Maine Journal

[Revi]

This is a thread for anyone here in Maine who is tapping, boiling and enjoying the maple season. The others seemed too specific to one place.

We just collected the maple juice from 4 trees, and it was going about a drip a second.

We're tapping all our tubing this weekend and then we're back in the maple bidness!

It was 40 degrees up on Cold Mountain, which is what we call our location sometimes. It faces north and is usually colder than anywhere else around here.

Even up there the season has begun. The red maples were behind the sugars for some reason, but today they started as well.

We have the drills charged up and we're almost ready to go.

I hope everyone here in Maine has a great season!

[JuniperHillSugar]

Tapped 25 today, some reds and some sugars. Don't want to miss the early runs, but I won't go full out for another week or so. Today showed good promise on the thermometer but the wind came up in our area and may have slowed the run a bit.

Sugar house is ready. Spent the afternoon with my "maple mentor", sharing stories and gathering next year's sugar wood. Thanks. Washing buckets and patching collecting tank will keep me busy enough.

Best of Luck to all in Maine and beyond.

[MapleME]

Hello from Brunswick. I think I will start getting my taps out sometime friday. I have a mix of reds and sugars. Held around 42 here in Brunswick most of the day.

[JohnsSugarShack]

After reading these threads I think I'll put a couple test buckets out today and see what happens. If they run desent and the weather continues I plan on tapping the rest next week. Have Wednesday and Thursday off. Revi keep us posted as to how much sap you get I'm not that far from you.

[RickinFarmington]

Completed all 80 taps yesterday and all were running well. Strong winds blew all night, but todays temps will be heading back above freezing, and the long range forcaste is favorable. Hopefully I will be boiling something on Sunday. What a relief to have that decison behind me. Time for boiling soda and friends.

[Gerryfamily5]

Sap flow has been tremendous for this early in the season.Have all of my taps in,just shy of 1500 on vac.R/O and boiled 1825 gallons yesterday,looks like the same for the next 4 days:D .Syrup is of good flavor and light, unlke the last few years.

[Revi]

The trees just started running up on the hill at around noon. Tomorrow we'll tap the other 280 on tubing and we're back in the maple season.

We're getting a new stove to finish on and the sugarhouse is getting close to being cleaned up.

Season 2010 has commenced!

God willing and the creek don't rise we'll be sweetening the pans soon.

[MapleME]

I tapped 20 in Brunswick today. A few drops when I tapped but they slowed up especially the ones in the shade. Happy to have them in though.

This year I am trying to hang some 5 gallon buckets on traditional spiles in some of the windy spots where the buckets on the ground always would blow over. We shall see. Good luck everyone.

Lets keep this thread going!!!

[RickinFarmington]

The temps today in Farmington area were supposed to hit 40, but were hard pressed to exceed 32. My trees ran well for a few hours till the winds came up. The extended forcast continues to call for 35 plus. 27 here right now.
I am all tapped in, so now I just wait and collect.

[JuniperHillSugar]

Collected some from my 25 taps so far. I tested many of the trees for sugar content and found the sugar maples to test as low as 1%, reds around 2%. Maybe really early, but a strange result? The reds with full sun tested best. I hope the sugars live up to their name, we're counting on it.

Got my finisher set up with the help of a friend. Just need to fill the propane bottle now.

Lets keep our fingers crossed for WARM SUN and NO WIND.

PS. 11 new kids (goats) in the barn. Triplets tonight. I'll be busy milking even if the sap doesn't run.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Well didn't hang any buckets today, still procrastinating didn't get above 34 at my place today and the wind was blowing pretty good, maybe tomorrow.

[hambone]

The sun sure is warm here in Cornville. We have started hanging mainline and think we are missing some good runs. Hopefully we can catch up, we're just going to keep moving forward and tap when we can.

[MaineMapleDave]

Gonna tap as many this weekend as I can. I'm currently working on a dump tank/pump setup out near the woods to save the bulk of the carrying.

Hopefully.............

[bussell]

I've been having some issues with my refractometer, but I'm getting really high readings on some of my reds (3%) - and lower levels on my sugars.

[MapleOak]

I got about 60 taps in yesterday & today... things were running well, even my northern slope trees... I hope this isn't to early... I'm going with the weather not the calendar...

[buxtonboiler]

:) I just got in from tapping most of my trees. So far I have about 40 taps in. Some of the trees couldn't wait for me to get the taps in, poured all over me.

[boondocker]

well im still running way behind but i did get my main line run today thanks to my brother for makin the trip from monmouth to winterport just to give me hand runnin lines. tomarrow will be a early start and hopefully get my branch lines run and taps in. my brother ran a axe into a maple just being himself and the tree started leakin that sweet juice everywhere. :lol: :lol: well anyway ill check in tomarrow give an update. sounds like things are getting into full swing awesome:)

[gmcooper]

Starting to tap in the morning. Spent the day finishing up the sap ladder and tying in the new lines. Only ended up adding little over 100 new. Still have almost 200 stubbies to change while tapping. Some of the stumps from saplings we cut out the other day were running.

[dadsmaplesugarshack]

WELL AFTER READING THIS WERE GOING TO GET THE MAIN LINE TAPPED IN AND HANG 150 BUCKETS CRAZY WEATHER HERE IN HARRISON WERE ABOUT 2 WEEKS SOONER THAN NORMAL (WHats normal ) we will tap bridgton monday !!! good luck to all ting ting ting !;)

[JuniperHillSugar]

Gathered 17 gal fom 25 taps today. Betta than nothin. Reds still reading higher that the sugars. May sweeten the pan tomorrow?

[highroadsyrup]

Hello everyone! Glad to find the Maine crew on Maple Trader.

[tessiersfarm]

We got in about 100 taps today, never did get back to colect tonight, will see in morning. Got Evaporator set up and just needs a quick cleaning. Just about ready to go. Primed walls in new sugar shack today, paint tomorrow and we will be good to go. Running behind but I do my best work under pressure.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Well couldn't take it got 74 buckets hung yesterday, sap was running out of the spile before I could tap it into the tree. In hopes to have enough sap to boil on Wednesday.

[Gerryfamily5]

Sap flow this week has been crazy for this early in the season.Boiled for the 4th time last night,have made 95 gallons of light so far!:D Finished tapping the last 20 taps yesterday,wow where those taps ever running.My large tank had sap flowing in at 170gph the best it's ever been!LOL with your final prep it's coming your way soon.

[mitchmaple]

i slashed a notch in a red maple a week ago out in the woodlot and it started weeping yesterday after a week of 40 degree weather. so in honor of that event, we'll hang a hundred buckets and see what happens. we've been cutting firewood for a couple weeks out there and the trails are glazed and packed hard as a luge run. should be good going. strange weather.

[Maine4me]

Put all 100 in this morning. Was done by 8am and I just finished collecting 55 gallons. The sugars were running out of the milk jugs after 4 hours!

[Revi]

We tapped all 300 yesterday and had a lot by the time we were done. We let it run out, but estimate that we had over 100 gallons.

I put the tube in the tank today, and it looks like I may have to boil tomorrow to sweeten the pan. This is an accelerated season, but it's fine by me.

It's corresponding almost perfectly with lent, which started Wednesday at the same time as the sap started flowing at our place.

We have 40 days in the wilderness now to boil some syrup.

[RickinFarmington]

Everything was running by noon today and still running here in Farmington as I speak. Collect about 50 gallons today on my 80 taps. Will start boiling Monday afternoon. Weather still looking good for the near future in this area.

