Eastern Ontario 2015

[Kyle Baker]

Nice candy Leslie. Where did you get that nice leaf mould?

[Lespetras]

Nice candy Leslie. Where did you get that nice leaf mould?

Hi Kyle,
Actually got it from the bulk barn... Worked out ok

[Vandy]

It smells 'earthy'.. Like vegetables cooking at the end. So we tossed it..

****. I have my final batch of nearup that should give me 10-12 liters that smells like this.. I figured I was at fault as I dropped a bunch of broccoli and cauliflower into my pan when I was preparing my sugar shack cooked meal (filet minion over coals, backed potatoes, and veg). Maybe the smell isn't from the vegetables I dropped in..

This batch was just before I tossed 90Gal of sap due to 'butt' smelling steam..

Anyway, great season, got overrun with sap. Final tally to come, but have bottled 86 liters.

Need to upgrade my evap rate to 10Gal/hour from 4Gal/hour.

[Kyle Baker]

Wow good job vandy! Yes you need to get your rate up. Ive got some ideas. Ill email you!

[Run Forest Run!]

Lesley, what a drag that your last few batches were disposables. It's such a shame since it takes a lot of hard work to turn that sap into syrup. You had a record breaking season regardless of whether you are a newbie or not! 'Unbelievable' would be an understatement! When you said that you were depressed about the season being over I kind of chuckled. You're now one of us. The moment a spile is pulled, the countdown to next year begins. You'll never take a vacation in the spring ever again. You'll only ever make last minute plans to get together with friends - because it depends on how much sap you collected that day. And, your family will write you off for a month. The list goes on.

Congratulations again on such a stellar first year. I know you'll be back next year.

[Big_Eddy]

You'll never take a vacation in the spring ever again.

More likely you'll use up all your vacation in the spring - like the rest of us.

[Run Forest Run!]

More likely you'll use up all your vacation in the spring - like the rest of us.

You're right about that BigE. I should have said a spring beach vacation.

[ennismaple]

... And on waking up this morning buddy scent free, I smelled the stuff I put aside and realized that it too was buddy bad!! So that means that my batch from 2 nights ago the 2300 ml is null and void! And so subtracted from my totals
On a positive note after 3 attempts last night.. I made delicious homemade maple candy... It's yummy and 2 litres made a ton!

Lesley - Nice looking sugar! You want to let it sit for a day or two to allow the excess moisture to evaporate. Otherwise, the sugar will get soggy.

We ended up with almost 5,000 gallons of sap yesterday that made a beautiful amber syrup with no aftertaste. The sugar content was down, as is expected at the end of the season, but the RO makes it less painful to boil low sugar sap. It froze last night and is supposed to freeze tonight so we're hoping for one more boil to finish off the season and get enough amber to see us through the year.

[can'twaitforabigrun]

Ennis, Have you hit a liter per tap yet? Seems like most producers in Ontario aim for a litre per tap on vacuum systems, whereas those in Vermont aim for 1/2 GPT (1.89 L). Have you heard of anyone in Ontario hitting the 1/2 GPT mark this year or in past seasons?

[Galena]

Did someone say 'vacation'? What's that? ;-)

Also...was boiling up the last few litres from the virgin bush, collected last yesterday...wasn't long before this musty, rotting-vegetation smell, like a swampy smell (made me think of frogs) began to rise in the steam - so pulled it off the heat pronto, dumped it, rinsed out that pot and boiled bottom with vinegar. Then scrubbed it out with baking soda and rinsed again with hot water. Will probably boil a potful of hot water in it just to be extra careful.

And to think, I had my last jars of nearup from the virgin bush all ready to go and get dumped in so I could make one last batch...*sigh*...ah well will do what I can with the 3ish litres of nearup. Still have about 4.25l of homebush nearup to finish. Might fridge it til Saturday so can show Sis how it's done.

So once I finish having a slightly late lunch, will go over to virgins and pull spiles there. Still some out in my trees, but only a couple litres, and they've done enough. I'm happy.

ETA: Hardly anything left at the virgin bush anyway so pulled all taps and thanked the trees, then helped the landowner muck stalls and bring in the beasties :-)

Then came home and collected sap, and pulled spiles that had already been dry for a day or two anyway. Ended up pulling all taps from #2 and #5, but on Super Six Sap Machine all three spiles are still going, so they're all still in, esp as I heard tonight's meant to be -2. So #1 still has a spile in, as does #9. Hope that tonight's cold will spur a last little bit of sap.

Oh yes, and hovered like a nervous hummingbird over the little boiling pot when I boiled down the 2l I collected from the home trees, inhaling steam...but no rank odours, just that clean sweet smell of fresh sap :-) #6 is REALLY killing it this year, I think it's the top producer but haven't checked the numbers yet.