Coffee

[Foster]

The wind are a howlin in Oneida County , Wisconsin . Temps are frigid. I think today I will sit at the Sugar Inn and drink my coffee . Tapping probably 10 days or so out .

[mapleman3]

work about 3 or so hours today and I'll be in to meet up with you! it's still cold here, but gotta get things done!

[hillside maple syrup]

i dont drink coffee,but im havin a couple frosty's in front of the tube. gotta watch the 500.

[mapleman3]

Pizza guy just delivered.. brew ready!! Let the Race Start!! GO JARRETT :D

[mapleman3]

Jeremy, Don't be bored, there's plenty here to be done, I can get you HOT pizza here!!! :lol: :lol:

[John Burton]

talk about getting the itch, last summer i spent about five thousand dollars on equipment and lumber etc. to build my sugarhose.with tapping not on the immediate horizion today i set up my evaporators pans,and then i proceeded to boil down three and a half gallons of sap on my wood stove to pass some time i thought my wife was going to fall over laughing at me ,bent over our wood stove with two pots from the kitchen trying to maximize my boil. i guess it is a sickness...

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

John,

You are past the sickness stage, I think you have a full blown illness and need to seek medical attention! 8O 8O :cry:

[GregMVT]

John,

You are past the sickness stage, I think you have a full blown illness and need to seek medical attention! 8O 8O :cry:

There's an easy cure for this, take two shots of syrup, last years is fine, and check your buckets!! :lol:

[maplehound]

I tapped on the 22'nd. Gathered enough to finish off 8 gallons of syrup but now I just watch it snow. I guess I can have a cup of Hot chocklate with you.

[syrupmaker]

Somebody better stop by with the sugar and creamer ! Just about outta both from sitting around slurpin coffee all day, waiting for the weather to decide if we should tap.

Rick

[WF MASON]

Seems like maybe the ole ground hog was on track this year. Not a bad winter until we hit Feburary. Seems like we've had twenty storms this month and their not over yet.
I always had the idea growing up that you need a good snowpack on the ground to make for a good sugaring season . Ya know , snow melts , the tree roots sucks it up , no snow to melt , no mositure to suck up, that was my thinking and I'm sure others thought the same. Then came 1980 , the winter of no snow , the snowmobile dealers couldn't giv'em away. For five years after, you could find and buy a new 1980 snowmobile still sitting in crates at the dealers.
1980 was also the year of easy tapping , but what made it a special year was 25 gallons of sap made 1 gallon of syrup. No one around here had ever seen anything like it . Sugarmakers who had never put up syrup in a drum , were frantic to buy them. Sugarmakers who generally made 50 gallons made 200 , and the ones who made 200 made close to 1000. The sugar content was high and it stayed high.The sap just kept running. A year like no one had ever see or have ever seen since. For many the lack of snow here through the winter brings back that hope , could it be another 1980. Then we hit February.
Well, I can see the bottom of my cup now. Off to work.

[themapleking]

I got a feeling we'll get a st. patick's day snow storm. Turning out like past winters that started out warm.
Remember that one year Rick? Turkey hunting in 4" of snow in May.

[syrupmaker]

That was a great spring for turkey. They looked like they were glowing as they walked accrossed the feilds and through the woods. The sun reflecting off the snow made them shine like a fine pair of shoes.

Rick

[John Burton]

as we all sit and wonder when its all gonna happen this year.what was the latest that you ever tapped , how did it run and how did the grade fair out ?every time i look the forcast indicates at least two more weeks so all i can do is wonder about what it means.

[WF MASON]

Coffees On,,
-5 below this morning with 16'' of new snow.
Now the days have gotten longer , I've noticed the maples out in the open have buds started , it has to be from the ten warm days , the end of January. In the past when you'd see the buds like this , it was always towards the end of the season and the syrup got darker. But when we'd have a snowstorm during the season , it would lighten the syrup. When the sap does start will it be a season of dark syrup to begin with.??Has anyone else noticed this.?
Off to work.

[mapleman3]

my first and only boil so far was light syrup, but I did notice a few trees have that slight red hue at the tops.. my be buds just forming up 8O

[Rich Baxter]

Well I made about a quart and a half of syrup last week. It is dark and has a very slight bitter taste. I had searched carefully for the reds that I tapped. Most already have very noticable swelled buds. I am going out of town tomorrow for a week, so I pulled all my taps (18) today. My season is over. :x :(
Rich Baxter

[Parker]

Some of the red maples on the Rte.11 bush that I logged had buds that allready popped,,pretty easy to tell when they are on the ground,,Could gain a lot of taps there by tapping reds there but,,that was one of the factors in deciding not to bother for now

[dads hobby]

I have notice some buds on my red maple today as well.It look like we have at least another week of waiting up here in the north. They still are not calling for some warmer weather at least thats what the long range forcast is saying plus they are calling for snow for the next few days.

I guess we will just have to sit and drink some more coffe mayby with a little "Gibsons" to help pass the time a little faster.

