2020 Season

June 6, Saturday

Clean up is finally done!  We washed the pails today, the latest we have ever done this task.  We kept waiting for the weather to warm up but it just isn’t happening.  Oh, well.  At least it is done.

Some final thoughts on the season.  Sadly, the theme for the 2020 season will be Covid 19.  It is something that none of us ever expected nor will ever forget.  We always hate to see our season end, but especially this year.  Now what are we going to do??

We ended up with just over 80 gallons of syrup, which is slightly above our average.  This year’s syrup was lighter with a higher sugar content compared to last year.  We were fortunate and proud to receive another blue ribbon for our syrup from the Wisconsin Maple Syrup Producers Association.

All in all it was another great season even with the Covid threat hanging over our heads.  Our helpers were a lot of fun as always and we were grateful for the help and the camaraderie. The state “stay at home” order has been lifted, the tourists are back up here, and we are expecting the worst as far as the pandemic goes.  Because of that, we are sticking close to home and masking up when we have to venture out.  We’re thinking the much anticipated and needed vaccine won’t be available until the middle of next year.  Hope it doesn’t ruin the 2021 season!

April 9, Thursday

Linda, Otis, and I came over today and took down the pails.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed being out in the woods together.  It took us four hours to bring in the 400 pails.  We used the UTV and towed a new trailer that I bought for hauling wood.  We put the buckets in the trailer and the lids in the dump box on the UTV.  It worked great!  Really love the UTV.  It made everything easier for us this season.

April 6, Monday

We came over this morning and finished our bottling for the season, just over 12 gallons.  All that is left to do is to take down the pails and do the clean up.  Not our favorite part of the process.  We plan to take our time doing it.

April 2, Thursday

I came over and checked pails this morning.  There was a pint or so of sap in most of the pails.  A few had a quart or more, but it wasn’t enough to justify collecting with such low sugar.  I contacted the crew and told them that our season was over.  Everyone was disappointed including us.  Now we have to face the coronavirus stay at home order without the distraction of making syrup.

April 1, Wednesday

I came over early this morning with Otis and checked pails.  The sap looked good and there was enough to collect so I contacted the boys and we were out collecting by 8:20 AM.  I started boiling after the first load and we were through collecting by 10 AM.  We brought in 235 gallons of 2.6% sugar, 5.1% after R.O.

The sap is running good and we are planning to collect again tomorrow.  But we can tell that the end is near.  We checked sugar content on some of the pails when we finished boiling.  Sugar content was below 2% on about half of the pails that we checked.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

March 31, Tuesday

Linda, Otis, and I came over today to check pails and decided to dump everything.  There wasn’t much in any of the pails and only about 10% of the pails had good sap in them.  The majority of the sap was cloudy and/or yellow.  Maybe we will get one more collection.

March 30, Monday

I did finish bottling today on my own.  Just over 17 gallons.  It took about four hours to complete the bottling.  I went out and checked pails and don’t think there will be enough to collect tomorrow.  Some of the sap was cloudy and yellow.  Our season may be over.

March 29, Sunday

As planned, we bottled today.  We did it two batches and put 17 gallons of syrup in bottles.  The syrup was a little lighter than the last batch, but still medium amber.  We have plenty more syrup to bottle and plan to do that tomorrow since we don’t think there will be any sap to collect.  It didn’t get below freezing last night and the high today was only 38°.

March 28, Saturday

The theme for today was mud, mud, and more mud.  We followed our usual routine for collecting with Bill driving, Jimmy, Bob, Linda and me collecting.  I stayed behind after the first load and started boiling.  Sap was spotty like it has been all season, but we did collect 214 gallons.  Sugar content was 2.3%, 5.0% after R.O.

It’s supposed to start raining this afternoon and rain until tomorrow night.  We don’t think the sap will run today since it didn’t get below freezing last night.  So, we are planning to bottle tomorrow.

