Central Ontario Tapping

[MustardSeedMum]

Low and behold, for the first time ever I am actually making something other than light and extra light syrup. Last night's batch will register as a medium. It appears that three of my batches this year might end up being medium. When I do the final bottling I'll know for sure. I'm thrilled to have a little extra variety with my syrups this year.

That's great, Karen. For the first time ever, I've not made anything darker than medium. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the fact that I took off each batch after a max of 1-2 days of boiling. I used to just keep my nearups on the arch for several batches.

But yes, it's great to have the variety of syrups. Looking forward to seeing your final tally.

[Run Forest Run!]

Pulled my home taps today. All but one was dry as a bone. Went to pull the taps at the sugar bush, but instead came home with 16L of 3%. It's boiling now and I hope I don't end up with buddy soup. We'll soon find out!

Sounds like a nice syrup variety for you too this year MSM. You could be right about the syrup being darker the longer it boils. My sap is never usually boiling longer than 6-8 hours before it becomes syrup. That's likely a major contributor to me only getting light and extra-light syrup.

[Galena]

I have pics (no colour manipulation done) of my 6 home bush syrup samples in dollar-store spice jars, Karen. Will send em to you for *grading*...ONCE I CATCH UP WITH MY TREES!!!!!

Yes they're still producing, just got another 10l...#6 is leading the pack with all 3 spiles going strong, and both #1 and #9 are being one-spile wonders. All perfectly clean, clear, sweet sap with not too many bugs to fish out.

Have it all on the stove now, but what I did was collect from each tree in separate containers, and boiled 2cups from each batch individually in a small saucepan to boiling to make sure no fouls smells arose. None did, so the two main boiling pots are back in service...again...I feel like I'm stuck in an endless sugaring vortex :-O

And still not a single bud to be seen on the sugars, which are the only ones producing now. The reds' buds are looking fat but haven't blown yet.

[NTBugtraq]

Well, I don't get it. I have been down to 26F every night for the past 3 days, and at least below 28F all night each night, but nothing is coming in from my bush. I walked the lines today and there are no breaks or taps out...I really thought I'd be getting sap. Still no visible buds. I haven't boiled for the last 2 days as I have only 120gals of sap left...I was worried if I boiled off all available sap I would have to take the nearup off the arch and ruin the gradient. Near freezing in my forecast through Saturday night, so not ready to shut down yet...but I will likely boil down my remaining 120gals tomorrow and leave the arch full till I see what may come on the weekend.

Sales are awesome, I shipped syrup to Colorado and B.C. today...;-]

[Run Forest Run!]

The taps in the sugar bush are still dripping well - some at a gallon/day. But..........the pails are so full of moths that the sap in the buckets is totally brown with 'moth dust'. For days I've been trying to position bags over the pails to keep the moths out, but without success. As much as it pained me to do it, I pulled the taps at the sugar bush. Sap was still flowing out in rivers down the trunks of the trees, but without a closed sap collection system I had little choice. I guess the sap collected and boiled yesterday will be officially my last batch. It's too bad because the sap that I was currently getting from the sugar bush was giving me delicious medium syrup. I'll get my last few batches to proper density and then hook up the power washer to blast everything clean for 2016.

[Maplesapper]

Sales are awesome, I shipped syrup to Colorado and B.C. today...;


Hey NT-
Congrats on the successful sales-
How are you handling the cross border sales- re: shipping liquids ?
What have you found is working well kijiji, your website etc.

We are a small producer, but trying to sell about 20 gallons to try and help cover some of the costs.
Most of our sales are actually giveaways to friends\.....\lol

[NTBugtraq]

Hey NT-
Congrats on the successful sales-
How are you handling the cross border sales- re: shipping liquids ?
What have you found is working well kijiji, your website etc.

We are a small producer, but trying to sell about 20 gallons to try and help cover some of the costs.
Most of our sales are actually giveaways to friends\.....\lol

Canada Post didn't require me to do anything other than state on the shipping label that it was Maple Syrup from Canada. I did specifically ask if there were any other hoops I had to go through and they said no.

As far as advertising, I do have an ad on Kijiji, but no sales from there that I can see. I don't have a web site, so my sales have been by word of mouth. I got cards from Vista Print and have been giving them out to everyone who comes. GL...I am happy to finally have syrup after the season as I sell so many other things throughout the year I will now be able to offer syrup as well. I hope this gets more people to realize they can get syrup here next season.

[Maplesapper]

Good luck with your future sales.
Thanks for the info

[Run Forest Run!]

All of my 2015 syrup has now been finished to proper density. Had a phenomenal year ending up with 25.1 L of syrup with batches in light, medium and amber. I had only ever made light syrup before. Production was double that of last year.

The change in weather has all of my spile holes weeping, and it's killing me to see sap running down the bark but all of my collection buckets are now washed and stored for next year. I've updated my signature and had another year of great fun in the forest and great conversation on MapleTrader. Thanks to everyone for all of their enthusiasm and guidance again this year.

[Jerome]

A nice warm day here on the south coast of Ontario and I can't tap as I sold my orchard and moved to Niagara Region with no maples in my yard. I hope you all have a good season.