Since my last post, the sap has flowed and we have boiled a few times. What we have gotten so far is all amber. In the last 2 days the flow has slowed, but the next week, starting tonight calls for below freezing at night and warm days. On Wednesday I had to remove the red and silver maples because both started to show a hint of green at the buds, now what is still going is all sugar maples.
Also, a friend who has a small evaporator called to ask if I could boil what he collected today (I boil for others on shares) and I said “bring it over”. The sap was fresh from today and all of his taps are on sugar maples., 210 gal worth. I’ll boil that while I pack quarts and half gallon jugs tomorrow, along with what runs on my trees up until the time I finish boiling that 210 gal which will take almost 3 hours, because it’s not enough to justify using the Reverse Osmosis.
The red maples and silver maples open leaf buds anywhere from 7 days to 23 days before sugar maples do, depending on the weather in that time span. Once any of them show even a hint of green for the leaf that is coming, the maple season for them is finished until next season.
I now have syrup in the canner to pack tomorrow and more in the 2′ x 6′ finisher to get the density right and either pack it or put it in a SS barrel for future use.
Based on the current weather forecast, we might still have at least a week, maybe even 2 before the season is over. At any rate, due to my 4/18 surgery I’ll be done on or before 4/17.