If heart was sap, your buckets would be overflowing. Hats off to you Jim. You are inspiring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mapler Jim
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If heart was sap, your buckets would be overflowing. Hats off to you Jim. You are inspiring.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mapler Jim
MAPLE MOUNDER:
Thanks Rob, I will let you know when we are in the area. I have a brother in Pecatonica and we have friends in Oregon ( IL ) so who knows.
RUN FOREST RUN:
Thanks Karen, for the comment. I just love the color of your syrup! With 10 taps and 2 fryers I hope it runs so you have to use both of them all the time.
Mapler Jim
Sounds to me like you are as hard core about making syrup as any of us! What you put into it is what you get out of it. To me, you put in the most.
By white maples, I assume those are silver maples. Right now I bet they have really large red colored buds on the branches. I don't have many silvers here and I don't tap them, but from other posts and threads on this site, they can be real finicky. One year you'll get buckets of sap, other years you won't get much at all. Mounder may be right though, next week as it warms up into the 40's you may get a good run yet.
I had to look up your town on google earth. I know Pistakee Lake. Turns out I used to drive thru there from McHenry to Antioch and back when I was working a project up that way. Nice place up there. Always reminded me of alot of the little towns on lakes further north in WI.
Best wishes for a good maple season.
33 taps finally in today with the help of my 5 and 7-yr olds. With a high of 35°F and direct sun hitting the trees, sap was starting to slowly dribble. It looks like next week will be the first good week for sap here. Although, with a snow storm now being forcast for NE Illinois, it looks like it winter is going to hang on for a while. If the snow brings good temperature swings, it will be worth it.
Hello Everyone
This is are first year at this new adventure and we are hooked. We tapped our first three trees the 24th and collected 11 1/2 gals of sap since. Saturday my son and I built a block arch. It wasn't till 3:30 when we struck the match. 4pm first pan started to boil. 4:15 both pans off to a full boil. Three hours later we began finishing on the stove and ended with 34oz of syrup.
Sunday morning maple syrup covered pancakes, yum. Interesting flavor, it is different than others we have had. Sort of buttery. The wife thinks more butterscotch, I think more carmel kind of like the smell in a specialty popcorn shop. Either way it was good.
I tapped two more trees this afternoon and the sap was a flowing. Waiting for twenty more taps in the mail so then we will have a grand total of 30 taps.
Sapster glad to hear you guys are tapped and ready
Treetapper becareful sounds like you have gotten bitten by the bug. We all started out with a couple taps and after that batch you find more trees. Welcome to the Trader
Hi Flatlander;
When I first started, in 2011, I looked up the leaves from the trees on line and they matched White Maple. I'm going to have to recheck them as I seem to be getting more syrup per gallons of sap then I should. At this point I'll have to chalk it up to the novice in me.
I change our town from the post office, which is McHenry, because we are in the unincorporated area of mcHenry county and there are two towns between us and McHenry. We are 6 miles from McHenry but 2 miles from Fox Lake. We are on the west side of Pistakee Lake. I assume you took Rigwood road going to work.
There no big buds on the branches. They don't show up till quite late.
MapleMounder
I'm not bitten I can stop anytime I want to .................................after the sap stops running!
I did find a rough guess of about 30 silver maples. And I know there are some Boxelders somewhere. So next year we will expand.
How much snow did you all end up with? We had about a foot here and man did it blow till about midnight. The drifts are up to the top of my snow fence, I had to go plow wind rows in the field to help stop all the drifting on the lane.