Willowcreek Sugarhouse 2018

[Dill]

I wasn't seeing much more then a dribble today. Glad you are getting the same results. I'm missing the tiny hose on my home woods releaser so no idea how my vac is doing.
How wet are you getting in the woods? Can't trust the ice in mine kept breaking through.

[red maples]

I thought I would be making syrup by now too. the warm ups have been coming off very cold weather so by the time the sap is ready to break loose it freezes up again. but now the sun is higher in the sky and there is alot of ice right at the base of the trees so once the sun can hit that a little and get the base defrosted I think the sap will flow hopefully warm enough to do that today and tomorrow with no sun fingers crossed.

Yeah Dill same here. with so much rain this year lots of water in the woods with multiple thin layers of ice with an air gap between them, just enough to hold the ice as the water levels go down. tough going!!!

looks like pretty good sap forecast for at least the next 7 to 10 days. but don;t have much faith in forecasts. since the long range forecast changed by more that 10 to 15 degrees warmer. but ready to go. I am even gonna tap buckets on Friday tomorrow. gotta do some more time in the woods today gotta get the vac as high as possible. was at almost 26" back down to 24" yesterday. need some do some active squirrel removal. took out about 15 last year. and they are still bad!!! think I might have a porcupine in one spot too man they can just rip through the tubing 3 big fixes already in spot. he needs to go !!!

[Russell Lampron]

You still haven't gotten enough sap to boil yet? And here I am thinking that I'm missing the first good run. I'm going to have that remedied this weekend though. I'll be pulling in sap when it starts running Sunday.

Good luck getting rid of the tree rats and porcupines. They do a lot of damage.

[red maples]

its been getting better by the hour. its coming in pretty good FINALLY!!! actually managed over 100 gallons today!!! vac back to 26" and holding steady. 8:30 pm and its coming in stronger than it was at 3:30. it took along time to get going today since it was cloudy.

[BAP]

Brad, did that earthquake shake the sap loose for you? Must have been right under you.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad, did that earthquake shake the sap loose for you? Must have been right under you.

What time did that happen? I was sitting at the table eating my dinner when I heard a noise that made the dog jump and bark. That was somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45 this evening. I didn't feel any rumbling or anything just heard the "what was that?" type noise.

[BAP]

Russ, I didn’t feel it but saw it on channel 9’s website. I think they said it was around 9:30am.

[red maples]

yeah I ended up with close to 200 gallons on the day before I went to bed and woke up to another 150 gallons on the over night. The Center was in my town, East Kingston about 2-3 miles from my house. I work at Exeter High school and it was about 9:30 am it felt like a Truck vibrating the ground but a little stronger.

Stubborn trees this year took a friggin' Earth quake to get them going this year...

[red maples]

Well had 505 gallons to boil last night. sugar average about just 1.1-1.2 so pretty low but after sucking out the water and filling the Evap it was a quick boil as usual for the first one. I was so close to syrup probably could have taken a maybe a little but decided it was better to leave it. Nice aromatic to it. nice to smell the sweet!!! although unfiltered still a nice flavor a hint of butterscotch to this batch never had that before. looks to be amber/rich. was the smoothest pan sweetening day I have had to date. but I was very ready which was a blessing. I even had my defoamer in liquid form. And I even remembered to add it right when it started boiling so no foam overs this year on the sweetening I think that was first too!!!

got a basketball game today and some other family stuff to do. So not too much maple today. Just to get ready to tap buckets/bags on Sunday after basketball tournament in first 1/2 of the day. not expecting any sap today. high of 34 here I think. But big warm up for next week so gotta be ready for big sap!!!! hoping to boil just about everyday this week by the looks of things but we all know that can change in few hours!!!

[Dill]

I wish it wasn't such a big warm up. I don't want or need 70 deg.