On this page we will keep you updated on the progress of our syrup making for this year. We will post updates every week or two depending on how much is going on. We will keep you up on our preliminary work in the woods, tapping, collecting sap, how the weather is affecting the season, how much syrup we are making and other activities going on. We will include photos as we take them. Check back often for updates, even after the syrup season is over.
We hope you were able to visit us at the festival this year. Mark your calendar for next year - February 26 & 27 and March 5 & 6, 2011
MARCH 13
The hoped for sap run did not materialize so we began to pull up today and have about half of the spiles pulled, cleaned and plugged. All of the sap is now in the evaporator and we will soon boil off the last syrup of the season.
We really appreciate all of our workers that helped make syrup with us and helped run the festival. The syrup season and festival was a great success and we certainly couldn't do any of it without the great help of our wonderful staff. Thanks so much and we look forward to another great year in 2011!!!
MARCH 9
A slow warming trend started on February 28th, and we have been making syrup every day since March 1st. Right now we have drawn off around 525 gallons and we have about another 100 gallons that is in various stages - sap, through the reverse osmosis machine or almost-syrup (in the pan that will make syrup). Normally, a season will have one good week and then 5 - 6 "so - so" weeks. Our one good week this year was the first week in March and the "so - so" weeks have had very weak sap runs.
We made a lot of lighter syrup this year, even making Light Amber in early March. This was due to the cold temperatures and abundance of snow, along with quicker boiling. Now the syrup color is in the Dark Amber to Grade B range with excellent flavor.
The next question for us is when to pull up - when to pull and clean the spiles and shut the camp down for the year. It doesn't look like much cold weather is forecast, but some rain may occur with thunderstorms, which may help some sap run. Our tapholes are in good condition and should last almost to the end of March, so we will wait and see. A light rain occured last night and I ran the vacuum pumps in the middle sugarbush, which was the first area tapped. Late last night the tank had aboiut 100 gallons of sap in it. This isn't great, but it gives me some hope that a larger weather front will produce a run of sap.
There is an old saying we have on a sign hanging up in the sugarhouse regarding the maple syrup season, "Glad to see it come, glad to see it go." Several hundred years ago when this saying originated, the sugar harvest was part of life on the farm and not everyone liked the rugged conditions of making maple syrup. I personally have a degree of sadness at the end of the season - no more exciting runs, an evaporator without a fire, a quiet sugarhouse, and the breaking up of a 2 month camp. Another year to wait before starting the process again. But the end of the sugaring season signals the start of spring and the renewal of another growing season cycle, another year to plan for the next syrup season and festival, and the start of the delicate and spectacular spring foliage, which I feel is every bit as beautiful as the fall
We appreciate your comments on these reports and will continue to write updates past the end of the sugar season.
February 25
The weather is still too cold for sap but we are tapped and have had enough sap to check the tubing system once. This past Monday it was 44 degrees here and 20 miles south of us it was 63 degrees. The ground is still partially covered with snow, especially on the north and east slopes.
The forecast is for a slow warming starting on Friday the 26th. Not much sun, but a slow warming would help extend the season (last year a sudden warming ended the season on March 6). The tapholes should be OK through March 20 - April 1. I have made syrup in April, but only once or twice.
The syrup we have made so far is excellent quality medium amber. Last night I was able to bottle syrup as I drew it off from the evaporator, which is the normal procedure. We still need to get the reverse osmosis machine prepped and remount the ultraviolet light. The remodeling this year has led to some growing pains, but progress has been made everyday this week in getting set up.
Last night was quite a special time - we got a load of sap in the back with the last light of the day. I took the 10 minute tractor ride in blowing snow (23 degrees). Everything was covered with a light snow, steam was coming off the evaporator, and there was a peaceful, tranquil feeling in the woods. Three was a little more sap than I was expecting so I will need to make another trip for it today. Its always enjoyable to return from the woods to see the steam coming from the sugarhouse at twilight with snow falling.
The downside to the trip was that I stayed frozen until 12:30 AM. It was well worth the temporary coldness; times like this only happen once a year, which is why the maple syrup season is so special.
