2015 tapping

[Flatlander]

checked a couple of my line tanks this evening. I didn't get a chance yesterday. Not much in them. Waiting on Saturday now! Looks good for most of next week but I'm afraid it is going to get really warm and shut down the sap flow.

[Flatlander]

Finally season is here. 90 gals of sap on Saturday. 200 on Sunday. Only 1.8% though. Hoping my 3/16 tubing run kicks in, so far no different than 5/16 tubing. May be due to "laterals" feeding some of the trees into the run. Bubbles are moving about 1 foot every three seconds. Most of the lines are full but don't seem to generate vacuum. Put gauge at the end of the line which is about four feet uphill of the first taps and get no reading on the gauge.

Fired up the evaporator this morning. Had a boil within 7 minutes of striking the match. I thought that was fast compared to years past.

Hows everyone else doing?

[TreeTapper2]

Slow, slow, slow. 7.5 gallons Sunday and 19 gallons today. Sugar content 1.2% ( that needs to improve)
49 taps.
But sap is still comes so will probably gets some through the night.
Temps are iffy this week for night time freeze. Trees are in a lower area
so hoping temps drop enough............ Patients is a virtue!!!!!.......Now where do I get some?

[dogpatch]

My 3/16 tubing has been averaging about 1 gal a day and my buckets hardly dripping. Still not much happening in my lower shaded areas. Now my problem will be trying to cross a stream that's turning into a river with all the snow melt.

[Flatlander]

Slow, slow, slow and then it stopped! I wish it would stay slow.

Bottled 5 gals today and I'm now boiling down all the sweet from the evaporator in my old LP fryer. Might have it done by midnight. It will never survive the 70's that are predicted for the coming week. Looks like my season may be over before it ever got started.

I need to move north. I keep telling the boss we are going to retire and move to northern Wis. She ignores me. Warm weather sucks! Hope you guys up in northern part of the state find some cold nights.

[MapleMounder]

Tapped Saturday & Sunday. Collected a little yesterday and today. Fired up the evaporator about an hour ago and have a nice boil going but not enough sap for more than a few hours. At least I can get the pan good and sweet.

Nice to finally get going but up North here the weatherman is telling me might be a short season. Packed snow around the bulk tank in an attempt to keep things cool.
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Good luck everybody!

[TreeTapper2]

24 more gallons today. That puts me at 50 in storage. I'll cook it down tomorrow evening and get the pan sweetened. Glad my trees are in a valley, lets the cold settle in but tonight might be a challenge to get below freezing. Hopefully there hasn't been enough chill hours to break bud during the next 7 days. Extended forecast shows perfect days and nights coming the end of next week.

[TreeTapper2]

Sweetening the pan tonight on its maiden voyage.

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[Run Forest Run!]

That's so exciting! Love the pic.

[Flatlander]

Nice picture Treetapper, you have snow! I cooked outside for many years. Then a friend came down and we built a temporary shed, which got rebuilt into another temporary shed which has morphed into the one I have now. Had it at 110 F the other day while cooking inside. If you ever get the chance, move indoors. best thing ever!

Finished off the sweet from my pans yesterday. Bottled another 5 gals. It did freeze enough last night to make the mud hard early this morning and freeze the sap in the tank valves. Collected 90 gals this morning from yesterdays run. Wasn't expecting that much so maybe my dire predictions of doom and gloom won't hold up. Hope it runs again today. I didn't take vacation to not do syrup this week.

Maple Mounder - nice set up as well.

Dog Patch: my 3/16th line now is running better than my 5/16th, but not by whole lot. I keep checking for leaks but none. still can't get a the vacuum gauge to read anything. Hope your creek has settled down. I know the situation you are in. I built two bridges to cross the two creeks that cut across me. Good luck all!