Author Archives: Brad and Linda Wildes
2023 Season
April 6 (Thursday) Bill, Jimmy, Pat, Bob, and Curtis were all here by 8:30 AM so we headed out. There was enough sap in the pails to collect but it is frozen almost solid. No hope of getting it out of the pails. The only good news was that the trails were frozen and easy […]
Read More2022 Season
May 13 (Friday) Some final thoughts. I am going to stop saying that it was another unusual season. Every season seems to be “unusual” in a different way. Our season had a very slow start as we waited 19 days after we put out pails to collect for the first time. But the sap ran […]
Read More2021 Season
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 […]
Read More2020 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 […]
Read More2019 Season
April 30, Tuesday Some final thoughts on our season. This was one of our best seasons ever for several reasons. We made just over 97 gallons of syrup, our second best season ever. We made lots of syrup, had lots of help, and had lots of fun! It was a season of low sugar content […]
Read More2018 Season
May 2, Wednesday We took down the pails last Friday as planned and I cleaned the evaporator on Monday. I put the cleaner in the evaporator on Friday and let it sit for a couple of days. I will definitely do that again. The clean up was much easier. That is the dirtiest job of all […]
Read More2017 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 […]
Read More2016 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 […]
Read More2015 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 […]
Read More2014 Season
April 26, Saturday The pails are washed and drying in the garage. All that is left is to wash the spiles and we do that in the dishwasher. That’s the easiest part of the clean-up job. It’s a wrap! April 24, Thursday The dirty job of cleaning the evaporator was completed today! Always glad to […]
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