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Long delayed summary post. Our first big season turned out quite well. We had taps in for about 3 weeks, from 2/19-3/11. We still had sap flowing when I took out the taps but we were ready to be finished. We ended up with about 15 gallons syrup from about 760 gallons sap. We learned a ton of stuff. Now, onto the wild mushrooms and then vegetables and pigs! Thanks for your support and advice, see you next year! Pete
Glad to hear that everyone had a good year. I will be upgrading to 150-175 taps next year and also upgrading my arch and pans. I have a Sunrise 2x3 hobby evaporator and a fully bricked arch that I am going to sell if anyone is interested pm me for more details.
(Sigh) I've already got the maple crazies and it looks like 4 more weeks before I tap. (Sigh) Ted
Hey Iowa Sugarers, does anyone know what the effects of the weird warm weather are on the maple season? Up here in NE Iowa it seems like it will get cold again before the end of the month, but I'm just concerned about what the trees are experiencing and if budding time will be affected. For the past week it has been above freezing both day and night and the soil is still frozen... Anyway, let me know if you have experienced a weird winter like this before and how your syrup season went.
Thanks, Pete
Ted, are you going to plan on tapping on 2/15 no matter what the weather? Pete
I'm actually going to wait. Just got 4 inches of snow and looks likes some cold coming. Also, we brought our copper finishing pan to a welder yesterday to re-weld the sections to the base, hopefully it will improve our gradient. We also walked the lines yesterday, everything looks good, just one fallen tree across the lines, and plenty of squirrel damage on our standpipes (our lines are 1" pvc on the ground, very steep hill). We also went to admire the posts and braces we put in for our very rustic sugar shack in the fall. Not sure if we're only going to get up some windbreak walls or if we can possibly get a roof up before/during syruping. Anyway, that's us, Turkey River Farm in NE Iowa. Signing off, excited for the trees to run!
Hey Pete! Not sure how I missed your post, this time of year I cruise the forum a few times a day. I'm still watching Accuweather for a rough idea on when I need to be ready, so no, I'm not locked in on the 15th. Also, I'm not too worried about the temps right now, there's bound to be more freeze thaw cycles before we tap. You asked about strange weather, I believe it was 2012 (could well be wrong) temps went from the teens to the 70's and stayed there! We had 70 buckets out and collected about 3/4 of a gallon of sap...all season! The "Season That Wasn't". Glad to see you posting. It sounds like you have a fine setup going! I'd like to see it in operation. Good luck this season! Ted
Hey everyone hello and how are you? I've been cutting some wood to run through the evaporator and thought I would see if everyone is ready to go. I had a willow tree die in my yard so I don't have far to haul it. It looks like some of you are going to have a go at it this year again. I agree about the weather, it has been an odd winter. We have not had much snow here at all, more rain than anything. It might get warm enough to tap before long. upmep
Hey Upmep, good to read from you again! I hope the past year has been good to you and the upcoming season is even better to you! That's three of us accounted for. I was hoping to be boiling on a REAL arch this season but it just didn't work out. Maybe next year. One more go round on my rickety ole cinderblock widow maker! Such is life! Good luck everyone! Ted
Hello,
We're getting very antsy, we're putting rafters on the shack today and I can just feel the sap is flowing. But it'll get cold the next few days this far north and then we're thinking of tapping on Thursday to be ready for big sap flow on Friday. What about you all?