tapping in CNY

[maple flats]

We started tapping last Saturday, the snowmobile got stuck so it was snowshoes all day. The going was OK. We sank in between 4-6" most of the time, but everything was very light and fluffy.
Then we went back out yesterday (snowmobile still got stuck), I was thinking the snowshoes would stay on top better. Boy, was I wrong. The warm weather made the snow very soft. With each step we sank down 8-12" but now the snow was heavy and loaded up the top of the snowshoes often, requiring us to shake the snowshoe to get rid of some of the weight. The going was actually about twice the effort to walk that it had been a few days earlier.
Colder today, thus not much melting today. Our next chance to get out is Sat. I sure hope the going is faster then. Yesterday mid afternoon we did start getting our first sap flow, however it was very slow, and only about 1/3 of the holes were running as we tapped. From Sat. on my help has a week off from college so any still not done can then be finished each day til finished.

[dblact38]

Sap started flowing yesterday, got about 15 gal out of 40 taps. It was a lot of work collecting even with the snow shoes it was hard to walk in. Hopefully its going to get better. What a work out but its worth it

[maple flats]

We hope to finish tapping my big woods tomorrow. Then it's off to the smaller one. At the big one it sure would be a huge plus if the snowmobile can now be used, rather than getting stuck.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

Good luck to you out there flats. The snow here has settled out a lot the last few days. I'm all tapped with a slow start to the sap flowing, but it will come around soon.....

[maple flats]

Thanks COMSTOCK MAPLES, last Sat. we got in almost 400 taps, Wed the going was so much harder that we only got it about 140 more. We are still on my bigger bush. When we get to the smaller bush we've got to dig out the tank and pump. They are down in an old cellar hole about 5' deep. We had a snow fence up at the edge of a long open field upwind to the tank and pump. The landowner took the fence down to cut some trees and said he would put it back up, he never did, and when I discovered it, the fence was buried under 3-4 feet of snow, and frozen to the ground. The tank now is almost impossible to find if it weren't for the tubing and vacuum line running into the snow. That tank, setting on footings sets 6' high and the snow is essentially level across the top, the pump sets about 6' away, under 5' of snow.

[Clarkfield Farms]

lol... Dave, if you need or want any help, I hope to have some free time this week, I can go and work at digging out the tank and pump when I'm able. I'm pretty sure I remember where it is! Don't hesitate to take me up on the offer, it'd be great therapy to just be out and working in fresh air and the woods. Too bad, if that snow fence had been left alone or reset it would have done its job and saved you a huge amount of work. I remember how that snow blew in from that field, and those couple of seasons I worked with you were nothing like this one. That big bush, I remember it as one of the most beautiful woods I've ever been in. Without the snow, that is! Haha! I hope you have a terrific, and safe, year.

My sister just texted me some photos of the snow at our place in Forestport... no words for it. The last I saw it that deep, and it has settled a great deal now, was back in the mid-70's. And some of those years, we were having snowball wars in the woods -- the weekend after Memorial Day! We're pretty sure that, without significant stretches of above-average temperatures, we'll still see snow up there for Father's Day, at least in the deeper hemlock thickets where the deer yard up along the north-facing slopes of the Pine Creek escarpment.

At the farm in Sauquoit, my entire run of tubing is along the windward hedgerow of the property. The drifts there, up on the top of the hill, back about 2 weeks ago were over 14 feet high. No record-setters by a long shot for up there, to be sure, but everything that's tappable along with the tubing is buried for the upper 2/3rds of the run. There's been a great deal of settling, but nowhere near enough. I had hoped to get out today but with this weather -- and the widowmaker wind - nah. Like texting & driving, "It can wait." And the wind on top of that hill is just crazy today.

Tomorrow looks a lot better if I can get out to do it. With so much of the run buried for so long, I don't even know what repairs may be needed.

To paraphrase what some good men on here have told me personally in the past, and NO they wouldn't use these same words lol: "When you take on Ma Nature as a business partner, you're getting a psychotic, sociopathic BEE-OTCH with Tourette's!" At least that's my rendition.

At least the few maples here at the home & orchard are tapped, I got to get out for a bit yesterday. Not a lot of flow but it was terrific therapy, lol!!! Boiled down what little sap there was on the kitchen stove. Almost made the wallpaper peel!