Category: maple syrup

We pulled the plug on the sugaring operation after a small but satisfying season.

We boiled for 4 days and made 5.25 gallons. Enough for our needs and some padding.

Sap started flowing a full month later than what we’re used to. For a moment we were worried the season wouldn’t even happen in the first place.

As always, early flow is clearer

This is the last year we are boiling outside. This Summer we will be building a proper Sugar House. I suspect our production will drastically increase once we don’t need to spend days outside.

A Sugar House will also make things easier logistically, we will be able to let half boiled sap sit a night not worrying about bears, we will be able to can on the spot, raise the tank to gravity feed into the evaporator.

A Sugar House will prevent the much dreaded nightly walk carrying 5 gallons of steaming hot almost syrup back home through the mud, snow and ice. Nicole took a picture to celebrate my last such walk.

The snow is still way too deep for the ATV, so this is a sled year.

30 gallons of sap is almost impossible to pull by hand on anything but snow, so the ATV takes over on the plowed paths.

Mound of snow = easy gravity transfer

Vermont can use a little more humidity.

The end of 2 days boiling, pulling at night right before it’s at syrup density. We filter at every transfer.

Finishing inside on the stove, this allows for finer control of the evaporation and the mason jars are right there for when it’s ready.

This has been an amazing year for sap flow but we did not make the most of it. I was doing the heavy labor by myself, wood was running out, Winter had been long, boiling days unpleasant. So we pulled the plug being satisfied with 6 gallons which will suffice for our yearly consumption.

The syrup gets darker as the season progresses

The operation is still on hold pending more clement weather.

We’re at 3 gallons of syrup so far.

The usual dusk collection

3 days boiling outside into the night, I just want to go home.

Pulling the plug

Snow storm forced a break, good 🙂

The porcupine started exploring new paths, probably prompted by the warmer few days we had when we did the first round of sugaring.

Very tough sugaring so far, the weather isn’t cooperating. The conditions on the ground are horrible with ice and melting snow, you never know what will happen on the next step you take. Then you need to handle utensils in these conditions, next to a raging evaporator, glasses covered with steam, at night, by yourself. The potential is real for a freak accident that involves boiling, burning, impalement and maple syrup. We also had a wind storm which blew everything away but the cover on the evaporator thank god; a building around the evaporator will be very nice.

Some trees produce profusely

The sap wagon

Got stuck… had to shovel snow out from underneath the sap wagon

boiling away

Hello fogginess my old friend

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

The reward: 1.5 gallons of unadulterated maple sweetness

I got about 30 gallons of sap, handling  full time work and a homestead can be challenging, I finished at dusk. It is a great chore to end the day with, I just wish I could do things at a more leisurely pace.

We are ramping up again for our second season of Maple sugaring. With perfect weather ahead:

And based on a UVM study, I tend to prefer tapping early even with the chance of cold snaps as Winter & Spring figure out who the new boss is. Essentially from what I gather, you can’t tap too early but you can tap too late. I also really like the taste of early flow and the season is spread out in more manageable chunks of labor.

This sled is proving to be invaluable

The wife & kid are traveling but the neighbors are here to help

Cleaning the tanks and buckets takes a long while, it’s amazing we did it last year without a well for water.

It takes a lot of work to get everything ready, we will apply a lot of lessons learned last year. I uncovered the evaporator and didn’t even have to kick out a raccoon.

We fired our 2’x3′ Mason evaporator for our first boil ever. We boiled ~80 gallons in 12 hours. We’ve learned lots of lessons and will have to make several improvements to our current setup. It’s still very cool that we are now able to produce more than enough maple syrup to cover our family’s yearly consumption.

The smell is great

Boiling well into the night

We still need to finish the syrup on our cookstove, filter it, and can it.