dollar "grading kit", normally call most of it medium or amber and have never had a comlaint.

Last i looked it looked like they had changed it so you had to be a registered maple syrup producer and be a trained grader to label it.

[argohauler]

Interesting to hear about the inspector coming by Argo... did he give you any other comments or just that you should change to #2?

I don't have a farm or a high dollar "grading kit", normally call most of it medium or amber and have never had a comlaint.

Last i looked it looked like they had changed it so you had to be a registered maple syrup producer and be a trained grader to label it.

That took place last spring at market. No other comments I can remember. I told him about the Farmer's Market being and extension of the farm gate and the bit about only being able to sell it Ontario.

Who do you register with to be a maple producer? In my registered farm business I have maple syrup production listed. But that and a trained grader is a new one to me.

I guess I should call OMAFRA and see if they can give me any answers or not.

[nas]

From a grading standpoint, would your dark be known as Ontario Amber? I see Ontario has it's own version of amber versus Canadian standards and is permitted for farm gate sales. I'm just not sure how dark I can go (with good flavour) and still be able to legally sell it in Ontario.

As far as I am aware, it doesn't matter how dark it is as long as it has good flavour. It just has to be labeled as #3 dark if it is darker than amber.
I have had a lot of people buying amber and dark this year. I'm happy with that because I use the light for candy.

Nick

[ennismaple]

Ennis Maple; you must have made a crazy amount of syrup if you're sick of it.

For the season we gathered over 50,000 gallons of sap - a 525 gallon poly tank's worth at a time - so yes, we're very hapy to be done!!!

LittleEnnis met Steve Bedard from Lapierre at Hwy 401 and Hwy 416 late Friday night to get the pump, which I understand came from Trois Rivieres. It must have felt like a drug deal!! He had the pump installed by just after lunch Saturday and fired it up. By that time all our tanks were full. Both tanks in the camp were full of sap, the gathering tank was full and all the tanks in the bush were close to full. By the time we were done gathering at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning we'd brought in close to 6400 gallons of sap. In the meantime we overflowed a 1500 gallon tank and defied the laws of physics by flooding out a vacuum pump. The dryline climbs 40ft+ over a hill to get back to the sugar camp so we figured we could never flood out that pump - wrong!!!! What likely happened was the Zero tank filled and then all the mainlines and lateral lines filled up to the top of the hill, meaning the pump only had to suck the sap up another 10ft or so. Lesson learned,

We had the RO on wash by 5:00 a.m. and were chasing the sweet through by 7:00 a.m., last fire at 8:30 and washed up and home for a nap by 10:00 a.m.

It was a record year for us at 1.27 L/tap, total syrup produced, total sap gathered and sap per tap so overall it was a success. Now we need to spend more time marketing our products to get the drums emptied again!

[crackher]

Well we are done....:D and I could not be happier,

The new evap worked great.. the volunteer help worked even harder..

we finished at about 100 Gallons

[argohauler]

When I was talking to Mary Jakeman, I asked her if they were buying syrup. She said they were. I told her about the dark I took off at the end when I finished what was in the pans. She said they were paying $2.40/LB for dark.

Thou shalt not covet.......Ennismaple's operation. I wish our weather would of cooperated and got us at least a half litre per tap istead of .37.

My wife has said it for a few years now that maybe with the climate changing, we're living in a marginal maple syrup producing area. It seems to like to be winter and then when it changes, it wants to bring spring in, in a hurry.

[ennismaple]

Thou shalt not covet.......Ennismaple's operation.

There were several moments of weakness this season when you could have owned it for not much more than a song! I'm glad to hear that people like Jakeman's are buying - that's a good sign that demand still exceeds supply.

[argohauler]

Got the rest of the buckets brought in. Wouldn't be right if you didn't get a flying squirrel in a bucket. Found one today. Poor little fella.

Tomorrow I start pulling the lids/spiles.

[Jerome]

Pulled my taps on last Sunday now just have the cleanup to do. Made about 6 gallons on 18 taps. Seems to be quite dark I still need to bottle to see for sure.

[Northern Ont. Maple]

made my first batch of dark syrup last night but the weather looks good for the next week so expect to finish with a litre per tap. I changed to all cv spiles and they seem to be paying off. Love my new 600 gal/hr RO couldn't have done with out it. I won't need to cut wood next year. Still making modifications to my AOF home built evaporator.

[argohauler]

Well we had RAIN today, while most others had nice weather. I decided I'd go to Weber's Maple Supply for the dark grade stickers and on the way get some seed potatoes near New Hamburg.

