Northern Ontario 2022

[aamyotte]

I had a good run today as well. 4 of my trees have dried up but the others are making up for it. Looks like I should have another good boil on Saturday. Good thing I can get the tractor to the shack to replenish the firewood since yesterday's boil used up the last of the wood I had out there.

[Z/MAN]

I am all done boiling, finishing, filtering and bottling after three long nights.

I boiled 930 gallons of sap and made 106.5 L of syrup my inaugural season. I have to say it was a lot of work. It was also quite an adventure and a learning experience. I still have a lot of cleanup to do.

I think next year I will down size a little, not have the drops to the pails and just strictly have the lines and perhaps add a few more trees to the lines.

I will make less syrup, but I will not feel like I have to supply all of my neighbour’s and just make enough for family, a few close friends and myself. I still should make 75+ L.

The goal this off season is to make improvements to the evaporator, get a better pan (likely a 2x5 divided pan with a float box), fix or replace the RO pump, make a new shelter, and split the wood to more wrist sized pieces. Hopefully with the RO and a better pan, my boiling hours will drop.

I am also going to buy this sump pump for getting the sap out of my barrels quicker and easier. A friend has one and it works well. https://www.amazon.ca/Amarine-made-R.../dp/B07B26QP4Y

I will look for anything to make it easier and faster.

I use a Amarine 1100 GPH bilge pump found everywhere on E-BAY for 11.00 to 16.00 American dollars. They are small, light weight and work great. With a 1 1/8 inch hose it can empty a 55 gallon barrel in less than 10 minutes. Uses very little power from your collection Atv. I don't even keep mine running.

[Swingpure]

-5° here this morning and +7 during the day, for those with taps in, I bet today was a stellar day.

I flushed all of my lines and drops today and finished cleaning the five barrels.

I just flushed the lines with water. I took down 6 of my 8 lines. With the drops, there was no way I would have been able to unwind them in the bush, to put them back up, so I cut some of them into 5 segments and will rejoin them with fresh T’s and drops at the cut locations in the fall.

The ones I took down were on neighbour’s properties or were short and easy to remove. My wife surprised me when she okayed two of the lines to remain up. I was able to flush them with 154’ of garden hose connected to the outside tap. I was surprised that my lake water pump, pushed the water up to the top.

[northwood]

I was ready to pack it in this Easter weekend when I boiled a 60 gallon batch on Saturday. Came home this evening after being away most of the day to find 40 of my 60 buckets full to the rim. I'll get the fire going in the morning and get this tsunami boiled up. This is a new daily record for me. Going to be a bumper year for sure.

[maxmaple]

I regret shutting down early. I pulled the taps and started cleaning two days before Easter because several people had said they are usually done by Easter. Big mistake. Next year I am leaving the taps in place until the sap is cloudy and stinks.

[ennismaple]

So who's going to be the last producer standing in Ontario? I know Ray Bonenberg who is near Pembroke is still going. All the producers I know north of Hwy 7 in the Lanark area are done. We actually got 1.5 GPT of sap from Thursday to Saturday in our coldest woods but it went ropey very fast so no way we could have continued.

[4Walls]

Im still going strong. Pulled 200 gallons of sap the last 2 days and it is still sweet and clear. Did a small test boil in a pot and flavour is still very mid season. No signs of buds. No peepers in the pond yet. I have it all concentrated down to about 40 gallons at 9 or so brix and held at 3 degrees C. I will boil it down today. I am just getting ready to tap 50 or so birches and do a small early run of only the good stuff. I have a plan to experiment with the birch to make it syrup without burning the sugars. 2 years of experimenting with dismal results. This year I think I have it figured out.

[Someclown]

I'm out, Pulled all taps and boiled 420 litres today. Final run was clear and sugar was still high and made a nice dark amber.
Tomorrow I'll bottle and do cleanup.

[Swingpure]

I'm out, Pulled all taps and boiled 420 litres today. Final run was clear and sugar was still high and made a nice dark amber.

Tomorrow I'll bottle and do cleanup.

Congrats, a lesson for next year to stick it out, but to be honest I was done after two consecutive 19 hour days and the experienced locals were pulling their taps.

[Swingpure]

It has been a slow start to winter, with only a skiff of snow so far and milder than normal temperatures. I find talking about Northern Ontario’s winter forecast can be hard, because being 50 miles north or south, or how close you are to the large bodies of water, can make a huge difference.

December is supposed to turn cold, but almost every long range forecast I see for January and February, calls for some periods of real cold, but also extended periods of mild temperatures. They forecasted something similar last winter and the extended mild periods did not happen. I think we will be on the dividing line of some temperature swings.

All of the forecasts calls for above average precipitation and snow. If we do get the mild periods, it could help keep ground cover snow totals lower.

They also mentioned March could be a mild month so we could get a good start to the maple season.

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