Tapping in the Golden Horseshoe 2014

[Galena]

Cheer up, Karen, things are starting to improve in terms of weather. We're all tapping relatively *late* this year. I tapped today and of the 18 taps 3 produced maybe a total of just under a litre (not nearly enough to collect) and a 4th spile was just barely starting to drip. And two of these spiles were on the same tree, my superproducer.

I think all of us are jonesing for our own syrup fix - I haven't paid for a bottle of maple syrup since I began tapping and sure as hell aren't about to start!! Oh btw that wild grape jelly/spread I made last fall has been standing in as my morning oatmeal sweetener since my own syrup ran out. Well except for Red Queen.

[Run Forest Run!]

Galena, just the other day I was wondering how your wild grape jelly turned out. Glad to hear it was a success. You can now add those grapes to your list of "harvestables" for this year.

[Galena]

Well, it's definitely more of a thick spread than a recognizable jam/jelly texture, but tasty and sweet enough and perfectly edible...hey I made 5 250-ml jars and have eaten about 2 1/2 of those jars, so I'd say it's safe enough to eat.

Soooo...that makes my list of seasonal harvestables somethin like this: late winter/early spring, maple syrup; spring/early summer, blackberries; mid-late summer, raspberries and gooseberries; and now late fall, wild grapes. Not quite enough to live off of but enough to make a wander round the yard worthwhile scrounging! :-)

And yes from now on I will be harvesting those grapes - off of my pine tree!! :-)

[BrutemanAl]

What is this grape jelly the 2 of you speak about? Sounds interesting, maybe you would like to share

[Ren]

I just checked my buckets and I picked up 90 gals of sap from 115 taps. Looks like things are starting to thaw out. I tapped another 25 trees and most of them were running. Hopefully we get a good run tomorrow!

[argohauler]

Have at least a thousand gallons on hand from yesterdays all nighter and the dribbles from Monday and Tuesday. North part of the bush and fence rows on the south side of the bush hardly ran probably because of the 2 feet plus of frost we have in the ground.

I was the winner of the sap critters award today. This was our first gathering and we had snow fleas, millers, a deer mouse, and a flying squirrel get in our lidded buckets.

[Run Forest Run!]

Argohauler, what are millers? I googled it, and still couldn't find out. (If you'd capilalized the "M" I might have figured that you caught your neighbours pilfering sap.)

[Ren]

I believe he is referring to Moths, but I could be wrong. I usually find them floating in the sap once the temps warm up a bit!

[Run Forest Run!]

Moths? If that's what they are it must be a lot warmer where he is!

I put in a few more taps today and I'm now at a total of 20. Some are really running. Most are slowly waking up. A few are deep, dry sleepers. I'm going to empty the bags that I have before it gets dark. A couple have about a gallon in them and if things really seize up tonight in the cold I'd rather not have a giant block of ice in them getting bashed up against the tree. Enjoy the spring storm tonight everyone. We could really use some freezing rain and more snow. After all, we've been getting kind of low on the stuff.

[OCHTO]

In my family the little white moths are called "dusty millers" or millers for short. The name came from men working in old flour mills having a white coating of flour on them from the mill. If you handle a moth you get a dust on your fingers from their wing scales.