It was 17 and beautiful in Heidelberg. The Weber's were washing their 1100 sap buckets. They were very nice people and we talked a good half hour about the season and growing vegetables, but they had sold out of Dark labels. The shipment they got in were Amber instead of Dark. So I said I'd try Reist's Farm Supply east of Elmira. They told me they get their grade labels from them! The were going to pull the lids/spiles when I left. They had to get the team of horses they rented for the syrup season back to the farmer for seeding tomorrow. They had a neat cart they pulled with the horses. It had a set of wheels side by side like you see on a bale feeder wagon, then a bed for a tank to sit on and 2 wheels on each side on the bed part. The wheels had tracks on them. Mr. Weber said they were great in the snow and the mud!

Got to Reist's and they had lots on hand. nas said they were $4.50 at Weber's, well they were $4.00 at Reist's. Talked with the fellas's there and a guy south of Guelph and how great a season they had. The only complaints they heard were north of Elmira, where it wouldn't warm up enough.

Very enjoyable day, saw some Mennonites selling syrup by the road, but didn't stop. Saw ground being worked west of Mt. Pleasant in the blow sand and saw a Mennonite seeding spring grain with a 3 horse team, just north of St. Clementes.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Gathered 65 gallons today, and 30 on Tuesday, peepers are out in force, but the trees haven't budded yet. Looks like tomorrow or Monday will be our last day and we'll be pulling the taps early next week. Quite a few taps have dried up and while others gave almost 2 gallons today.

[RyanB]

Well we had RAIN today, while most others had nice weather. I decided I'd go to Weber's Maple Supply for the dark grade stickers and on the way get some seed potatoes near New Hamburg.

It was 17 and beautiful in Heidelberg. The Weber's were washing their 1100 sap buckets. They were very nice people and we talked a good half hour about the season and growing vegetables, but they had sold out of Dark labels. The shipment they got in were Amber instead of Dark. So I said I'd try Reist's Farm Supply east of Elmira. They told me they get their grade labels from them! The were going to pull the lids/spiles when I left. They had to get the team of horses they rented for the syrup season back to the farmer for seeding tomorrow. They had a neat cart they pulled with the horses. It had a set of wheels side by side like you see on a bale feeder wagon, then a bed for a tank to sit on and 2 wheels on each side on the bed part. The wheels had tracks on them. Mr. Weber said they were great in the snow and the mud!

Got to Reist's and they had lots on hand. nas said they were $4.50 at Weber's, well they were $4.00 at Reist's. Talked with the fellas's there and a guy south of Guelph and how great a season they had. The only complaints they heard were north of Elmira, where it wouldn't warm up enough.

Very enjoyable day, saw some Mennonites selling syrup by the road, but didn't stop. Saw ground being worked west of Mt. Pleasant in the blow sand and saw a Mennonite seeding spring grain with a 3 horse team, just north of St. Clementes.

Sounds like you where in my neck of the woods! I grew up in St.Clements and am not up by Fergus. I get all my supplies from Webers also...great people and he makes some really nice Arches too! We had a great season and landed up with 1.25L per tap. We probably could have went a few days longer but I pulled the taps last sunday as I had a busy week in the shop this past week. In the end we only had nice light syrup this year!

Ryan

[Brookmaple]

Pulled our taps and buckets one week ago. At that time we had 60 ltrs from 64 taps ~ 95% season. Noticed taps are still running today. With the warm temperatures predicted Wednesday, this might be a good last day for others.

All in all, a banner year exceeding last year's total of 40%,

[butler]

anyone in Ontario have one for sale at a decent price...looking to upgrade from my 2x6..

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Here in the Pembroke bush where I normally help out we gathered 70 gallons on Saturday and 25 yesterday. Half of the trees have dried up while others are still going strong. The syrup is quite dark, but still tastes great. We'll gather today and see what the rest of the week brings as it's supposed to freeze well on Thurs. night. We would probably be getting a lot more sap if it wasn't for the few warm days we had last week that caused the bacteria to get into the tap holes. We should be done here for sure by this weekend and wash everything out next week. Meanwhile, I visited my uncle's bush, which is 1.5 hours south of here but a few hundred meters higher in elevation and is on a northeast slope. At 4:00 pm on Sat. many pails were close to running over and by the time we were finished gathering at 8:30 pm, we got 300 gallons from 250 taps and 125 trees. Then on Sunday we gathered 150 gallons. This is his first year making syrup at this location and he has enough trees to easily expand to 800+ taps in the future. Just wondering if anyone else in Ontario (particularly northern Ont.) is still making syrup?

