Fun, but short.

We finished our season pulling the taps on Monday, 4/21.  It seemed like a short season, but the trees ran first on March 30 and we pulled the taps on 4/21.....so three weeks of action.  We'll end up with about half the syrup of last year, but would consider this to be an average year.  Last year was just a crazy good year.  We'll be bottling this Friday evening and Saturday and then out to the woods to gather the buckets the following weekend.  I'll post some pictures of bottling.  Check back.

Oh boy!!

Yesterday was a 750 gallon day, and today will probably be about the same or better.  So we are MOST DEFINITELY cooking at the Shak tonight, Friday.  Most likely Saturday afternoon and night as well.  Happy Easter!! 

Snow makes trees flow.....

We're celebrating another April snow!  We're anticipating HUGE collecting days in the woods today and tomorrow, 4/17-18.  We'll definitely be cooking Thursday and Friday night.  Most likely Saturday and Saturday night too. 

Saturday night break!

No sap to collect today, therefore no cooking tonight.  We're hopeful for a great week coming up though!

Cooking Friday night

We collected enough yesterday (Thursday) to be cooking at the Shak tonight, Friday, 4/11.  We're happy it worked out this way because we have visitors from Wisconsin this weekend.  Welcome!

Surprise Day in the Woods!

Technically, the trees should not have ran today due to the warm temps last night.  But we brought in about 250 gallons.  Surprise!  We're cooking tonight, but things might be quiet until Sunday night when it cools off again. 

Busy Sunday.

We'll be cooking this afternoon and evening.  Lot's of sap!

Cooking at the Shak Tonight

Today will be an awesome collecting day!  We'll definitely be cooking in the Shak tonight.

Approaching Snowstorm Makes Trees Run!

Our suspicion yesterday about the approaching snowstorm making the trees run were correct!  The trees ran crazy all night!!  We'll definitely be in the Shak cooking tonight, Thursday, 4/03.

April snowin means trees are flowin!

I'm sure nobody (except us) is excited for the approaching snowstorm.  But our experience from last year's FOUR April snowstorms is that even if the temperatures are not quite warm-eoungh, the trees may still run with an approaching weather front.  Has to do with the low barometric pressure in front of the the storm....we think!  Our fingers are crossed for a few good days.  Stay tuned.

Waiting on Mother Nature....

We're ready for a great season!  We've got all the trees tapped and collected 450 gallons of sap on Sunday, 3/30.  It was a good test to make sure our stove, etc is ready for action.  Our ideal string of days would be freezing temps at night with temps of 40-45 by noon.  We were anticipating a big day on Monday, 3/31 but the night must not have gotten cold-enough.  NO sap!  And today's temps were just on the cold side.  Again, NO sap.  We have no option but to be patient and wait....and watch every extended weather forecast available!!  Stay tuned!

2014 Syrup Season is Near!

It's about that time again!  For the past several weekends we have been contemplating if it's time to tap the trees....but every week brings a forecast of more cold temps, so we've been patient and have not tapped yet.  It looks like by the end of next week, things start warming-up.  Our plan is to have all the trees tapped by next Saturday, 3/29.  Last year was a similar late Spring.  The first day we collected sap was April 4, and it was a tremendous year!  Let's hope for a repeat season.