2021 Season

March 5, 2021
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/ Posted By Brad and Linda Wildes
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April 18 (Sunday)

Final thoughts. We had a very short three week season that came to an abrupt end before the trees started budding out. In past years the spring peepers and budding trees always signaled the end. Go figure! Every season has its differences and we always learn something new. We ended up with just under 58 gallons of syrup which is below our average of 75 gallons and attributable to the short season.

Our end of season clean up went smoothly. We waited for some warmer weather and got the pails washed yesterday. Done! It’s a good feeling to finish cleaning up. We always hate to see the season end but especially this year since it was such a short one. We have wonderful help and are very appreciative of all their hard work. Plus they provide plenty of entertainment value. Our trips into the woods are always filled with fun and laughter. Thanks guys!

Our hope for next season is to keep better track of the weather and get the Sugarbush cleaned up and the pails out before the sap starts running. I hope we succeed. We can’t wait to see what the 2022 season brings! Stay tuned.

April 7 (Wednesday)

We finished bottling today in one big batch. We went down to Slinger last Wednesday for a visit with the family and came home Saturday. I had a doctor appointment Monday and Linda worked the election yesterday. I had what could have been a really serious accident yesterday. I was hooking up the collection trailer, didn’t have any weight on the front, and the tongue flew up and cut my belly and arm. My belly probably saved my face from getting cut. I now have a bruise about the size of a soccer ball on my stomach along with a six inch cut. I was lucky it wasn’t worse.

Otis and I were finishing syrup by 9 am. Linda came over around 10 and started labeling. We finished bottling at 12:30 pm. I cleaned up while Linda continued labeling.

We are going back down to Slinger on Tuesday for Marshall’s 7th birthday (unbelievable!) on Wednesday. We hope to finish cleaning up before we go. I took down all the pails last week Monday and Tuesday and plan to clean the evaporator tomorrow. We will wash the pails Saturday if the weather cooperates.

March 28 (Sunday)

We had a lot of sap to collect today (finally) and not much help. We struck out at 8:45 am with Bill driving and Otis occupying the back seat. Jimmy, Linda, and I were collecting. We got about an inch of snow overnight with rain during the day yesterday. So we had snow and ice on the ground and ice in the pails. Most of the buckets were overflowing or close to it, but the sap was crystal clear. I stayed back after the second load and started boiling while Jimmy and Linda finished collecting the third load. We finished collecting 331 gallons at 11:15 am.

I cleaned the site glass before I started boiling and noticed that the sap was a little thick. I assumed that wasn’t the case with the sap in the evaporator. But, I noticed an odd odor which got more pronounced the longer we boiled. Then I noticed that the sap in the poly tank that feeds the R.O. had turned milky. What?!? We tasted the syrup we made today and it tasted OK but smelled odd. Based on the reference books that we have, the odd smell comes when the trees start to bud out. So, even though the trees aren’t budding out, over season is apparently over. I threw out the syrup that we made today. A lot of work for nothing!

Jimmy and I emptying our sap collection pails.

Jimmy and I collecting.

Sap hauler Jimmy. Notice the ice in the overflowing pail

Our beautiful snow covered Sugarbush.

March 24 (Wednesday)

It’s a dreary day. It’s supposed to rain all day and possibly turn to snow. We reached our high for the day overnight. We are bottling for the third day in a row and following the same routine and timeline. We finished the first batch at 10:45 am and the second batch a little before 1 pm, bottling just over 16 gallons again. This was the darkest syrup yet.

We had a scary situation with the filter press today. When we started filtering, the pressure was immediately at 30 pounds and was at 100 pounds when we finished filtering. We thought we would blow the filter papers but didn’t. We have never had pressure that high and don’t know what caused it. We have been bottling for three days in a row without cleaning the finishing pan. Maybe there was too much residue in the pan?? Not sure but hope it doesn’t happen again.

