Zionsville Sugaring

[DougM]

Brett, my grandfather grew up sugaring in NH, then later in life ended up in TN.

Down there he didn't have access to a big stand of woods so he used to drive around Knoxville picking up sap with bins in the trunk to haul it to his sugarhouse. So, city trees can be good, too. Besides, Zionsville isn't that big, you just need a tank you can haul behind a lawn tractor.

We only have about 15 taps on the 20 acres my partner owns, all of the rest are on "borrowed" ground that's adjacent to his. As long as we keep an eye on it and don't cut down any trees we're free to use it. There are times it would be nice to own it, but we're OK with our current arrangement.

You never know, you may be able to find someone willing to let you use their trees in exchange for syrup, just be ready with info for them on how it doesn't damage the tree, etc.

Glad to hear about the tour, it's a lot of fun to do those. I'll have to look for the paper - good job on publicity.

[Bemis]

All done in Zionsville. Finished by last batch yesterday. Came out to just over 4 gallons. Not bad with only 6 taps out. I'm already scoping out new locations for the coming year.

Have a good summer.

[Bemis]

It's great to see some posts in the Indiana forum. I stopped by after I saw the forecast for the week ahead. I've been thinking January start since the big warm spell in early March last year. It seems like Indiana is so variable that we might want to get started whenever we can. I think I'm in for Thursday start.

I'm scheduled for an educational event in town this year, and I have a few neighboors that have offered their trees for tapping.

Here's hoping for a great year.

Cheers.

[JohnM]

I'm thinking like you on this one. Last season was a little short. Our fellow mapler in Kentucky has already boiled this year. I'd say we are next in line.

Sweet blessings to you this sugaring season.

[DougM]

I don't know...every time we tap this early it seems like either we get a few warm days and then everything freezes solid for two weeks again; or we end up shortening our season because our tapholes are closing up while the trees are still runnning in March.

I think we're going to wait until at least late next week and check the forecast again.

Doug

[Dave Y]

DougM
I see in your signature that you are wood fired . Did you convert your propane arch, or did you get a new arch? by the way it good to see you on here, again.

[ericjeeper]

I am trying to figure out whether to tap or not myself. Weather forecast could not be any better for the next 7 days out at least. I might take one tap and sap sak out and do a test tree. currently 34° here

[DougM]

Dave,
Thanks for the reply, it's good to be back.

Yes we went back to wood. Gas was getting too expensive, so last year we bought some fire brick & switched it over. The season wasn't great weather-wise, but we were happy with the switch overall.

As Eric says the forecast is good for the next several days. I will probably be wrong since we're not tapping, but after the extreme cold we had I'm thinking the trees won't run until they have had several days of thawing weather.

Doug

[Bemis]

I'm polishing up the gear tonight and might poke a few holes in some Maple trees. I'm only tapping street trees that get a lot of southern sun exposure. I'm hoping that will thaw them out faster than a wood lot. I'm going to take it slow at first and put a few more in if I get some good runs.

Hoping for a good season.

Brett

[ericjeeper]

They are flowing very well down here by Martinsville. I just tapped 30 taps.