[TapME]

It's time to start tapping with the weather being what it is. Will start with all the large roadsides and move down from there. The saphauler and I will set the evap pans in the PM, and the holding tank too. If it runs well sould have 400 gallons on tuesday. Make sure you are having fun making syrup.

[tessiersfarm]

got 130 gallons of sap from my 100 buckets, evaporator is all cleaned and ready to go, truck tank is half full, tomorrow I will fill the feed tank and sweeten the pans. never did get the walls painted, maybe some evening. The race is on.

[gmcooper]

Tapped about 400 today using Check valves. Split one early on but that was my fault in not paying attention. Still had a few repairs as I went that slowed things a bit. Sap was running from at least 1/2 taps with the sunniest locations running well. Have lots of stuff to get done before making any syrup.

[Dave Lister]

Put in 110 on gravity tubing Saturday and hung another 20 buckets on trees today. Collected 10 gallons of sap so far :(
Hopefully my tank will be full when I get back to the woods next weekend.
Putting in 10 taps on new road side sugar maples tomorrow.

Tim

[JohnsSugarShack]

The season is on, collected 50 gallons on 74 taps yesterday and if all goes well figure I'll have close to 200 gallons by Thursday that is if the weather holds out. Plan on firing up on Thursday a little nervous never used an evaporator of this type allways used a stock pot on propane or the half pint that I had for 3 years. But getting excited, just like a kid at christmas time.:D

[gmcooper]

Had planned on leaving work at noon today to get more tapping done. That plan went out the window long before noon. Still have way too much to get done.

[RickinFarmington]

Started 2010 boiling season today. Nothing like the aroma and seeing my first 2 gallons of gold. Collected 50 gals this afternoon and will be boiling the morning. Sure hope it freezes tonight.

[MapleME]

rick, looks like we may get a little snow and it may get cold for a few days.

[Revi]

I boiled for the first time this season today too. Sweetened the pan and started the season. The evap was going at around 40 gph, so I can't complain. A great way to start things out. Next boil on Wednesday, if there's more sap.

It was still coming in a little at 8:30 pm when I left. It may freeze tonight and then it gets wet tomorrow and Wednesday.

Whatever happens I'm happy.

[maple6275]

My tiny operation of 24 taps was put in Saturday morning in Bangor, and I collected 35 gallons after 48 hours. I'm happy!

[Revi]

That's a lot per tap! We only got about a gallon per tap yesterday, so you are doing really well with 24 taps!

[maple6275]

That's a lot per tap! We only got about a gallon per tap yesterday, so you are doing really well with 24 taps!

Well, it was over 48 hours. But I was kinda surprised. "What, did in rain in my buckets?" I thought at first. I had to come up with an "emergency excess sap management plan" to handle it!

[Maple Ridge]

I finished putting in 60 taps on saturday. Boiled off 40 gal sunday, and have 90 gal in holding. The best I ever had in the 4 years doing it. Need to graduate to a wood fired evaperator. Hoping to have a Sap house built for next year.

[dadsmaplesugarshack]

WE PICKED UP 60 GALLONS TONIGHT TREES DIDNT:( RUN TODAY WILL GATHER ANOTHER 100 GALLONS WED IN BRIDGTON HOPE TO BOIL BY THE END OF THE WEEK !!! NEED TO SWEATEN UP THE NEW SUGAR HOUSE !!! :lol:

[tessiersfarm]

I tapped 80 saturday morning and collected 120 gallons sunday afternoon in one spot and 15 taps for 20 gallons in another. Hope to get another 50 or 60 taps this weekend.

[sapsick]

got 70 gals Monday from 100 taps put in on Sunday AM over in Newburgh. have nother 50 gals from 20 taps in Skowhegan. no runs today. we will be awakening the fire breathing dragon soon enough.

[Revi]

It must have been above freezing last night, because there was practically nothing in the buckets and only around 25 gallons came in from the pipeline.

We may boil tomorrow anyway, but I don't feel as pressured as I was yesterday with over 175 gallons waiting to be boiled.

We may get some finished syrup by tomorrow evening.

[gmcooper]

Tapped about 150 more late afternoon and not a drop out of any of them. Nothing coming out of the main lines from the ones tapped Sunday. These warm days and nights have me a bit worried. Weather is much more like late March than Feb.

[maple6275]

These warm days and nights have me a bit worried. Weather is much more like late March than Feb.

Doesn't look much better for the rest of the week, but the forecast for next week sounds promising...

[Maple Ridge]

Dose anyone know what the going price for Syrup might be this year?

[marc]

I put in 40 taps this afternoon. I Know I am a week late. I plan to put in another 50-60 this weekend after I see what this storm is going to do. I know I am at least a week behind, hard to believe I am saying that when I look at the calander. I'm in the East Grand lake area of northeastern maine and this weather is a month ahead of a normal year. I'm sorry I missed the first good run. Thats what I get for thinking it was going to be short warm spell before another long freeze.

[TapME]

still put in taps here in the falls. The count is over 200 and another 200 to go. Sap was running when I was puting taps, not hard but runing. So don't fell bad about being late Marc. As far as I can see the season is just stating.

[MainelyMaple]

been running around for the last week getting mainline hung, laterals etc. setting up the evap and getting tanks in place. needless to say i was way behind schedule. just got in from the rain and have 100 in and hope to have another 60-80 in by this weekend

[marc]

Mainelymaple, Glad to see you are still sugaring. I remember last fall you had trouble with the lease on the sugarbush you tap. I hope it worked out. Great old photos on your photobucket.

[MapleME]

The wind is blowing so hard here in Brunswick I was surprised to see any of the buckets still on the trees to be honest. Maybe that means some of them have some sap.

Its been a slow week, not enough to boil so tomorrow will be the day. Going out of town for a few days so I want to boil what I have- and of course, all the darn rainwater!!!


MapleME

[Revi]

We have almost no buckets out yet, but there was nothing happening anyway. I think we'll tap the bucket trees slowly over the next three weeks with people who visit and their kids. They love that. It's not going to be very nice this weekend, so maybe next weekend we'll tap a bunch of trees.

We did pick up a lot of sap from the tubing last weekend and Monday, but now it has stopped.

I looked at Mainely Maple's pics today. They are awesome. Sugaring in the 50's?

[jordy95]

why are my taps not running drilled them 1 to2 weeks ago on gravity in to buckets / milk jugs coaltal maine. thanks

[gmcooper]

Jordy,
Your taps are likely not running due to weather. It has not been cold enough for several nights and all this wind sap does not run well at all. I spent most of the day tapping and only a few trees were dripping at all.
Mark

[sapsick]

We awakened the fire breathing dragon today. Made 3 gals of Medium. Must be Okay cuz the boys had no problem with it on the vanilla ice cream and Grampy was eatin it by the spoonful.

[jordy95]

thanks gmcooper im hoping that is why.

[tessiersfarm]

Got everyting set up and test fired Thursday, bad things, remembered evaperator door was warpped severely, shut down in a hurry. Ordered Steel for a new door and fabricated it friday. Installed new door saturday and boiled 70 or so gallons, everything A-OK. Boiled another 70 gallons today and got to try out my new filtering pot, an old 80# milk pail. Cone filters roll down over the top perfectly, just need to weld in a valve and I will be in business. Total of 200 gallons in the evaporator, front pan is REAL close to syrup, will draw off next time. Hopefully will get some sap this week, keeping my fingers crossed.

