 |
| Sap is boiling - Steam is rolling!!! |
|
|
| FEBRUARY 19, 2012 UPDATE FROM MIKE |
We have been getting a pretty steady supply of sap during the past four days. The forecast is for good sap weather through February - not a lot of fronts coming through, but nearly every night with below freezing temperatures.
All of our tubing systems have been gone over several times now and our minimum vacuum pressure is 10 psi (good pressure). We have found that the new tubing, while more efficient in terms of capacity, does not work well with the original dark blue tubing and blue tees. So we have gone over about 60% of the tubing, replacing any blue tee that is connected to the new tubing with a larger black tee. This means that every line has been walked, over 12 miles of tubing inspection.
Earlier this week the temperature stayed below freezing all day and night which really charged the trees. Tuesday got a little above freezing – not warm enough for a good sap run. When the trees started to run on Wednesday, they ran all night and until about 9 PM on Thursday – a GREAT run.
Interestingly, our three “barometer” trees we put buckets on, ran very little sap even though they had new tapholes, which means our vacuum system really helped our sap production in this case. The warmer middle sugarbush ran first and quite strongly which, as this was the first area tapped, meant that the tapholes are still fresh and should last through the first part of March. It has surprised me that the trees have run so well with no snow or any hard, single digit (or below 0 degrees) week of winter weather. After this time in the season we seldom get cold temperatures so if the nights freeze, there will be sap on the following warm days.
The forecast for the first weekend of the festival is for great sap weather and mild daytime temps. It’s always nice for the sap to be running for the festival, but its something we can’t control. The ground should have significant drying this week so it looks like we’re heading towards a dream festival weekend with a sap run, somewhat dry conditions and seasonably mild temperatures. Hope you can make it!!!
|
Another 3,000 gallons of sap today!! A very productive day on the farm with Robert, BJ, Josh H and Mike working in the sugarhouse making (over 50 gallons) and bottling syrup. Emily, Melissa, Whitney, Tara and Leane worked in the store all day and it is just about ready for the festival. Progress on all fronts - a wonderful day of work and fellowship.
We quit work early this evening because Mike will be on WAVE 3 Sunrise on Sunday morning 2/19 at 6:45 AM to talk about the syrup season and festival (he needed to get some sleep after several nights without much shut-eye). If it is available we will post the segment here on the website.
|
| FEBRUARY 17, 2012 LATE NIGHT UPDATE |
We got about 2,500 gallons of sap today.
With the early freeze last night and it not getting above freezing until late morning, it didn't run as long as yesterday.
But it we are happy with it and the evaporator has been going all day.
We've made 360 gallons of syrup so far.
We have a LOT of sap still to boil so that total will
increase rapidly over the next few days.
Tonight Mike is bottling syrup and Robert and BJ are
keeping the evaporator fired up.
It is almost below freezing so tomorrow
should be another good sap day.
The forecast for the first festival weekend -
Feb. 25, 51 degrees and sunny,
Feb. 26, 51 degrees and partly cloudy!!!
Of course, anything could happen between now and then,
but we LIKE this forecast!!
|
| FEBRUARY 17, 2012 NOON UPDATE |
31 degrees by 11 PM last night, got down to 24 during the wee hours of the morning and was still below freezing at 9 AM this morning.
Sunny today and the high is forecast to be in the low 50's.
A PERFECT SAP DAY IN THE MAKING!!!
|
| FEBRUARY 16, 2012 LATE NIGHT UPDATE |
Mike got 2 hours of sleep last night, went hard all day and just came in at midnight. Our son-in-law, Nic was keeping the evaporator fired while Mike brought the sap back to the sugarhouse. Robert and BJ worked all day, and Josh H and Caleb worked after they got off work today, so it has been a busy day!! Mike estimates that we got about 7,000 gallons of sap since yesterday, so this has been a great sap run!!! The temperature has dropped below freezing tonight so the sap should run well again tomorrow. It looks like it will continue to run for quite a while, so it looks to be a good syrup season!!!
INTERESTING FACT - The sugar in the sap is there to feed the leaf buds before they open enough to make their own food. All summer the fully developed leaves make their own food (remember photosynthesis from good old Biology class) and the excess is stored by the tree in the fall. When the tree thaws in the late winter, the water from the roots travels to the branches, carrying the excess sugar to the leaf buds. We take just a tiny portion of the tree's sap and use it for food also. The sap has an average of 2% sugar; the rest is water, with trace vitamins, minerals and amino acids. When we boil it in the evaporator, we boil off the water until the mixture is 67% sugar - producing pure, completely natural, delicious maple syrup.