I cleaned up while Linda went out and started dumping sap. We will finish dumping the pails tomorrow.

March 23 (Tuesday)

It was raining when we got up this morning. The sap wasn’t running when we left yesterday so we are going to bottle again today. We followed the same routine as yesterday. I left the house at 7am and Linda came over at 9. Otis is still resting but seems to be doing a little better. We finished bottling the first batch at 10:45 am and finished the second batch at 1 pm. We bottled just over 16 gallons. We are out of pint bottles so I talked to fellow tapper Gene to see if he had any extra bottles. He doesn’t have any spare bottles but a friend of his does so Gene dropped them off for us. It should be enough to get us through the season and we certainly appreciate getting them. Gene is waiting until the weekend to decide about ending his season. Some of his sap is cloudy too. We will probably wait until the weekend to make the call as well.

It’s supposed to start raining tonight and rain for the next 24 hours. We probably won’t have anything to collect so we plan to bottle again.

March 22 (Monday)

The sap still isn’t running so we decided to bottle. We were low on bottle gas so I went into town to get some and was finishing by 7:45 am. Linda came over a little after 9 and we were bottling by 10. Otis decided to stay home. Our dear dog is really showing his age and we are worried about him. We bottled almost 16 gallons, finishing the second batch at 12:30 pm. The syrup is slightly darker than last year.

Linda went out and checked pails. There is only a cup or so of sap in most pails and it’s not running. Some of the sap is cloudy, probably from the warm weather that we’ve been having. If the season isn’t over, we may need to go around and dump sap tomorrow. We are planning to bottle again tomorrow and hope the season hasn’t ended.

The finished product.

March 20 (Saturday)

We had another beautiful spring day for collecting with temperatures in the mid-50s. We followed our usual routine with Bill driving and Otis riding shotgun. Jimmy, Bob, Linda, and I collected 285 gallons of 3.1% sugar in 90 minutes. There was no ice in the pails and no snow to speak of so collecting was fast and easy. We collected in three loads. I stayed back after the second load and was boiling by 9:45 am.

It is windy today and the sap isn’t running. We are all planning to take a day off tomorrow. We are pooped! Mike stopped by with some much needed gloves for the collectors. Thank you, Mike! Jimmy’s girlfriend, Patti, is up here and stopped by for a visit. It was great to see her. We plan to be back at it in a couple of days.

March 19 (Friday)

It was another beautiful, sunny day in the woods. We were out collecting by 8:45 AM. Bill drove with Otis riding shotgun; Bob, Jimmy, Linda, and I collected. There wasn’t as much sap in the pails as we were expecting and there was a lot of ice. The low last night was 18°. We collected 220 gallons of 3.8% sugar content sap (6.4% after R.O.) in three loads. I stayed back after the first load to start boiling.

A torsion bar broke on our UTV. We aren’t sure when it happened but I noticed it yesterday when we were unloading sap. I don’t want to drive it until we get it fixed so Jimmy was kind enough to bring over his UTV for us to use. Thank you, Jimmy! Otis liked being a front seat passenger for a change.

The sap was just starting to run when we finished collecting. So, we aren’t sure what tomorrow will bring. If there isn’t enough sap to collect, we plan to bottle.

Bill at the wheel and Otis riding shotgun.

Jimmy, Otis, and Bill filling up the front seat. Otis loves the attention!

March 18 (Thursday)

What a beautiful spring day! It is sunny and supposed to get near 50° today. I stayed at the sugarbush to finish boiling what we collected yesterday while everyone else went out to collect (Bill, Bob, Jimmy, Linda, and Otis). There wasn’t a lot of sap in the pails (159 gallons) so we had it collected in two loads in just over an hour. Sugar content was high at 3.6% (6.2% after R.O.) due to some ice in the pails. I thought we should collect since we expect the sap to run good today.