[boondocker]

man i dont understand this at all, i have 60 on gravity as of now and only collected about 15 gallons in a week!!! altho i am on a north facing ridge and there is still atleast 2 ft. of snow on the ridge. is this why im not getting anything? starting to get concerned that i did somthing wrong on my lines but they all are running down hill. i tapped 30 more yesterday and every hole was dry like it was august or somthing. piss pore weather:rolleyes:

[tessiersfarm]

I got 130 gallons last saturday and only about half that all week from a nice southern exposure grove. I haven't even tapped my north and mixed woods trees. I looked at my records and the earliest I got any serious sap was March 7th. This is a real odd year and I think the good sap is still to come. Later part of the week looks like the real begining to me.

[gmcooper]

Finally got the vacuum running today. Sap was running ok while pump was on. Have some serious leaks some where. Found a couple and now have 1/3 taps tight but there are leaks in the other 2/3.

[TapME]

looks like after weds it will be good weather for some good sap runs. If the sun would be out on these days we would have buried here with sap. Head tank is almost full and just waiting on the next load of sap to fire up concrete-O for a long boil.

[sap seeker]

We got our 16 taps in on Sat. in the rain, snow, and sleet.:lol: Nothing here yet but hoping things change mid week. Got some changes planned to the barrel that will hopefully help out the lasagna pan perform a little better!:D

[Revi]

We tapped another 3 bucets this weekend, boiled off what we had and nothing much has showed up since. I think we may have enough for this weekend, but without temps below freezing it's just about stopped running.

I'm glad we tapped early though. We caught about 200 gallons which should boil down to around 5 gallons when we get some more sap to run it out of the evaporator.

We make about 25 gallons on average, so that could be a fifth of the season for us.

We made enough light fancy to put on pancakes for a while too!

Gotta love that elixir of spring.

[mitchmaple]

waded across our swollen brook and hung 64 more buckets. up to 400 now. can't get horses in yet to collect what sap we have there. pretty warm nights. saturday night dropped down to 32. we need twenty degree nights. waiting...

[32ShadyLane]

Got first 10 taps in Waterboro yesterday. Got about 7 gallons today.

[Gerryfamily5]

Wow,what a run!The last two days had over 3000 gallons of sap.Yesterday it was coming in faster than my vertical double could handle it,it ran 900 gallons in 2 1/2 hrs.I'm at 250 gallons of syrup,most of it light amber!If this weather holds I'll be out of wood in two weeks w/ maybe four to go.So far everything is purring smoothly except my vertical single icing up, but with so much sap I haven't missed those 250 taps.Hope everyone else is getting up and running the weather is starting to come around.

[JuniperHillSugar]

Sounds like a great run in Newfield, no such luck here in Bowdoin yet. With luck, by 9AM tomorrow we will have all our taps in. We put in 3 test taps in the front yard on 2/10, set about another dozen reds on 2/18 and made it to forty around 2/22 with a couple of weak runs, then nothing for almost a week. Finished 6 quarts of fancy and it sure tastes great.

I hope (as we all do) that we are drowning in sap by next week at this time. With 130 taps and my 2x4 flat pan I expect some long nights in the sugarhouse. I've seen the road trees have been recently tapped and our sugaring neighbors are cleaning up their holding tanks as well. My son even spotted a steam column rising from another local sugarhouse.

Ready, Set, GO.

[tessiersfarm]

collected another 30 gallons from 80 taps tonight, really just went to check for blown over buckets. Hopfully the next few days are good to us. Either way I will finish a couple of gallons this week.

[Revi]

We are boiling tonight. We have around 100 gallons, so it should take 3 hours or so to boil it off. I hope we get some more more sap this week so we have something to boil this weekend too.

[sapsick]

beginning to feel like Yukon Cornelius searching for gold. evertime i go to the buckets there is " nothin ". could be headed to the island of misfit maplers here pretty quick if things dont change. keep the faith

[MainelyMaple]

not much going on here either, even with the warm sunny day yesterday. we tapped last thursday and we only have about 65-70 gallons of sap from 105 taps. we are putting another 80 in this afternoon and tomorrow so hopefully they turn on soon.

[KenWP]

I am further north of you and this weather is 2 weeks ahead of last year so I am pleased on what little I am getting. I have taps giving better then they did near the end of March last year.

[MapleME]

we had some minor movement in Brunswick today. Some buckets blew off and I went to re hang them and things were moving at 9am.

[Revi]

We got nothing today, but we boiled off what we had so that we're ready for this weekend. We'll tap some trees with some folks if nothing else and have a good time anyway.

We haven't made much syrup yet, about a gallon so far.

It's been light. We have some more waiting, but the spigot has yet to open up.

It's supposed to be cold at night and warm during the day as we get closer to the weekend.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Finally got a chance to light the arch the past Monday. Started out with 135 gallons of sap and just have what's left in the pans now. What a difference compared to the half pint I use to have. Going to have to tap more trees and cut more wood. If I'd had my half pint it would have taken me approx 34 hours, instead I spent about 5 1/2 hours but I was going easy because it was the first time. Only have 20 gal of sap on hand collected that yesterday. Hoping to get enough so that I can boil this weekend.:D

New pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnsSugarShack/312010FirstBoil#

[RickinFarmington]

Collected 35 gallons today off my 80 taps. Running real good now and it looks like we will be in for a good stretch of hi/lo cycles. Will be boiling Friday and Saturday for sure. Happy days are here again!

[sapsick]

still dry here in Norridgewock. 34F at nite and 38F during the day. far from ideal. if only my pockets were as deep as my buckets appear to be.

[mitchmaple]

29 degrees last night. if the nne wind doesn't hit as hard as yesterday, maybe some sap, eh? waded horses into woodlot and collected monday and tuesday. collected 375 gallons 1.9 sap. made about six gallons medium syrup. lots of sand in the filters. tasted pretty good for week old sap.

[Revi]

Nice and chilly last night. We might get some sap today.

Perfect. I like it when it shows up for the weekend when we have time to boil.

[sap seeker]

still dry here in Norridgewock. 34F at nite and 38F during the day. far from ideal. if only my pockets were as deep as my buckets appear to be.


Still completely dry in Oakland as well, weekend looks real promising however, get ready, here it comes.:D

[JuniperHillSugar]

I saw a drip. No really, I did, I did.

With 150 taps, thats 150 drips, maybe, now we're talking some sap!

I'll try putting a pint of syrup in the collection at church, lets see if that helps too.:)

Get Ready, SET, go?

[TapME]

Ran 225 gallons through the evap and have yet to draw any syrup. Just came in from putting more taps in and the total so far is around 300. Still have to put the taps here in. If it come fast we are going to have to boil some long hours to keep up. Sugar seems to be lower this year than last I hope that changes or we will use a lot of wood. It's here hope your ready.

[sapsick]

30 gals from 40 taps today here in Norridgewock. a good start for sure. not sure of my total from Newburgh but i did see them them drippin today as well

[Revi]

We got a lot of sap today, and it was around 2 and 1/2%, so that's not bad.

We'll have over 150 to boil tomorrow, and I'll bet we get another 150 tomorrow at least. We boil about 30 gph, so that will take about 10 hours.

We're going to be at My Cousin's Place for breakfast at around 8am if anyone wants to eat pancakes with maple syrup. It's on route 2 just before Norridgewock.

Then it's up to the sugarhouse for the big boil.

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful weekend for sugaring.

We'll probably tap some trees with kiddos and hang some buckets on them too.

[sapsick]

wish i could meey up with you however need to return afavor to a family member and help hi m put a roof on his new camp. maybe some other time. you guys are up on Burrill hill right?

[tessiersfarm]

We got 85 gallons or so today, will boil tomorrow as well.