|
| FEBRUARY 16, 2012 MORNING UPDATE |
Yesterday the sap flow started out as 150 gallons an hour, went up to 250 gallons an hour and ran most of the night. I think it dropped below freezing for a short time, stopped and then started again. We got 3,000 gallons of sap on Tuesday and 4,500 yesterday. It is still running - I will post an update late tonight about how many gallons of sap we get today. The big sap run we've been waiting for is here!!! Plenty of delicious, fresh, 2012 pure maple syrup made right here on the farm soon to be on the store shelves for the festival!!
|
It warmed up and was sunny today and at first the sap ran about 150 gallons an hour. Later in the afternoon it was running about 200 gallons per hour. It is not supposed to freeze tonight and we expect the sap to run all night. All the guys spent the afternoon checking the tubing and making sure the vacuum system was running as efficiently as possible. Mike has hauled several loads of sap to the sugarhouse and Caleb, BJ, Robert and Josh are busy working in the sugarhouse chopping wood and getting ready to boil.
|
The high here today was only 34 and it only stayed at 34 for a short time before dropping again. The sap began running but stopped as the temperature dropped below freezing. The high is 51 tomorrow so the sap should run well!!! The trees should be primed by the past days of cold weather and ready to run as soon as the temperature is above 35 or so. Check back tomorrow for an update!!!
|
We should get some sap tomorrow and
then Wednesday should bring the biggest sap run of the season!!
Stay tuned for updates!!
|
The temperature was above freezing for 4+ hours last evening and when Mike came home from work he discovered the sap was running. It continued to run after dark even though it was 31 degrees and snowing!!! You never know what nature will bring. He estimates that we got 2,000 gallons of sap last night. It was very cold this morning and the next warm spell should bring our biggest sap run of the season!!! The forecast is for quite a few freezing nights and warm days during the next week so we should be making lots of delicious syrup!!
|
We only got 150 gallons of sap yesterday and are hoping the cold weather this weekend will bring good sap runs next week. I think we have all been expecting the sap to run early because of the warm weather, but I think it is waiting for a good cold spell. It doesn't usually run well this early in the season and I think we have gotten anxious over it because it has been so warm. The trees know what to do and will do their job on their own time!!!
We have made 150 galons of syrup which is pretty much average for this point in the season. We will continue to keep you updated on how the season is progressing.
|
We got about 1,300 gallons of sap today and the guys are boiling tonight. Considering the great freezes we had the past two nights, 2,300 gallons in two days is a very low amount. We are hoping the front coming through bringing snow changing to rain tomorrow morning, will cause the sap to run with the change in barometric pressure. If not, this warm weather has not been good at all for the syrup season. We'll let you know tomorrow!!!
|
Today Mike had more great help with Caleb, Robert, BJ and Josh H checking lines to get the vacuum system in the best possible shape. The vacuum pumps help draw the sap through the vast tubing system; they don't draw more sap from the tree than the tree has to give so it isn't harmful to the tree. It just keeps the sap flowing through the tubing and into the collection tanks.
We got about 1,000 gallons of sap today which is below average for the weather pattern we are in and the number of trees we have tapped. But the weather forecast predicts good sap weather for the next week. We need the freezing nights followed by warm sunny days for the sap to flow. It was 21 here this morning with a heavy frost, and warm and sunny during the day. We expect tomorrow to be a great sap day. It often takes a few days of the freeze/thaw cycle for the really good runs to begin.
|
We haven't gotten much more sap since our last update, but some freezing nights are coming so it shouldn't be long. Aside form a few hundred gallons in the woods that ran several days ago, all the sap that has run has been either made into syrup, bottled and moved to the store, or is in the evaporator as partially finished syrup waiting for the next sap run. We have made light and medium amber syrup so far - I know a lot of you are waiting for Grade B - I'm afraid it will still be a while.
This afternoon Mike and 5 great guys (Nic, Robert, Josh R, Josh H and BJ) tapped the front sugarbush, putting in about 1,000 taps in 4 hours. That means all our trees are tapped and ready for the next sap run. I had 3 beautiful young ladies (Jen, Emily and Kristi R) helping me by bottling syrup, setting up the store and getting a lot of other things ready for the festival.
As many pre-festival work days are, it has been a priceless day - a precious day spent with family and friends. The festival is less than 3 weeks away!!!!
|
Too warm for sap today, but it was a great day for working outside to get festival work done!!! We cleaned and set up buildings and did some raking and trimming outside to get things looking nice. The guys are boiling the last of the sap tonight and then we wait for the next sap run. The next night it is forecast to freeze is Tuesday, so it looks like it will be at least a week before we get any more sap. Almost all the syrup we have made so far this season is bottled and in the store ready for the festival.
|
We are up to 67 gallons of pure maple syrup so far - 28 last night and 39 today. There is plenty of sap left to boil and we will need to boil tomorrow to finish it up - too much for the tired crew to finish tonight.
