St. Lawrence County

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Joust,
Go dump all the buckets today so they are clean for any new sap flow. We are pulling all the soft maples and expect to let the first bit that runs go on the ground to clean our pump lines. I have emptied and cleaned the evaporator. I'll have about 3500 taps ready to go Monday AM so we will see.....

[Joust7.1]

Wow, just read about some other areas of the state putting taps in trees. I guess I was under the impression that winter just started. I know I missed a few really good runs last year with setting up a new (to me) rig and all but this seems a bit too early even for the new "norm" if there is such a thing. Plus we have a couple feet of snow in most of my woods still.

[sugar ED]

Wow, just read about some other areas of the state putting taps in trees. I guess I was under the impression that winter just started. I know I missed a few really good runs last year with setting up a new (to me) rig and all but this seems a bit too early even for the new "norm" if there is such a thing. Plus we have a couple feet of snow in most of my woods still.

Joust7.1 Don't start yet (that is last years post ! you are looking at ) But I,m in Oneida county and if the weather report continues to look like the forecast I heard today, then 2/9/2013 maybe my start tapping date ? My Dad & Mom live in north Lawrence and it was 17 below this morning there, 7 above here .Temps make the difference ,and as for the snow... we got lots here! only makes it harder to tap - but great to keep the season going and to keep the sap cold ! Good luck Tapping !

[Joust7.1]

Sugar Ed,
Good catch on that being last year's post. It's been quite cold here lately (we also had -17 yesterday) and I am actually hoping for a few more weeks to get things togetherm for this season. I plan to be ready by the end of February in case the conditions are good to go as I missed a bunch last season starting too late. I've only been to Camden once about a year ago and I remember checking out all the maples and the sugarhouses that you can see from the road. I was thinking that it looked like a good area for maple production. Good luck to you as well.

[sugar ED]

Joust ,
Thinking I missed my tap date as the temps. here are looking good ! But as my luck would go I,m just getting over a really nasty stomach bug that has kept me at home and not at the shack :-( . But I did get the pans ready for the arch (bottoms needed cleaning) . and if I can, I'll start tapping tomorrow as temps are good till sat. sun.,(good for keeping cold,storage) Starting Mon. thru-out the week temps look good ! IF the weather man is right . and there's nothing like the first early run ! But that's my two cents, lol. Little bit colder up your way so thing might work out fine for you if ready by end of Feb.and yes I love my 7+ acres with around 250 trees =give or take 400 taps and neighbors that would love to have some syrup for the tapping of there trees ,but last year I had all I could handle with just my trees, as my helpers are my G-kids 7 & 11 and weekends only ,unless I get lucky (hint hint Brian) and my son comes down from v.t He's like a woodpecker when it comes to tapping trees (the wood chips are a flying) I have all I can do to keep up with running tubing (may have something to do with age, lol,)but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet ! just maybe a few less taps, If no help. As I love the hobby- time at shack/woods with the kids and g-kids and of course the sugar !!! Ed

[Michael Greer]

We're pleased so far. Scott Lalond and I made about 28 gallons so far. One more good run and we'll surpass what we did last year. I just bought 10 more buckets...

[cncaboose]

Good runs thru the weekend. We didn't get to bed til after midnight for 4 nights running. It's nice to have a break to catch up on sleep and life. Sap testing 3%. Made 48 gallons of light so far.

[Joust7.1]

My third and final pipeline for this year is up. Some of those fresh taps leaked a bit late afternoon as we drilled, no real flow on anything else. My goal of 200 taps looks in range now with 187 online (50 of which are on buckets). I should be able to get to 200 just by adding a couple more laterals on a few trees that I missed. I still have a buch of small aluminum buckets that I can put out if I want to stretch my gathering time. Looks like limited or no runs until the middle of next week around here. We received 2" of snow overnight and a cold day ahead. Vacuum Day today, hopefully I can get it set up and try it tomorrow when it gets to the mid 30's.

[Michael Greer]

The end is near. Yesterday's syrup was darker than ever, and the filter press worked hard to produce the blackest filter cakes we've seen. It's odd because the sap is really clear and beautiful. A few holes have begun to dry out, but we tapped five weeks ago. A couple trees have put out sap that looks like pee, and I've been dumping those. We'll probably finish up this weekend.

[Michael Greer]

Yep. I'm tapping yard and street-side trees on the west side...between the river and Market St. Those 120 year old trees are fantastic and I often get ten gallons of sap from three taps. Next year I'll have a sugar house here.