2017 Season
April 8, Saturday
Here are some final thoughts on the season. It was another odd year due to the weather. Whoever doesn’t think we are dealing with climate change needs to make maple syrup to know that it isn’t a myth. It never really got cold enough at night to get the sap running good. We would probably have gotten another week out the season if I hadn’t drained that front pan on the evaporator. We needed at least 150 gallons of sap to get going again and it just didn’t look like that was going to happen. Another lesson learned was that we should have had pails out in mid-February when we had that warm spell. Just because we have never tapped in February up here doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try it.
We have been on clean up duty this week. It is not my favorite job but once everything is cleaned up, I am excited for next season to come. We pulled pails on Monday and cleaned the evaporator on Wednesday. Today was pail washing day and we are done for another year. We ended up with just under 48 gallons of syrup this year. Our average is around 75 gallons.
Power washing the evaporator.
The last clean up task, washing the pails.
March 31, Friday
Nothing going yesterday so we are bottling today for what might be the last time. I drained the front pan on the evaporator yesterday so we could bottle that too. We bottled a little over 19 gallons today in three batches. The hard maples haven’t budded out yet but the sap isn’t running good. We are thinking that the season is over.
March 29, Wednesday
The way the sap was running when we left yesterday, we expected more in the pails today. With help from Jim, Bob, and Frank, we collected 310 gallons of 2.4% sap today. We were through boiling and little before 1pm. There is almost no sap in the pails and it is dripping very slowly. We doubt that there will be enough to collect tomorrow so we plan to bottle. We saw our first robin today so spring is coming!
Our sap haulers, Frank, Bob, and Jim.
March 28, Tuesday
We collected less than 100 gallons today and boiled it off in a little over 2 hours. Our friend, Jim, came over today and helped with the collecting. He had never help collect before and quickly informed us that maple syrup would not be a hobby that he would consider. We understand that it isn’t for everyone, but we sure love doing it and are always glad to have some help. I broke the draw off valve on the poly tank that we use for collecting. I had mistakenly closed the valve yesterday and it froze overnight. When I tried to open it, it broke. Jim and I spent some time repairing that while Linda ran the evaporator. Another lesson learned. Not sure why I have to always learn the hard way.
It is sunny today and near 60°so we are hoping that we will finally get a good sap run today. In anticipation, I called our friend, Bob, and asked him to help us collect tomorrow. We are looking forward to a busy day tomorrow!
March 27, Monday
Even though there wasn’t much in the pails, we decided to collect what we had. The soft maples are starting to bud out and we fear that the end is near for our season. We got a little less than 200 gallons and boiled that off in about 4 hours. We didn’t collect enough sap to warrant using the RO and I can sure tell the difference with boil times. It rained a little this morning but warmed up into the mid-50s this afternoon. Knowing that the season is drawing to a close, we plan to collect what we can again tomorrow.
March 25, Saturday
We bottled just over 17 gallons of syrup today. It is still nice and light. Not much sap running again today so we don’t expect to collect tomorrow. It has been a frustrating season, with no good sap runs yet. Warm weather is coming and we are not sure how much time is left in the season.
Today’s bottling
March 24, Friday
We have been shut down for two days due to weather and my left knee. My left leg started stiffening up on me Tuesday afternoon to the point that I couldn’t walk. We went to the emergency room on Wednesday morning and the doctor thinks it is an arthritis flare up. I have been off my feet for two days and am sick of watching TV. I am glad to be back out in the woods today even if I have to use a cane to get around. Linda said she enjoyed collecting with me today because it was so easy to keep up with me. We collected almost 300 gallons of sap today with 2.8% sugar content. We used the RO to get the sugar content up to 4.8% and had everything boiled off in 2½ hours. The sap is barely running today so we plan to bottle tomorrow.
Limping along
March 21, Tuesday
There wasn’t much sap in the pails but we decided to collect the 100 gallons that was out there. I had switched sides on the evaporator and wanted to make sure that the levels were ok. As I feared, we had problems with the draw offs, with the temperature shooting several degrees above syrup. After adjusting some levels on the evaporator, everything worked like it should and we were through boiling in just over 2 hours. We had several visitors today and I enjoyed showing off the operation and chatting with them while I boiled.