There will still be some snow on the ground and some mud in places (although some areas will dry with some sun on Friday) but this coming weekend and next will give visitors to our festival a rare opportunity to experience an operating maple syrup camp in its traditional rugged state. Also, the sap should start running pretty well this weekend so we will be in full production. Hope you can make it one of the next two weekends for our annual festival!!!
FEBRUARY 21
The snow is finally melting!!!!
The first significant sap run of the 2010 season
FEBRUARY 15
We finished tapping the back on February 14th, with great effort. Our tubing system was covered with 6 - 8" of sow, fortunately soft and powdery, not crusted over. Crews were increased from two member crews to 3 or 4 members, with 1 - 2 going ahead to pull the tubing up out of the snow and make repairs. Some of our tubing is older and therefore more brittle, causing it to snap into pieces when being handled during cold weather. Also, we had the normal breaks of tees and connectors to contend with.
On Saturday the air temperature was 30 degrees F in the mid afternoon, with some sun, and the tapholes getting radiant heat were wet. The only sap day we've had this season was on February 4th, a so-so day, a light run. This looks like all the sap we are going to get in the entire month of February - by far the coldest February we've had since starting our syrup making in 1983.
It started snowing the afternoon of the 14th and has been steady for 24 hours at the time of this writing. We have better conditions for the Olympics here than Vancouver!!! We are 15 - 20 degrees colder and have over 12" of snow on the ground - powder, with cold weather forecast for the rest of the month. Perhaps in 2022 we can make a successful bid for an Olympic event at L & M Sugarbush!!!
What will probably happen now is that the sap will run for a few days with a heavy snow cover. The systems will have some normal breaks and it may not be beneficial to start the pumps, at least until some of the snow cover is gone. The tubing system works OK with snow, I've seen runs with 24" of snow on the ground. It is hard to predict when the season will start, for the next 10 days, cloudy and below freezing temperatures are forecast, with more snow.
At least we are all tapped. Now we are waiting for a warm up, then will come swollen creeks from the runoff and very muddy conditions. Our tapholes should last through March 20 - 25, so we still have a chance for a good crop of syrup, but it will definitely be a late season.
Snow, snow and more snow!!!
The young maple just west of the Sugarstore
Our old, faithful John Deere, normally busy hauling sap at this time of year, sits idle
FEBRUARY 8
On February
6th, with great effort, we tapped the front sugarbush, which is the
area we use for tours at the festival.The day before we had rain changing to snow so our tubing was covered
with 7 inches of snow.To tap we had to dig
the tubing out of the snow, knock the ice off the spiles, brush snow and ice
from the trees, and make repairs on frozen tubing.
This
was quite a change from last week.Although it was cold last week, there was no snow and it was pretty easy
to see everything.But, the snow will
help insulate the ground from the colder temperatures expected this week.This will allow the sap to run more quickly
when the weather warms.It looks like
our next sap will run in about 8 days, which will probably mark the real start
of the season.It definitely looks like
this season will be later than normal.
Getting
back to yesterday's tapping. The snow was hanging on everything, very beautiful,
but somewhat wet. This resulted in wet
gloves after an hour so and cold, wet hands.It was easier to walk on the hills because of the snow unless we stepped
on a hidden rock or log, which could result in quite a spill.
Our
gasoline powered tappers got covered with snow as it shook loose from the trees
as our crew went from tree to tree to tap.Then the snow would melt, cool off the tapper and sometimes freeze,
causing throttle problems.This was
corrected with a little bit of hot water.
We
boiled a little sap Saturday night and the quality is excellent.Everyone around the evaporator enjoyed the
maple tea (tea bag in hot sap about 3 to 4% sugar, sap from the tree is about 2%),
which along with being refreshing, gives us an idea of how the syrup will
taste.
While
we were tapping the front, a neighbor came by and helped for a while.He has put in 60 taps and is planning on bringing
us his sap to boil.It seems like there
is a growing interest in collecting sap and bringing it to a central boiling
location.OrangeCounty has 2 large evaporators
that boil sap from many individuals, and we have at least 4 people who
currently bring us sap.
