We went through a 3-4 day stint of favourable temperatures here... Sap was running for those that have their taps in... I'm not one of them.. and I haven't seen much activity from the local guys, yet... I didn't see any smoke in the Elmira area yesterday either... Turning cold again for a few days, now... I will get tapping this weekend... Not sure how many... Thinking about 150ish to start.

I did, however, start a little experiment that I've been thinking about for some time, now.. I tapped 8 large old maples on my road.. They sit at the top of a decent hill with maybe 20-30 ft of fall...
I set up a 3/16" gravity line from 25 taps, to a barrel at the bottom of the hill... I'm really excited to see how the combination of full-sun roadside trees and gravity work out.

The trees along my road are typically tapped with buckets by other neighbourhood folk... (first come, first served).... I finally beat them to it this year... I only took 8 trees though.... Lots more to go around, if they tap this year.