07 is here

[VA maple guy]

221 taps, that's plenty for me this year. I've been pretty busy this week.
The sap's been running crazy all week. The sugar % is averaging about 2.0
to 2.2 when all the sap is mixed. I have one, two tap sugar that is running
for to five gallons a day at 3.0 to 3.2 % W0W !!
I've made about seven gallons of syrup, almost half what I made all last year
in just two boils.
Buckets are full right now, could not collect today, drove to PA today to buy
550 ft of old maple flooring that came out of an old factory, will look great in my living and dining room.
The guy has got a ton of the flooring if anyone is interested.
Rain tomorrow and then a warmer up, Hope I get one more week like this past one.

[VA maple guy]

221 taps, that's plenty for me this year. I've been pretty busy this week.
The sap's been running crazy all week. The sugar % is averaging about 2.0
to 2.2 when all the sap is mixed. I have one, two tap sugar that is running
for to five gallons a day at 3.0 to 3.2 % W0W !!
I've made about seven gallons of syrup, almost half what I made all last year
in just two boils.
Buckets are full right now, could not collect today. Drove to PA today to buy
550 ft of old maple flooring that came out of an old factory, will look great in my living and dining room.
The guy has got a ton of the flooring if anyone is interested.
Rain tomorrow and then a warm up, Hope I get one more week like this past one.

[220 maple]

Jerry,
The conditions that I've tapped in this year has been extremely difficult at times. My aunt several years back gave me a pair strap on metal cleats. They work real good on ice and on some of the steep slopes that I navigate to tap trees. The sugar tree that is giving up the 3.2 water is it a Black Maple? I have several Black Maples in my sugarbushes and they always taste sweeter.
Mark 220 Maple

[VA maple guy]

Boiled 120 gallons last night, looks like medium to dark. No sap today, maybe some early next week.
No, it's just an ordinary every day 18" sugar maple.
gerry

[VA maple guy]

Looks like it's just about all over for me. I had the best two day run i've ever had this past weekend, 380 gallons. I got my two evaporators up to twenty gallons an hour this year, still to slow. Will be looking for a 2x6 for next year.
Not shure how much I'll end up making this year, some where around twenty gallons. Maby one last run this weekend. Also almost out of wood.
Gerry

[220 maple]

Jerry
Are your red maples hanging in there, Mine seem to be stuck even with the warm weather we have had, the silver that is in my yard in Harrisonburg buds all opened. My son that goes to school at University of Mary Washington told my wife that he believed it was 80 degrees last Wed. in Fredericksburg.
Mark 220 Maple

[VA maple guy]

Mark, my season is over, I ran out of wood. I poured about fifty gallons of sap on the ground today. This is the first year my reds did not just shut off. They are still running a little, even though about half of the reds have opened
there buds. So i did not feel so bad about dumping sap. I went to Highland county's maple festival this past weekend, I visited Jay Eagles sugar camp
for a couple hours and watched him finish and filter sixty gallons of dark amber.
How is your season going. I hope it's going to turn out to be a good one,
especially with what you have just gone through.
Gerry

[220 maple]

Jerry,
We are finishing up this week. Considering everything it has been a decent year. We didn't get everything tapped but we're going to be pretty close to 150 gallons when all is said and done. Some trees I tapped on the 6th of March, missed several good runs from them. If I could have got all my trees open I believe it would have been a record year. The sugar content was good at 2.3 to 2.7, I've had 3.3 water in the past. My reds ran up to the last day also, some of them had no buds at all, others had swelled buds but were not open yet. I probably only had 20% of my reds open. I missed alot of water there because I usually have to pull the taps on them by the 1st of March.
I when by Jay's the second Sat. of the Festival. He was boiling in one of his flat pans. He was hoping to get on more good run. My wife went with me that day, she was amazed how clean it is at Jay's camp. Everything is spotless.
Mark 220 Maple