Had snow last night and this morning. Warmed up really nice and sunny, but no sap would run today either.
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Had snow last night and this morning. Warmed up really nice and sunny, but no sap would run today either.
Looks like we are done. I just finished boiling the sap I had in my barrels. Going to go over and check the bush and see if there is any more sap. My 3/16 gravity line is running good today but the 5/16 not so much. My silver maples buds have finally opened. It did freeze a little last night so hopefully the buckets are doing something!
Not a drop here for me since sunday. I boiled off my last bit last night. I'm pulling taps on the weekend and packin 'er up.
Almost 5 litres from 140l of sap. I seem to have a high yeild this season. Less sap, more syrup....works for me!!
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ps0a4645db.jpg
I think that puts me at around 14-15 litres this season. Kinda slow, but I'm not complaining.
S.
I'm at a loss for words. I've revised my signature to show my whopping total for 2014. I was waiting to boil down my measly batches of 'nearup' until I had more to show for myself, but I think it's time I cooked it down all the way.
After excitedly counting down the weeks since last year's season ended, I am hoping against hope that I get to salvage something for this year. And here I thought 2012 was bad. :cry:
Only on our third boil in Parry Sound.
Scrambling to make a season out of it for sure.
And isn't this heavy corn snow a treat to try and haul sap in ???
We still have 3 feet in the woods...
Decided to gather the dribbles from the last couple of days and was pleasantly surprised to bring in 500 Imp. gallons. The dark syrup people will now rejoice as it was just hanging onto amber on Tuesday. Was warm enough for the garter snakes to be out today and the peepers are increasing their choir.
Whatchya guys think about the cold snap coming Tuesday?
I'm hanging onto that hope. If I can squeak out a few more days like this past Sunday (my first real run) I'll thank the trees and put away the chain saw. At this stage of the game, beggars can't be choosers.Quote:
Originally Posted by argohauler
Karen,
Oh man. That's awful. So sorry to hear that. :(
Do you think it might have anything to do with the ice-storm we had? Erin got hit hard, as did Caledon. My trees took a beating, which was one of the reasons why I passed this year.
Our property sustained a lot of damage from the ice storm, but fortunately only a few of the maples lost limbs. So, unless the trees talk to one another when we aren't looking, I really can't blame tree damage. It stayed cold for so long that the trees were frozen solid. Then, when we start to get nice days, the evenings don't freeze up. Then of course there is the wind......today is just another example of that. It's like the perfect storm for zero syrup production. You appear to have been the wisest sugarer in these parts this year. I should check with you next year before I dirty up my equipment.
Although I've already got 25 taps in trees here, I think I might go down the street to my second stand of trees. They are all sugars and in a very cold forest. Perhaps I can squeeze out a few litres there and salvage some of the season. It's a real mystery this year.
I made the drive to the "cooler" bush and put in eight taps. Within a half an hour there was an inch of sap in the 2 gallon pails. The sap was really pulling for me. I don't want to hear any frogs for a few weeks or else! :evil:
Looks like if you can convince your trees not to start budding this weekend that there should be at least a couple good days next week! If the forecast is correct there is supposed to be a cool down mid next week with 2 or 3 cold nights in a row, which is what I think you've been lacking.Quote:
Originally Posted by Run Forest Run!
The buds on all of my trees are tighter than a drum. No chance of budding really soon, thank goodness. The ground is still quite frozen.
Syrup graded dark today and it's really tasty as the dark orders come piling in. Slightly froze last night and some of the trees wanted to run. An inch or 2 in most buckets, so we'll start gathering tomorrow morning. If it would just freeze hard, I know the sap would pour. So much for my theory of Lake Erie being frozen over it would make us colder at night. If we got clouds, it didn't freeze or not hard enough. I should have kept track, but I bet we had 7 or 8 nights that barely froze. I'm hoping this heat wave doesn't hurt me and then the cold snap that's supposedly coming will actually freeze hard and produce. I need more dark syrup. My drinking bucket kept up to me in the heat today and is still really sweet. We still have ice in the swamps and frost in the ground, we can't be done yet.
Hi All this is my first post.
Agreed, this year has been substandard. We've done three boils so far and produced about 30 litres from our 75 taps, all darker grades. Been fun trying to get through the snow and haul the sap buckets by hand to our collection vats, but we do love the product!