[WF MASON]

Hi Jeremy , you plow guys must be making out pretty good, two weeks ago I had the bucket loader come and clear my yard $, then this week had a grader with wing come and open up my driveway$, the UPS truck was almost scraping comming in the last few days. The guy on the grader said he saw buckets out on Kezar Mt. rd. , said he ran the wing around them to keep'em on the trees.
Mild this morning 25 out with , I don't know , 12''-15'' of new snow, plowed three times during the storm so its hard to say, but a dam lot.
A friend here this week from Bowdoin , Maine brought his tapping dates , very interesting, up until 1996 he had always tapped march 13th. or after, then in 1997 he started tapping in Feburary, the last week or the third week , from then till present, being someone who likes to watch the weather , I find this very interesting , what happend in 1997 that made the east warm for the past 9 seasons ?? Does anyone else have tapping dates that go back twenty years to see this trend.??

[NH Maplemaker]

Yes, We would try to be all taped out by New Hampshire town meeting day
which is the 2ND tuesday in march! So your friend records agree with our!!
Maybe we are just going to have an old fashion season. We can hope anyway! Next weekend is NH maple week end and don't have 1oz of sap to boil !

[gmcooper]

Bill,
Since late 80's the earliest we tapped was Feb 9 and the latest had been March 3. We tapped last weeknd only because oldest was home from college. Earliest we made syrup was I think Feb 11 or 12. One year we should have tapped end Jan. This year is latest we have not made syrup.
Mark

[WF MASON]

Coffee's On,
my son and I visted a couple sugar houses last night, it was the first boil for both, sap is still comming slow, another week should make a big difference here.
I saw a couple cooked sap pans yesterday, one was a Leader 2' soldered front pan , the guy from Tamworth , NH, stopped boiling and went to milk the cow,a while later his son called to him 'somethings smoking', .....a young man in Gorham with a 2'x3' evaporator , boiled for his second time with it, his mom said 'just put in some extra sap and run to the store with me, we'll be right back,' it boiled dry long before the fire went out, warped the crap out of it, didn't leak though. Had to call on Bertha.(my largest hammer)
Evaporator companys should add the age restriction to pans. If your under 15 years of age , its made from 1/8'' plate steel.Under 17 , 16 gauge steel, under 18 , 18 gauge steel, you get my point, We've all done it , a hard lesson learned , if your boiling, boil. If your doing somthing else, don't boil.
Thanks for coffee.Off to work.

[brookledge]

I'm assuming that those set ups had no floats to regulate the sap. I know that my first two didn't until I got a 2X6. I know that you can still run out of sap but once you learn how your evaporator works you can get away for a few minutes

[maplehound]

No time for coffee here. I have been boiling for that last three days. When I xhut down today I still had 500 gallons of sap to boil on my 3x8 pan. But work keeps me from boiling till it is done. Hve to go in at 5am. So I should catch up tommorrow afternoon. Then I will hae made more than I made last year.
Started off slow but the year should end god for me. :D :D :D

[WF MASON]

No time for coffee Maplehound ? You can always get a sippy cup to go. Sounds like you folks out west are having a good season. Spoke to Wisconsin last week , the guy said 3'' of snow on the ground.I asked about the season out there,he said a friend of his down the road went to check his sugarhouse the other day , he has a 1000 gallon tank inside, when he got there the tank was full and sap was running out the door!!! Sounds like a problem most would want. No time for coffee that day.

[maplehound]

I don't drink coffee any how but maybe some hotchoklate would be nice.
I did finally get cought up tonight !! But I ended in a "B" grade syrup. :( I think the sap sat to long it ran last saturday and I just now got it all boiled (MON) Tomorrow looks like it should run again. So we will be cleaning the pan and tanks in the morning. HOpefully we can get back to grade. But this is already my best year. Last year I made 85 gallons so far this year I have 90 gallons. I bet it ends soon for us though.

[mapleman3]

Good Morning and Happy Easter to All, guess I'll finish this coffee and colored egg, and get out and collect, finished up yesterday around 7pm after boiling since 10am, didn't go out and collect yesterday(too tired) so I'll go this morning before Church, then go to Sis in laws for easter dinnr. then hopefully go back and boil later this afternoon! I almost would like to take today off from boiling, but I cleaned the tanks and such so I'd like to boil off fresh fresh sap!

Everyone have a Great Day... Boiling or Not :wink:

[Maple Flats]

My season has been off. Started late, looks like it will end today or tomorrow. Only had 7 days so far. Long range forcast says no freeze for most of the next 10 days. For some reason my sugar % was much lower than my 2 previous seasons. This year it started at 2.5% then dropped to 2.0 and yesterday it was 1.75% and these are all sugar maples. Last year I got a season avg of 2.8% and the previous year was close to that based on syrup made vs. sap boiled but didn't have sap hydrometer that year. I better do some pruning and get some bigger crowns on my trees. Mostly all woods trees. Next season I have arranged for about 150 taps on roadside trees with huge crowns and this should help. Hope you all did better.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

That might help the sugar content some, but sometimes it will vary from year to year regardless of what you do. Some years it will be like this year and there is nothing you can do. :?