I shut the evaporator down at 12:45 PM. It feels good to be caught up on boiling. But now we have over 50 gallons of syrup that needs bottling. We think the sap is going to run good for the next few days based on the weather forecast. But rain is coming next week and maybe we can get some bottling done then.

I had a good boil going today. The barometric pressure was slightly higher at 28.81. Maybe boiling is better when we are under a high pressure system. It makes sense.

I forgot to mention that when we went to get supplies at Roth’s Sugar Bush in early February, they didn’t have any pint bottles in stock. Another victim of the pandemic. Fortunately, we had some bottles leftover from last year but we need more.

Sap hauler down! Jimmy is giving it his all!! And Bob just keeps collecting.

Most of our snow is gone so collecting is easy right now.

March 17 (Wednesday)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! The state of Wisconsin shut down for Covid-19 exactly one year ago today. Hard to believe that we have been dealing with this pandemic for a year already. So grateful that we have maple syrup to keep us busy.

We checked the pails yesterday afternoon and there wasn’t much sap in them. We think the sap might have run all night because we collected 394 gallons today. It only got down to 30° last night and is supposed to be in the low 40’s today. But it snowed the entire time we were collecting. It was just flurries and it was beautiful A great morning in the woods. We collected in three loads. I stayed back after the second load to start boiling. Sugar content was 3.0% (5.4% after R.O.). This was another day when I couldn’t really get the boil going. Barometric pressure was 28.59, similar to yesterday. I stopped boiling about 1:30 PM and plan to finish tomorrow morning.

The sap started running while we were collecting the last load. It is running good so we are expecting to collect tomorrow.

The Thinker (aka Mike) and also the hard worker!

The Thinker (aka Mike, aka the hard worker)!

Collection pails waiting for pickup in the new fallen snow.

Steam is billowing!

Bob and Bill rehashing the morning while I boil.

March 16 (Tuesday)

Bill, Jimmy, Mike, Linda, Otis, and I were out collecting at 8:45 AM. It only got down to 26° last night but there was a lot of ice in the pails. We got about an inch of snow overnight and that really helped with the footing. We ended up collecting 248 gallons of sap in 90 minutes. It pays to have great help! Sugar content was 3.1% (6.1% after R.O.), the same as Sunday even with the ice. I stayed back to start boiling after we brought in the second load of sap.

This was another day when I couldn’t really get the boil going. Barometric pressure is 28.56. We will see how that correlates with other days when the boil isn’t good.

Snow on the lids this morning!

Mike, Jimmy, and I collecting this morning.

Bill at the wheel and me trying to clear the ice from the collection tank.

March 15 (Monday)

I came over alone this morning to finish boiling what we collected yesterday. It took another 3½ hours to finish. Dan, Mike, and Ron all stopped in to check on progress. I checked pails when I finished and it looks like there will be enough to collect tomorrow.

I never got a good boil going today. Many things can affect the boil but we decided to start keeping track of the barometric pressure to see how that might influence the boil. Stay tuned.

March 14 (Sunday)

We have been shut down since last Wednesday. The sap finally started running again yesterday. It got down to 25° last night but based on how much sap is in the pails, we think that the sap ran all night. Bill was the first to arrive today (Daylight Savings Time mishap) so Otis and I headed out with Bill driving to start collecting at 9:15 AM. We came back in at 9:45 AM to dump the first load. Mike, Dan, and Linda joined us to finish collecting. There was a lot of sap in the pails and we needed to do the collection in four loads.

I stayed back after the second load to start boiling. We ended up collecting 631 gallons of sap in 2½ hours. Sugar content was 3.1% (6.1% after R.O.). That’s the second most sap that we’ve ever collected. I stopped boiling after 3 hours. Linda and I both checked pails and we don’t think there will be enough to collect tomorrow. So I will finish boiling tomorrow. I came back in the late afternoon to clean the R.O. It was a great day.

Bill and Mike unloading pails.

