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Got some good news.... My Monday tapping paid off. Sap sacks were swollen with sap today and dripping at a rate of a drop every other second. I had some time to tap 20 more today, makes a total of about 120, heading for 200 eventually like last year. I don't have help, so I decided I better limit my time tapping more today, and spend time collecting. I collected about 60 gallons in totes, and had to leave about 15 more gallons on the trees because I didn't have enough totes available. When I quit collecting the trees were still dripping. This is unexpected... a gloomy day after a night that barely got below freezing, no sunshine, temps about 36 deg with snow cover. I will harvest again Friday before the big cold snap, and we will probably get our pans set up and boil this weekend. Trees will go to sleep for a while with the cold snap coming. Good luck to all!
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I set up my concrete block arch thia morning with a friend. I still need to make some finishing touches. I put out a main tubing line but have not tied in the laterals yet and have not tapped any lines along those lines. I did tap 4 trees with buckets and two of those trees were dripping quite well. Rain and snow tomorrow then turning cold tomorrow night. I hope to get the taps and laterals put in tomorrow along that line I put in. That will give me a total of 10 by tomorrow night. We will see with the rain. I need to take some pictures. I hope you collected enough sap on Friday John so that you can do that first boil over the weekend.
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Brian, we ended up with 160 gallons of sap. Will begin boiling tonight. I hope you collect enough to boil. John
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Excellent John. You cought the early flow. I missed it. I have one run in that has 9 trees all connected on tubing and running down and into a 35 gal container. In to late to catch the early flow. Looks like we could have 10 or so days of cold with little to no flow. I still have 30 trees to tap. I also have 12 walnut trees to tap. Going to try that again.
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1 Attachment(s)
DIY tubing tool. Works well. Attachment 19235
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I was able to get about 40 Taps and buckets out today. Hopefully will get another 40 out in the woods on Wednesday. Neighbor a few miles away already has his Taps and jugs out. It sounds like we're all off to a good season!
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Finally able to tap about a dozen trees today. Sap was really flowing. Hope to get enough to boil before the freeze.
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Like you Maple Creek I have 12 or so trees tapped. I have not collected enough to boil. I have 20 more to tap. No hurry.
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I bought all of my supplies to make my first concrete block arch for evaporating. At least I have something to do while everything is frozen. Will let you know how it goes and hopefully post some pictures of the finished product.
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We boiled the first sap batch down to 17 quarts of beautiful golden syrup with a buttery flavor. Now the trees are sleeping, and it looks like this arctic air mass will linger for at least 10 more days.
