Red Roof Maples 2020

[Russell Lampron]

After the marginal freeze I did get 250 gallons of sap today. It's going to be really cold tonight and may not thaw enough to get much of a run tomorrow.

I'm over the halfway point now. I made 10.5 gallons today to put me at 101.5 for the season. I'd like to make 200 gallons but probably won't.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

:-(

I really hope we get a bit of a cold spell, but I am not seeing it after today.

[Russell Lampron]

I just got the news that the NHMPA is canceling maple weekend and the rest of maple month. I'll be around and will be open if anybody wants to stop by to buy syrup and value added products but I won't be setting up the sales and sampling table like I usually do. I'll boil in the afternoon if I have sap but won't boil all day and won't save sap for the weekend.

The NHMPA is talking about trying to do something in the fall. They tried that before and it didn't work. The people want to see a sugar house in operation, which means boiling and making syrup.

[n8hutch]

I am going to do the same, I'll be Open and I won't turn anyone away. But I'm not going to advertise or do soft serve icecreams or anything like that. Might do a couple Sugar on snow/ice , for a few die hards.

I did an open house 2 days over Labor day weekend a few years ago, I still had a pile of syrup, I had some customers and people that came but overall I didn't make but maybe 100.00$ after I paid all my expenses. So I decided that my holiday weekend was worth a little more than that and don't do it anymore.

[red maples]

I do fall open house anyway. Usually the begining of november, same weekend as NH OPEN DOORS. withe the NH league of craftsmen. We have since steered away from then as they have done stuff this past year we didnt agree with. It's about a 5th or less of the crowds that come out for spring maple weekend. I sacrifice a 1/2 gallon of syrup on the front pan and just us a stopper to control water flow from the back pan to the fro t pan to get the aroma. Works well. With advertising from the NHMPA and people understand we lost big money being open for maple weekend I believe they will come out to see us and support the locals.

I am at a solid 1/2 crop. 50 gallons finally. But with super low SSC and crappy sap and short boils I am back into VD. Very little sap in yesterday but we only to 36* after 20* low. And forecast is not favorable. I hope I make through next weeks without buds popping. 73* on Friday maybe but a freeze up for the weekend. Hope we get big sap when things start flowing again.

[Russell Lampron]

They're predicting 66* for a high here Friday and after the cold weather this week I'm sure that my trees will survive that. I brought up 285 gallons tonight that has been coming in since Sunday afternoon. I'll see what I get overnight to determine when I'll boil again.

I'm willing to give a fall open house a try. I think this weekend will be a flop. The good thing is that the people that come, if any do, will be looking to buy stuff and the ones looking to fill up on free samples will stay home.

Our special friends will still get samples when no one's looking.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Russ, I wonder what kind of crowd you would get if you advertise a free roll of toilet paper with each purchase?

[Russell Lampron]

Russ, I wonder what kind of crowd you would get if you advertise a free roll of toilet paper with each purchase?

I didn't think of that but it would probably work. The problem with that is that I didn't hoard TP like all of the idiots that did and would run out of my own supply.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran pretty good today. I had 285 in the tank that I collected last evening. I got another 525 today which gave me 810 for tonight's boil. I made 13 gallons to bring the season total to 114.5 gallons. It looks like I'll be saving the sap from tomorrow and Friday for Saturday. My north facing trees decided to run today which was nice for a change.

The shop vac that I use on my bubbler died tonight. Looks like I'll be replacing that tomorrow. I hope that I can find one that will be a direct fit and not have to screw around making it work.

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran good overnight and not to bad today. I decided to boil tonight and made another 10 gallons. It's Very dark and very tasty.

I bought a new shop vac and got the bubbler fixed today.