2012 Ontario Tapping

[Yellzee]

small run yesterday, amazing as I would have predicted it to be huge... just a slow trickle ... I took off maybe 40 gallons, it was still trickling about 7pm, so maybe it ran most of the night?

Frost on the ground outside this morning but not heavy... so maybe a bit more today. I'm at 21.5 litres at present, probably about 9 litres in the finishing pan.

BAtch I finished yesterday still very light.

One thing I was thinking... I haven't seen any of those moths that normally seem to end up in any bucket or container that has sap in it... I clinging to that as I sign that the season still has a ways to go if the temperatures co operate. Still lots of ice on my trail and a bit in the woods...

[Brent]

I was up at 3:00 AM to start the vac pumps as the temps hit +2 deg.
We finished 125 L from 650 taps. Still got about 300 L of sap in the tank to run today.
I saw 3:00 AM on the clock on the way to bed.
Needless to say, not moving too fast today. The tree tops are looking full and black. At last sunlight last
night we could see the red from the buds on top. We left the vac running all night but if we get anything fresh,
we'll be keeping it segregated until we can tell if its buddy.

At this point, we're almost exactly 1/2 of what we got last year. I would have been a little better if we had not let some sap spoil as we tried to get caught up with the season in in the sugar shack.

[Brent]

Where is Eldorado? I'm going to put out more buckets since the 10 day looks pretty decent. I'm in Erin.

I don't know what forecast you're looking at but the AcuWeather shows only one freezing night in the 15 days forecast, and that's March 25.
The trees are all going to make buddy sap in the next day or two. I wouldn't put any new holes in them at this late date.

It's over for us down here.

[Brent]

Jen just came back from the bush. Maybe about 300 more gallons in the tanks and buckets are about 1/3 full.
AND it's still runnig.
Boiling in the kitchen to test for buddy sap now.

[MustardSeedMum]

I don't know what forecast you're looking at but the AcuWeather shows only one freezing night in the 15 days forecast, and that's March 25.
The trees are all going to make buddy sap in the next day or two. I wouldn't put any new holes in them at this late date.

It's over for us down here.

Brent - you picked up my post from Feb 20. Not putting any taps in right now!

I'm in BIGTIMESAP! Ran out of storage. Yesterday gathered over 200L, and the buckets were still filling up last night - had to let them overflow. Today I've picked up another 200L and it's still flowing. Strangely, it appears that we went below 0 up here. Not sure if it's my higher elevation - I'm hoping that'll help my season a little. Doesn't smell buddy yet. I'm boiling like a fool right now. Praying hard that the rain will hold because that'll slow down my boiling.

I might have to let go of some sap. On the buy list: another storage barrel and a more efficient evaporator.

Or I could reduce the # of my taps....NOT!

[Brent]

Sorry bout that MustardSeedMum. Up to 3:00 AM boiling.
Punch drunk is an expression that comes to mine

[MustardSeedMum]

Sorry bout that MustardSeedMum. Up to 3:00 AM boiling.
Punch drunk is an expression that comes to mine

No prob. We're all sleep deprived. By the way, did your wife ever get to put her buckets up?

[Brent]

No prob. We're all sleep deprived. By the way, did your wife ever get to put her buckets up?

She only got half of them up. She emptied them last night at 11:30 PM and about an hour ago, after doing several trips to the releaser tanks, she got
back to them again and many were overflowing. So far another 300 gallons of sap today. Can't keep up.
More stupidity coming on posts tomorrow. More sleep deprivation.

[Yellzee]

Brent you are making me jealous... gossip from my house is that I have only about 35 gallons of sap only today.

[MustardSeedMum]

I'm in the same boat as Brent (on a smaller scale) - can't keep up today.

I'm swimming in sap. Running count today is over 200L with probably another 100L out in the buckets. Had to pull 5 gallon buckets off 10 taps for sap storage. And I'll probably have to let more sap run into the ground.

Can't boil any faster. So frustrating.