It was -27° here this morning. It was a cold January and start to February. We have a fair amount of snow here, but I have seen more in other years
I am pretty well all ready to go now, except reassembling my temporary sugar shack. As soon as I see two consecutive days above zero in the 14 day forecast I will start to reassemble it. It will be a two to three day job, counting digging out the snow in the area.
I bought some glass bottles from CDL in Orillia this summer, some people have donated some and I have a ton of Mason Jars. I have more than I need, unless I pick up some extra trees to tap, which is a strong possibility.
The cold weather makes the start of the season seem so far away, but a change in the jet stream can change that in a hurry.
2022 - 5 pan block arch - 109 taps, 73 on 3/16 lines, 36 on drops into 5 gallon pails.
930 gallons boiled, 109 L (28.8 gals) of delicious syrup made.
DYI Vacuum Filter
2023 - 170 taps, mostly on lines, 1153 gallons boiled, 130 L (34.34 gals) of delicious syrup made, on a 2x4 divided pan and base stack, 8” pipe, on a block arch that boiled at a rate of 13 gallons per hour.
2024 - made 48 L, December to March, primarily over two fire bowls.