Revi I may swing by your shack late morning if I get a chance. Just to say Hi.

[MainelyMaple]

hung some more tubing this afternoon after work and the trees were running pretty good. ive got about 100 gallons now so we will boil tomorrow.

[TapME]

mainely maple, we talked about how much evaporation you would get from your arch and I'm thinking a gollon and hour per sq ft would be a good way to judge by. We picked up a hundred gallons in the PM. Will check late AM but it should run good. Did you end up puting the stock tank there in back of the shack?

[MainelyMaple]

no i couldnt convince my buddy otherwise. oh well it will work nicely inside the sugarhouse. feel free to stop by tomorrow ill be at the sugarhouse after work hopefully by 1.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Collected 60gal off 74 taps today running approx 2.25%, should do better tomorrow it's not suppose to be as windy. Going to wait till Sunday to boil figure I'll have 200gal by then.

[Cider Hill Maple Farm]

I,m new at this so bear with me. Set out a few taps a couple weeks ago when we all thought " I 'ts Running", until a cold sloppy mess came in with winds to take the clothes of the line. But I had 21 Gal. of sap with a profit of four pints on my arch and pans I built at work. I'm not a big operation, but I was proud of how it worked. Placed 40 more out today, Hope I didn't get in over my head the first time out! Happy sappin!

[JohnsSugarShack]

Shawn, not sure what you have for an evaporator but on good days you'll get 40 plus gallons of sap on 40 taps. So with the weather that we're having you'll probably be busy, but it's a lot of fun and addicting as you'll find out. I collected another 65gal today and will probably collect the same tomorrow which will give me about 200 gallons to boil down. Plan on firing up late tomorrow afternoon, should be drawing off this time.:D

[TapME]

now that's a run. Yesterday got a 3/4 gallon from the trees per tap. The pans finished sweeting up early afternoon and made our first draw off of 2 gallons which was followed by more in the next hour. Made a total of six plus gallons ( not sure I haven't put it a containers yet). Today is going to be better than yesterday for we will pick up the sap today. Hope to make 10+ gallons today.
Has anyone else noticed that the sap's not as sweet this year or is it just me? Man the new fixes to the arch make them pans hop. Hope to burn more wood today outside pile is getting small.

[MainelyMaple]

well things are slowly coming along for me. we planned to boil what we had on sat but had some issues with our pan. we are still working on the pan but should have it ready to go for our first boil on wed. we have about 200 gallons waiting to boil right now. today we added 75 more taps and finally completed the tubing system. tomorrow ill add the last 50 taps, which will bring our total to 230 (we planned on 100 lol)

[MapleME]

boiled off everything I had to date- ended up with 3.5 finished syrup. Some of the sap was from my buddies Reds. All is good. Tastes great. Buckets already started filling today....yes!

Lou, hows things on your end?

[TapME]

sweet run today, gallon a tap. boiled off 275 gallon from the morning and have 200 waiting for the morning. If tis keeps up the wood pile will be gone in a week. We had to put a cord of wood through the evap this weekend. The pine and spruce was dry and doesn't last long. I hope every one else is burried with sap.
Scott, will try to make it to your place on weds.
Josh, busy at this end, more sap than expected makes for busy me and that's a good thing.

[gmcooper]

Finally beginning to get close to getting caught up on everything but sap. New 800 gallon tank finally in place for the vacuum system. The old tank filled by about noon on Sat. Not a good feeling to shut off the pump before 1 pm because you are out of storage there. Finished all the buckets and tubing in Gray. Couple new tanks for them as well today. Things would be better if the sugar content was higher.

[Revi]

This was the perfect weather for us weekenders. We boiled all day Saturday and ended where we started because it was coming in as fast as we could boil. It slowed down a little yesterday, but we still boiled off at least 300 gallons because we ended up with over 7 gallons of syrup and the sap was around 2 and a half percent.

We had a lot of visitors and sold some syrup. We need to pay the taxes, so that's a good thing.

Really fun weekend of sugaring!

[BRL]

now that's a run. Yesterday got a 3/4 gallon from the trees per tap. The pans finished sweeting up early afternoon and made our first draw off of 2 gallons which was followed by more in the next hour. Made a total of six plus gallons ( not sure I haven't put it a containers yet). Today is going to be better than yesterday for we will pick up the sap today. Hope to make 10+ gallons today.
Has anyone else noticed that the sap's not as sweet this year or is it just me? Man the new fixes to the arch make them pans hop. Hope to burn more wood today outside pile is getting small.

Tapme, we have boiled down close to 500 Gallons of sap this year so far and have only drawn off 2 Gal. so I have to agree with you on the sap being not to sweet.

[JuniperHillSugar]

Boiled all weekend. Sap is weak in the sugar department. Maybe because last summer was so rainy and not alot of sun?

Had our first pancake breakfast, last night. One of my good friends in the Maine Army National Guard ships to the war zone next weekend and we wanted to give him a proper salute. God bless and keep safe.

[boondocker]

Things are going well, i have out about 120 taps but the 60 on gravity are still being a little sluggish, that north facing slope with a foot of snow on it is not letting go without a fight. i boiled off around 50 gal. on saturday afternoon, and another 50 gal. last night and ended up with 1 1/2 gal. of finished product. perfect color and viscosity. the 2x6 that i built is a beast, boiled off 50 gal. in 3 1/2 hours, wich i dident think was too bad, and yesterday dident get her rippin like the night before and burned off 50 gal. in a little over four hours. sounds like the weather is gonna work in our favor for the next week anyway. keep the steam blowin :D

[Revi]

I met Sapsick, who has taps in Norridgewock. He had quite a weekend of boiling also. It was fun, but I'm actually glad that there wasn't much sap in the tank today.

We may have a run tomorrow if it freezes tonight.

It seems a bit cooler than it was this weekend, which is a good thing.

It was feeling like the end of the season, and it's only the beginning of March!

We have at least a few more weeks of sap coming, I'm sure.

[TapME]

Tapme, we have boiled down close to 500 Gallons of sap this year so far and have only drawn off 2 Gal. so I have to agree with you on the sap being not to sweet.

I see that you are rihgt around the corner from me.I'm right on pleasant st in the falls. Things changed for the better this weekend. The sap seems to be coming up in sugar and even tasted sweet. Did my last boil today and got 6 draws and 12 gallons of syrup today. We are close to 20 now. We need the freezes at night so the sweet can flow. Wish I had a grading set I could tell what grade I'm making but if I was to guess it would be light amber. It has a nice light maple flavor and sweet as can be. No freeze here last night and the wind picked up so the sap didn't flow much for me. Went around but did not gather the sap so the buckets would stay in place with a little weight in them with the wind blowing like it was.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Seems like everyone had a good weekend. I boiled another 175 gallons down Sunday night. Finished off 4 1/2 gallons of Fancy, was quit impressed with the new evaporator. Also noticed the sugar is down, averaging 2%, in the past it's been 3% some times better. When I first started was averaging 18-20 gal per hour and got it up to 28-29 gallons before the night was over. From start up to shut down I averaged 25 gal per hour, what a difference from 4-5 gal with the half pint. Need more sap didn't run good Sun and Mon. But very happy with the setup.:) :D

http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnsSugarShack/372010SecondBoil?feat=directlink

[Flat47]

Sap flow was ok (at best) over the weekend and lousy yesterday here. I don't think it froze overnight over the weekend. Today should be better.

[JuniperHillSugar]

I've found that my red maples in the open are nearly done and some may be budding already. The sugar maples with snow around them seem to be running the best. Hope for more tomorrow. It was kind of nice to have today off.

