Maple syrup

[Peeps]

My trees opened their spigots. I collected about 120 gallons today. I almost ran out of storage for it. Cooking now under a pop up sun shade as it’s raining.

 

[Peeps]

Here’s my current set up and then what we are getting for next season. The boss (wife) wants to step up our game. We are going to add a warming pan, sight level glass, and the blower. We should go from about 4-5 gallons per our to around 15 or so. Huge time saver and not make it a drag as I now boil all the time it seems. Is the Smokey Lake Dauntless with a divided pan. It’s gonna be night and day different from what I have been using for several years.

 

[Bill Loser]

The divided pan makes all the difference. Be prepared for a bit of a learning curve though.
And im jealous of that new setup!

 

[Peeps]

My “pet” grouse rode with me to collect sap. She loved it. She had a hard time hanging on. I’m thinking about building her a spot to sit on the front rack.

 

[Peeps]

Finished up for the season. Latest end date I’ve ever had. Ended up with 10.5 gallons of syrup. Now time to relax a bit

 

[chucker66]

Finished mine up today too. Got juts over 3 gallons but I pulled my taps early as I didn't want to be cooking in May.

 

[Bill Loser]

I ended it last weekend. What started as a horrible season ended up one of my best. Got 15 gallons finished. Best of all I sold enough to recoup some of my costs on the new pan and stuff. I pulled everything on Saturday , dumped 150 gallons of sap, everything still running good and sap mostly clear. Probably could have gotten a couple weeks out of it yet if i wanted to, but baseball season starts this weekend ,so no more time!

 

[Apple Junkie]

My “pet” grouse rode with me to collect sap. She loved it. View attachment 42185 She had a hard time hanging on. I’m thinking about building her a spot to sit on the front rack.

I love your pet Grouse!! That is so cool.

 

[H20fwler]

My “pet” grouse rode with me to collect sap. She loved it. View attachment 42185 She had a hard time hanging on. I’m thinking about building her a spot to sit on the front rack.

Your grouse buddy has to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen!

My great uncle had a basket racked buck like that on his farm when I was a kid. Just a deer that would follow him around like a dog when he worked outside, went on like that for a couple years.
I’ve seen a few wild Canada geese and ducks kind of like that around the lake here that can be hand fed and act tame. They seem to stay at certain houses along lake or channels and act like they have adopted the families that live there.

 

[b116757]

I had a goose that my ex-wife raised would fly in formation next to her van circle the Walmart parking lot a couple times and go back home it was hilarious when she would do it.

 

[Lucky_P]

Pretty neat.
There was a pair of Canada geese that lived on the pond next to the little cabin where my wife and I lived the first year after we got out of vet school, on the farm of our employer's dad. Cows/horses stomped one of them pretty badly, and our boss drove it in to the clinic to work on it - but it was not survivable. Its mate evidently followed them the 5 miles into town to the clinic, because it showed up in the backyard of a home one lot over from the clinic.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Would you maple syrup guys say your season ran later than usual?? Some of us around here have noticed a "shift" of sorts - fall (warmer temps) lasting later, and winter dragging it's feet leaving. I don't make maple syrup, but several neighbors all said the same thing about seasonal shifting. Just wondering.

 

[Peeps]

This year was a later season for me but I can’t say that it’s been regularly getting later.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Hey bows...my average day off 1st tapping has been the first week of March for the past 20 years. About 5 years ago we had an abnormally warm winter and I tapped in mid-February. I see no change in my first tapping day. I do see my season ending a bit earlier than it used to. Seems like April warms up more and sooner than it did 20 years ago though. I tend to pull my taps about the 1st week of April, whereas I used to be able to routinely boil into mid-April.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

I just wondered. I was looking at some posts on here by guys who were boiling later than I thought sap would typically be running.

I thought it odd that several of my neighbors here in SE Pa. all commented about warm weather lasting longer in the fall and colder weather hanging on later into spring. I wondered if the posts about late maple syrup-making were along the same line of weather shifting as my neighbors commented on. I hope you all had a good maple season.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Even during the middle of deer season there are chores for the upcoming sugaring season that need to be done. Got about a cord of well seasoned spruce and fir cut, split, and stacked yesterday.

 

[b116757]

I found a pair of 600 gallon milk tanks for $1 a gallon I was really considering buying for sap storage for our little sugar bush. We much prefer the old milk tanks to poly tanks seems like they stay cooler on warm days than the poly tanks do.

 

[Bill Loser]

Even during the middle of deer season there are chores for the upcoming sugaring season that need to be done. Got about a cord of well seasoned spruce and fir cut, split, and stacked yesterday.

View attachment 47191View attachment 47192

Man, i am soooo jealous of you with that beautiful sugar shack!

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Man, i am soooo jealous of you with that beautiful sugar shack!

It definitely makes sugaring more enjoyable when you have a cozy place to have friends and family visit...and drink beer!

 

[b116757]

My firewood project this afternoon.