The Tapping Crew - Several Days Before the Snow
Preparing the Evaporator for the Season
FEBRUARY 3
Vaughn and Dan working on mainline
Dan and Mike tapping trees
We started tapping on the afternoon of January 31st. As in many previous years, the ground is frozen without much snow cover, which makes the season slow to start. Because of the frozen ground, the sap will not flow until the ground thaws, even when the air temperature is above freezing. The middle sugarbush always runs first, so we started in this area with 3 tappers running.
We finished tapping the middle area and moved to the back, which is a colder area and out largest sugarbush. On Wednesday afternoon the temperature was warm and with the assistance of our Farm Vacation family from Florida, and our help, Dan and Vaughn, everything that was already tapped was checked for vacuum leaks so when the sap begins to run in ernest the tubing system will be in good shape.
Despite checking out and servicing the vacuum pumps last month, two went out in the back sugarbush and had to be exchanged. One had diaphragm problems with the vacuum part, the other may just have spark plug issues. Since maple syrup making is only done once a year and the equipment is only used during a 6 - 8 week period, it seems that the start-up is always full of surprises.
Some sap ran on Tuesday, and a little more on Wednesday. Sap weather
should be ok through Friday, then the forecast is for cold temperatures
for one more week. We should have enough sap to have our first boil on Thursday night. It takes 120 - 150 gallons of sap just to fill the evaporator and another 100 - 150 is required to shut down the boil when the fire goes out. Then, it takes about 1500 gallons of sap to get the evaporator charged so we can draw off some syrup. If things go as planned, we actually might have a few gallons of syrup by late Friday night.
Unless we get a lot of snow this weekend, we should be done tapping by late Sunday. Then we will wait for the next warm up to hopefully start the season in ernest. All signs point towards a pretty good season - plenty of moisture, cold weather (but not too extreme), and a slow warming trend which will allow the trees to thaw out enough to run. The sap that has run so far is sweet and we are looking forward to tasting the first 2010 syrup!!!
JANUARY 17, 2010
We have been working in the
woods as weather permits, checking the lateral tubing lines that go from tree
to tree.One area in the front sugarbush
had a lot of squirrel damage with many spiles chewed off.Another area in the back sugarbush, on top of the
west hill, had significant tubing damage.This was due to being hit hard by high winds from Hurricane Ike in
September 2008.This area had additional
tree damage since the last syrup season with more trees snapped in half, trees
uprooted and others with moderate crown damage.This is due to the trees being weakened by the hurricane winds and over
time, succumbing to the damage.
We have lost about 3 – 5% of
our trees since September 2008.In
addition to the hurricane, we had an ice storm last season which further
damaged weakened trees.This year the
rainfall amounts were high and the ground stayed wet which allowed trees to be
easily uprooted.Also, the electric
company trimmed around the power lines which damaged or destroyed nearly every
tree on the edge of the opening to the middle sugarbush.
This summer and fall, with
the help of a local logger, we salvaged many of the damaged trees in the middle
area.We cut and milled over 10,000
board feet of lumber in addition to obtaining a lot of firewood from the downed
trees.There is at least that much left
to cut and mill in the back sugarbush.Most of the wood is maple, which we can use for lumber, and some is
hickory and beech, which is best used for firewood.
The ground froze very hard
during the first part of January which usually means the trees are sluggish for
sap flows.I am going to let the trees
and ground thaw out this month and think we will tap around the first of
February.From now until we tap, we will
be checking the tubing system and getting the sugarhouse set up to boil.
This fall we added onto the
west part of the sugarhouse to give more space around the evaporator.We have also put new maple lumber up around
the inside of the old section of the sugarhouse to spruce it up.Many of the boards in both these areas have
tapholes from previous seasons, something to look for when you come to the
festival or on a Farm Vacation.
LEANE AND MICHAEL'S SUGARBUSH 321 N. GARRISON HOLLOW RD. SALEM, IN 47167 1- 812-967-4491 OR TOLL FREE 1-877-841-8851 EMAIL sugrbush@wcrtc.net VISIT US ON FACEBOOK AT LEANE N MICHAEL GOERING
