2020 Missouri activity

[unclejohn]

Processed the leftover 85 gallons from previous harvest, along with new collection on 2/16 and 2/18, and made 6 gallons of beautiful dark gold syrup, almost crimson in color. I removed all taps from our trees, as we are out of firewood, the mud is worse than ever, and 28 gallons this season is enough! Good luck to all. John

[JayTee]

I've made about 2 gallons of lovely Maple Syrup this season and about 4oz of Black Walnut Syrup. Sure beats the two pints I made my first and only other season in 2018! My technique got better as the season progressed and I actually got much better at filtering, using an Orlon filter and paper coffee filters.

Last three and a half 8oz jars from this week-end an 4oz of Black Walnut. The BW is VERY sweet and has a very unique flavor from tastes. Look forward to trying it on pancakes or waffels; unlike the Birch Syrup I made in 2018 which is NOT table syrup!
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As of today, I'm tapped out, er, uh, well, that is, my taps are out. The first set were starting to come up dry as well as some of the second sets of that were the Sap Sacks. First set was plastic taps, short tubing and gallon jugs; second set was the Sap Sacks. I was also starting to get spots of mold growing in the bottom of my jugs and seeing a little fuzzy mold on the ends of some of the tubes. The sap sacks were collecting moths and flies. With the weather in Southeast Missouri warming up, figured it was time.

Processed my last several gallons today and added in a couple of quarts of Black Walnut Sap, just because I had it and had already processed my 2-gallons of BW over the weekend.

I'm getting my new barrel stove dialed in and have some good suggestions from elsewhere in the forum for getting it to burn hotter.

Here's to hoping a two-week vacation in January does not interfere TOO much with next syrup season!

Cheers all and best of luck sugaring for those that still have taps in.

John

[Jjuhl54]

we also pulled taps, we tried walnut this year didnt get enough sap to mess with so far we have 4 gallons of maple syrup. finishing up today. see everybody next year, hope everyone have a safe and healthy 2020.

[Goggleeye]

Finished the season with 177 gallons of syrup. Just over a quart a per tree for our 600 taps. Not bad at all considering the weather. The RO was a real lifesaver, and the mainline made collection so much faster and easier. Best purchases we ever made for our syrup production. Now time to gear up for farmer’s markets.