[Revi]

We're going to let the sap pile up a bit so we have something to boil this weekend. What else are we doing on a rainy weekend? May as well make some syrup!

We may have to do a little boil to keep it down a bit on Thursday if it runs like mad tomorrow though. We'll see...

I went up to see a big producer nearby and he was amazed by the amount of sap we got this weekend around here. He thinks the season may be between half and 2/3rds over already. They have another operation up north that is just getting started, believe it or not.

I think we have at least 2 more weeks of boiling left, but that may be it.

[sap seeker]

I really thought we might get a little run yesterday but very little. Today and tomorrow should be blockbuster.:cool:

[buxtonboiler]

I can't believe this. Should be pouring today and barely a drop. Last night temp was 27, now 47 and no sap.:cry:

[sap seeker]

I can't believe this. Should be pouring today and barely a drop. Last night temp was 27, now 47 and no sap.:cry:

Weird because it is absolutely cranking here in central Maine today!:cool:

[BRL]

Sap Seeker where are you at? The past to days in Minot area have been terrible. We got 80 Gals. of sap the past two days. I sure hope it's running today. We did boil down the 80 Gals. last night and drew off 2 Gals. of syrup so we are happy about that. We have pushed 550 gals. thru the evap so far and only have 4 Gals. to show for it.

[sap seeker]

Sap Seeker where are you at? The past to days in Minot area have been terrible.

I'm in Oakland, just south of Skowvegas.:D Yesterday not good but today outstanding, expect the same tomorrow. 25 last night 45 or so now.:cool:

[MainelyMaple]

just got back from the sugarhouse. processed 255 gallons through the evap. and drew off about 5 gallons.

[Cider Hill Maple Farm]

John, looked at your web site pic's. I have a bunch of questions, and your very close to Exeter. Was wondering if I could hook up and take a look at your operation? I built an pan for a guy who could'nt keep up with the flow so in return he gave me what he had for sap which was about 115 Gal. on top of what I had. My dad wanted to give it a try while I was at work, he did great but we still have alot of " I don't and we don't know". Look me up, Thanks!

[tessiersfarm]

I've collected 615 gallons of sap so far this year, last year about 930 gallons on the same number of taps. So I would say 2/3 of the season is accurate. 2009 Season was 27 days long for me. 2008 Season was 28 days long for me. I have been at it 19 days so far this year. I would expect another week will about do it for the season, maybe 2 at best. Only time will tell I guess. I never did get much sap before march before and I've always gotten sap into April so maybe we have another 3 weeks, wouldn't that be fun.

Good luck all!

[Revi]

We are having a run now boys! We're going to boil some off tomorrow, and save some for the weekend. It sounds like that storm may miss us until some time on Sunday, and then it may only hit southern Maine.

We have a sheet on which we note how much sap we got and the sugar content, etc. It is about 2/3rds full already. We usually fill just one sheet in a season, so I think we are about half to 2/3rds of the way through the season already, but I could be wrong.

Fortunately the big guys up north are just getting started and they are about 10 degrees colder than we are down here in Central Maine.

They are going to have to pump out the syrup to save the season.

They may have perfect conditions if it's around 50 during the day around here all through April.

[sapsick]

finished off another 2.5 gals tonite that makes 7.5 for the season. pushed thru about 440gals of sap so far have another130 gals waiting to go as of today. gonna take fri off to try and get a handle on it. im with you jason i think come next weekend things will be wrappin up. was hopin to make 20 gals this year gonna have to get a couple good runs to get it done.

[Revi]

We may continue to get some sap even into next week as far as I can tell.

The season isn't over yet.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Skowhegan&state=ME&site=GYX&textField1=44.7757&textField2=-69.7134

[boondocker]

i collected about 65 or so gallons last night and had a little issue in the driveway when i got home. yea i spilled about ten gallons, i was pretty ticked at myself but i guess stuff happens. i have about 75 in the holding tank waiting for sat. morning and if it runs as hard today as it did yesterday and again tomarrow i will be in good shape for the weekend. my plan is to do some steamin tomarrow night and all day saturday and try and go for one last snowmobile ride on sunday so we will see how things play out:rolleyes:

[TapME]

busy here in the falls, it seems that every trip out to collect sap is worth it. I havn't kept any totals but the head tanks seems to be full most of the time and thats 300 gallons.Wood is goingto be an issue if this keeps up for another week, gone through 2 cords so far and only 3 left but boy do we have syrup. We bring back to the evap between 2 and 300 gallons. I hope your keeping up and having a good time we are.

[gmcooper]

Have been getting sap everyday but sugar content is not good. Between 1.8 and 2.2. Was boiling tonight but had to shut down as we lost power. Big fire in Gorham and CMP cut power to a huge area. Fire about 1.5 miles from us. Still have 600 gallons in tank and 200 at vacuum tank. Looks like we will have a decent run tomorrow as well. Gonna be tough to get caught up.

[Revi]

Boiling tonight the sparks were coming out of the stack and it made me think of this poem by Robert Frost:

From where I lingered in a lull in march
outside the sugar-house one night for choice,
I called the fireman with a careful voice
And bade him leave the pan and stoke the arch:
'O fireman, give the fire another stoke,
And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke.'
I thought a few might tangle, as they did,
Among bare maple boughs, and in the rare
Hill atmosphere not cease to glow,
And so be added to the moon up there.
The moon, though slight, was moon enough to show
On every tree a bucket with a lid,
And on black ground a bear-skin rug of snow.
The sparks made no attempt to be the moon.
They were content to figure in the trees
As Leo, Orion, and the Pleiades.
And that was what the boughs were full of soon.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Boiled down another 140 gallons last night, ended up finishing off 11 1/2 quarts of fancy. Sugar content is down this year the best I can get is 2% if I'm figuring right I'm averaging 48 to 1 for syrup this is highest ratio I've ever had. Usually I average around 35-36 to 1. Last year I only made 3 gallons of syrup but got 32 to 1. Over all very happy with the new evaporator.:D

http://picasaweb.google.com/JohnsSugarShack/3112010ThirdBoil#

[Flat47]

John - you're up way too early!

[BRL]

We had our fifth boil last night anf drew off another 3 1/2 to 4 Gals. of syrup. I think we are at around 15 Gals. so far this year. far cry from the 63 we made last year. It is some great tasting syrup this year though.

[tessiersfarm]

Sitting on the better part of 500 gallons, busy weekend this weekend for sure. I have next week off so I hope it runs to beat hell next week.

[JohnsSugarShack]

John - you're up way too early!
No I'm up late, I work nights 12hr shifts and I stay up late my last night off so that I can get back into my sleep pattern. I normally sleep in the mornings and get up around 1-2pm, collect sap about 3 then get ready for work, right now it's noon time for me, :lol: . If the sap runs desent I'll have enough to boil on my days off. So far I've gone though about 415 gallons of sap and finished off 7 1/4 gallons of fancy. I have 40gal in my feed tank and hoping to get 40-50 a day so that I can fire up Monday.

[tessiersfarm]

Boiled the better part of 200 gallons and finished 5 gallons today, hope for the same tomorrow. Weather will not be so nice so maybe I can concentrate on the evaporator a little more.

[Revi]

We had a great tour at the sugarhouse today with over 25 people in attendance. We boiled over 5 gallons down as well, so it was a good day to be sugaring. I have a feeling that the season is coming to an end soon, so we have to make hay while the sun shines.

Even if the sun isn't shining tomorrow I think we'll polish off the rest of the sap we have in the tank. We started with about 335 gallons and now we're down to around 80, so we have made a dent in it.

