Leane and Michael's Sugarbush

Last week brought busy times to Leane and Michael’s Sugarbush!!!  Two consecutive days we drew off 123 gallons of syrup and 446 gallons total for the week.  The weather turned warmer so the syrup gradually boiled down darker, going from Medium Amber to Dark Amber to Grade B.

The weather brought 2 days with highs of 65 degrees.  On the second day there was a little sap run which was very unusual.  I guess some of the colder trees were finally thawing out.  I have never seen sap run under such warm conditions.  Then, a few days later, we had a light frost, which followed a night with a good freeze, but, even with the vacuum pumps, had a very light run.

We tapped the warmer trees around February 5 and finished up the colder hills and bottoms on February 12.  I am guessing the tapholes will remain fresh until March 10 – 20.  Normally our best sap runs are from February 15 – March 5.  While we might be heading towards a pretty good crop, the forecast is for slightly too warm weather.  We might have more sap runs with a few good fronts come through.  The cold wet muddy conditions that follow these fronts make working outside rougher, but they make great sap weather.  (People often ask us why we choose to have our festival at this cold, muddy time of year – the festival is planned for the time when the sap is still running so people can be part of the excitement, but warming up a bit so we hopefully have a few warm days to enjoy being outside.)

My old mentor in Michigan, George Foygle, advised me many times, “When in doubt, check the trees.”  Current conditions require us to be ready any day for a sap run.  If it looks like something is happening, we will start the pumps and troubleshoot the tubing system.  After numerous times checking under vacuum we have the sap system in pretty good shape, but in between runs, squirrels can be active and chew holes in the tubing, deer run through the lines, limbs can fall and break lines or tees can develop stress fractures – all circumstances that lead to the need for repairs.

Regarding the festival this weekend, we have made the best preparations ever, have plenty of syrup available and the store is stocked with a lot of great items.  We will have all our normal great food and activities, along with a few new additions.  We, like many others, look forward to the festival each year and we hope you can join us for a wholesome and enjoyable weekend.

We have had four very good days with our maple syrup production.  The weather warmed up this past weekend and the trees in the warmer areas had a fair run.  The weather was clear one night with a near full moon and the temperature was 48 degrees, which meant the sap ran all night and we were collecting from the tanks by moonlight.

It is quite remarkable to drive through the woods on trails with just the moon lighting the way.  I have actually checked lines for vacuum leaks under a full moon and no wind, the sound travels well enough to go from leak to leak.  (With the vacuum pump running the leaks in the tubing whistle.)  The recent sap run was not real strong, our colder areas still have snow, ice and frozen ground, and the ground everywhere is still pretty cold.  But we are always thankful to get sap and make some syrup.

Yesterday one crew was cutting firewood, another crew checking lines and another working in the sugarhouse boiling sap.  We got the reverse osmosis machine running after on unusual gauge breakage, and on Monday in 17 hours of boiling time, drew off 123 gallons of high quality medium amber syrup – a record production day!!!  This was with 2 different crews in shifts running the evaporator.  Most of this syrup was bottled soon after being drawn off.  The warmer weather caused the sap to get a little cloudy, which will make darker syrup (still about the same flavor), the last syrup of this run might be dark amber.

This morning it is 28 degrees which is a pretty good freeze, so there will be sap today and tomorrow.  Although later in the week will be a warm-up, colder weather will follow, which should make for some good sap weather.

Remember that our 20^th Annual Maple Syrup Festival is less than 2 weeks away.  We hope you can attend and catch some excitement of the 2011 season.  We will have all grades of syrup available to start the festival and plenty of activity for the whole family.  Hope you can make it!!!

The maple syrup season has started!!  We tapped as planned on February 3^rd and got most of our tapholes drilled by the morning of February 5^th.  We made good progress with 3 – 4 tapping crews; only minor repairs to the tubing system were required.  Then, at about 2PM on Saturday, the trees warmed enough to start running sap and we were able to turn on the vacuum pumps and perform a rough check of the tubing system.
          It was really magical to be in the woods tapping.  A light snow was on the trees and ground, but it was just below freezing in temperature with a near full sun.  BJ, a member of one of the tapping crews, was working hard enough to be in short sleeves.
            Saturday night the temperature did not fall below 34 degrees so the trees ran all night; around 100 gallons of sap an hour flowed from the three systems together.  This resulted in a short night of sleep due to monitoring the vacuum pumps.  Then on Sunday, a very unusual weather event occurred.  The air temperature was just above 32 degrees, but it was snowing and the sap kept running all day until the temperature fell below freezing that night.  We were out in the woods in the afternoon checking lines and monitoring the vacuum pumps, and making start-up adjustments (a few things always go wrong at first).
            We had a nice first run, 3300 gallons of sap total, and on the first boil of the season drew off syrup, which is rare.  Normally, the first few runs are not heavy enough to fill up the evaporator and draw off syrup.  As the weather turned colder (this morning it is 7 degrees) the sap remained very cold in the evaporator, maintaining its high quality.  Our great evaporator crew, Dan and Josh, kept the fire roaring and we wound up drawing off 52 gallons of great tasting light amber syrup.
            If you want to tap your trees and live in our area, now is the time!!  The weather forecast is for some great sap weather starting this weekend and running through most of next week.  It looks like a normal winter cycle (warm up, rain, get very cold) will occur for February, which is ideal for sap.  This dynamic weather with freeze/ thaw and precipitation, along with the longer days (more sunlight) makes for some great sap runs.  The drought of 2010 apparently did not adversely affect the maple trees and our first run of sap had a sugar content of 2.2%, which is excellent.  So it appears that we are at the start of what looks like a promising season.

