St. Lawrence County

[MT Pockets Producer]

We spent the day finishing what was in the pans,washing tanks and putting the RO to bed. Going to work on getting the woods taken care of tomorrow. We haven’t figured our gallons per yet but our last boil was on Thursday and the sap was 1.3%. I’m happy with that considering what other folks have had.

[Joust7.1]

That freeze on Tues and Wed night have me holding out for one more run. Hasnt turned buddy yet but Im worried it might since the frogs were singing last night after the thunder storm.


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[Michael Greer]

Cleaning up your gear is a good way to stay safe. NOBODY wants to help with that part. I'm old enough to be pretty concerned and very careful, and it strikes me that I should write up instructions for someone? to take over if I don't make it to next season.

[Michael Greer]

Well will you look at that! I made it to the next season and I'm only two years older. Got my second vaccination a few days ago and feel like a load has been lifted from my shoulders. Those few random warm days sure get me frantic about the start of the season, but it was really cold again this morning...so no... not yet. I'm putting the sugarhouse in order and breaking out the equipment. There may be some weather for tapping this week, but maybe only two days, so maybe not.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

We are about 3/4 tapped. Very deep snow this year.

[Michael Greer]

Started tapping on the 9th and found only one or two trees seeping. On the 10th, nearly every tree had sap. Finished tapping yesterday on the 11th and will go back to the beginning to see what the yield looks like this morning. I'm hoping for enough to sweeten the pans and maybe make the first syrup.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

I was recirculating concentrate back to the raw sap tank and feeding the mix back to the RO when it shut down. As it turned out the strainer was plugged solid with ice crystals (just like a slushy). I cleaned it out and it happened again. Repeatedly. I'm now by-passing the RO just to get the sap inside where I can deal with it tomorrow. I've been ROing sap since 1990 and never have seen this before. My guess is that the temperature dropped so fast (from 50 to 22 currently on the sensors) and the wind is so strong that when I pumped about 1000 gallons of sap 1400 feet through an inch pipe back to the raw sap tank at the shanty that it actually functioned like a chiller . The sap will pump but won't pass through the screen just before the 5 micron filter.

[DaveProsper]

That freeze came on STRONG late yesterday! I had a tent set up next to my arch and went inside for a meeting to let it finish cooling off before wheeling it inside. After the meeting I popped out and it was sleeting and the wind knocked the tent right on its side, despite being tied to (a now empty) tote! Had a heck of a time getting stuff put away but its all good now. It was shirtsleeve weather went I went in (well, almost) and when I came out just a couple hours later it was freezing! Haven't seen a change that wild in a long time.

[Sunday Rock Maple]

Ended up (after sweetening the pan) making 29 gallons from the run which is about half what we would normally get but the sap only tested 1.1 percent. Our long term average is 1.8 although last year was only 1.2 -- not sure why that was but it would be nice to see it higher.

[Michael Greer]

We brought in 350 gallons from the 1st 200 buckets. It was only 2% and It took nearly 300 gallons to get to the first draw. I have 500 buckets out there now...all frozen solid.