Eastern Ontario 2020

[halladaymaple]

I will be tapping Saturday here in n Addison. Should be enough to flush the alcohol out with a little help from VAC. then heading for a freeze late next week. Also a good time to check for leaks. I think it’s worth the effort and be ready to go when she flows. Good luck !

[Clinkis]

Weather forecast are as reliable as the weather it seams. Was going to tap this weekend but think I will hold off now. Long range forecast has changed again. Looks like after a brief warmup next week it’s back below freezing for the next couple weeks. If it changes again, which it likely will, I’m ready to go. With only 400 taps to put in I can do that in a few hours. Don’t want to jump the gun. I’m actually good if it does hold off a couple more weeks as I still waiting for the steam hood for my new evaporator. Cheers to a good season

[Big_Eddy]

I took the time on Monday to snowblow my access trail - about 300m of it at least - so we can get into the woods when needed.
Other than that - all I need is 30 mins warning and we could be off to the woods. I'll look at the forecast again come Saturday and consider. I look for 7 of 14 "good sap days" in the long term forecast to get started.

[Clinkis]

How did the workshop go in Campbellford a couple weeks ago Big Eddy?

[Big_Eddy]

How did the workshop go in Campbellford a couple weeks ago Big Eddy?

I wasn't actually there - we went up to Ottawa for the weekend to visit the grandkid.
But last Saturday I attended the Quinte Chapter of OMSPAs official first tapping ceremony at Bata Maples in Frankford, and spoke with the organizers. Everyone said it was well received.

Hastings Stewardship Council also had a "History of Maple Sugaring" talk last Thursday in Ivanhoe. Apologies for not getting the announcement for that on here. It too was well received.

[Bushfrosh]

Installed my 50 spiles by 12:16 yesterday. Collected 56.89L of sap around 18:00 yesterday. Took a peek this morning around 08:30 at a few buckets and there's likely at least that much again right now and they're slowly dripping. It's nice to see things slowly springing to life for at least a day or two. Happy sugarin'!!!

[ennismaple]

We got fully tapped on the weekend and got the releasers out into the woods plus all the tanks washed. There was still a strong alcohol smell from what was running in late day yesterday, plus with how cold it's getting later this week we'll let today's sap clean the lines and run onto the ground.

Have to say... I almost enjoyed tapping without snowshoes and no crust in the snowpack!

[jungmaria]

Is a couple days run on the ground usually enough to clean the lines? Last year was my first on 3/16. Tapped yesterday am hoping the run yesterday & today would be enough to have lines clean for (hopefully) next week's run. Do you replace all your taps each year? I didn't for the ones that seemed in good shape and still had alcohol in the drops.
Thanks in advance, I've been lurking here for a couple of years now and you've all been such a great source of info!

[MikeC82]

Got 87 Gallons from 137 pails yesterday. .64 gallons per pail is a pretty good rate for my trees. Didn't freeze overnight by the St. Lawrence though. Won't be much today likely.

[Fort Wisers]

Got 18 taps in yesterday morning, hoping to do a total of 20 this year just ran out of time to do the last 2!
What a beautiful morning it was, most were dripping fairly steady by 9:30am.
Today I hope to get a new (larger) gravity tank installed and a few small mods to the evaporator.