We had a little bit of excitement today.  We forgot to disconnect the drain hose from the collection tank when we were leaving to collect the last load of sap.  The dangling hose snapped off the connector on the tank.  Fortunately, I’m a belt and suspenders kind of guy and had everything needed to do the repair.  Only took about 10 minutes to get us back on the road.

Gene, a fellow tapper and neighbor stopped by the sugar bush just as we were leaving for the day.  He said his sap was less than 1% sugar and he planned to pull his taps and end his season.  Our sugar content has been dropping too.  I imagine our season will be ending soon as well.

March 27, Friday

I checked pails yesterday and there wasn’t enough to collect.  But we collected today with lots of help and lots of fun.  We had a full UTV with Bill driving as usual  We brought in three loads of sap.  I stayed back after the first load and started boiling.  I changed sides for the draw-off yesterday and didn’t have any problems.  Jimmy, Mike, Bob, and Linda finished collecting 364 gallons of 2.7% sap, 5.2% after R.O.  I had it boiled off in 4½ hours.

The sap is running like crazy today.  We had a high of 52°.  But, it’s supposed to start raining tonight and rain all week end.  If we can’t collect tomorrow, we plan to bottle.

Full house!

Me, Mike, and Bob with Bill at the wheel, out collecting.

Mike, Bob, and me emptying the collection tank.

Bill, beggar Otis, Jimmy, me, Bob, and Mike recapping the day.

March 25, Wednesday

It was drizzling rain when we set out to collect this morning.  We followed our usual routine with Bill driving, Linda, Bob, Mike, and me collecting.  Lots and lots of sap today with many pails overflowing.  The low last night was 39° and we think the sap ran all night.  We normally do our sap collection in three trips but it took five today.  Collecting was easy, no ice in the pails  and the snow pack is continuing to dwindle.  We have about 6″ of snow in the woods with more and more bare spots.

We ended up collecting 523 gallons of 2.8% sap, 5.8% after R.O.  I started boiling after we picked up the first two loads of sap.  It took 5¼ hours to boil it off.

The sap is running a little today but there was only a 4° temperature difference between the high and low today plus it started raining this afternoon.  Not sure there will be enough sap to collect tomorrow.

March 24, Tuesday

Otis and I were at the sugarbush at 6:30 this morning and got things set up to collect.  “Nascar” Bill drove and Bob, Mike, Linda and I collected.  Conditions were much improved today in the woods and it only took us 1¾ hours to collect just under 300 gallons of sap.  Having Mike with us helps a lot too.  We even have some bare spots in the woods!  We finally got all of the ice out of pails too.  With all the ice we had in the pails for the past several days, I was surprised that sugar content was 3.2%, 6.5% after R.O.  It took about 4 hours to finish boiling off what we collected today.

The coronavirus shutdown continues.  Wisconsin issued a “safer at home” order that prohibits nonessential travel and includes the closing of all but essential businesses.  Everyone is stir crazy already and it looks like this will be going on for awhile.

Our wheel man, “Nascar” Bill.

Sap hauler, Bob.

Sap hauler Mike.

March 22, Sunday

We are bottling again.  No sap in the pails.  We bottled about 8½ gallons and are all caught up!  It’s a good feeling.  The syrup was slightly darker than yesterday but still lighter than last year.  It took us about 4½ hours to do two batches of syrup.

We checked pails and nothing is running.  There is nothing in the pails but ice, even though the temperature is in the upper 30s.  All of our helpers are calling to see if we will be collecting tomorrow, but I don’t think we will be.  With the coronavirus shutdown, everyone is looking for something to do.  Glad we have our syrup operation to keep us occupied.

