Eastern Ontario 2023

[Galena]

So far so good on the boiling pot.. The cold sap is starting to have a "funny" smell, but I've had that before and still get great syrup... I also just burned a small spoonful on the stove and it smells perfect and sweet.

About 450L to get through tomorrow.. going to be an early morning and a late evening!

What kind of funny smell? Just curious. It's April Fool's Day, I'm a little afraid to go out and see what the trees did overnight. It may be Brute time!

[jungmaria]

Likely pulling my early taps (early Feb) this weekend. They’ve pretty much dried up anyway. Will leave my late Feb taps for another week. Even if it’s only to boil sap to make some vinegar like 4Walls described.
Boiled a barrel today that smelled different. Wasn’t cloudy and tasted ok but the end is nigh.

[limestone]

Excellent run here today.
Still some snow patches left in the bush after yesterday’s rain. Seeing our first nitre of the season today. It’s been a strange one here for that as we usually have it after early March, but no complaints for sure.
We’re still a ways off from bud formation so maybe another ten-fifteen days in the season? The weather this week should tell that tale.
Cheers from Battersea

[ir3333]

Another Sunami yesterday...this season doesn't want to quit.

[Galena]

Another Sunami yesterday...this season doesn't want to quit.

Tsame here. Pushed 62l through yesterday, thank gawd today's tsap tsunami tstill frozen.

[Bruce L]

Nothing to write home about here,think the trees are shutting down,checked this evening lots of room in the buckets,didn’t check tubing tank,it was smelling strong at lunchtime. Has Marty been on here,just wondering how he’s doing? Hasn’t been a bumper crop for us,but I’ve been battling a pinched nerve in my back all winter that makes one knee work as good as a peg leg,while my wife and family went to Florida for March break my 85 year old Father fell in the barn,was hospitalized for a week with a concussion,so I didn’t get out to check vacuum near often enough,things were pretty hectic here to say the least,so I don’t mind it coming to an end without a full crop

[Galena]

Nothing to write home about here,think the trees are shutting down,checked this evening lots of room in the buckets,didn’t check tubing tank,it was smelling strong at lunchtime. Has Marty been on here,just wondering how he’s doing? Hasn’t been a bumper crop for us,but I’ve been battling a pinched nerve in my back all winter that makes one knee work as good as a peg leg,while my wife and family went to Florida for March break my 85 year old Father fell in the barn,was hospitalized for a week with a concussion,so I didn’t get out to check vacuum near often enough,things were pretty hectic here to say the least,so I don’t mind it coming to an end without a full crop

OMG Bruce...that's a lot. Hope your dad is ok. Haven't seen Marty on here for awhile. Nor Grant, aka Big_Eddy. Might just pm him to say hi see how things are. ((HUGS))

[paulslund]

Nothing to write home about here,think the trees are shutting down,checked this evening lots of room in the buckets,didn’t check tubing tank,it was smelling strong at lunchtime. Has Marty been on here,just wondering how he’s doing? Hasn’t been a bumper crop for us,but I’ve been battling a pinched nerve in my back all winter that makes one knee work as good as a peg leg,while my wife and family went to Florida for March break my 85 year old Father fell in the barn,was hospitalized for a week with a concussion,so I didn’t get out to check vacuum near often enough, things were pretty hectic here to say the least,so I don’t mind it coming to an end without a full crop

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope everything turns out okay for your father!

I think you are right that things are coming to a close.. I think my silvers are shutting down.. the few buckets on silvers were emptied Saturday are maybe 1/5 full now, while the buckets on my Sugars are around 1/2 full +.. I pulled in over 100L on the tubing Saturday and a bit on Sunday.. I haven't checked what came in today yet but I think another 60L there. With this I'm about the same range for total sap as last year, but sugar is down slightly so won't be making as much syrup.

[jungmaria]

Nor Grant, aka Big_Eddy. Might just pm him to say hi see how things are. ((HUGS))

I’ve also been wondering about Big_Eddy. His posts and advice were what got me through my first couple years. I hope he, and Bruce’s dad, are doing okay.

[ennismaple]

OMG Bruce...that's a lot. Hope your dad is ok. Haven't seen Marty on here for awhile. Nor Grant, aka Big_Eddy. Might just pm him to say hi see how things are. ((HUGS))

Thanks for checking up on me! We're good just been a crazy month. Took us right until tapping time to get the woods back together from the May 21st Derecho storm. We're having a pretty decent season so far - we passed 1.0 L/tap yesterday. We've made more Golden Delicate this season than I have in the past 15 years! Lightest was 85LT which is so clear you can read a newspaper through it. I'm hoping we get 4 or 5 more good boils before the end. Still lots of snow in our woods.

We are loving the new 10" CDL Wesfab filter press. Once it's set up it's so easy to use and make beautiful clear syrup. On some of the larger boils we've had to tear it apart and re-charge but it's maybe 15 minutes of time and can process syrup much faster than we can run it off.

Already planning next year's improvements. Hoping for another 500 taps and need to figure out how to put an electric releaser 2000 feet away from the nearest power source... The double mechanical releaser has been fine for the last 15 years but is costing us money every day when it's iced up. Plus the inevitable float, flap or vacuum cylinder problems that drop the vacuum until someone goes to fix it.