Supply is dwindling......

We have two events scheduled for syrup sales yet this year:

Monticello Farmers Market - Thurs 10/19 - 3:30-6:00 - Monticello Library Parking Lot

Monticello Indoor Farmers Market - Sat 11/04 - 9:00-1:00 - Monticello Community Center. The Monticello Women of Today also have a Craft Sale in the building that day. Come check it out!

Hope to see you there!

Change to Market Schedule

We will NOT be selling in Buffalo this Saturday, 9/16, as previously scheduled but we WILL be there the following two Saturdays 9/23 and 9/30.

Change to Market Schedule

We will NOT be selling syrup at St. Michael Daze & Knights as originally published. If you're looking for syrup, our next scheduled market dates are:
Thursday, 8/10. Monticello Farmers Market. 3:30-7. Monticello Library parking lot.
Sat, 8/12. Buffalo Farmers Market. 8-noon. Parking lot across the street from the Buffalo Theater.
Thursday, 8/17. Albertville Farmers Market. 3-7. Lions Shelter on Main Street.

Change to Market Schedule

We had previously listed this Thursday, 8/03, as a day that we will be selling syrup at the Albertville Farmers Market, but plans have changed and we will not be there. Summer Fun.

Change to Market schedule

Change in plans. We will NOT be at the Saturday, July 1, Buffalo Market. Happy 4th! Be safe!

Ready for the Summer Market Season!

We've updated our website and added events to our Facebook page listing our Summer Farmers Market schedule; our first events are Thursday, May 11 in Monticello and Saturday, May 13 in Buffalo. We'll also have presence in Albertville beginning in June. Sad to say, but the Maple Grove Farmers Market didn't fit in our schedule this year. Hope to see you soon!

Getting ready to bottle!

We've got it planned to bottle this season's syrup this weekend, so we'll be in touch with those of you who have expressed interest in purchasing syrup real soon! Thanks for following!

Happy April.

We collected just enough sap today to be able to get BOTH pans cooking tonight. Should be fun.

Disappointed......again.

Should have been a great collecting day, but the trees just are NOT cooperating this year. We'll be cooking at the Shak tonight, but similar to last weekend we'll be using the front pan only. Still warms the Shak and smells great!

Super hopeful

We had a good 'freeze' last night with a forecasted high today of 51 with sun which leaves us hopeful for a good collecting day. Fingers crossed as we're behind our average for finished gallons of syrup. Stay tuned!

Skunked again.

The taps are bone-dry again today (because it didn't freeze last night), but 'Tis the Season,' so we're going to be at the Shak tonight cooking in abbreviated form (front pan only). Visitors always make it fun!

Fickle trees! There's always tomorrow.

We stayed-up late last night (Thursday) cooking down what we collected yesterday thinking today would be a good collecting day.  Not the case.  The trees did NOTHING today. Oh well, we'll take a night off and hope for tomorrow!

Early night

We collected this morning, and Kevin has been cooking throughout the day today so we should have an early night in the house tonight. The forecast looks promising for the next week or so! Stay Tuned!

Cooking Tonight!

Just heading-out to the woods to collect now (4:00). Should have the stove going and the Shak warm by 7:00. Hope to see a few visitors.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Chilly wind, no sun, therefore the trees didn't run. Bummer, no cooking tonight at the Shak.

Ready for a big collecting day....

It was a little too chilly for the trees to run today, but there was a 'good lil leprechan' in the woods 'fixing' the buckets whose lids had blown-off along with the hose coming from the tree. This leprechaun could count, 134 trees. Now we're ready for a super collecting day☘️!

Back in action.....

Sorry for the delay since our last entry, but nothing's been happening except cold...too cold for the trees to run. Starting tomorrow (Friday) there looks to be a 14-day streak of PERFECT maple weather. 40+ during the day, but freezing at night. Today is questionalbe if they'll run, might be a little cool. The Shak should be in action Friday, Saturday, Sunday evenings this weekend....and beyond! Hurray!

Cool Temps = Break in the Action

The forecasted cool temps through the weekend means there'll be no sap to collect and no action at the Shak through the weekend. We drained the pan this morning to prepare for a low tonight near 0. We'll start-up again mid next week.

Cooking debut

Today will be our first significant day of collecting sap, so our first full cook will be this evening. I don't think the trees liked the chilly wind yesterday.  We had a smaller version of cooking last night (front pan only), and everything/everybody seems to be ready for the real thing!  The upcoming week's forecast looks favorable for good 'sappin!'

We've pushed the 'go' button

We've officially started our 2017 maple season tapping half of our trees today! We'll hopefully finish-up tomorrow. We also did some prep work over the weekend at the Shak: cleared a lot of fallen brush/trees from last July's storm, cut pallets to fuel the stove, and made sure the electronics that run the auto-draw system are working. Tonight the 'gang' will be rinsing the holding tanks for collected sap and the tanks that mount to the 4-wheelers in the woods. Getting close!

When to Tap the Trees?

This season is starting-off with some 'quirky' temps forecasted the next few days for how early we are in the year. We've opted to 'wait it out' and 'not tap yet.'  We may miss a few days of activity by waiting, but we're waiting for two reasons: 1) if you tap too early, the end result can be a shorter season because the trees may heal-up before the season is finished and 2) if we tap now and begin cooking, it looks like a cold spell is right around the corner which means we'd have to drain the pan to avoid damage by a hard freeze.  So.....stay tuned!