Ready in Iowa!

[Belshee Creek]

:D Good news! We are ready in Iowa, have the evap fire bricked, new valves on storage tanks, all tree have been tapped, got a bit cold on us here in the Heartland for a couple of days, looks to be 40+ Wed-Friday, will do our first boil this weekend.

May get a chance to see whats happening at the Indian Creek Nature Center as the Maple Syrup Fest is March 4-5. Guess they had about 2000+ people there last year. Take Hwy 30 East from I-380, follow to Hwy 13, go North, Indian Creek Nature Center is on the left, watch for sign. The Event shows how to's and music provided by local talent in the Cedar Rapids area. We are off and running in Iowa!

Thanks for the support!
:D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Congrats and keep us posted. I know you are excited with the new evaporator and we hope your buckets flow over many times this year! :D

[Sweber]

Holy crap! They tap in Iowa???
I am a former Iowan (Dubuque) Where is Cedar River?
You must be a rare sap head out there. never had real syrup till I moved out to New England. We are still in the deep freeze out here maybe in the next week or two we'll get a thaw out.
What do you run for evap/ taps?Update this weekend if you can, let me know how the "Iowa sap" is running.

[Belshee Creek]

Yep, made syrup on the 5th, collected 73 gallons, made two gallons of light amber, has a bit of light yellow - light orange color. :) Fired up my GBM evaporator I got from Henry Grape (Grape's Sugar Bush) , IT WORKED GREAT! The syrup really has a good taste, no bite, nice and smooth.

Weather here has started to get things going now, plan to cook again on Thursday, with the weather changing again here, it appears we will have another good sap flow.

Good luck to all!