2016 Season
April 4, Monday
We had a slow start to our season and an abrupt end. Even though the trees aren’t budding out yet and the spring peepers aren’t peeping, the sap has quit running. We bottled off the remaining syrup that we had and are calling an end to the season.
We made just over 78 gallons of syrup, a little better than last year. Best of all, we used less than half of the wood that we did last year. We’ll take down the pails this week and get everything cleaned up before we head to Slinger for our grandson’s second birthday. As usual, we hate to see the season end. Especially this year since we didn’t have to spend so much time boiling.
Starting the dirty job of cleaning the evaporator.
April 1, Friday
Nothing going on yesterday and today we decided to dump out what was in the pails. There still isn’t enough good sap to collect and it’s been in the pails for a few days. It’s snowing off and on today and we’re not sure if the sap will run. We are still hoping for another collection.
A beautiful, snowy morning in the woods.
March 30, Wednesday
There wasn’t enough sap in the pails to collect today so we just boiled. It took about 3 hours to boil off the 300 gallons of sap that we had collected yesterday. It’s raining today and we don’t expect to collect tomorrow.
The ice went off of our lake today, about 4 days earlier than last year. Also, I forgot to mention that we have been dealing with ticks since the beginning of the season. That is a first for us. They usually don’t make an appearance until we are finished tapping.
March 29, Tuesday
Linda, Otis, and I started collecting this morning about 7AM. John and Bob arrived about an hour later to help finish the collection. While they collected, I worked on the RO. We had a leak and it was getting worse. We collected about 300 gallons of 2.2% sap by 9:15AM but I was getting nowhere with the RO. After several calls to Roth’s in Cadott and several trips home for tools, I finally got it fixed. It was a combination of problems with some fittings. I started up the RO and finished running the sap through twice by 4PM. It was a longer day than I expected.
The sap is definitely changing for the worse. Some was cloudy and yellow enough that we had to dump it. We are hoping to get at least one more good collection before the season ends.
March 26, Saturday
I came over to the sugarbush about 11PM last night to start running the sap through the RO. I went back home once I started up the RO but, of course, I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was out collecting by flashlight at 4AM and started boiling at 5:30AM. Linda got here about 7:45AM and ran the evaporator while I collected. I wanted to keep boiling and needed more sap. John, Bob, and Adam arrived around 9AM and finished collecting. We got about 250 gallons of 2.75% sap, which we ran through the RO. I finished boiling about 1PM.
We had a good boil going all day but some of the draw offs got several degrees above syrup. I think there is a problem with the placement of the thermometer and will check that once the evaporator cools off. Fortunately, I keep a pail of sap handy and I needed to use it today to keep from burning the pan.
We have close to 20 gallons of syrup to bottle and plan to do that tomorrow. It’s raining and the sap isn’t running. It is supposed to warm up next week and we are afraid that our season could be coming to an end soon.
We had a good boil going on a rainy day.
March 25, Good Friday
We had plenty of sap in the pails today as well as a lot of ice. The low last night was 15°. Fortunately, we had a lot of help. Bob, John, Randy, Linda and I collected 450 gallons of 2.75% sap. Over half of the pails were close to overflowing. The sap still looks good. It is running today and we are expecting to collect again tomorrow.
Randy, John, and I collecting.
March 24, Thursday
As we thought, the rain cut off the sap flow yesterday. So we bottled 17½ gallons of syrup today. We are still getting nice looking syrup and hope that the season will last a while longer. The sap is running today and we expect to collect tomorrow.
March 23, Wednesday
I had a sleepless night so I was over at the sugarbush early to run the sap that we collected yesterday through the RO. I couldn’t get the RO to run and found a loose wire on the motor. Once I reconnected that everything worked fine. After two passes through the RO, I ended up with 170 gallons of 8% sap to boil. It took about 4 hours to finish boiling. Without the RO it would have been a full day of boiling. I can’t say enough good about the RO. It is very simple to run and has cut my boiling time by two-thirds. I’ve used very little wood this year and probably won’t need to cut much, if any, for next year.
It’s very windy with the possibility of snow later today. That has shut off the sap flow. There’s only a pint of so in the pails. If it doesn’t run, we plan to bottle tomorrow.
