Vernon County

Another mild day so I tapped a maple behind my house and my fears were true,sap was running and the tap was on the north side of the tree.BUMMER FOR SURE. to early to tap yet to late to wait. never seen this before .

I usually only have time to collect and boil for a two week span so I went for with this warm up. Put in 50 taps from 10-12 on Sunday and collected 100 gallons this afternoon. Had half a dozen 3 gallon buckets overflowing. Northern Iowa County

Tuesday, Feb. 6th. Greetings all. Enjoying the warmth of St. Martin and watching the thermometer back in Crawford County. And now my fears have been confirmed by these reports. Not returning until Next Wednesday so Thursday of next week will be my first day back at this crazy hobby of ours. I don't mind missing the first big push but I would hate to see it get so crazy warm too soon that buds start developing way to early. I'll be looking forward to more posts as I sit here each day doing the math on how much sap and potential gallons of syrup I am forfeiting.

Headed out and collected another 75 gallons off of 50 taps yesterday afternoon. South facing trees didn’t produce much but still had a few overflowing buckets on some trees in the bottom.

I see a bunch of activity out there, I was in South Dakota this last week for MSHA training, my son and daughter in law will be mining gold on a permitted claim in the black hills. So My wife and I had to be certified to help at the mine. Looks like end of February first weekend of March for tapping here. Had a text today from a large producer above Green Bay, he told me he has 50 barrels put up already thats like 2,500 gallons WOW. The weather sure is a challenge this winter. God Bless.

Boiled down 200+ gallons on Friday and Saturday and got about 5.5 gallons of syrup for the week. Should be a decent run through Thursday before the cool down. Will probably pull taps and call it a season in the middle of February. Wild year for syrup.

Hi Lulu, Mr. Sugar Maple, Irish Ridge and others - Tom Moore here! Long story short - we made the move from Waukesha County to our 20+ year land in Vernin County and built our last home. Moved in April last year. Needless to say, no tapping last year and none this year, as we're getting ready for some new kid goats soon. HOWEVER, my blood is boiling to boil sap! Going to try to do it right and wait out this year and get re-organized for 2025. Keep posting all of you - I'm living vicariously thru you this year. Not tapping for two years is making me crazy. I walk the woods each morning (now that we're 5 minutes away instead of 3 hours) and really tuning in. Reading all your posts - so keep it going! Tom

Hi Tom, welcome to Vernon County. Congratulations on the new home I would love to have a home there, my home is 80 miles from the sugar bush. With my son moving to South Dakota our plan was to have him come back March 1st and tap get things set make syrup. Now with this warm weather dont know if the trees will wait. In a normal year that is about the right time for tapping. God Bless

Saturday, Feb. 17th...Hey Tom. Good to hear from you again. I remember the three hour drives to our land here in Crawford before we built as well. We always thought it was worth it. Retired in 2010 and don't ask where the last 14 years went because I sure don't know. We returned from vacation Thursday. Friday was spent tapping my 50 trees. Not a tree was running with the cold weather. Today will be getting everything else ready up top. It was sure nice being able to set buckets right onto the ground. My woods are free of snow. The weather report for this neck of the woods shows a good week ahead and who knows after that. Tis the season.

Great to hear from you, Tom! I was worrying about you last year. Must feel good to put down deep roots on your land that you love. That is cool. I had what I thought was a great plan, spend a few weeks in Arizona and be back at end of Feb to get the season going. Instead, here I sit in Tucson checking the weather a couple of times a day and reading sugaring updates here and on facebook. The artic blast that I thought was going to happen while I was gone never did materialize. I'm with Irish Ridge, thinking about all the sap that I'd have collected by now. Nothing I can do about it so I'm just going to enjoy the nice weather, hike the beautiful mountains and work on my golf game. I'll be over to tap on March 2nd. I'm sure I'll still get something out of the season (north facing slope helps). In the mean time, I'll check in every so often and hope that the buds don't pop. Take care everyone!