sugaring

[Ed Thayer]

We are all done and the sugar house is cleaned. Will wash buckets on Sunday when I get home. Ended up with a 1/3 of a crop overall. We made more light syrup this year than in 5 years. Happy with that but I prefer the dark or B.

Mitch, great looking place, I like the sugar house and evap pics. Good looking team too.

Bill, glad you are spreading manure with the warm weather. Looks like all field work may start early.

Ed

[mitchmaine]

pushed syrup through the pans with some water yesterday. 102 degrees in the sugarhouse! all cleaned up now with a report of snow on monday withsome 20 degree nights? so the buckets are still hanging and we will see what might happen.

ed, congrats on the fine color. we didn’t do anywhere near that good a job on grade. and who knows what a season is anymore. we haven’t made a hundred gallons in any of the last 5 years, and this year, we are at a pound and a half per tap. strange times. and i hear it in about five or six separate threads here. haven’t got dust yet, bill, but the ground is drying out some fast. its hard to predict some kind of a short future anymore and that makes growing, haying, sugaring and all difficult.

on a positive note, animals all healthy and working is a pleasure with them. i look forward to seeing them and receiving their greeting each morning.

[Claddagh Farms]

I lasted in the game this year a bit longer….had a good run over last weekend and finished boiling off on Monday. Watched for more sap, but I guess my heart just wasn’t in it….. Too many other things pressing in on all sides now that the season is early.

I dumped my buckets today and pulled my taps and lines in. As I suspected, there was hardly any sap there. Yesterday I noticed the red maples are budding up and today I saw a hint among the sugar maples…..Hate to have such an early season, but standing over a hot sap pan pouring the wood to a fire on these warm days just don’t seem right….:rolleyes:

My trees are between 100 & 160 years old, in an exposed sunny place. It’s no wonder they gave in early. Those further up the mountain or in the woods might see a bit more sap during the cold spell this weekend.

Now on to pruning orchards, getting ready for next week’s lambing spree, and cleaning up some downed logs out in the woods and working the boys together to get ready for plowing…..and then there’s a couple miles of fence to walk and 3 or 4 more to build before grazing and haying….dang…I feel cheated!! Sitting by the boiler, reading & sipping coffee for a few weeks is my winter’s vacation…done got stole from us this year….

[harvey]

weather in nova scotia no better65 on thursday 1/2 season maybe 35 in camp on friday,made out ok with31/2year old belgim stands good .time to wash lines and do wood.2ooo taps

[Michael Colby]

Collected another 2000+ gallons of sap today in Walden, Vermont. And it looks like we could re-charge after the cold weather coming over the next few nights. It’s actually turning out to be a good year.

[Ed Thayer]

My Nephew tapping his first Maple Tree a couple of weeks ago. We have another future sugar maker in the making. 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwpVOfKfqj0

[Michael Colby]

And the sap is still flowing in Walden, Vermont. This weekend might finally end it for us, though. While the sugar content was less than desired, we ended up having a pretty good — and weird — season.

[Livewater Farm]

hows sugaring going elsewhere
things real slow here in southern vt
been tapped out for two weeks plus and only boiled twice
havent had what I call a run as of yet just some weeping here and there
sap first pickup was not too sweet 1.8 2nd boil up to 3.5 from 400 buckets
can still put out more but waiting today sunday bright sun but a north wind hasnt let the sap break loose yet
still plenty of snow in the woods field trees have opened around bases
sled roads in the woods staying good and solid
will not be spreading manure this year by the spread date in april
hay supplies holding up pasture seems along way away still usually for me around 15th 0f may but some wet years it has been delayed to 1st week in june
Bill

[mitchmaine]

ditto here bill, sap in our pails thawed enough yesterday so I could grab the whole years run to date. 110 gallons 2.6 sap from 330 buckets. I have another 150 but will probably not tap them this year. we are on schedule to repeat last year almost to the day. so I may also already know the results of this year as well. our season never seems to go beyond the 15th april so it better get going if its gonna. snow in the woods is deep still and covering the base of the trees. lots of snow on the woods roads but the fields are starting to mud up over the frost. good sugaring bud

[dominiquer60]

We had a lot of rain, then snow yesterday, it finally froze again last night and the single pail next to the horse barn started singing late this morning. They boiled a few nights last week, averaging 1.9 mostly on vacuum lines. Sam boils at a neighbors place with 2 other farms, together they have 7,000 taps and made over 700 gallons so far this year. A good year is 1,500, they will be happy if they can get to 1,200 gallons. We still have some snow in the woods, but it is disappearing fast. Meanwhile the fields are still mostly covered and the snow drifts and piles will be around for weeks.

[Mark Cowdrey]

Now we’re sugarin’…

[Ed Thayer]

We had the best run yet Monday and Tuesday, gather 660 gallons on about 550 taps. Still way down from where we should be. Made about 45 gallons so far and hope the weather continues to moderate slowly.

Had maple open house last weekend and had a huge crowd. Hitched the horses and did 9 trips on Saturday and 6 on Sunday, lots of good people attended. Horses struggled a bit early Saturday as the snow started softening in most places, and it was deep. The more they churned it up the better it packed.

good luck to ya all,

Ed

• This reply was modified 9 years, 1 month ago by Ed Thayer.

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[Livewater Farm]

sugaring all done here last boil april 15 made 3/4 of a crop so happy with the season
tried alittle birtch sap mixed in with maple the last boil interesting flavor alittle
licorice in the after taste
now on to filling the wood sheds and spreading manuare
still have frozen water in cow waterer and 2 hydrants frost is a least 5ftdeep or more in places
how you all do?
I think the new grading system sucks
Bill

[Ed Thayer]

All done here too Bill. We cleaned buckets and sugar house yesterday and have all the tanks cleaned. Just have to wash the tube lots and call it a season. We had the second best crop ever, just under 150 gallons produced. Lots of high quality sap late in the year really saved us.

Glad to hear you had a good season. We are getting ready to spread too then chain harrow. No frozen hydrants here this year, but I hear it was not uncommon around the region.

ED

[mitchmaine]

we are done too. pulled buckets this past weekend and poured off 250 gallons sap. judging by the syrup we were making it would have been pretty good syrup, but we just ran out of steam. stll we had a good time and made a bit of syrup.
hey bill. everybody hates the new grading system. it sucks. the funny thing about a democracy is that everyone can criticize what ever they want as long as they want and it happens anyway. I still have about five years of old grading stickers left and I’m not changing until they run out.

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