March 21, Saturday

As we expected, the sap didn’t run yesterday so we bottled.  We did two batches and made just over 17 gallons of syrup.  It’s a little lighter than last year, medium amber.  We were through bottling by noon after starting a little before 7 AM.  We had another first while bottling.  The hose running from the filter press to the bottling tank came loose.  I don’t think I had the clamp tight enough.  Anyway,  I acted quickly, stopped the filter press and got the hose back on after only losing a cup or so of syrup.  My fingers were a little toasty but the mess was minimal.

It doesn’t look like the sap is going to run again today so we plan to bottle again tomorrow.

Lunch time! We have been feeding deer outside the sugar shack all winter and they are used to having us around.

The reason we started feeding was because of this spotted fawn. It looks like she’s going to make it through the winter.

March 20, Friday

I came over early this morning to switch sides on the draw-off.  I try to do it every 4 or 5 boils.  Bill arrived about 8:15 and we were out in the woods collecting shortly after that.  Lloyd came over on his ATV just as we started and was a big help.  Footing wasn’t good again.  The rain we got yesterday froze and then we got a dusting of snow on top of the ice.  The sap in the pails was spotty again.  Some were overflowing and others barely had a cup in them.  It’s been that way all season.  We collected just over 300 gallons of 3.0% sap, 6.2% after R.O.

Linda ran the evaporator while the guys finished the last load of sap.  We’ve been doing the collecting in three loads.  The first two draw-offs set off the alarm but Linda got the temperature down by dumping some sap in the front tank.  This usually happens when I switch sides.  Things settled down after that and we were finished boiling in 3 hours.

We are planning to bottle tomorrow.  It’s not supposed to get above freezing today, plus it’s very windy.  We don’t think the sap will run.  Plus, we are out of syrup containers and need to bottle.  It was a very good day at the sugarbush.

March 19, Thursday

I came over early this morning to check pails.  We probably could have collected about 150 gallons of sap and probably should have.  But the weather today is as predicted, raining and pretty miserable.  We’ll wait until tomorrow to collect and hope the sap will run today.  It didn’t get below freezing last night so I’m not sure how it will run.

I was boiling by a little after 8 AM and shut down at 2 PM.  We had three visitors today and were glad to have the company.  We plan to collect tomorrow in much cooler temperatures.

March 18, Wednesday

We have been shut down since Friday and now the whole country is shut down due to the coronavirus (Covid-19).  All the bars and restaurants in the state closed at 5 PM yesterday, takeout food only for at least two weeks.  We are glad that we can keep busy making syrup.  We think the number of sugarbush visitors may pick up as people find new ways to fill their days.  All are welcome!

Mike, Linda, and I were out in the woods collecting at 8 AM and I drove.  Finally we have good footing and the trails are in good shape after I used the bulldozer on Monday to open them up.  Bob arrived when we came in to dump the first load.  The four of us finished collecting in just over two hours.  It really helps to have Mike on board.  He moves at least twice as fast as the rest of us.  We collected 387 gallons of sap, our best day so far.  Sugar content was 3.4% and 6.6% after running it through the R.O.

We are predicted to have rain and snow tomorrow so we are going to wait until tomorrow to boil.  It was a great day.

Bob and Mike working hard.

Mike and I dumping our sap into the collection tank.

Overflowing pails creating icicles.

March 13, Friday

Bill was waiting for us when we got to the sugarbush.  We headed into the woods at 8:30 AM with Bill driving, Linda and me collecting.  We received about 1/2″ of rain yesterday and that all froze overnight.  We had no problems with the UTV but footing was treacherous for the sap haulers.  All the pails had ice in them and a few pails had yellow sap caused by yesterday’s rain.  Bob arrived when we came in to dump the first load and helped collect the rest.  I stayed in and started boiling while Bob and Linda collected the last load with Bill still driving.  We needed all the help we could get today and were glad Bill and Bob were there.  We also had three visitors today and were glad for the company.

We only collected 154 gallons today and I was through boiling by 2 PM.  Sugar content was 3.2° and 6.5° after R.O.  We have enough to bottle and hope to do that next week.  It’s supposed to be below freezing today and tomorrow, warming up on Sunday.  We hope to collect again on Monday.

