Ennis the colder temperatures are coming down to -6 tonight and snow here, we will try to send it your way. The wife and I hope things will start back up tomorrow grand total soar this year 12 gallons for 350 taps no records but lots of fun!
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Ennis the colder temperatures are coming down to -6 tonight and snow here, we will try to send it your way. The wife and I hope things will start back up tomorrow grand total soar this year 12 gallons for 350 taps no records but lots of fun!
We think we have a new indicator for the end of season.
The peepers started in the ponds yesterday.
But our honey bees were in the forest with us Friday when we collected the first load of buddy sap.
We'll watch more closely for them next year.
By the way, all the colonies survived the winder.
Well - I collected Monday night - total of about 25 gallons off 100 trees, (after we dumped out all the cloudy buckets). It's sitting in the shed now out of the sun on the off chance we get some more before it goes all milky. I have 2 groups of trees, some exposed, some in the bush on a north slope. The latter were still running okay and clear. The rest were milky.
Forecast for the weekend is for cooler weather - I think I'll leave things out and see what happens. Last year we made more syrup the week AFTER I decided to pull the taps, than we did the rest of the season. We'd made the decision to pull, then had visitors stop by, so put it off for another week.
No sign of budding around here - so having budding in Caledon does surprise me. No peepers either, but the bees were out on the weekend. They were all over my syrup filter.
I've made enough for my own needs - but I could stand one more run.
My grandfather always said that when the peepers started you were only half done. Still lots of ice on the lake so we may hopefully pull through. The forecast keeps changing a lot but it would be nice to get another 4 or 5 days before it's over.
Well we made another 3 gallons last night and ran out of sap, nice little snow storm last night between mud and the snow made for a fun ride out of the bush, hope this means fresh sap today will see after work.:rolleyes:
I'm at about .4 of a litre per tap.
I need SAP!!!!! Just for peace of mind that it was worth it fighting through that snow.
Well the sap finally let go just in time for 20+ temp later this week and rain. Hope we can boil it all off in time. The new gravity feed system works like a charm it is averaging about 1 ¼ gallons per tap a day I think we will convert another 100 buckets to gravity later this spring, we made 4 ½ gallons yesterday and met last years total. With any luck we can make it to this weekend.
great news. I am seriously thinking about putting in a gravity system on a few areas here too. Got a big learning curve ahead all over again.
Well - I'm done. I dumped the last 35 gals of sap as it was getting a bit too cloudy for anything other than amber, and I pulled and washed my buckets yesterday. Of course - it froze overnight on Saturday and every tree was flowing as I was pulling them, but I'm out of town again for another 3 days and it is forecasted to hit 20c by the time I get back. We ended up with 60l out of 99 trees which is about average for us and way more than we use ourselves. I only sell to friends and family to cover expenses and anything extra goes into the equipment fund. Should put a few hundred in there this year.
My goal for next year is to triple my evaporation rate - so look for details on some home built pans. I'm going to give a flue pan a whirl and will share as I go. Oh - and to come up with a better bucket washing solution than an electric drill, wet clothes, and a sore back.
To those of you still going - may your nights be fridgid and your days be bright. And may the ants and moths stay out of your sap!
Well we finally thru in the towel on Sunday pull and washed all 250 buckets I will finish washing the gravity line tonight we made just over 140 liters not bad for nearly no season but it was a blast for the short run it was. We finished the day off with the annual end of season BBQ and birthday bash for my wife and my sister "both had to have been born in syrup season" I guess the sap did not run those year's. We had about 40 or 50 people show up for the after noon great fun was had by all. Well best of luck to any one hanging in there and still boiling.