Eastern Ontario 2016

[Galena]

Hey Bruce, I tried to email you a response re my glass jugs and your inbox is full! Anyway I see where I made mistakes (leaving headroom was probably the main one, as the syrup was reheated to 180-185) And maybe you've already tried this, but if you know where the clog is in your line, perhaps something like HotPockets would help thaw it?

Otherwise, made 3.2l last night...would have been more like 3.5l if one of my somewhat precarious filtering setups hadn't taken a little tumble :-( But the remaining syrup looks and tastes great, though still has that light marshmallowy/vanilla flavour profile. Batch #4 should start to taste more like maple.

Now just sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for the trees to get going again, though I bet I won't have that problem this weekend!!

ETA: Famous last words!! I just saw that one of my burly reds, which I don't tap, lost a sizable trunk during the course of the night - so THAT's what that thunky noise was! - so have been lucky enough to round up help and get it bucked up this afternoon, esp as the canopy fell on the neighbour's property. Sad to see half a tree down, but not surprised that it was that tree. The canopy has been producing punky little leaves the last couple years and there's been raccoons living in a hollow in one of the trunks (the one still standing I think). Didn't cause any damage to the neighbour's property, which was my main concern. So grabbing some lunch, then getting on my buckin' stuff and the bucksaw and heading to work. There goes a nice relaxing day of thumb-twiddling!