Western New York

[Woodpecker Lodge & Maple]

Waiting until March 7th to start tapping at Woodpecker Lodge in Scio. Everything is frozen solid and 10 day forecast calls for highs of 22 the first week of March.

[Shaggy acres]

Everything stopped here in the finger lakes. Thought maybe today with some above freezing temps but nothing to write home about. Changed one of the lines since it wasn't doing anything anyhow. Processed what hadn't frozen in the tank but unfortunately now I have a hundred gallon ice cube stuck in the tank. No reason to believe it will thaw out this month as far as I can see.

[bowtie]

Curious as to how the sap flowed the last couple of days, temps ok but the winds were bad. I have not tapped yet, next week I will probably tap. This gives time to get roof,windows and door on sugar house, just finished the rafters today. Will Need at least a week to be ready to boil, I hate the cold temps but they are saving my butt this year. Besides tomorrow the ten day does not show a day above 29 f. It is definitely going to be short season here unless it stays cold into the first two weeks of April.

[wnybassman]

A little worried about the 5 or 6 days in a row next week in the 50's, with only one low below freezing at 31 during that time. That won't be good for my aging taps. Looks great for a couple weeks after that though.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

A little worried about the 5 or 6 days in a row next week in the 50's, with only one low below freezing at 31 during that time. That won't be good for my aging taps. Looks great for a couple weeks after that though.

I'm thinking the exact same thing as you. I collected another 90 gallons today which was the last of the weekend run. I still have to filter and grade, but tonight was the lightest syrup I have ever made. I hope it grades golden for me.

Anyway, I think I should get one more big run if the weather people are correct. I hope they are wrong because 5 straight days above 50 with no freeze is probably going to end it.

[mudr]

I'm thinking the exact same thing as you. I collected another 90 gallons today which was the last of the weekend run. I still have to filter and grade, but tonight was the lightest syrup I have ever made. I hope it grades golden for me.

Anyway, I think I should get one more big run if the weather people are correct. I hope they are wrong because 5 straight days above 50 with no freeze is probably going to end it.

I was talking to the wife about this stuff too. Days are getting longer, now that many days in the 50s and even low 60s. I head peepers at my house yesterday morning already.

Pulled 62 gallons out of the woods yesterday from my 38 taps. Best run I've had in my not quite 2 years. 55 gallon barrel full in trailer and two 5 gallon buckets sloshing. Was a slow ride up on the 3 wheeler. Now I've got 90 gallons waiting to get boiled at 8-10 gal/hr. Good news is its cold and won't spoil. Hope it doesn't turn into a block of ice for friday.

Now I've got to take my wx10 into my small engine guy. I've got it narrowed down to a blockage in the carb. I'm smart enough to figure that out, and am smart enough to realize that I don't have the tools, time, and knowhow to tackle that project. I'd rather pay someone to do it right in half the time.

[bowtie]

Didn't get the run I thought I would today, my trees in the woods gave me only 40 ish gallons from 195 buckets, while my 7 buckets in my lawn gave me about 13 gallons. Hoping the woods trees will run through the night. A lot cooler on the hill, still about 1-2 inches of snow up there, but on the way home my truck
hit 66-67 in wellsville. Had about 1 hr and 15minute boil. Only fired it up because of high temps, seemed likely me a lot of sugar sand in what I boiled. Going to interesting year. May have to put out more buckets if things don't pick.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

Got another 155 or so today. Syrup is still pretty light. Has anyone noticed a big difference in the Accuweather vs. Weather Channel 10 day forecasts? Accu shows a lot more freezing.

[wnybassman]

Accu shows a lot more freezing.

AccuWeather always seems to show perfect sugaring weather 7 to 10 days out. Then when that 7 to 10 days out gets here, we get a week like this upcoming week. lol They dangled that carrot for us all of last year too.

With that said, 7 to 10 days out looks pretty good. So I should probably get the boat out of storage.

[Urban Sugarmaker]

I got 130 gallons and with the short freeze the sugar went up to 2.3. I have also been getting better than usual sugar content. One pass with the RO and I am boiling 8-9%. I am getting foamy crud where I feed the pan but nothing terrible with the defoamer usage. Just bottled close to 10 gallons of golden delicate tonight. My first ever golden, so I am stoked. I think it has a lot to do with new tubing and I really thoroughly washed buckets after last season.

Thrilled with the filter press too. It's so fast and product is beautiful.