March 10 (Wednesday)

I came over alone and was boiling by 9 AM. Otis is pooped from yesterday so he stayed home to rest. The first draw off was at 10 AM when Linda arrived to clean the R.O. It started raining about 8 this morning and is supposed to rain for the next 24 hours. I checked a few of the pails when I finished boiling at noon and there is almost nothing in them. We don’t think the sap will run today even though temperatures are in the mid-40s.

March 9 (Tuesday)

Another beautiful day. What great weather for so early in the season. It was 38° when I got up this morning and is supposed to be around 60° today. We had loads of great help today for collecting: Bill, Dan, Bob, Mike, Tom, Lloyd and Joe.

The snow has pulled away from the base of the trees and it was like walking through wet sand while we collected. We were out collecting at 9:30 AM. Thanks to all of the helpers, we finished collecting at 10:50 AM, bringing in 232 gallons. The sap didn’t run as well as we had hoped. Sugar content was lower at 2.4% (5.4% after R.O.), probably because there was no ice in the pails. We still made three trips in to dump sap since the UTV had no traction on the trails with the melting snow.

The sap is running but not a lot. It isn’t supposed to get below freezing tonight so we don’t think there will be enough to collect tomorrow. Plus, we are supposed to get about an inch of rain. So, I plan to boil what we collected today. The season is off to a great start!

March 8 (Monday)

Otis and I came over to the sugarbush early and were boiling by 8 AM. Linda came over about 9:30 AM to clean the R.O. We had our first draw off at 10 AM and finished boiling at 11 AM. The syrup looks light. No problems with the evaporator which sometimes happen when I’m sweetening the pan. Dan and Mike both stopped in to check on us.

It got up to 51°today under sunny skies. There is sap in the pails and we plan to collect tomorrow.

Drawoff. Love the smell when we boil!

March 7 (Sunday)

Another beautiful day and we were all anxious to get out in the woods and collect for the first time. We were out collecting at 9:45 AM with Bill driving the UTV and Otis resting comfortably in the back seat. We had lots of good help today with Dan, Bob, and Tom all helping collect. Walking wasn’t too bad as the warm weather has knocked down the snow quite a bit. The high today was 46° and it is predicted to be warmer tomorrow.

We finished collecting 297 gallons in just two hours. We made three trips in to dump the sap as the snow is still pretty deep and we didn’t want to overload the trailer. It was a fun morning in the woods! There was quite a bit of ice in the pails so we had a high sugar content of 3.1% (6.2% after R.O.).

It is warm today but windy and the sap isn’t running very well. We hope to boil tomorrow and collect again on Tuesday.

March 5 (Friday)

Finished ‘er up today!! We got the last 68 taps out in just under two hours. It was an easy day compared to the first two. We had a low of 14° last night and a high of 46°. A few of the pails are overflowing, but most only have a quart or so in them. We will hope for the best for a collection this weekend.

March 4 (Thursday)

Today was very similar to yesterday. We’re just a little more tired! We had a low of 12° last night and a high of 41°. We put out 166 taps in 4¼ hours. It was another beautiful, sunny day. We are averaging less than a quart of syrup in the pails that we put out yesterday. Still hoping to collect this weekend.

March 3 (Wednesday)

This year is very similar to last year as far as weather. It was -40° just over two weeks ago but has been in the +40’s for the past few days. It’s supposed to hit 60° next week. So, it is definitely time to get out the taps. It got down to 20° last night and we had a high of 42°. It was a beautiful day to be out in the woods and we are excited for the season to start. All of our helpers are eager as well. We are still dealing with Covid so everyone is suffering from cabin fever. Linda and I are both fully vaccinated and are anxious for some companionship.

Linda and I put out 162 taps today in 4½ hours using snowshoes. We got another 8″ of snow on Sunday and there is over a foot of snow in the woods. It is tough going without the snowshoes. Because we were walking, we left Otis at home. He is showing his age (12½) and doesn’t get around very well anymore. The sap was running good today and we hope to collect this weekend.