As we thought, the sap stopped running last night, and we didn't expect any today. But, when the front went through bringing the rain this afternoon, the barometric pressure changed and the sap ran even though the temperature didn't dip below freezing last night. It wasn't a spectacular run, but we expect to end up with 500 - 700 gallons that we weren't anticipating!!! We also have 2 people - one from Washington County and one from Jackson County - bringing us their sap.
The sap is running about 2% sugar which means we are getting 1 gallon of syrup for every 42 gallons of syrup. The sugar content is normally high at the beginning of the season and tapers off toward the end until we are only getting a gallon of syrup from 60 gallons or more of sap.
The lines of the back and middle sugarbushes were checked while the sap was running yesterday. We are finding significantly less tubing damage than in previous years. The damage was the result of squirrels chewing on the tubing and we have changed one procedure that we attribute the decreased damage to. We used to clean the tubing after the season with a solution of mild bleach water and have changed to a solution of red wine vinegar and water. We think the bleach was leaving a residue in the tubing that was attracting the squirrels. This saves us many hours since we have very tubing repairs to do now.
Mike is bottling the first of the 2012 syrup tonight and it will find its way to the store shelves for the festival - unless it is purchased first by some pre-festival shoppers!!
Festival planning is coming along well with lots of excellent help from family and friends!!!
|
8:30 PM
Tapping of the back sugarbush was completed on Sunday afternoon. The back sugarbush has about 2,300 tapholes; with the approximately 875 tapholes in the middle completed on Saturday, we have tapped almost 3,200 tapholes so far.
On Saturday about 500 gallons of sap ran and on Sunday we collected another 2,500. Today over 3,000 gallons of sap ran so we have collected over 5,500 gallons of sap so far this season. That translates into about 100 gallons of syrup, so that is a good start for 3 days into the season!!
The boiling crew has the evaporator fired up tonight and a short time ago they drew off the first 9 gallons of the season. It is beautiful, light syrup as the first syrup normally is. More updates to follow so check back soon!!
|
Watch Mike & our daughter Jenny on Great Day Live, WHAS 11. The segment aired on January 27th. The recipe for the cinnamon rolls she made on the show is on the RECIPES page.
|
Great start to the 2012 syrup season today!! The team of 8 tapped 1,600 - 1,700 tapholes - they tapped our entire middle sugarbush and started in the back area. 500 gallons of sap ran in the middle area. We plan to finish tapping the back tomorrow and boil for the first time tomorrow night!!
|
The festival
is only 5 weeks away and time is passing quickly. Our entire family went on a ski trip in
Colorado from January 11 – 16 and we have returned ready to tackle all the
syrup making and festival work. There
was only a 19” base in Keystone, Co, so skiing wasn’t at its best, but we all
had a great time.
The big
question now is when to tap. Our trees
are mostly on east and north slopes, which are the colder areas. It is difficult for us to make syrup in
January due to the shortness of daylight and low temperatures at night. Right now, we are leaning towards tapping
around February 4th, but might tap the middle area on January 28th
since it tends to run early.
We haven’t
had much snow, but have had plenty of rain so our moisture is OK. Without snow there is nothing to insulate the
ground and cause it to freeze so we don’t think it has frozen very deeply
to date. Some years, especially for most
of the last ten years, the ground has frozen so deeply that it seems to be late
March or early April until a major thaw occurs.
The frozen ground that late causes a great decrease in our sap
collection as by the time the ground thaws, the season is over.
We had some
wind several days ago as a result of severe thunderstorms and 7 low grade
tornados in our area, so it will be interesting to see the amount of damage in
the woods. Tonight and early tomorrow
morning we are expecting some ice and freezing rain, which is also damaging,
but not as much as the wind. Warm
weather is forecast for early next week so we may have more thunderstorms and
tornados rolling through. An interesting
January!!!
We have
managed to fill up the wood storage area in the sugarhouse with good dry wood,
have checked our equipment, cleaned the evaporator, and cleaned and painted our
sap tanks (warm enough to paint in January, AMAZING!!), so we are ready for the
season to start.
On Friday, January 27, Mike and our oldest daughter, Jenny, will be
on WHAS TV in Louisville at about 9 AM to talk about our syrup making. Jenny
will prepare a batch of our Maple Cinnamon Rolls on the show and the recipe
will be posted on the station’s website, our website and our facebook
page. Be sure to watch and try out the delicious cinnamon rolls!!!
On Sunday, February 19, Mike will appear on WAVE TV to talk about the syrup making and festival. He will appear on the morning newscast at 7:15 AM.
The week before
the festival, Jenny will again be on WHAS on the Noon News on February 22nd
to promote the upcoming weekend’s festivities.
We will let
you know as soon as tapping begins and when the sap begins to flow. It shouldn’t be long!!!
|
|