We have not posted an update for a while because we have not tapped yet, but we have been well occupied with season preparations.   We have been busy cutting firewood, checking out equipment, getting ready to tap and getting ready for the festival.  This past weekend the weather was dry and the mornings were cold so we were able to access areas for firewood and clean up the woods for tapping.  One crew worked on firewood, another serviced the vacuum pumps and tappers and took the pumps to the woods, and another did building remodeling and clean-up projects.  This was all in addition to the women working on the festival preparation of readying the buildings and grounds for the festival.

I reported earlier that Hurricane Ike in 2008 probably generated 100 cords of excess firewood.  In January, we took out over 50 cords, we took out around 25 cords in the spring of 2010, and the end is not in sight.  Looks like we will end up with over 200 cords of wood from this area, along with perhaps 20,000 board feet of lumber (we are salvaging the larger trees for lumber if there is a good log).  Much of the wood is maple and hickory; several areas that border a field were very heavily damaged.   This volume of wood has already worn out one 4-wheel drive truck and blown 2 tires on its replacement.  We buy old pickups and use their last bit of life as off-road wood trucks before they are scrapped out.  Their value, if running, is often just a few hundred dollars more than their value for scrap and salvage.

We are still planning to tap on February 3^rd, starting in the morning.  There have been reports of some small sap runs from local people and it looks like some sap may flow by Feb. 6.  This is a little later than normal for us to start tapping; I wanted to let the trees charge up a bit from the hot, dry summer of 2010.

There is still a little work to do on mainline upgrading and layout.  Four of our five mainline creek crossings were heavily damaged and have been repaired, except for the one in the back area, which we have left open to allow for firewood access.  Our creek crossings are elevated enough for flood flow, but sometimes drifting limbs can wipe out the main lines that cross the creek.

It looks like the season will start slow and cold but not too cold, with perhaps a little snow on the ground.  We have had snow for most of December and January, which is a good sign for the sap season.  We’ll soon see the effects of the dry summer which I am guessing will not be major since the woods can tolerate dry conditions better than open fields and pasture.

We have particularly enjoyed our family during this syrup season.  Our two girls and son-in-laws have worked almost every weekend and we have enjoyed them so much.  Mike and the two guys even took a road trip together to pick up supplies in Michigan and spent a day skiing at Crystal Lake.  Caleb and several buddies have been helping quite a bit with the firewood and it is a great time with everyone eating lunch together and enjoying each other’s company.  Much thanks also to the other people who are working – Carla, Kristi, Josh C., Joe, Josh H., Aaron, and any others I’ve forgotten.

This is the first report for the 2011 season.  We took advantage of warm weather over New Years to hit the woods, the first time all season.  Normally we get out after Thanksgiving, however, December 2010 was unusually cold with frozen ground and snow.  Once we were able to work in the woods, we were surprised by the excellent condition of the tubing system.  It had very little damage and very minor repairs needed.  The mainline had 4 creek crossings damaged which are not totally repaired, but we were able to check out the entire system in 3 days, which is unusual.

We have been getting organized for the season with supplies and repairs.  BJ is going over the 8 vaccuum pumps.  We had to rebuild frames for the 2 large storage tanks in the woods due to age and damage.  The large tank in the front had a glancing blow from a hurricane Ike damaged tree and was a little dinged up but repairable.

The first part of this month we are going to get in some more firewood.  Early this spring we purchased an old 4 wheel drive wood truck, which is in pretty good shape, but currently being repaired.  This has enabled us to access the top of the back area which had extensive damage from Hurricane Ike.  In fact, I believe we will see evidence of Ike for years to come with damaged trees eventually snapping in half due to structural problems in the heart wood area (the transitional area from trunk to crown.)

Leane, Emily, Jenny and Carla are putting in hours planning for the festival.  We have not added any new buildings this year but instead concentrated on maintenance and internal improvements.  The festival dates this year are February 26th & 27th and March 5th & 6th.  We still have some of our 2010 syrup available if you need any before our 2011 crop is made.  Right now I am planning on starting to tap on February 3rd which means we may have some 2011 syrup available by February 15th.  This is just a guess and we will see in the next month what the winter brings.