We got off to a slow start, but had 650 buckets hung by 4:00 this afternoon. Temps warmed from 17F to 38F at 1:00 and we got about 2" of sap snow this afternoon, and it is still snowing.
There were 6 of us today, 3 generations of family. Today I was the Elder, so I got to drive the 5230, by their choice. Tomarrow one of the uncles will be up, so he will be in the tractor, but I have a patch of trees that blew over during Huricane Sandy. They were lodged and "widow makers", but recent winds dropped them to the ground, so I will clean up the mess while the rest complete hanging the 1200 buckets we will hang this year.

Gee it so reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts. We always had a canner of sap on the stove during sugar season. There was a big maple out by the garden that we would put 3-4 spouts in. Simmering it down made a very light almost no amber. That is still hoe I like it. Oklahoma isn't the place to make syrup. You live a beautiful life up there.

Won;t be any sap running today on this side of the hill Loren! Yesterday was high 30's with a warm, light breeze. At 6AM today it's froze solid and 20 with a cooooold west wind!

So, Loren, and I"m serious here. How can we buy and get you to send us a quart of this stuff? I"m facinated...slim

I like your idea Rod, so if I send the "bubble-rap" and a jar. But I can totally understand if its a "no-sale" wit that many generations hee hee.

Hey Loren, we have a friend here in NW Ohio who also has a long history of his family making maple syrup. They're on their 4th generation with the fifth one due in a couple months. I would like to buy some of that famous Clinton Camp Maple Syrup if you'd sell me some. Just name your price. Can taste it already !! E-mail is open for address.

Thanks, Mike

Loren when the sap starts flowing do all the buckets need to be emptied daily? Does your operation bottle and sell syrup under a family label? Rod.

Rod,
When it really runs the buckets run over on a less than daily basis, Keeps us hopping and the evaporators have to be honking for 18-20 hrs per day. Not much time for sleep for a couple of us when the sap is really running. I can remember back when I was 5 or 6, having to make the early morning treck with Dad and Mom across the fields in a trailer behind the 310 crawler or the SC from the sap house back to our home at 3:00Am. I don't know how my Dad and Mom did it. My mother was a school math teacher and dad was always at the dealership to unlock the door in the morning. They made a little cubyhole beside one of the evaporators where I could sleep while they tended the evaporators and canned syrup, in the wee hrs of the night.
Loren

Holy-molie, thats some serious tapped Loren. But yeah better "button-down the"taps" "" the snow is ah blow'en with who gives ah-crap windchill. Icey roads and 3 to 4 foot drifts. Don't know if it will poop-out before it gets to yeah. Nutty's "snowbiz" would do well here. Good luck on your syup season. Take Care

Other than being chilly and some work going on, looks like a good way to enjoy the family. At least you had a cab to ride around in. Just curious how much syrup do you end up yielding from your trees? As always nice pictures, you have some pretty country up their.