March 22, Tuesday
The sap ran like crazy. Bob and I collected 500 gallons of 2.25% sap. I’m going to wait until tomorrow to run it through the RO and boil. The high today was 49° and we’re hoping to collect again tomorrow.
March 21, Monday
We ended up collecting another 145 gallons of sap today but had to deal with a lot of ice in the pails. We ran the sap through the RO and boiled it off. The sugar content was 3.35% yesterday and 2.7% today. The amount of sap in the pails is very erratic this year. Today some pails had 2 quarts of sap in them and some were almost empty.
The snow has melted and the sap is flowing!
March 20, Sunday
We’ve been shut down for a week due to rain, snow, and cold. We received 3″ of rain on Tuesday followed by 6″ of snow on Wednesday. The rest of the week was too cold for the sap to run.
We collected about 170 gallons of sap this afternoon after the pails thawed. The high today was 40°. The sap is running and we’re hoping to collect more tomorrow so that we can boil.
March 14, Monday
We bottled just over 15 gallons of syrup today. It’s a little darker than the previous bottling, but still nice syrup. The weather looks like it’s not going to cooperate for the next few days so we’re not expecting to get much, if any, sap.
March 13, Sunday
As expected, we didn’t get much sap today. John, Linda, and I collect 180 gallons of sap and had it all boiled off by noon. Sugar content was 2.9% today and we didn’t use the RO. Sap isn’t running and we are planning to bottle tomorrow.
March 12, Saturday
John, Bob, and Linda helped collect 425 gallons of sap today. Initial sugar content was 2.8% and after two passes through the RO, we got it up to 8%. It took just over 3 hours to finish boiling, so the RO is doing its job of cutting down on boiling time. The high today was close to 70° and we aren’t expecting much sap to flow.
March 11, Friday
We had two milk cans of syrup and decided to bottle today. We bottled 8 gallons of beautiful, light syrup. We are all caught up and the sap is running like crazy today. We’re supposed to have temperatures in the 60s today after a low of 21° last night. We are expecting a big collection tomorrow.
First bottling of 2016
March 9, Wednesday
We hadn’t planned to collect today but there was enough sap for a small boil. Linda and I collected 105 gallons of sap with a 2.0% sugar content. We didn’t have enough sap to warrant using the RO. We started boiling at 8:45AM and finished by noon. The syrup is still very light. The sap isn’t running at all with temperatures in the upper 50s.
March 8, Tuesday
We had a busy day today. I couldn’t sleep (a common phenomena) so I was at the sugarbush boiling by 4:20AM. I finished boiling what we collected yesterday by 7:15AM. Bob, Linda, Otis, and I collected 200 gallons of sap by 9AM. It’s warm (high of 61°) and rainy and not much sap is flowing. We ran the sap through the RO twice and the sugar content went from 2.1% to 4.9% to 7.8%. We were left with 50 gallons of sap and decided to boil that off while we cleaned the RO machine. We finished boiling at 1PM. We had 3 draw offs from the second boil and the syrup is beautiful and light, Grade A Fancy as we call it. We’re not sure if there will be enough sap to collect again tomorrow.
First draw off!
March 7, Monday
We didn’t get but a couple of inches of snow last Friday. The weather warmed up into the 50s yesterday and the sap is running. The 6-wheeler couldn’t make it through the slushy snow so we ended up collecting with the big tractor, our Allis Chalmers WD-45. John, Linda, Otis, and I collected 225 gallons of sap and used the RO machine for the first time. Sugar content started at 2.4% and was 5.2% after RO.
March 4, Friday
Linda and I finished putting out taps today, 401 total. Temperatures are in the 30s with snow predicted for tonight. We have about 8″-10″ inches in the woods now with an icy crust.
March 3, Thursday
I put out another 130 taps today. No sap is running yet. Linda got home today and we plan to put out the rest of the taps tomorrow.
March 2, Wednesday
Linda is in Slinger with our son and family, so I’m on my own for a couple of days. I tested out our new reverse osmosis (RO) machine today, our new toy for the season. It’s pretty simple to run and should cut way down on our boiling times. This past summer I built an addition onto the sugar shack to house the RO.
I put out 75 pails today. The weather at night is in the single digits with highs in the 20s. But there is supposed to be a dramatic warm up next week. No sap is running yet.
John and I inspecting the RO machine.