I tapped about 120 of our trees on Jan 14-16, and the despite the gloomy days with lows in 20's and highs in mid 30's, the trees ran like crazy. We harvested 166 gallons from these trees on Jan 16-18, and they stopped running when the arctic cold came into mid Missouri on Saturday.

So we cut a dead oak and split it, and boiled over the weekend in bitter cold (no sugar shack), throwing a log or two in during commercials during the Chiefs/Patriots game. (Brady/Belichick, your dynasty will end soon.) Today we finished in the kitchen the most beautiful golden buttery flavored syrup, and got 17 quarts. Maybe the first boil of any size in the US in 2019?

Now the arctic blast has left, and tomorrow could be in the 40's with rain, then another arctic blast. Will check our bush tomorrow to see if there is any liquid that can be harvested. Our long range forecast into February indicates temps way below normal. In past years we have had good flows intermittently from mid Jan through Feb.

FYI there are quite a few hobbyist producers in Missouri, mostly located in the hills around tributaries of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, most in the eastern and southeastern part of the state. I think the largest producers have about 900 trees and sell at farmers markets etc. Despite the small size of these operations, some have tubing, some have RO, and I have even seen a Canadian-made arch that boils off 40 gals/hr, in southeast MO. I'm trying to build a network of MO producers, so if you know any, please have them check in to the Missouri tapping 2019 blog on MT.

Good luck to all of you up north and northeast; your run is coming. John