|
Preparing for 2005 Season |
 |
 |
|
Thursday, 03 March 2005 15:24 |
|
So it begins again. We made a trip to pick up supplies this past Tues, March 1. Needed bottles and other basic supplies. We are also looking to replace our collecting tank. We have a metal 200 gal tank since some time in the 1950's. Its time to replace it. Looked at some plastic tanks that are easier to maintain. Buckets and spouts have been washed and are ready. We plan to tap this weekend. The weather is still cold, but it will break soon and we want to be ready to get the sap. |
|
|
Going Home for Tapping |
|
|
|
Friday, 04 March 2005 12:49 |
|
Heading back to Wisconsin on Saturday. We are going to start tapping. Saturday, Sunday and Monday look to be nice days, but its not certain the sap will flow. Its been cold. And the trees may not be up to sap flow yet. Last year we tapped on March 9, which was quite late. The 10 day forecast is for more cold. About 27 for highs, which is too cold for sap flow. But the sap has to flow some time because the trees need it to produce leaves. So we will tap and be ready for whatever nature gives us. |
|
First Tapping |
|
|
|
Saturday, 05 March 2005 15:39 |
|
Saturday was a nice day: sunny, highs about 40. Ideal to start off maple syrup season. About 1:00 pm we headed out to the woods to begin tapping. By 5:00 pm we had 275 tapped. The sap was flowing. The tap hole was wet after drilling and sap flowed after the spout was tapped in with a hammer. After hanging the bucket, you can hear the ping, ping, ping of the sap hitting the bottom. We had two tapping teams. One person drills and puts in the spout. The other person follows behind to hang the pail and place the cover on the pail. We do all our tapping with a hand auger. This is a good workout. Larger syrup producers use gas or electric powered drills. |
|
Finish Tapping; First Collecting |
|
|
|
Sunday, 06 March 2005 14:50 |
|
Sunday was again a nice day: sunny and warm, highs near 50. It gets quite warm working in the woods. But the warm days help settle the snow. There is about 18 inches of snow in the woods. We always need water to wash out equipment. Without a well on-site that means hauling water with the tractor. Well, Dean got smart. He noticed that the snow melting from the wood shed roof was just running onto the ground. So he put a milk can under the gutter to catch the snow melt. We filled two milk cans, 20 gallons of water. We finished tapping the last 125. Actually a few more. The total tapped is about 418. We always seem to loose exact count. By 3:00 the tapping was complete. And then it was time to collect. The trees tapped on Saturday had dripped enough to collect. So we cleaned out the collecting tank and storage tanks and set out. We collected about 175 gallons of sap. Pumped it into the storage tanks and called it a day. We will start boiling on Monday. The weather for the coming week is to turn cold again. Nothing we can do about that. March weather is always changing. |
|
Boiling, Collecting, Bottling |
|
|
|
Monday, 07 March 2005 14:31 |
|
Monday was a busy day. The weather started warm, but turned very cold. About 1:30 am it was 50 degrees. About 8:00 am a cold front moved through. The wind shifted to due north and the temperature dropped. By 10:30 am it was near 25. Then the race was on to beat the ice forming in the buckets. The 125 taps from Sunday had enough to collect and we wanted to get it in before it all turned to ice. We did. Only about 50 gallons, but better to have it then let it freeze. It was cold collecting. The north wind bites. Meanwhile a fire was started under the evaporator to boil. Spent the rest of the day boiling. The clouds lifted and the sun came out, but it remained cold. By 4:00 pm we drew off a batch of almost finished syrup and by 5:00 pm we had the first 2 gallons and 1 pint bottled for the 2005 season. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 1 of 7 |
