Tapped in Hopkinton 2014

[Biz]

I had a good run Sunday and boiled Sun-Mon. Most of my buckets on red maples (about 15 out of 80) have been pulled down but the sugar maples were still running good as of Sunday and sugar content still around 2.5%. Will probably get 1 more run in this Thursday then pulling buckets this weekend. Not done canning up but will probably end up with 10-12 gallons, averaging a little over a pint per tap, second worst yield in 18 years. I did tap some reds for the first time this year which were less than stellar performers, about so this pulled down my average but still isn't great. Had many days where it wan't quite warm enough to run, now it's not quite cold enough to freeze.

[SeanD]

I had my last boil and drained the pans last Thursday 4/10. From time to time, there was just the slightest hint of off-smell to the boil until the very end when the last couple of gallons of sap gave off the worst smell I ever had in the sugar house. It was like rotten cheese and it wouldn't leave my nose for the rest of the night. I finished it off inside today and ended up with a gallon and a half of delicious B - no off-flavors.

In the end it was a very respectable season here. I ended up with just over 29 gallons off of 103 taps. I usually have a better average, but I can't complain at all considering at the end of March I had only made a little more than 18 gallons. I thought the season was a disaster then. Sap volume was way down, but luckily it was very sweet.

Clean up is going to be tough because the kids are full on into sports now. I'm glad April saved the season, but overlapping with baseball and soccer is tough.

Have a great off-season, everyone. I have expansion plans in the works already.

Sean