March 20, Monday
I couldn’t sleep, so I was up at 3:30am and out collecting with a head lamp by 5:30. Linda and Otis draw the line at collecting in the dark but they joined me a little after 7am. We collected 300 gallons today. We ran the 2.0% syrup through the RO and ended up with a sugar content of 4.5%. We were boiling by 8:30am and finished up at 12:30pm. It looks like we should have about the same amount of sap to collect tomorrow. Glad to have several days in a row of maple syrup activity!
March 18, Saturday
We bottled 11.5 gallons of syrup today. It is always a good feeling to get to the final product. Not much in the pails, so we aren’t planning to collect tomorrow.
The final product.
March 17, Friday
After being shut down for 10 days, we are back in the woods today. Finally. We have had windy and cold weather with several nights below zero, which explains the shut down. For the first time ever, the sap in the evaporator froze. I was afraid to start up the evaporator to thaw things out for fear of something breaking. I used a torpedo heater and it took two days to get the evaporator thawed out.
The frozen sap in the pails finally started to thaw yesterday so that we could collect today. We received 3″ of wet, heavy snow last night so it was easy to tell where we had collected. Because of all the ice in the buckets, our sugar content was 5.8% No need to use the RO today! We finally have enough syrup to bottle and plan to do that tomorrow.
Ice filled pails.
Pyramids of ice.
Beautiful light syrup. Love that smell!
March 7, Tuesday
I started boiling about 5:30 this morning and finished four hours later. I had several nice draw offs and the syrup is a beautiful light amber. We have about 5 gallons of syrup ready to bottle which is always a good feeling. We completed the rinse cycle on the RO while we were boiling. It worked out well for us to leave the soapy water in the RO overnight and complete the cleaning the next day. Thanks, Pete!
We got heavy thunderstorms with thunder and lightning last night and are dealing with sustained winds of 20-40mph, occasionally gusting over 50mph. We know that it is too windy to collect in the woods but wanted to check the pails. We had just gotten into the woods when a tree limb fell about 10 feet in front of me. I looked up and saw another big limb precariously hanging so we decided to high tail it back to the sugaring house. There wasn’t enough sap to collect, maybe a pint in most of the pails. With these strong winds, we aren’t sure how it might run today but we are supposed to have temperatures in the low 40s. We will see what tomorrow brings but we are hoping to collect.
The limb that almost hit me today!
The dangling limb that made us decide to get out of the woods today.
March 6, Monday
Finally, we are able to collect. There is a lot of sap in the pails but it has been frozen for almost a week. We are supposed to have temperatures in the low 50s today so the sap has finally thawed out enough to collect. We got 572 gallons of sap today, which is about twice what we normally collect. I am confident in the gallons collected because we bought a flow meter this year. It is a very handy gadget to have. Sugar content was just over 2%. We ran it through the RO twice and got the sugar content up to 8%. We are left with about 235 gallons of concentrated sap that we plan to boil tomorrow.
On the recommendation of Pete Roth, we cleaned the RO through the wash cycle and left the soap in the RO machine overnight. Pete indicated that this cleans the RO better. All of the Roth family have been such a help to us over the years. If you are looking for maple syrup supplies and equipment and are near Roth’s Sugar Bush in Cadott, Wisconsin, we highly recommend that you do business with them.
We are supposed to get thunderstorms tonight with high winds. The wind is supposed to continue through tomorrow. We are not sure if we will have enough sap to collect or even if we will be able to collect due to the winds.
March 1, Wednesday
We had planned to collect today but the sap is frozen solid in the pails. So, we decided to put out the last 100 taps. It is sunny, cold, and windy today. Not sure when we will be able to collect but at least all of the taps are out.
February 27, Monday
We put out another 175 taps today and aren’t sure if we are going to put out the last 100. It is hard to predict what type of season we are going to have and we aren’t sure of how much help we might be getting. My friend, John, who has helped every year has moved out of state and we haven’t heard from Bob yet. Temperatures are supposed to be in the 40s today but no sap is running yet.
February 26, Sunday
We are off and running on another season that looks to be “unusual”. We had two weeks of record breaking temperatures in the 50s and 60s in February during which we should have been tapping. But my wife and I were both battling colds and the flu so we didn’t get taps out until today. We put out 125 taps today and plan to put out more tomorrow.
The 2017 season has begun!