2015 Season
April 6, Monday
I cleaned the evaporator this morning (pan cleaner, pressure washer and a lot of elbow grease) so the dirtiest job is out of the way. Linda had planned to pick up pails today, but we had almost 6″ of snow overnight. We’ll wait for better weather to do that. Now the wait begins for next season!
End of season snow on the pails
April 5, Easter Sunday
Linda and I finished bottling today. We ended up with just over 74 gallons of syrup for this year. Another “average” year for us, even though this is the earliest end of a season that we’ve had since we started tapping up here in 2007. We burned over twice as much wood as we did last year due to the low sugar content of the sap. The last syrup that we bottled was actually the lightest of the season. Usually, the first bottling has the lightest syrup. Every year has its differences and every year we learn something. That’s one of the many reasons that we love doing it.
April 4, Saturday
Our 2015 season has come to an end. I checked pails this morning and the sap is either yellow or cloudy. I pulled all of the pails and drained the evaporator. We plan to finish bottling tomorrow and then the big job of clean up will start next week. As usual, during those long days of boiling, I was wishing for the season to end, but now that it has, I’m already looking forward to next year.
April 3, Good Friday
Linda and I bottled just over 17 gallons of syrup this morning. It was a good morning to bottle–cold (26º), windy, light snow. That brings our total for the season to 64 gallons. We still have another 8 gallons or so to bottle, so it looks like this will be an average year for us for syrup. Around 70 gallons of syrup is a normal year for us. After we cleaned up from bottling, we checked pails and decided to dump what was in them. Two days of temperatures in the 60s took its toll on the quality of the sap. Some sap was cloudy, some yellow, and some crystal clear. There wouldn’t have been enough good sap to warrant collecting, so we decided to start fresh. The sap is running this afternoon so there may be enough to collect tomorrow. The sap looks cloudy, so the season may be over too. Last year, we collected for the first time on April 3 and this year we may be ending our season on April 3. There is no “normal” maple syrup season for us anymore.
April 2, Thursday
With 5 hours of boiling today, I’m all caught up! The sap didn’t run good (the low last night was 44º and we had a thunderstorm), so there wasn’t enough to collect. We’re hoping to bottle in the next day or two. The syrup is piling up and I’m running out of storage. Some “spring peepers” visited me in the sugar bush this morning, but the hard maples don’t have buds yet. We’ll see how much longer the season will last.
April 1, Wednesday
We followed our usual routine today with me coming over early to boil then Linda taking over the evaporator while I collected the southern section. John, Linda, and Otis finished collecting and we ended up with 350 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 3.2%. The sap boiled good today with a draw off every 7 minutes or so. Maybe it’s boiling better because of the higher sugar content. No coats required today. The high this afternoon was 65º. The sap is not running good and it’s supposed to rain tonight. I doubt that there will be enough sap to collect tomorrow. The soft maples are starting to bud out so our season may be coming to an end soon.
Our dwindling wood supply
March 31, Tuesday
I started boiling at 3AM today. Linda came over at 7AM and ran the evaporator while I collected the south section. I took over the evaporator and Linda, John, and Bob finished collecting. We ended up with 400 gallons of sap, sugar content of 2.6%. It was foggy this morning but got up to 54º this afternoon. Sap is running. We boiled for 10 hours today but aren’t caught up. The amount of sap is a little overwhelming right now. I’m thinking more and more of getting a reverse osmosis machine to cut down on the boiling time. My favorite part of making maple syrup is collecting the sap and I don’t get to do much of that because of all the boiling that is required. Two people from the local newspaper visited today to interview us and take pictures for an article on maple syrup production. I always enjoy explaining the process to anyone who is interested.
March 30, Monday
Yesterday was snowy and blustery and not much was happening in the pails. But, the sap started running at some point because we collected 500 gallons today. Linda and I collected the south section of pails then I started boiling. Linda and John finished collecting while I continued boiling. I stopped boiling at 2PM and still have a lot of sap in the tanks.
March 28, Saturday
Linda and I bottled 15 gallons of syrup today. Everything we’ve boiled off is now bottled. It feels good to be all caught up.
Liquid gold
March 27, Friday
I boiled for 8 hours today and am finally caught up. Linda is on her way home and we’re planning to bottle tomorrow. Temperatures continue in the 40s during the day.
March 26, Thursday
I finished boiling off what was left in the tank in just two hours. Then I collected alone and got 410 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 2.0%. In general, the sugar content of the sap this year is lower than last year. The low sugar content is noticeable in the additional amount of wood that I’m burning during the evaporation process. Right now, it looks like we might run out of wood before we run out of sap.
March 25, Wednesday
We received about an inch of snow today. I bottled just shy of 17 gallons of medium amber syrup. There’s more to bottle, but I’m going to wait until Linda gets home from Grandma duty to finish bottling.
March 24, Tuesday
I started collecting alone again this morning and Bob finished up while I boiled. We collected 250 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 2.75%. I boiled for 12 hours today and am almost caught up. Planning to bottle tomorrow.
March 23, Monday
I started collecting alone this morning then John finished up while I started boiling. We got 250 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 3.0%. I boiled for 7½ hours but I’m still not caught up.
March 22, Sunday
Nothing going yesterday. I collected alone again today and got 150 gallons of sap with a 3.5% sugar content. The sugar content was higher because I removed ice from most of the buckets.
March 20, Friday
I collected 200 gallons of sap alone this morning and then boiled from 9AM-2PM. Sugar content was 2.8% again.
March 19, Thursday
I started boiling at midnight and finished up at 3PM. Bob and John collected 360 gallons of sap while I boiled. Sugar content is a little lower at 2.8%.
March 18, Wednesday
Bob, John, and I collected 300 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 3.6%. High temperatures in the 40s are supposed to continue for the next week or so.
March 17, Tuesday
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a beautiful, sunny day in the north woods, although a little windy. We had a guest sap hauler today, Aiden, and decided to collect even though there wasn’t much in the pails. It was fun seeing the operation through a child’s eye and even more fun being in the woods with Aiden. It looks like the weather is going to more conducive to a sap run so we’re hoping for better production later in the week.
Aiden, our sap-hauler-in-training, helping with sap collection.
Brad, Otis, and the new boss, Aiden, returning from checking pails.
March 15, Sunday
We decided that we either needed to collect the little bit of sap that was in the pails or dump it out. The weather has been in the 50s for the past several days and hasn’t gotten below freezing at night. We decided to collect what we had and ended up with 130 gallons of sap. We boiled that off and now have about 4 gallons of syrup. The weather is supposed to be in the 40s for the next week with nighttime lows in the 20s. Maybe the sap will run better. We’re starting to get concerned about the trees budding out. Way too warm for this time of year.
First draw-off of 2015!
March 12, Thursday
Last Thursday it was -28° and today it got up to 54°. Quite an abrupt change. Bob and I collected for the first time today and got about 140 gallons of crystal clear sap, sugar content of 2.4%. We sweetened the pan and are ready for more sap. It’s supposed to be pretty warm for the next few days and may be too warm for the sap to run.
Bob and I discussing the first boil of 2015
March 9, Monday
We finished putting out all of the taps today, 401 total.
Still about 14″ of snow in the woods but sap is running
March 8, Sunday
Well, we got caught with our pants down this season. Warm weather is predicted for at least the next 10 days and we need to get the taps out. Linda and I put out 206 taps today and plan to finish tomorrow. The sap is running today.
Linda doing first tap of 2015
Brad and Otis hard at work