Vernon County

[Tommoore30]

Mr. Sugar Maple. Irish Ridge and Lulugrein, I have what looks like 6-7 pints in my settling carboy. Gives me 30 finished pints on the year, which is about all I can handle. Time to get the garden tiller ready. Had fun, take care hope to hear from all of you next year - God Bless you.
Tom, Sophie the dog and Family & Friends.

[lulugrein]

Hi all. A quick sign off as this short season winds down. I have about 25 gallons in the tote that should have kept well enough on the north side of the cabin to boil down on Saturday. Really ok that taps were pulled March 31st. Buckets are cleaned up already. I'll end up with about 4 1/2 gallons, a bit less than last year but fitting for what was an off year for me anyway. Next year will be better. Look forward to chatting with you all again then. Appreciate your good company. Be well. -Lulu

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Good to hear from you guys, I went to sugar camp on Thursday April 4th to gather again but only got 70 gallons of sap on buckets. The 16 taps on tubing still going like gangbusters by Saturday the 6th there was 115gallons in the tank. We cooked 385 gallons total and made 12 gallons of syrup.Sunday the 7th my son went home and I went up top to pull taps and buckets, got rained on so I got a bit wet,at least the rain was warm.did some cleaning in the sugar house then retreated to the cabin by 8pm. Today April 8th I gathered up the syrup and sweet water to bring home,I put it in a walk in freezer and save for next season,this gives me a running start for next season other wise it takes 100 gal of sap to sweeten the flu pan. I pull out syrup to bottle it as needed. Still have to bring all the tanks down and clean them then put away in the sugar house. Also clean the tubing in the woods then roll up the main line about 800 ft long. will do that next weekend. I checked the tubing this morning still drawing 29 inches of vacuum want to see if they will produce another 115 gallons noticed the pussy willows were popped in the marsh and besides peepers, now also croaking frogs talking. Did have a tom turkey gobbling up top sat morning, hope he finds a friendly hen. Everyone take care and God Bless. Our season total was 52 gallons , above average for us. 2018 had 75 gallons, going to be hard to top that one.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hello fellow maple friends, I hope you all had a good year, Mine was fast and fun. Made three trips out to our gold claims, and yes returned each time with gold in our pockets. of coarse lots work with my job and work in our woods to build up another supply of evaporator wood. Feb 4th I hauled all of my buckets and lids over to our land, used the snowmobile and sled to get them on top of our hill. There was about eight inches of snow in the valley and five inches up top, five trips up and made the ridge road every time with out any spin outs. There were lots of deer sign in the woods, their hitting the top field for clover pretty hard.Today Feb 9th were under a winter storm warning for six to eight inches of snow. Looks like it will be a while before its time to tap, last year it was late March 16thfor us. I was up at Maple Hollow in Merrill WI to get some supplies for this season and they started tapping on Feb 3rd,all on tubing and hope to have 20.000 in by start up. Well that is it for now. God Bless

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Friday the 21st I drove over to the sugar bush, enjoyed the beautiful snow landscape the snowmobile trails looked great also. Spent the afternoon shoveling snow,where the two top tanks and valley tubing tank goes. also shoveled around the sugar house, cabin and outhouse. Need a clear path to that outhouse spent the night, Sat morn I took the tanks where they go and made two trips up top with the main line that we roll down the steep hill to the main tank. Friend John came to help me with these tasks, and we also took the flu pan outside to clean the ash and soot from the bottom. we call it The Big Dirty. In the evening we went up top to check deer stands and saw lots of deer beds, its always good to know where they are bedding down.Sun morn I cleaned the sugar house and headed for home at 1:30 Fri morn there was 12-15 inches of snow in the valley and 8-10 inches up top.Saw 6 deer and lots of birds at the feeder. The snowmobile trails are all shot now with the snow melt 47 degrees Sat 50 degrees Sun. At home our backyard maple only had a pint of sap in the pail so guess I did not miss a lot by not being tapped yet. God Bless.

[Irish Ridge]

Nice report Sugar Maple. I was wondering what you would find. Some time after late Saturday some of my trees began to open up. Best tree was one drop a second. Shot 10 seconds of it on the phone but I have to learn how to get a video on here. Like you I found lots of deer beds. Funny how many were right by my favorite tapping trees. I love your "Big Dirty". I can just imagine it as I have a similar task about twice a season. Sounds like you are all set. Can only wait and see what amount of snow falls Tuesday.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Irish ridge, Thanks for the response yes still need to tap, otherwise all set to go. Think the 29th will be the day for us. More snow will just create more work for this old guy.

[lulugrein]

Hi all! I'm jumping into March Madness on the 6th or 9th depending on the weather. I always wait at least a week after the rest of you up here on my north facing slope. I have a respectable crew of very willing sapsuckers lined up. Looking forward to a fun and productive season.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Lulugrein Thanks for checking in, Were tapping in the morning. I have some family helping me and hope your season is a productive one.God Bless.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi everybody, Well I got back from two days at the sugar bush. On Saturday my son and friend came to help me tap all the buckets up top, there was 8 to 10 inches of snow and 10 to 13 inches in the valley. took us 5 hours to tap then relaxed in the cabin for the night. This morning Sunday we fixed the tubing with new drops and spouts. Guess the squirrels had fun over the past year. so 17 on 3/16 tubing on the steep hillside, and the rest buckets for a total of 248 taps. The taps along our top field were running but not hard at noon today. Only saw one deer, but they were using the hard packed snowmobile trails to get around .God Bless.