Vernon County

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Sorry you pulled your taps, things are really up and running, I spent another four days at the sugar bush gathered a bunch of sap and we cooked some over 600 gallons. so far we have made more syrup in two weekends then four weekends last season. The sap is sweeter and makes more syrup. Our valley road is mostly mud, had to fix some flood damage last fall, and the seed did not germinate. So the 4 wheeler is making new ruts to fix, oh boy what fun we have. Did see some deer this trip, they were watching me gather sap very cool. This morning gathered another 300 gallons to cook so were not done yet.

[lulugrein]

Makes me think I'll be arriving to full buckets when I get back to the cabin Thursday night. I hope weather cooperates for boiling Fri-Sat. Yes, sap is sweeter this year. The batch I cooked up last weekend tested at 2.9%. Had good help again which allowed me to mostly watch the sap boil and play dominoes. Fir various reasons I plan to pull taps on 3/31. Trees aren't budding yet and sap will likely still be running...I have a hunch this is going to be a tough thing to do. May need therapy over it. Or maybe save some money and just lament to you guys

[Tommoore30]

I love it - I'm with y'all in spirit this week!
Tom

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi guys spent Friday March 30th gathering more sap till I ran out of storage. Had to leave 60 pails on the trees, Had 625 gal sap,in tanks. My son came Saturday 6 am it was raining hard then, made a wet ride back to the sugar house.We cooked until 9.30 pm. Clean up, cool down.At 10.30 pm we went up top to pump two 55 gal barrels into one bulk tank.Was a cold wind chill up there,back down for more sugar house work ,then into a cold cabin and bunk. Easter Sunday 13 degrees went home at 8.30 am have family time noon dinner. Looks like a very cold week ahead, some snow rain and ice? worried about valves splitting, and sap freezing in tanks.Did have a deer come very close to me while splitting fire wood, it was wondering what was going on. Also a gobbler roosting on the hillside would gobble so when I hit a ash pan he would gobble back at me that's fun..Extended forecast below normal next two weeks.Our next problem is little fire wood left.

[lulugrein]

Friday 3/30 was a great day for boiling outside. Turned over the fire tending to a trusted friend who has become my A-number 1 fire stoker these past few years. Six pieces of wood every 15 minutes on the mark for about 13 hours that day. Saved me from kneeling down on that bad knee. Little to no sap in the buckets on Saturday was all I needed to proclaim that it was time to pull the taps. It has been a great season with a few more newbies joining in on the adventure and soaking up all my story-telling about this cool hobby. Ended up with just over 5 gallons of syrup which is just right. So much time in the woods and fresh air was great. Didn't see many deer but boy was there deer scat everywhere! If only it was burnable.... Thanks to those of you in the Driftless area who are willing to take time to post every so often during the season. I will be the first to admit that I check this website every night before bed, no matter how little gas is left in the tank. Look forward to hearing from all of you again next year. Stay healthy and have a great year!

[Irish Ridge]

April 3rd. Just a reply to say I also check the Vernon County thread daily in season. I also check "eastern Wisconsin" because there are two posters from southern Wisconsin (Wind Lake and Erin). Anyway, my season is over next door in Crawford County. 8.5 gallons in what was a laid-back season for me. No big rush ever came my way. Slow and steady. I look forward to hearing from you all next spring.

[littleTapper]

April 3rd. Just a reply to say I also check the Vernon County thread daily in season. I also check "eastern Wisconsin" because there are two posters from southern Wisconsin (Wind Lake and Erin). Anyway, my season is over next door in Crawford County. 8.5 gallons in what was a laid-back season for me. No big rush ever came my way. Slow and steady. I look forward to hearing from you all next spring.

I check in here too! Love to see what the rest of our state is doing. Someday I'll be able to tap again on our family farm in western Jackson county, but for now the SE corner is home and where I'm not yet retired from my job. My brother lives near Sparta and we're planning to ramp things up once we've given up our day jobs and set up the next generation to keep things rolling.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi Guys, I decided to drive over to the sugar bush today. The weather has been so cold thought I should drain my big tank by the sugar house before freezing solid. There was 5 inches of new snow so I used the snowmobile, who knew I would still need it in April.Then dumped out 60 buckets up top that I had to leave last weekend, all were a round block of ice. with the cold weekend forecast, we will not be cooking this weekend. Guess it will give me a chance to cut and split more wood. I noticed the tree buds are advancing even with the cold weather. God Bless.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

On Sat April 7th I went over to the sugar bush to cut and split more fire wood, Need more wood for the next weekend, when it warms up again the trees will crank out more sap. Thursday April 12th cloudy warmer decided to head over to gather sap for the weekend. Wanted to do it before the rain on Friday. Well I collected 440 gallons, most still had some ice in the pails. The sap tasted sweeter then any other time this season, That will help make a great finish to the 2018 season. The snow was all gone on our north facing hillside, but the mud was a real problem,never seen it that bad.Even with four chains on the four wheeler I still had trouble on our lower ridge road. A few peepers were peeping in the marsh when I got down to my pick up. Our plan is to call it a season Sunday. pull taps Monday if I can get up the muddy snowy ridge road. God Bless.

[Irish Ridge]

Nice report MrSM. Our last sap was also higher sugar content. Still washing buckets here. I came on tonight to write that this evening was the first evening we heard peepers below the house in the pond. You beat me to it. Spring is here. Oh, and I know all about that mud thing way to well. God bless.