March 11, Wednesday

Otis and I came over to the sugarbush this morning so I could replace one of the pumps in the small tank on the collection trailer.  One of the pumps wasn’t working right when we collected on Monday.  I got that accomplished just as Bob arrived.  Linda, Bob, and I were out collecting by 9:30 and finished up at noon.  We had much better traction in the snow today and the UTV handled it easily.  Bob and Linda finished up collecting the last load of sap while I started up the evaporator.  I was boiling by noon and finished at 4 pm.  We collected 300 gallons of sap today and ran it through the R.O.  The sugar content on the sap was 3.1% today and 6% after we ran it through the R.O.

The sap is running good today with the temperature in the 40s.  We think there will be enough sap to collect again tomorrow but it’s supposed to be raining.  I don’t like collecting in the rain, especially with all this snow still on the ground.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

March 10, Tuesday

I was at the sugarbush by 7:30 am and started boiling.  For a change, there were very few start up issues with the evaporator.  I got five good draw offs and we have about 2.5 gallons of syrup made.  The sap is running good today but I’m not feeling well again.  If I can collect tomorrow, we may need to use the tractor to pull the sap wagon.  The snow just won’t go away.

March 9, Monday

If we had all of our taps out last Friday we could have collected.  We definitely could have collected yesterday but I was feeling under the weather.  Something is going around up here, just hope the coronavirus avoids us!  I feel better today and we got into the woods and collected 350 gallons of 3.3% sap (6.5% after R.O) with Bob’s help.  Most of our help from last year isn’t available this year.  Jimmy is sick with the flu, Bill is having problems with his knee and is in physical therapy, and Dan is in Arizona for the winter.  We are glad that Bob is still with us.

The snow is still proving to be a problem and we really struggled pulling the collection trailer because we couldn’t get any traction.  Snow is still up to our knees in some places even with the warm weather that we had over the weekend.  It was so late when we finally finished collecting that I decided to wait until tomorrow to boil.

March 7, Saturday

We had the best help ever today.  Our son, Tanner, and his family came up last night to help us put out taps.  We had so much fun in the woods.  Our grandsons are 3 and 5 (soon to be 4 and 6) and they really enjoyed hammering in the taps and hanging the pails.  Even the dogs (all 3 of them) seemed to be having a good time.  We got another 72 taps out today so only a few to go.  It got down to 24° last night, mid 40s during the day and is supposed to be in the 50s tomorrow.  We hope to collect for the first time on Monday.

More good news, Randy stopped by today with his excavator and dug me a pond on the south end of the property.  We’ll see if we can get some water in it when the snow melts.  Thank you, Randy!

My little helper, Marshall.

Mitchell thinks sap is lick smacking good!

Nana and Pops with the best help ever!

March 6, Friday

Linda and I put out another 100 taps today in 14° temps.  The snow felt like we were walking through deep sand.  It was tough going for us and the UTV.  Sap didn’t run yesterday.  The trails are bad and we don’t know if we will be able to collect when the time comes.

March 5, Thursday

Linda had other commitments today so Jimmy and I put out another 100 pails.  There was about a quart of sap in the pails that we put out yesterday.  Surprise!  It was 34° when we got up this morning but only reached a high of 37° before it started raining/sleeting/snowing.  We need to get taps out!

March 4, Wednesday

We have had an abrupt change in weather.  It was -28° less than two weeks ago but is supposed to be in the 50s this weekend.  Time to hustle.  Linda and I headed into the woods today and put out 101 pails.  We bought a UTV in December and used that today.  It’s a pretty perfect vehicle for the sugarbush, but the best news is that our dog, Otis, would ride in the back seat.  He’s going to be 12 this year and seemed to appreciate the lift.

Brad tapping and Otis supervising.

Heading out to tap in the new UTV.

First drops.