Originally Posted by
eustis22
Thanks for that calendar...I looked up Haverhill and just want to tap NOW
Usually I wait until at least valentines.
Broke down and bought a CDL Vacuum filter, one of the small ones...in my homemade one the pots kept getting vacuume together and I would have to pump air in to separate them...which was....explosive in sound. I had this nightmare about getting hit with shrapnel at some point
All the drops are in the lines and the lines are tight. I just need to flush/wash/flush the RO. I bought a garden hose water filter so I could use city water as I have no access to well water. It will strain out the chlorine and metals (I hope) until I can generate some permeate. I may, in fact run the strained water thru the RO to make some permeate-in-waiting.
Two years ago we had similar weather. I tapped on 2/10, and was very disappointed by the first few runs. Barely a drip in the bottom of many buckets. Days are too short, frost in the ground too thick, too much snow around the base of the trees. Then what should have been monster runs in late march was small or nothing in a number of taps that had dried up. Maybe I should just blame the long stretch of very warm days in March for the taps drying prematurely, but I can't also help but think that if I'd held off two weeks before tapping I'd have hit that big run in late march instead of that miniscule run at the beginning of Feb.
But my sugarbush is at almost 900 feet elevation, maybe you'll have better luck.
Cheers,
GO
2016: Homemade arch from old wood stove; 2 steam tray pans; 6 taps; 1.1 gal
2017: Same setup. 15 taps; 4.5 gal
2018: Same setup. Limited time. 12 taps and short season; 2.2 gal
2019: Very limited time. 7 taps and a short season; 1.8 gals
2020: New Mason 2x3 XL halfway through season; 9 taps 2 gals
2021: Same 2x3, 18 taps, 4.5 gals
2022: 23 taps, 5.9 gals
2023: 23 taps. Added AUF, 13.2 gals
2024: 17 taps, 5.3 gals
All on buckets