Early Tapping

[buck3m]

On Monday the big run really surprised us. It hadn't frozen the night before and we ended up with what was probably our biggest run ever on a per-bucket basis: 2.6 gallons. Would have been more if some hadn't run over. And this crazy wind! I was boiling Tuesday and branches were raining down. A decent one hit the sugar shack and a big one hit the wood pile. A tree blew over and knocked a bucket off a tree Monday night. Because I live in Alaska I didn't tap until the 1st but we've gotten about 1 pint/per tree of syrup so far. Looks like a lull until next Wednesday or so. We are in East Central.

[SognSyrup]

We packed up because of the tornado watch. I had a funny feeling about it when one of the kids mentioned it at 2 or so. Glad I did, storm hit about 15 minutes after I was able to shut the doors and tidy everything up. The tornado started about 1 1/2 to 2 miles away and went north so maple land survived for me but some people got hit hard. It buzzed grandpas house As close as a block away on Ann Lake but thankfully no damage. Lots of roof, pole barn and tree damage here but haven't heard of any major injuries so that's good. We did make a record 312 12oz bottles though so pretty happy about that.

Crazy story!! Glad everyone's okay. It missed us too thankfully.

That day was 69°, sap running crazy, then cooking in a severe thunderstorm, then tornado warning, then hail and finally when I left the shack at 4:00am it was snowing!!! All in a days work!!!

[SDdave]

Crazy story!! Glad everyone's okay. It missed us too thankfully.

That day was 69°, sap running crazy, then cooking in a severe thunderstorm, then tornado warning, then hail and finally when I left the shack at 4:00am it was snowing!!! All in a days work!!!

Only those that live or have lived in MN see this as normal

SDdave

P.S. Boiled sap starting to smell less mapley and more like sweet corn. I think its the end.

[SognSyrup]

Only those that live or have lived in MN see this as normal

I guess we're the ones that chose to live here! Now windchills were -10 this AM. Pump lines froze before we could get sap out last night...kinda stuck here for a bit!

[212Maple]

Looks like the Silver Maples may be done here for me unless this cold snap will produce a few more days of better sap. Hard maples still going strong!

[flyzone13]

Looks like the Silver Maples may be done here for me unless this cold snap will produce a few more days of better sap. Hard maples still going strong!

I think the silvers will go again. With this hard freeze I would think the buds will freeze and the cycle will start again, but who really knows until it happens and with the year its been so far its hard to say.

[North!]

Oh boy, cold cold cold today. It has been chilly for the most part the past couple of weeks up here on the north shore. We did get a little break in that trend a few days back, with a foggy wet warmup ( coming from some very cold temps 2 nights before) and a 24 hour drip. It didn't run hard, but we were able to produce 5 drums of syrup over that short period. The winds picked up, and the cold has set in. We did not have any of the storm activity as the folks further south had, but lightening was seen at our location, which is always odd when there is calf deep snow still on the ground. We are closing in on 20% of a crop, which we are pleased with considering traditionally we do not make much syrup until the last week of March. I'd like to see a bit of snowfall, and would have had plenty but the heavy precipitation has come in the form of rain. The tap holes seem to be producing well yet, and the sap required minimal filtration because of its clarity. Hopefully the next warmup will be soon. Glad to read that no one on this site was severely impacted by those nasty storms. Minnesota can have its extremes happen in short order.

[MN Jake]

I think the silvers will go again. With this hard freeze I would think the buds will freeze and the cycle will start again, but who really knows until it happens and with the year its been so far its hard to say.

Our silvers flowered 2 weeks ago yesterday. Easy to tell here because the woods has a yellow color up in the branches. The sap is almost unbearable to even taste at that point. Then came the cold snap the following night of 14 degrees. Sap tasted better than ever. I personally never knew they would reset until this year so A good learning experience for me. With 2 degrees or so the last couple nights I'm curios to see what happens next. Looks like a good stretch of 40s coming

[TooManyIrons...]

At this point I have processed 580 gallons of sap. I have 30 gallons remaining in inventory. Cold day but I am going to bundle up and go out to process so I can reach at least 600, which would be double my typical season amount thus a good number in which to finish the season. I hope that sap is still good, not sure at this point but will find out soon enough. Snow storm coming in tomorrow, sounds like a good day to be inside doing final finishing.

Trees in woods are still tapped, many of them never reached full flower stage before this cold snap. I am expecting good sap from them once it warms up again. We'll see. I do not really want to process anymore but I am curious what the quality would be like. It would be an amazing end to this bumper season if I could harvest and process another 100 gallons of sap.

Ran low on firewood due to all the unexpected processing, thank goodness I had an emergency stash plus I have been able to "borrow" firewood from a neighbor by bribing him with some fresh maple syrup. It didn't take much convincing. <grin> Note to self: Always have that emergency stash of firewood, and make it a bit larger.

I have not completed all the final finishing but I think I will be at 20+ gallons of syrup from the 600 gallons of sap. That blows away my personal best of 12 gallons. I doubt I will ever see such a season like this again, or at least be able to physically work another season like this again. Been fun, though...

[flyzone13]

At this point I have processed 580 gallons of sap. I have 30 gallons remaining in inventory. Cold day but I am going to bundle up and go out to process so I can reach at least 600, which would be double my typical season amount thus a good number in which to finish the season. I hope that sap is still good, not sure at this point but will find out soon enough. Snow storm coming in tomorrow, sounds like a good day to be inside doing final finishing.

Trees in woods are still tapped, many of them never reached full flower stage before this cold snap. I am expecting good sap from them once it warms up again. We'll see. I do not really want to process anymore but I am curious what the quality would be like. It would be an amazing end to this bumper season if I could harvest and process another 100 gallons of sap.

Ran low on firewood due to all the unexpected processing, thank goodness I had an emergency stash plus I have been able to "borrow" firewood from a neighbor by bribing him with some fresh maple syrup. It didn't take much convincing. <grin> Note to self: Always have that emergency stash of firewood, and make it a bit larger.

I have not completed all the final finishing but I think I will be at 20+ gallons of syrup from the 600 gallons of sap. That blows away my personal best of 12 gallons. I doubt I will ever see such a season like this again, or at least be able to physically work another season like this again. Been fun, though...

I always seem to run short of firewood, I can never figure out how much I will need. It all depends on the weather and what the tree give. It's good to have the emergency stash when needed. Thankfully where I work the have an abundance of old pallets waiting to be destroyed, so I take the chainsaw to them and fill up my truck and trailer.


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