Still tapping?

[Sugar]

We are ALMOST recovered from last weeks run. We brought 400 gallons of sap from the trees. We ended up with 62 twelve oz. jars of syrup. The run started with lighter syrup, but the last jars are darker...Which my children love.

We are going to clean out the sap bags this afternoon, since we have had much warmer temps for a few days. We are hoping the trees will be running again tomorrow. Don't know what to expect though, with this real winter we have had. Last year the trees had already stopped.

We are using a refractometer and our sap has hovered around 2%. Syrup is very pretty and very clear. We are filtering and filtering though.

How is your season going? Looks like maple tapping and starting the large gardens will overlap this year. We are hoping to plant potatoes and onions this week...Hmmmmmm!

[Sugar]

I disinfected all my buckets yesterday, since the previous 3 days had been so warm, wood is piled up, kids rested...barely...Waiting to see how the trees do today! We are so grateful! This is such a humbling project. It makes us appreciate the gift of being able to work, to appreciate the gift of the weather, the gift of these wonderful maple trees. I am so grateful that we have such generous friends that kindly share their maple trees....

When I drive up to the sugar grove...Before I see the sap bags, I see the little lights in the bags...It tells me the bag is full. I am so thrilled to see that little, but bright sparkling light glowing from each full bag..Even from the trees in the back of the grove. It's as though God is showing me what He has given. No matter how tired I am, nor how many times I have driven up to those trees...I am absolutely thrilled to see those lights are "on!" We are all taking something that comes out of an almost dormant tree, bare of it's beautiful leaves...Something barely sweet and sometimes full of bugs and tree bits......And we are able to turn it into something priceless! My family can't have everything and we do struggle, but we can have this wonderful gift!

Thanks to everyone here for all I have learned!

"The trees of the Lord are full of sap."-Psalm 104:16

[nace]

I emptied my tank of last weeks run on Saturday. Got a good run today and by tomorrow, I should have enough to fire up the 40"x12' monster. On Saturday, I had to scramble to put out the fire as I watched the last of the sap drain out of the site glass.... It's amazing how much faster it boils with the steam hood on the syrup pan. Close call.

[Sugar]

We didn't get much yesterday, but will put in some new taps today and see what happens. Good luck to you! I sent you a pm...Wondering how things were, since you are nearby. I am curious how this season will end up. Pretty fun though, but we are tired. Our evaporator is outside in the open, but we love it just the same. Need to get 300 lbs. of potato sets in.....Didn't think maple tapping and garden planting would overlap!

[Sugar]

We added some new taps yesterday evening and the sap was still running, nice and clear too. We did bring along some water and cleaned out a few bags that looked a bit ucky and replaced one bag with some spots of black mold. The trees had quit this time last year, so grateful for any extra we will get!

[treeguy]

Its been shut down here in Edmonton. But i been thankful to catch up on other stuff.

I think todays thaw and next few days will have me running with the trees.

I need to get on to the loads of work in the blueberry field

[Sugar]

Our trees were barely dripping today. I didn't know if they were still frozen or they were quitting, so we put some more taps in and they were dripping hard. We'll see tomorrow.....

We need to get to the gardens as well!

[Sugar]

Our trees were barely dripping today. I didn't know if they were still frozen or they were quitting, so we put some more taps in and they were dripping hard. We'll see tomorrow.....

We need to get to the gardens as well!

We got 120 gallons total...100 gallons on Saturday and 20 more yesterday. Thankfully we had it all done, before the storm hit. We got 17 twelve oz. and sugar levels are only about 1.5...Very nice syrup though...Not too dark and no sand. Curious what this week will bring....

[treeguy]

Only got 40 gallons today most trees have not thawed yet, large trees seem to take lots of sun to thaw past the bark.. but i bet tomorrow they will start a run and then i think its over or at least for me.. weird year lots of cold not enough thawing in between

[Sugarmaker]

Lights in the sap bags? That's a new one for me. But I dont uses sap bags. Any pictures? I was thinking that the tubing should have lights in it activated by flow.
Regards,
Chris