[Bruce L]

I noticed today while I was replacing drop lines with new drop lines with the cv adapters that the cv adapter holes are the only ones still running.The holes from the buckets have dried up(even though we still get freezing temps at night),and the regular 7/16" plastic spile holes have also dried up.Looking forward to warmer weather now,enogh of having to heat the house.
Bruce

[argohauler]

Finished pulling lines yesterday. The wicked wind we had Sunday resulted in branches breaking T's on 2 laterals.

Started hauling wood today. Stuff I cut in January and stacked throughout the bush is halfways dried out.

At 7:50 tonight I just started the Argo to come home and the dog barked, looked to where she ran and watched 6 turkeys take their time strolling through the bush. They were about 65 yards out from the shanty and it was just dark enough I couldn't see any Toms. Turkey season starts the 25th.

[Brent]

Last year I was still (sigh) pulling taps 6 weeks after the season was over and the taps on the check valves were still running. I don't need any more convincing that that. They will run until it goes buddy.

[ennismaple]

We were pulling the last of our taps on Friday with the vacuum on and the sap was still running fairly well on the CV spouts. It was vile smelling sap and there's no way I'd have run it through our RO or boiled it and I'm sure it was buddy - but running nonetheless.

We got the last of our tanks and tubing washed up and put away on the weekend. Now all that's left is to sell a bunch of syrup and wash the evaporator up in about 6 weeks. We'll know it's time to clean The Beast when the smell takes your breath away as soon as you walk into the sugar camp!

I do love sugar making but I really don't care if I see the inside of the camp for at least a month! Now where did I put those golf clubs....?

[argohauler]

Don't forget next years firewood!

I've got more wood cut than I burned this year. Replaced most of the outside piles of 18" wood and I still have 2/3 of the wood shed to fill with 3' wood. I planned on cutting a lot of wood this spring as well. There's so much dead wood in the bush, I can't keep up.

And the friggin rain is going to put me way behind. Worked till early this afternoon till I started getting wet. This week looks like a wash out and I always try to be done by the 1st of May, so I can work in the garden full time till December. Not this year. It's so friggin wet and cold I don't know when market gardening season is going to happen.

[Yellzee]

a little late but I finally got the door and window installed on the shack over the weekend.

Really warmed up in the afternoon with the sun on Saturday and Sunday... suddenly cold beverages on the deck with visiting family took priority over anything else getting done.

Times like this I really wish my shack wasn't 100 feet behind the house.. so I didn't have to look at the mess of wood, bark and sap tanks sitting around waiting for my attention.

[driske]

Had to sneak a peek at how things are going on the other side of the lakes.
Misery loves company. Got 80 cord of wood on the landing. Mud is confounding the process of making the big ones into little ones though.
Our beef cattle aren't relishing this steady diet of hock deep quagmire in the least. Nobody can make even a feeble attempt at getting on the fields with tillage equipment.
I was really feeling sorry for myself until my cousin from Sask e-mailed some air photos of the water standing in the prairies around Estevan. Looks like rice will be the way to go for those guys.
Is this it-?? tsunamis, epic tornadoes and flooding, civil upheaval world wide.
Ces't la vie. I'm going for a bike ride:confused:

[RyanB]

well with what seems like forever since the season ended now...it was time to go and drop some tree's for next years firewood also (Maple for the house and ash for the evaporator). I landed up dropped on of the many big old mature maples on the property that had deffinatly seen better days (Probably was in its prime 50 years ago). It was 28" in diameter, had bark missing in a few places and couldn't get even 2 feet of clear lumber out of it...so fire wood it was. This season it was lacking in the sap department so I figured the time had come. Fired up the chain saw and started cutting. I was amazed that my pants where being drenched in sap and once the tree was laying on the ground the stump was totally soaked and there where what seemed like little gushers of sap comming out of the stump. I was also amazed that this was not only happening in the sap outer sap wood area of the stump but also into the heart of the tree where I was under the impression the tree was dead??? Anyone know how long the sap actually moves up and down the tree after the syrup season is officially over? The buds are just starting to come out (Main reason for dropping this tree now).

RyanB

[BryanEx]

Anyone know how long the sap actually moves up and down the tree after the syrup season is officially over?
An article was just recently published in Farming Magazine about this exact topic - root pressure. You can read the article here - http://www.farmingmagazine.com/article-6784.aspx

- Bryan