2012 Ontario Tapping

[Yellzee]

I was out in the woods with a helmet on and frantically trying to get the sap and get the heck out of there while the wind was breaking trees around me on Saturday.
finished batch #2 7 litres so up to 14.5 litres to date. More in the finishing pan now, but it will be a smaller batch.

I agree, not really any big runs so far in this area... then it turns real warm with above zero nights according to the weather man. Glad i'm not tapping any soft maple as they look ready to explode in buds.

Definitely more sodas consumed than syrup produced so far.

[Asthepotthickens]

We put in a few taps two weeks ago, sap ran and froze I collected it Saturday morning and boiled it down. This Saturday it ran again on Sunday morning it had ice on the top so I collected it and boiled it down. Good news the sap that was frozen for two weeks was fine very clear high quality syrup. Questions Will my taps dry out? I use the plastic tubing spout, blue hose into 20 liter pails. Also is it worth while to tap early you end up boiling down very cold sap and ice?

[Yellzee]

Had a decent day yesterday... was really running about 3pm, had about 60 gallons by 5pm, never got back to see how much more came out. Everyone of my 5/16 seasonal straight spiles were leaking... whacked them all in again... then found a few that had started leaking again. I'm sure I split some trees pounding them in as hard as I had to to stop the leaks. On the plus side, you wouldn't really know they were leakign unless they were clear.... I dont have enough vaccuum to make a noise except the top few on the hill... the rest you can see bubbles coming thru the tap or you can see that there it isn't full of sap.

[Brent]

Yellzee
you don't necessarily have leaks in the sense you think
you will get some wood gas sucked out of the trees even if the seal is perfect
I also found that I have tapped trees that have hollow sections from old damage. Hammer on the tree and you it makes a different sound than a solid tree. Some leaked so bad I pulled the taps and plugged the drop lines.

I got a 1-1/2 Hp high vac pump this year and got 26" for a few days then the motor crapped out. Now I'm back to just one 3/4 Hp Gast dry vane pump and I'm getting 20 - 21" but keeping the system tight is a daily chore. &^%$# Squirrels.

[MustardSeedMum]

I was out in the woods with a helmet on and frantically trying to get the sap and get the heck out of there while the wind was breaking trees around me on Saturday.

I think I'm past the point of exhaustion, but I found this completely hysterical. I was doing the same thing, except I had no helmet.

Wouldn't it be something if all of us crazy maple syrup people had a webcam attached to our persons. To give people an idea of what we go through to make this stuff.

[Yellzee]

I'm not sure I'd want the general public to see all the activity going on out there... perhaps just a film for the local producers so we can laugh at each other and relate to each others struggles. Whoever that was tapping oak trees for example... now that would be funny to watch. Or shooting apart our own lines with the shotgun trying to get a squirrel (not that i've ever done that)

[TwinBay]

Try trudging thru wet snow....not too tough
Carrying two 5 gallon buckets that are full......remind me not to gain 100 lbs.
Do it on snowshoes and you sink right to your own "spile"....a brutal 80 gallon collection today
Havin" fun, back at it tomorrow hopefully

[Yellzee]

TwinBay, I dont' know where you are located in Canada, but around here trudging through snow is not a problem... although it's solid ice where I drive the bike to collect.... yesterday bike and sled started sliding down the hill on me as I was filling it up... looks like another good day here if the sun stays out a couple more hours.

[DrewCP]

Put our 50 taps in on Wednesday afternoon. Amazing day to be in the bush. Sunny and a warm 10*C. Within a couple hours we were able to go back to 5 or 6 trees and pull out enough sap for our first pot of sap coffee of the season. Sitting on the deck in the sun in short sleeves sipping a sap coffee has got to be one of the top things I look forward to during syrup season.
Sap was showing around 2.25%. No complaints. Already collected 60gal in 36 hours.

Forecast looks poor. Temps are to range between 10-16*C from Mar 11-22. During this time there are no forecasted nights below zero.

[TwinBay]

Parry Sound-
We still have 3 feet of snow in the bush.
Soggy and wet mushy runoff snow.
ATV bogs down and snowshoes are all but useless.
Dragging 15 gallon totes out by hand and rope.
But at least we finally have something to haul.
Weather looks nuts for next 2 weeks....be a shame to have only one sap flow??