Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[TapTapTap]

It was raining sap here in Williston. Sap started trickling in about 5 pm. I hadn't noticed that there was a sag in my pump line, apparently frozen solid, as I climbed down into the pump station. Then the pump kicked on! Pow! A fitting blew apart and I took a cold sap shower. Then the mad scramble to thaw (or as us Vermonters say - unthaw) the line and repair the fitting. Never a dull moment in the sugaring business.

Ken

[DrTimPerkins]

Pow! A fitting blew apart and I took a cold sap shower.

Which always lead me to this song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIB9Y4OFPs

[blissville maples]

Well I think we're on our last day or two here. Sugar is horrible around .8. hard to stop when sap is crystal clear, syrup tastes phenomenal, sapflows are good and there's snow on northern facing ground but we've made a crop and it's about that time. Thinking last boil Sunday or Monday.

[blissville maples]

No sap today -- too cold. Crew made 480 gallons of GD...close to the line of AR. That puts us at 73.6% of our minimum target crop (0.5 gpt of syrup), not counting what we'd get in the boil out of the evaporator. Should run starting tomorrow afternoon thru early-Sunday morning, then freeze solid again most of Sunday until late-morning on Monday. Shaping up to be a couple of real gushers (fingers crossed).

Funny what a thousand or two feet in elevation can do. One of our hardest runs yesterday at about 37 degrees

[Mooneybc]

Hardest run of the season yesterday through last night 1.9gal/tap sap. Sugar content actually increased to 1.4%. Temperatures this week might put the kabosh on the season.

[TapTapTap]

Hardest run of the season yesterday through last night 1.9gal/tap sap. Sugar content actually increased to 1.4%. Temperatures this week might put the kabosh on the season.

How did you do yesterday (Saturday) with more mild weather? I got only 500 gallons Friday. My sugarbush is W-NW facing and ranges from about El 800 to 1200. We finished off the day with some wet heavy snow.

But yesterday, we added another 3100 gallons or about 2.1 gpt and 2.4 got for the run. Sugar is down to about 1.8. Good thing I'm plumbed to a reserve raw sap tank.

Ken

[Mooneybc]

We got roughly 1.5gal/tap yesterday that was with a 2 hour stoppage due to my releaser bracket system collapsing (this losing all vacuum). We have a N-NE bush at 900-1000 ft in elevation. Expecting our last big run the next 3 days. We’ll see if the weather lets us go farther.

[DrTimPerkins]

Best run of the season so far on Saturday -- total of 13,800 gal or about 2.2 gal sap/tap, which would put us right around 0.5 gal syrup/tap if it were all boiled down. Sugar dropping...1.8 and 1.5 Brix in the two sections. Crew is running the RO today with the concentrate headed to the bulk tank for a boil later this week.

Still a week or two of the season left hopefully, but the leeks are springing up in the woods and the pussy willow flowers have popped down the valley. Based upon the forecast it should start running later this morning and continue for the next several days.

[peteinvermont]

I'm pulling taps this weekend. The sap has still been decent, but we're out of wood, so thats the end. 2023 was a very good season for our little operation.

[tcross]

we've been making a lot of syrup the past few days. we're about at 55% of our average gpt. the forecast for next week makes me feel like the crop this year will be disappointing up here. all next week is in the 60's and 70's with no where near freezing nights. we'll see.