It's been nuts the past few days down here in the SE corner so today's cool-off is welcome. I've now surpassed last year's sap collection (maple) by 100 gallons and it's quite possible my little backyard operation pulls in 1000 gallons of sap this season. Been cooking and keeping pulled off syrup cold for the last few days and will bottle this weekend. Firewood is disappearing quickly, but I'm running on nearly 100% ash, so the boil rate is awesome. Forecast continues to look good for some more amazing runs. Silver flower buds are darn close to opening here, but that usually means some more good sap is still yet to come. We've been going for quite a while now; first decent run collected was 2/20-21. Sugar is good enough; not quite 2%, but it's fine with me.
42.82N
2015 - Small operation. 25 buckets. One excited 5 year old and one 35 year old that feels 5 again.
2016 - One year older. New Homemade 2x4 Arch, Smoky Lake Pan and looking at 52 maples, 17 box elders and 2 walnut trees.
2017 - Shurflo 4008 hooked to 42 stingy silver maples and a few Norways. A couple buckets on sugars and Norways. 10 box elders.
2018 - ...a few more taps.
2019 - ...more taps on 3/16 gravity. This spiral is heading downward in a hurry.
2020 - 4x400 RO - RB20 (uh-oh!)