[TapME]

things are good here and the sap just keeps coming. We finished about 150 gallons today and have 250+ waiting to be processed and some to be collected. The sugar started out low but I have been making a gallon for every 30 evaped off, so I am going to guess that the sugar is around 3%. Sap is clear and tastes sweet. It's going to be a wet one from what we see here. I would prefer snow and there is a chance of that. Wood pile is down and if the season last more than a week and a half we aill be out of wood. Next year have to plan on 7 cords and not 5. happy sugaring

[Gerryfamily5]

Today marked the close of the 2010 season in Newfield.All and all not to bad of a year for me,but alot of others in the area not so good.I have not got the final tallys yet but made close to my 500 gal. goal.My tubing system worked very well, I collected over30,000 gallons of sap but for the second year in a row there was very little sugar in it. Todays sap was .9%,93:1:confused: I would like to know what is going on.Ck. valve spout wher still running full steam,but it was mostly water.Hope the rest of you have a good finish.

[Flat47]

I haven't been checking sugar content each collection day, but what we just had in the tank was about 2.6%.

[sapsick]

boiled down about 250 gals on friday and finished 2.75 gals. then boiled down another 110 gals on saturday took the pans all the way to the end and finished another 5 gals . having a family maple weekend so hoping for another couple good days so as to have a little to boil. then i will probably have had enough. tally so far is 15.5 gals with my goal of 20 gals.hope all is well for all

[TapME]

freezing rain here today when we collected. This sap thing is getting a little crazy. The collection this morn yeilded 250 gallons (way more than I needed at this point). We will manage and get it all boiled down in to syrup. With this load of sap I may be half way to our goal of one hundred gallons. They say snow for later today. Oh by the way the sap was running with freezing rain, go figure.
Gerryfamily, just a question. Did you stop because you have all you want or did the taps stop running for you?

[tessiersfarm]

boiled today and I just couldn't seam to get it going good, must be air pressure or something, boiled off 130 gallons and finished another 2 gallons. I just can't seam to get ahead, collected another 100 gallons today so it was almost a wash. Weather looks real good this coming week, I wonder when sap will get buddy? Next boil will be Tuesday. Good luck to all

[mooseman]

First time posting on here in quite a while. Didn't make any syrup last year. Somehow between wotk and family I just didn't find the time. I made plans to tap this year and I now have 28 taps out that I placed out 4 days ago. I reduced 100 gallons of sap to 12 gallons yesterday and am trying to finish this today. Just collected another 38 gallons of sap so two more days like this I will do another boil and will have enough to last my family of 7 for the next year as well as have some to give to friends. All the boiling is done outside on a 3x3 pan over an open fire. Fun and it gives me a good excuse to sit by afire outside and have a few drinks!

[Revi]

We have made 18.3 gallons now, and the season seems to be winding down.

We're boiling next weekend and probably pulling the taps the weekend after.

It's been a pretty sweet year so far.

I don't think it will run tomorrow or the next day, but I could be wrong.

[Gerryfamily5]

TapMe, half of my taps where all done,the ck valve spouts where flowing well but there was literally no sugar left to get.The ten day forecast didn't show a single freeze, with highs near 60.As early as it is, our season was over.I expect the frogs will be peeping this week here.We have had no snow in our woods for 2 weeks, looks like April out there.Glad to hear you mid Maine folks are still going.LOL.

[gmcooper]

Still going here as the tank on vacuum was running over tonight. No it wasn't rain water or out of the brook although hard to tell from the sugar content. Not a lot of syrup for the amount of sap this year. Vacuum is all on CK spouts and new stubbies. Seems to be working but our gravity is still going as well.
Mark

[boondocker]

boiled off 155 gallons on sat. and another 35 yesterday ended up with a little over 4 gallons for the weekend. thing sure are slowing down fast, dident get really anything to speak of yesterday, but my father seems to be haulin over 5 gal. every three hours off 6 taps, and he only lives a half mile down the road. i just dont get it:lol: my pipe line on the north facing ridge really hasent produced to its expectations at all. there is still a bunch of snow in there but im sure it wont last long with this warm weather on the way...... well i guess all i can hope for is a better season next year. im gonna go right till the last drop and boil everthing i can. im gonna try and make some soft maple candy tonight.......this should be interesting:lol:

[Revi]

Not much sap today, but it's supposed to freeze tonight and then get really warm tomorrow. It may run in the morning, but I'll bet it gets too hot for sap even up on cold mountain.

We'll see.

We may need to boil on Wednesday again if it comes in well.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Things have really slowed down here too. Only collected 30gal off 70 taps yesterday and that was for two days. I had 100 gallons stored up so I boiled that down last night averaged 25 gallons per hour and ended up drawning off about 3 gallons which I'll finish off on propane today. Shouldn't take much more than 15-20 minutes to finish off.:D

[royalmaple]

Lots of sap but where's the sugar?

Best has been 1.3, typically 1.0 on the money everyday. Thank god for my RO.

Trucked in 14,000+ gallons so far, tress still running well. Shooting for another month.

If you guys get too much sap, I'll buy it all. Regardless of sugar content.

[boondocker]

dident get a much of anything yesterday, barley enough to wet the bottom of my drum. i have a feeling it is done for this area:( but i guess ya never know. i will go see if anything ran this morning when i get home and keep my fingers crossed in mean time. i would like to collect atleast enough to have a good steam on sat. hope everybody is making out good, by what i have been reading it sounds like everybody is in the same boat as me. LOW SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just cant win:rolleyes:

[TapME]

royalmaple is back. Its to bad about the low sugar% in the sap. Thank godness for the ro. Hope to see some more post in the journal. Keep on trucking that sap.

[gmcooper]

I have no idea on the sugar content but last nights sap was 2.1% but the day before was 1.6%. Boiling 2.1% seemed like we were really cranking compared to night before! Just checked Forcast for the rest of the week looking really warm now. No nights below freezing! Crap! Need to make a boat load of syrup still to pay for next years RO.
Mark

Matt keep cranking out that "Buxton Gold"!!!!!!!

[Revi]

We didn't get much today, but it ran a little. I thought it was supposed to freeze tonight, but it was 59 here in town, and 55 up on the hill. It has to drop a lot to make a hard frost from those highs.

Our sap is still 2%, and it has been as high as 2 and 3/4ths at times this season. It takes a while to boil anyway.

It's been a really nice season so far, but I think it's drawing to a close now.

[tessiersfarm]

I think we are winding down as well, syrup is getting dark, sap is getting a little cloudy. I don't test but it seams like we are boiling a lot of sap for the amount of syrup we are getting.

My boiling got cut short today because my wife got kicked in the face by a horse we are boarding, broke her nose and shook up the girls in good shape. She is OK but I'll bet she is sore tomorrow, she called in to work already, because she is having a hard time breathing because of the swelling.

Wasn't sure what to do in that situation so I closed all the drafts and flooded the pans to within an inch of the top, everything turned out OK but the front pan got down to 1 1/2" before it stopped boiling, glad it didn't burn, but I had other concerns at the time.

I will probably leave the taps in until Maine Maple Sunday and hope for a little sap for that day, but I am not holding my breath. I have about 30 trees in a predominately pine forest I did not tap this year, I was thinking on tapping them for Maine Maple Sunday, maybe just a waste of time. Might just have to boil water.

Good Luck to All

[TapME]

my trees here in the falls are starting the slow down process. After the last 2 nights with freezing and just a little run we may be facing the end of the season here. Was 60 today here after a 22 in the morning and the sap was weak in runing with the 2nd day of 50 gallons of sap. Will boil all that is here and chase it with water to get as much out as I can. Hope there is a change in the weather or the taps will be coming out before April and that will be a first. Hope others are having better luck.