[WF MASON]

Coffee Anyone ?? Sap still comming slow here in Maine , I've heard more then one tell me 'still waiting for a good run',
Maple Flats mentioned his sugarbush shaded in the woods , I saw my brother-inlaw several years ago clean out all the softwood in his sugarbush , most was fur, spruce , pine,he cleaned out big and small trees , they all went , letting the sun in better , the following season , what had been his worst taps , turned into the best runners.
Rain comming this week should take alot of snow with it and maybe bring some warmer temps and better sap runs.

[gmcooper]

We survived Maine Maple sunday this year. With Easter and all it looked like it could be a slow day. Sure didn't turn out that way. Served about 300 pancake breakfast same as last year. Gave out 24 gallons ice cream, same as last year and sold little more syrup and candy. Probably 2500 people, I think we were down from last year but neighbors say there were cars parked nearly 1/2 mile away. The other bright side was the mud wasn't as bad as most years.

Sap was running great tonight 6 pm with vacuum on. To bad I forgot to have some one turn it on at noon today.

Mark

[dads hobby]

Coffee still running faster than the sap around here. I spoke to the guy down the road he has about 700 taps that are still not running. But he told me he's always about 2weeks later than most in this area.

[maplehound]

Time for coffe here in OHIO. The season is over for me. I just today ran water in behind the sap and finished all I could then flooded the pans for cleaning. Time to pull taps and clean tubing. Finished with my best year yet (Over 100 Gal)

[WF MASON]

YUCK, coffee sucks here this morning , out of Maxwell house , doug around in the cupboard found an old jar of instant with a little in the bottom, can't say I've tasted worse.
Made it to Warren NH yesterday and visited with a friend who runs a 2'x6' D+G with piggyback, 1000 taps on pipeline and a LaPierre RO , he had boiled seven times and was at 95 gallons of syrup made , he said still a good snow pack on the mountian and was optimistic about the season. Cold and windy there but vacum was pulling in the sap as we visited. Anyone who doesn't have the space for a larger evaporator and wants to run more taps on the one they have , this would be the person to watch make syrup.
Off to work,

[WF MASON]

Coffee much better this morning , I haven't seen to many posts about boiling in Maine , sap has all but stopped here, I can't believe its over yet , ground still froze with snowpack melting. Most have told me not one day of full buckets yet. Some ready to quit , others optmistic. I think location here is a big part , friend called from Bowdoin , Me ,which is coastal, said he'd made 70 gallons , has boiled 13 days straight and approaching last years total for syrup made.

[Al]

Coffee's hot here but two days of rain have gotten rid of all the snow. 50 degree's this morning. If this keeps up were done. Can't wait to get my surprise package in the mail. :D Going to the sugar house today to make candy for Warren's class. Teacher told me to put in a little extra for her. Couple of my orders backed out. They found a guy who sells at $24.00 a gallon. No big deal.
Have a great day.

[Parker]

Wf mason if your in the area aginestop by,,,open invite for all trader to stop by and say hi

[Maple Flats]

Keep seeing a glimmer of hope in the forcast but it doesn't get cold enough. Was going to pull taps and wash pipeline yesterday but forcast showed 30 deg for this am, guess what- actual 47. How can they be that far off so regularly? Tomorrow shows 32 and the next morn 32. If either of these pan out I could have 28 or less in the woods. I'm flerting with the buds breaking, they broke thurs in my yard, still tight in the woods. Yesterday's all day rain may have done it or today's 47 deg low, I'll check this pm to see.

[WF MASON]

Its a hard year for syrup Al , I wouldn't be giving it away, $24. bucks a gallon? , must be good stuff. Good customers understand the hard work and quality syrup that comes from it. They come back.
I've seen a couple pans this year people have patched with Permatex or form a gasket , just gunk it over the leak inside the pan and don't think noth'en of it , I've never had the guts to ask 'do you eat your own syrup'?
Thanks for the invite Parker , I had to look on mapquest , wasn't sure were Salisbury was, I'll be going to Alstead in a few weeks , maybe look you up then. Same goes here , if your ever in the area or want to take a road trip , swing by , you or anyone , always welcome to stop and talk sugar.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bill,

Take a few minutes to tell us what you do under the introduction posts. Most people enjoy you posts and like chatting with you! :D

[WF MASON]

Brandon Thanks for asking , thats really nice of you , I probley can answer that right here, I drink coffee , B-S on this computer , and wait for my wife to get home with her paycheck. Thats about it. Life is good.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Bill,

We all know you better than that. Probably work more than most of us. :D

[WF MASON]

Talked to a guy in NY state , south of Buffalo , he reported a 'very good' season out that way, with totals up from previous years with everyone he'd spoken to. He said he thought syrup prices out there might drop becouse of the totals.Anyone needing that extra few drums to fill orders this year, now would be a good time to head west to buy syrup.