Sugar time

[harvey]

Got about 1000 taped had about 300gal sap yesterday onley drawed once about2 gal, sap not running that good. we had 4 ft snow but half gone now hard to get much of a road.hope u all have a good year.

[Joshua Kingsley]

Mitch: I sure can appreciate what you are saying about not getting to the trees. Dad and I have 25 buckets out this year and are planning to boil on the old barrel rig. We haven’t boiled since we moved here in 04 so it is a new adventure here on this farm. The creek rose today so getting the sap was an adventure. if things continue this way dad won’t get there tomarrow to gather at all. The water rose 10 inches in an hour…. we got in just shy of 60 gallons of sap though and that will need to get boiled in the am. Hope others are haveing a good season.
Joshua

[mitchmaine]

hey josh, penny and i attacked the ice cakes yesterday and got the horses into one sugarbush and spent the day tracking it up with the scoot. and today we hung 360 buckets out there. running fairly well. tomorrow we’ll finish the other side with another 100 or so over there. anyway, were in the game. thanks, mitch

[dominiquer60]

We have ~400 taps, but only had two good days so far, today being one of them. Tonight may get to 32, but the next few nights and days are all going to be warm. The Hornbeams are already showing buds, we don’t see this year being good either. Glad we didn’t buy a bigger evaporator.
On my way out to the sugar house for pizza, the man that feeds the fire got hungry before I got home, good deal no cooking, except the sap:)

Erika

[Mark Cowdrey]

How much snow do you have Erika? We have enough to keep things cool for awhile.
We are just under 1100 taps, with several different bushes. Biggest run 275. That has vacuum as does another 240. And an RO. 2 1/2X8 rig. Buckets are fewer each year, mostly roadside trees.
Still hoping to get my own setup at home before long. Will be lower tech, that’s for sure.
Ran like gangbusters today. They are saying our temps will drop down at night over here the next few days. We’ll see. Good so far w about 75 gallons made, no light though.
Mark

[dominiquer60]

Not enough snow to last the heat wave I fear, especially with this rain. No vacuums, 3 bushes, no buckets along the road, too many fast driver in mud just made for an unpleasant mess. It just kissed freezing before the rain came last night. I hope the heat wave prediction falls through.

erika

[mitchmaine]

still have a lot of snow in the woodlot. sounds like mark made a quarter of your crop already. we don’t really need a heat wave, but its raining now.
climate change?
any of you test your sap yet? wondering how sweet it is compared to other years.

as dad might say, “drink heavy and hope for the best”

[Ed Thayer]

Well, we have eclipsed last year’s crop and have been boiling like crazy the last several days. Averaging 300 to 500 gallons of sap per day. I have emptied the wood shed twice and filled it back up again. We started making medium and then went to dark after last week’s warm-up. We broke the rig 😀 down and cleaned it all up and went back to medium amber this week.

Hope all is well with the rest of you, how are things in Maine Mitch? Ya lose some more snow?

[Howie]

:oHow much money do you guys hope to get for your syrup.
Around here it is going for about $30 a gallon.

[Mark Cowdrey]

We are getting $6 1/2 pnt, 10 pnt, 17 qt, 32 1/2 gal, 55 gal, all in plastic, regardless of grade. I would be interested to hear what others are getting.
Mark

[dominiquer60]

1/2 pint $7, pt $13, qt $20 and 1/2 gallon $32, we quit gallons because they don’t pay as much, we only do a little and if some one wants to complain that is fine because we will sell it regardless at our farmers’ market. We do mostly B and dark, people like the flavor, it all sells and we don’t have the time to keep cleaning for the lighter grades.
Erika

[Mark Cowdrey]

Erika,
I like your pricing and pricing philosophy. I don’t set ours, my partner who owns the sugarhouse does. If I get my own rig I have thought I wouldn’t sell larger than quarts, or at least not cheaper than a quart price.
I know what you mean about people liking Dark & B, I just shake my head & take their money.
Mark

[mitchmaine]

have you folks heard about the new proposed grading standards? fancy or light will remain the same, but the new medium will be all of the old medium and halfway down the dark grade. and the new dark will be the lower half of the old dark grade plus all of the old grade b. and then very dark is all the rest which would have been the old c syrup grade. and all syrup will be table grade. as long as it conforms to taste.
they wanted to standardize all grading systems into one simple system, but it sounds to me to be replacing a complicated system with another complicated system. i mean complicated by way of explanation to a buyer.
but it sure shows the move to darker syrups.
we ask $62, $35, $20, and $12. regardless of colour.

i have a young pair of colts collecting this spring. they are full of it and have horsepower to spare. yesterday, i put out my back trimming. so today i didn’t look forward to fighting them in the woodlot with the pain i’m in. but i had to. and i also had to switch over to a four wheel cart, cause we have lost so much snow. it is no fun to ride either. but with really no strength to hold back the horses, they seemed to sense it and tiptoed around that sugarbush careful as could be????????? any ideas about how tht happened?

mitch

[dominiquer60]

Mitch,
The proposed grading system sounds sort of how we roll already, most customers are repeats and if someone wants light they can find someone else to buy from. I just tell them that the light stuff is for candy making and that we like the dark because it has more flavor. Our regular customers are just happy that we have some.

Erika

[Ed Thayer]

We sell all grades for the same price.

Gallons 50, 1/2 gallons 27, quarts 15, pints 8 and 1/2 pints 5.

I am amazed how different the prices are, Even in my own town there are several different prices for syrup. I too am of the opinion that the lighter grades are over rated.

Hope you feel better soon Mitch. Sorry to hear about your back.

[Author]

Posts