Time for 2009

[Mike N RI]

We plan to tap 450 on Friday the 6th. Spring Hill Sugar in Exeter has tapped over 500 today with 500 more to go. Uncle Buck in Ashaway planned to tap today as well.
Kingston Sugar will be tapping on Saturday the 7th. It has been a cold snowy winter in RI. Looks like 6 out of the next 10 days will be in the 40s...
Here we go, the drill batteries are charging tonight! Hoping everyone has a sweet season this year. --Mike

[Mike N RI]

We tapped 268 Friday the 6th and another 217 yesterday, all on buckets.
Sap was flowing immediately after drilling, especially on Norways and Sugars. We tapped 50 Sugars yesterday in town, that should help with the blend of Norway and Reds. 20+ Norway buckets from Friday's tapping were full (2 gal) We collected some Norways and Sugars last night, yielded 60+gals. Hoping for 250+ gals to fire up RO tomorrow. Local forecast calls for 40F+ next 7 days but 3 nights not going below freezing... All tanks are ready, RO has to be rinsed of preservative, hoses to evaporater are cleaned, and the wood is waiting to be burned.

[urisail]

Placed 185 taps on Feb 7th on mostly Norways. Have been getting sap daily, collecting almost 1000 gals by 2/15. Sugar averaging between 1.8 and 2%. Have made 13 gallons of dark amber so far. Long range weather indicates sap should run all week in Kingston area. Using oil fired Small Bros 2X6 raised flue with Leader steam away. Boiling rate 45gph. urisail