Snow shoes and T shirts. Sugaring Update.- Pics.

Well yesterday it warmed up and the sap ran for a while, but it dropped down to 21F overnight. After lunch today we all gathered at the saphouse. I was amased how many people showed up. The snow in the woods only got deeper last week, and the guys and gal, brought their new style snow shoes. We even had some neighbors show up wanting to help. It's turned into a long winter! Anyway when we started everyone was dressed for cold weather. By 3:00 several of the guys were stripped down to T shirts, and the temp hit 56F briefly this afternoon. Unfortunately my Bat in my camera went dead, so couldn't take any further pics. we fired the 4x20 evaporator, and loaded the 5x24 with sap to check it for leaks. Just a couple small ones we can live with. We gathered a bit over 1600 gal of sap this aftrenoon. Tomarrow, we will start both evaporators, and I will get more pics. We got the Maple Creamer out and made a little MC this past week from some last years leftovers. We plan to make some candy also. We have all the molds etc., that my dad had stored away. More pics tomarrow night.
Loren, the Acg.

Really nice!Glad to hear you are feeling better

Those pictures bring back some good childhood memories of working in the sugarbush.

Vito

Well Larry,
I ain't out of the woods yet! pun intended. Was feeling a little off when I came home.My BP both high and low were at 100 and below. Haven't got a handle on regulating it. Seems to be all over the place. I can't get the drain plug out to drain the oil and put in new.
Loren

If you keep dropping to 21 deg. and going to 56 deg the sap will really run good.

If you look in the pics, there are no crators around the trees yet. when the snow melts away from the base of the trees they run well. It is supose to drop back down into the teens later this week with more snow. We just can't seam to get going to keep the evaporators fired for an extended period to make any quanity of good syrup.
Loren, the Acg.

I think I spy a Davy Broon? Are there many of them in your part?
Sam

Got my semi-annual visit with the blood pressure doc in the morning. We've been experimenting with it for three years without success!

We sold bunches of them. 885's through 1412's to 1690's and 1594's The tractor in the pic is a 74 990. I gave it a facelift last spring, after sugaring season. The 990's are like the Eveready Bunney.
Loren, the Acg.

Bob,
I thought things were going real well, but I think the dismal weather we have had got the best of me. Too crappy to go out and do anything and just sitting here on YT and drinking coffee, got the best of me. Stopped the coffee, the BP went down, and down. Adjusted up the meds, and now perhaps too much meds.??? Still able to get vertical each morning and take nurishment. We'll get it fixed sooner or later.
Loren

Looking good. At the other extreme of maple production I made 2 gallons plus a half pint of syrup on our little 2x4 evaporator in the brand new sugarhouse on Thursday and will do it again tomorrow. I have never done it indoors before and am finding it much nicer. Hope you will be feeling better soon.
Zach

Hey Zach,
Post us some pics. We used to have a little 2'x4' Grimm evaporator to finish off syrup to make cream and candy. It was really tough to get the batch at just the right temp though. We have a smaller batch pan to make cream and candy now, fired with propane.
Loren

I enjoyed your pictures Loren.

I'm running a whole 6 taps right now and boiled down my first few gallons of sap tonight on my kitchen stove. Probably not saving any money that way over buying it in the store, but my sinuses feel good for the first time in months!

Loren:

Thanks for the great pictures, hope you're feeling better.
Curious: What is the AVERAGE daily output for a tree, and what is the approximate amount of final end product for that 1600 gallons of sap.

Know NOTHING about sugaring, Maple trees don't grow in the desert. And you certainly wouldn't want to try to cook down the sap from the Mesquite trees we have out here - (Mother Nature's gasoline can) .

Doc

I got a few trees to tap. weather has been in the 20's at night and 40's during the day. This weekend, it hit 72 day, staying in the 50's at night.


I'm really very sad about it this year, because the guy who taught me how to tap a maple passed away last Monday. He had a forestry degree from Penn State. I was very sad to see him go.

He gave me one tap, so I could do a tree myself. I never got the opportunity to tap one. The weather has been so poor for that around here.


One year, we had 4 straight days where it was 25 at night and 60 during the day. He had so much sap from my trees that the buckets overflowed onto the ground. I'll never forget that year. The trees flowed like garden hoses.

I just wish I had more time to do as he did. I really enjoyed tapping with him and he took such great pride. I will never forget those times.


I'm sure he paid more in his gas bill, running the burners to boil it down than what you could buy the syrup from in the store, but, the taste and feeling you get from boiling your own... wow!



I love seeing pictures like this. Especially since he just passed, it really hits me. I can't wait for next year. I am going to try to buy all his taps and buckets and keep his tradition alive. On days like those, I have no farming going on, anyhow. I only wish we had more Maples in this area. If I could find a way to plant a grove for him I would. It would never take on in my lifetime. But I'm sure he would be proud.


Thanks for sharing... You don't know how close to home this hits, at this time in my life. God Bless and rest peacefully John Weidert.

It looks as if you guys dropped the DB name and called them just "Case" long before we ever did!

Average sap to syrup ratio is 40:1 from what I have read. We average more like 30:1 a lot of the time but the range is from 20-60:1 according to Cornell. Actual sap content depends on the tree and the weather among other things.
Zach

Thank You Zach, you answered my questions.

Doc

Sap has been running good around here the last few days. I have had to leave sap in the woods cause I can't haul it all in my 30 gallon barrel. Yesterday was rain and mud too messy to make it back to the woods. The rain took all our snow and frost we had so hopefully today it firms up a bit so I can get back to the woods.

I bought one of those orlon syrup filters that thing works great to get all the sugar sand

Loren AGC,

Great photos. These have been really interesting to me. I never realized that trees get tapped so early. I always assumed it was after snow-melt.

I helped a neighbor and friend gather sap a few times and watch him cook it. As a guy who wears glasses I sure didn't like it inside the shack until the glasses warmed up.