[Revi]

Two days of almost 60 degrees. I think we're done for a while anyway.

We'll boil tomorrow, but there's only around 50 gallons, so all we'll do is chase out some syrup. It's hardly worth it, but if we don't boil it may go bad.

What a wierd season. It's like we are about 500 miles south of here.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Still dry here, had the same situation Monday only had about 60 gallons of sap figured I'd better boil in down so that it wouldn't spoil. Ended up with 2 gallons of amber. Haven't collected any sap since then. Was hoping to fire up this weekend but it doesn't look good. Debating on whether to take things down this weekend or ride it out for another week.

[Revi]

Hard to tell what's happening, but it has to get a lot colder to make the sap run again. I don't see it in the 10 day forecast.

We'll see...

[Revi]

Maybe next Tuesday or Wednesday it will run. It will be perfect for sap flow, but that's about 5 days away.

[gmcooper]

Don't throw in the towel yet. I have seen some warm spells mid season followed up by some really nice sap weather.

Managed to make about 4 gallons tonight on some buckets and gravity that ran yesterday. I never would have guessed they ran at all until I got message I needed to pick up sap this am.

[rustyinmaine]

this is my first year but I'm still getting sap. alll my trees are in a swamp that is still partly froze over. I only have about 20 taps but am still getting 5 gallons a day. I think I saw next Tuesday and Wednesday after the rain it will go back to freezing at night. The trees up on dry land have slowed down alot but the swamp donkeys seem to be still kicking. Good luck and for my first year I'm sticking it out till the end.

[buxtonboiler]

The other day, I emptied my buckets in the morning. That afternoon I checked and the buckets were empty. Temp went down to 36 that night. next morning buckets were full. Anyone ever seen a night run before?

[Revi]

I have seen the trees go into the night, but assumed it was just an extension of the previous day's run.

[Revi]

We chased the syrup out with water today. We still managed to put on a good show and everyone had a good time. That's the important thing anyway.

We are over 20 gallons now, and have run out of new plastic jugs, so we're going to pull the taps next weekend unless there is some miraculous restart.

It has been a very nice season, in my opinion. Not a huge amount of syrup, but it showed up a good times for us to boil it and it was nice weather for most of the season.

I have no complaints.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Revi, glad to hear you had a good season. I actually had a good season too, made some of the lightest syrup that I've ever made. I'd posted on another thread that this was the worst season I'd ever had in 13 years, but what I meant by that was that the trees didn't put out no wheres near as much sap as they have in the past and my sugar was running 1-1 1/2% less than it has in the past. But over all had a good season pulled every thing down today and will finish off whats left in the evaporator tomorrow. I ended up with 9 1/2 gallons of fancy and 1 1/2 gallons of medium amber not to include what I get off the evaporator tomorrow. All I can say is I love my new evaporator and already looking forward to next season.:D

[royalmaple]

If you guys end up with vacuum you'll see the trees run every night that it doesn't freeze.

Boiled in some really nice cloudy .08 % sap. Who is hardcore? You have to wannnnt it!! Thanks for the RO it was not so bad.

Just checked weather and next two weeks show almost every night freezing, giddy up. I usually got another month left.

[gmcooper]

Just looked at todays paper and they have a listing of participating sugarhouse for next weekends Maine Maple Sunday. They left of many of the sugarhouses including ours and Royal Maple. Looks like the writer only looked at the Maine Maple producers web site to get her listing. The event is sponsored and promoted by the Maine Dept of Agriculture with maine maple producers. Very unfortunate the writer didn't do much home work on her story/ listing. This will be our 21st year on Maine Maple Sunday.

[royalmaple]

Figures oh well.

[JohnsSugarShack]

royalmaple, it sure would be nice to have vacuum but my trees are scattered over 2 1/2 acres and I only have about 80 trees that I can tap on my property all of which are on buckets takes about 45 minutes to collect sap it they run good. Don't think it would be profitable to setup vacuum here. One other reason I called it quits was that I was getting a lot of the black mold starting to grow in the bottom of my buckets. Looking at another section of woods to tap next year, in hopes to get my tap count up to 200. Over all I made some really good grade syrup and very happy with my evaporator. Just got to make bigger plans for next year. Wish everybody the best. :)

[Revi]

We are pulling the taps next weekend. I know we could get more with vacuum, and we may try it some time soon.

This year we're done.

I didn't see any freezes in the forecast after tonight.

Tonight may not even freeze.

We'll leave them up until next weekend anyway, just for the fun of it.

Then we're on to other pursuits.

We made some light, lots of medium and dark, ran out of new plastic jugs and are now into the XD.

All in all it's been a great season.

Short, but sweet.

[MapleME]

same here in Brunswick. Looked like most everything was turned off today....figured I would leave them in to see what this week produced, but I think we will be lucky to see any movement. Been a good season. I hope to be right around 10 gallons.

[sap seeker]

I yanked my 15 taps yesterday, what sap there was was pretty nasty looking. We ended up with 8 1/2 quarts from 89 gallons, our most to date. Best syrup we've made thanks to all the info. from here, much appreciated.

[boondocker]

i think the fat lady is singin around here. havent got anything in a few days. i think im gonna pull my taps this week. i boiled off the last 60 gal. i had yesterday, and made a little under two gallons of some dark stuff:rolleyes: i dont think that a couple of freezing nights will really bring it back, i dont know what do you guys think?????? im just affraid that if i leave them in i will get sap but not enough to fire my evaporator. all the buds are out and some are starting to pop open. a little confused here but just wanted some input on what everybody thinks. im willing to throw in the towl but if there is a chance i will stick it out another week. been a ok year very little sap compared to years past and low sugar content but for some reason the syrup seemed really sweet this year. boiled off somewhere around 450 gal. and made almost seven gal. of medium gold, all and all happy for my first year on my own in my new sugarhouse and new evaporator. everything worked well and went smooth so im a happy camper:D

[Revi]

I only got about a quart from the buckets, which means only about 4 gallons from the tubing trees. At this rate we won't even have enough to boil next Saturday. We're pulling all the taps on Saturday and calling it a season.

It's strange to start with freezing temps and end with freezing temps.

It seems like perfect weather is coming for the big guys up north, so they will have a productive season. I saw the high was 42 today in Greenville, and it froze there last night, so they are having some great sugaring weather.

[gmcooper]

Just checked National Weather Service forcast. Going to get down to 21 Thursday night and 19 on Friday night. Good thru weekend as well. Hopefully things will turn around.

[JohnsSugarShack]

Well wrapped everything up Sunday, after finishing off what was left in the evaporator I ended up with another 4 3/4 gallons of dark amber for a total of 15 3/4 gallons for the season. My ratio for the season was 36.8 to 1 which was better than I thought. Now have to clean up every thing and start getting ready for next year. Larger feed tank, better syrup filter, more taps, more buckets and the list goes on, oh can't forget need to make the sugar house larger.:)

[TapME]

things haven't run here for a week and the outlook doesn't look good so this weekend we will clean things up and call it a year. total for this season was 30 dark amber, 5 medium, and 5 commercial which is lighter than all the rest but has an after taste. Had more taps in this season that last (125+) and made less syrup by 5 gallons go figure. Good luck to all that stay in till the end. Syrup per tap was .11 gallons per tap were it was estimated at .20, so just a small difference. Season started way to early here the last week of feb and that would be 3 weeks before normal.