Paul
Welcome Paul! The buckets haven't started to drip yet today, but there was ice on the puddles. Fingers crossed.:)
Hi Karen, thanks for the welcome.
Alas, I check the weather forecasts and spent yesterday:
pulling spiles
cleaning buckets and 3 times rinse
cleaning vats (ok bunch of roughneck garbage cans) and airdry
air drying said buckets, staking and putting away
disinfecting spiles
pan cleaner, channel brush, creosote brush, steel wool and power washer to sap,syrup pans, float box
clean out collected ash in firebox/arch, wirebrush grates, re-assemble, powerwash and wipe down arch frame.
powerwash collection tank and feed line and "summerize"
Wash and put away sap collection buckets, filter tank, stem thermometer, etc etc etc.
Collect and put away pumps, electrical cords and garden hoses (used to pump sap into my tank)
Whew, I was beat when I finished, slept well . Can't imagine the closing for those big operations with steam hoods, bubblers, RO, vacuum pumps, main lines and biggy evaporators!
Glad our family loves syrup. My 8 year old especially likes the dark stuff, and he was pleased the last boil turned amber at the take off spout.
Lets hope for a better season next year and no polar vortex! Paul
Gathered Friday and got a lot of exercise, but only 170 gallons of sap. Boiled it that afternoon and pushed out another 7 gallons. That got me my pre-orders of dark and got most of it sent out Saturday.
The trees continued to run Saturday despite it not freezing when I went back to wash tanks if the afternoon. Gathered Sunday afternoon and got 300 gals. Some trees are running better than when it was freezing. I guess they're thawed out now. Noticed some of the silvers have popped. Boiled it out today and it got a little darker and the flavour is still good.
Hoping the sap will still be good when the freeze up is over. Sugar buds look all right. Probably going to get 2, possibly 3 runs out of this, but not sure if my wood is going to hold out.
Had quite a bit of snow overnight and it is still snowing off and on. Temperatures have not risen above freezing yet so the sap is not dripping. Maybe we'll get a nice surprise tomorrow and be boiling down some sap. :)
Well the bucket list (washing, rinsing, drying, stacking/storing) is done :lol: Finished up with 57 litres off 75 taps this year. Last 5 L very dark but tasty (thats staying here). Bit of a disappointment compared to last year's production but still a good year. Good luck to those still draining trees.
Cheers
Paul
A couple of my taps just started to drip within the past ten minutes. Does anyone in this area have good news to report?
The sugar maples in the forest were running at 130 drips/minute at 6pm tonight. Looks like I'll be doing a little boiling tomorrow. I'll take whatever I get. :)
Big sap alert to all of those sugarers in the GTA. Check your buckets the first chance you get!
Run Forest Run!! :D Go go go!!
Thanks for that MSM. What a great day. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by MustardSeedMum
I collected 119L and they were all still dripping at dusk. The 8 taps in sugar maples gave 83L, and one silver maple's sugar content was at 4.5 this afternoon and it was running like crazy.
THAT IS AWESOME!! You go girl!
Dear all; I am looking to buy sap from anyone willing to sell. Our sugarbush is in the lanark area but has turned milky. Anyone with clear sap? Looking for large amounts. Thanks!
Another very, very long day over the propane tanks. Can't wipe the smile off my face though. :)
Four of the 8 taps I have in sugar maples (that were emptied last night at 7pm) had overflowed this morning. In 24 hours they have given me 120L so far. I was so swamped with sap that I never got back to them tonight to collect what they will have given me today. Who knows, but I'm betting more overflowing buckets. I still have 40L of sugar maple sap in storage that I haven't yet boiled.
I collected 38L from the 22 taps on my property. They had all produced overnight and then slowed down during the day. I was able to get caught up with that and boiled it all by 9pm. They have a higher sugar content than the sugar maple sap currently does, so I wanted to make sure I used it first. Thank goodness for my refractometer. It helps make some sense of this crazy onslaught of sap. At least I know that I'm boiling sap in order of importance. No guesswork.
I've done my best to scrub my pans to get ready for another big boiling day tomorrow. I think I'll be out cold when I hit the pillow.
It got below freezing last night......
Here we go again!
Sounds like you got what you been waiting for,have fun!!
Thanks 5050. It's been a busy week and I think things are starting to wind down. Pretty soon I'll also be cleaning up for the year.