Started tapping Greene County '23

[ponderingjunkman]

All the taps are in. Lot less ice- it's so nice to see it melting! Assembled the evaporator this afternoon. 175 gallons in the tank and waiting for tomorrow.

[ponderingjunkman]

Just finished the 1st boil. Gathering this morning yielded more sap- even tho it didn't freeze last night. The highly accurate numbers cast into the tank said we have about 380 gallons. Tended to pumps and other details and got the fire started about 2pm. Saw a pinhole leak in the preheater but left it- the sap was spirting over the condensate catch pan and into the middle pan. Have to silver solder that in the morning. Such is life with a home built evaporator- it's like your favorite rusty truck- it is getting pretty ragged, but hopefully it will go another season! Took 7 hours to boil the 380 gallons. Decent rate of evaporation. Not quite ready to draw off syrup, but the pans are definitely sweetened!

[Shaun]

Haven't been on here much lately but recognized your name from another forum. Good luck on your season, I'll be following along as we have similar weather. Looking forward to Tagorama in the Catskills after sugaring season, it's been a long winter!

[ponderingjunkman]

Hey Shaun! Or Rudy! Love to chase your tags! The tag games do seem to be languishing lately! It will be nice to be riding again! Thanks for checking in!

[ponderingjunkman]

Just finished boiling 275 gallons of sap. Drew off 6 gallons of syrup. Saw 54 degrees this morning, and now it's below freezing and windy. One of my lines was not running the last couple days- found this morning 2 broken taps. Seems like deer got tangled in the line, but I haven't seen taps break like that before. The coming cold spell will let me catch up on stuff!

[ponderingjunkman]

4 runs so far- and more sap than usual! Despite the cold yesterday our 300 or so taps yielded 500 gallons! At 27 gallons of syrup for the year. We had to scrounge every last mason jar to bottle it- dad will run for more containers tomorrow. But the next week looks fearfully warm....

[ponderingjunkman]

Waiting for the fire to go out on our biggest run yet- 860 gallons of sap over 2 days. Supposed to freeze tonight- still uncertain about the next few nights, seems very warm. In 70s today, but no spoilage. 47 gallons total for the year

[ponderingjunkman]

Checked barrels 1st thing- and what little ran overnight was cloudy! Dumped everything- not a big loss by any means, maybe 40- 50 gallons. Ground was froze despite seeing 32.5 as a low. Checked on the way home tonight- and almost Nothing! Very little flow despite 45 degrees. Hmmm.

[ponderingjunkman]

Well late yesterday and today yielded another 500 gallons. Running slow for the warm weather tho. Waiting on the last batch in the finishing pan. Warm nights coming up- we will see. Statistically I'm half way thru the season. Sap wise, I'm 3/4 of the way thru. If it shuts off, it won't be the worst year. Not a great one tho. But it is completely out of my control, so, No worries!

[ponderingjunkman]

Well it's over! Didn't expect today's run to amount to anything, but 240 gallons ended up being gathered. Lots dumped tho- the cloudy and off smelling sap is taking over. After we gathered the good stuff this morning, little flowed and what did was definitely off. Heard peepers last night too. This year's total is 68 gallons, 3 quarts. Enough! Pulled taps at home, will do the rest tomorrow. Time to get the bikes out!