[JuniperHillSugar]

Things here are wrapping up as well here at "Juniper Hill Sugar." With 150 taps and our 2x4 Hobby Evaporator it made for some long boils, but only a few this season. My theory of overtapping in the event of a short season seemed to work. We made 12.5 gallons from fancy to B. I hope we'll all look back on 2010 as a strange year, not to be repeated?

The W.F.Mason 2x4 worked very well, I would, and have, recommended this fine Maine craftsmanship to anyone who will listen. Used about 1.25 cord of mixed softwood, so still over half of my wood left for next year. I still have to run the numbers on total gallons boiled, but the 2x4 would average about 8 gallons of sap per hour, with no blower, no extra preheater, just stock out of the box from Bill. I'm sure I can get 10-12 gph next year with a little more work on a preheater.

The sugar content was quite low from lots of really good trees. I think that last summer's rainy weather produced a low crop of sugar for this season. Once the buckets are washed and the sugar house cleaned, we'll be looking toward the gardens, hay field and orchard to collect whatever Mother Nature has to offer. Check out our blog if you like: http://www.juniperhillfarmer.blogspot.com/

God Bless to all

[Revi]

The weather actually looks pretty good for a few runs into next week. Maybe we'll leave the tubing up for a little while longer and make some mersh.

We have already filled all the plastic we had for this year, so this is the run of double dark we can use for cooking.

The bonus round!

[abbott]

Despite getting to 28 last night my lines weren't running at all today - even when i fired up the vacuum pump, so i rounded up some buckets and spiles and tapped a few birches and one maple. They all went right to dripping. Looks like the birches will average a gallon per tap on the day (.5-1% brix). I'll get a gallon plus out of the maple, but it has an off flavor (never tasted buddy sap before, but i suspect thats what it is.) The buds are noticeably swelling. As much as I hate to admit it, i think its time to pack it in. Not a terrible year, as i made about 90% of my goal.

[gmcooper]

Just hauled home tank of sap. Vacuum was still running decent all day. Still have 200 gallons to pick up.

[boondocker]

just wondering if anybody had any runs today, havent been home yet to check mine. redrilled all my taps yesterday in hopes of on last run for enough to boil on sunday. going to do some backcountry snowmobiling tomarrow and hopfully back into the sugar house on sunday:D

[tessiersfarm]

1 1/2 gallons of sap on 40 taps today, guess its water for sunday.

[abbott]

Boiled down a gallon of sap i got yesterday on the stove. Made a few ounces of ... well not syrup. Smelled bad, tasted bad... still can't get the taste out of my mouth. :( I guess thats the last nail in the coffin for my season.

[Cider Hill Maple Farm]

The end is here on Cider Hill as well, But I can't say it was bad for the first year with homemade equip. We ended the the season with 46 taps and a little over seven gallons of finished product. Enough for camping, home & friends. This year was a great learning experience for everyone who joined in. Next year I hope to add more taps, build my own RO system, improve my evap. and build a 16' x 24' sugar shack. I want to give thanks to my father, who did most of the boiling while I was at work. Leaving the finishing and bottling for later, so my son could be home from school to enjoy the operation. Best of luck to all.

[Revi]

We were able to simulate a boil today, but we only kept it going for about a half hour. Sent some steam up to heaven, but we aren't going to be open tomorrow. I think I'll go check some sugarhouses out in Southern Maine.

We left the taps in in case there is a run tomorrow or Monday, but I really think we are at the end of the season now. I'll commence to pluck the taps next week some time.

[Revi]

I went and checked out the Coopers and the Nash Valley Farm down in Cumberland County. Very nice places. The miniature horses were really fun.

We actually had a little run today. I wasn't expecting anything, but it looks like we may have enough to fire up one final time tomorrow.

If we can get what we have left warmed up we can pour off one more time and call it a season.

It's been short but sweet!

[BRL]

My buddy had about 125 people show up to his shack, it was a fun day. We only had about 35 gallons of sap to boil down and the rest was water. Ran the evaporator for 4 hours, made a couple of gallons of syrup. We just need to finish whats left in the front pan and clean up and this season is officially over for us. We have big changes for next year so this summer is going to be busy.:D

[gmcooper]

Finally getting back to normal around here. Still lots to do from sundays activities. We had agood day with the bulk of visitors before 1pm. Cold and windy which made it tough for everyone. Still served over 500 breakfasts. Almost completely sold out of product. Just alittle glass left and a couple 1/2 pints. Did get to see Revi and a few other traders during the day. Wish had more time to visit with them.

[royalmaple]

Mark-

You still got your pump running? I pulled in over 3000 gallons of sap in last 24 hours. It was running the best or nearly the best as it did all season. Looks like I was making DA tonight, I think it might be buddy though. Check tomorrow. Think this will be it once it stops running.

[gmcooper]

Matt,
I did not put pump on. LAst run was 1.2% and not very good. I know I should have turned it on.

[Revi]

We are really done now. We pulled all the buckets and took the tube out of the tanks, so the season is well and truly over now. We got a little surprise run the past couple of days, and it was just enough to fire up and pour off some more double dark syrup.

Every little bit helps. We made 22 gallons, which was about 8 less than last year, but it was lighter.

We had a lot of fun also which is the real product at our sugarhouse.

The past couple of years haven't been much fun, so it's good to get the fun back.

[royalmaple]

1.2 % and you stopped. Best sap I had all season was 1.3. I was down to OUI sap (DUI / DWI to some people) last week.

I would have bought it all from you.

[Parker]

$$$$$ DOCUTS to be made here friends,,,Put out the buckets,,,man with an RO is after the gold TAP-TAP-TAP!!!

[royalmaple]

Just filled the canner again tonight. Had to make an abrupt stop last night once I lit the evap and pulled off a few gallons. Tremendous abdominal pain and burning sensation in lower back. Lasted for hours last night. Got so bad I threw up. Most pain I've ever felt.

Today seems to be much better. I checked symptoms online and I could have anything from Hangnail to colon cancer.

Leaning toward kidney stone.

[TapME]

I have had those stones more than once and to say the they hurt is an understatment. They tend to go away then sneek back up on you when you least expect. We had a bad stomach flue that went through the house here and that was a quick and painfull stomach and back pain that came with that. Hope you feel better real quick. Wish I was making some syrup here I'm jelious.

[gmcooper]

Matt, Sorry to hear you had some health issues. Better take care of it.

I see you did take full use of the new health care system. Checked online and narrowed the possiblities down. Unfortunately you are now out of benefits. Good news is after you die your wife will be entitled to $225 from S.S. to rent a backhoe for burial! Be sure to tell here if she hires someone to do that she will have to put them and thier entire family on a really good health insurance plan for at least a year! LOL

Mark

[boondocker]

wow this thread died in a hurry lol

[Flat47]

wow this thread died in a hurry lol

...just like this season...

[Revi]

The season is over, but we can still post here.

[marc]

I've been busy planning for next year. I bought a delaval vacuum pump and Bender releaser. I took down the tubing that I had put up last year when I was in a hurry. Once I get the rest of my brush clearing done I am going to do the tubing again to get as much out of my woods as I can. I plan to tap the red maples this time instead of going by them. I have been busy researching a new evaporator for next year also. Tap count is going to be around 250, more than the oil drum and 2x4 flat pans can handle.

[Revi]

Nice sugar shack Marc!

Reds are maples too.

[Revi]

Sounds like a heck of a season Lobstafari! That's a lot of syrup to us little guys.

We do the moonlighting and even that is a strain on the family, so I know what you mean.