Gearing Up for Maple Season!

Straight-up ICE on our road into the sugarbush!

Folks from Central New York can often be heard saying things like:

"If you don't like the weather now, just wait ten minutes!"

And:

"This is where all the clouds gather to live out their last days."

This weekend was no exception to either quote...It has been VERY cloudy lately, and in a matter of 48 hours we went from snow showers... to 38 degrees and rain... to an icy mess...back to snow.  Today showed up with sunshine... and, as my kids would say, a "snot-freezin'" wind!
We won't even see 20 degrees here...

This is today.  I couldn't quite capture the fierce wind in this image!

As maple syrup producers, however, we really can't complain, because we need a good freeze for the next couple of weeks....makes for a better maple season when that regular freeze/thaw cycle begins as spring approaches!

So, this weekend, while the crazy weather prevented our visit to family in PA, it didn't prevent our preparations for maple season 2016!

Instead of driving a truck or tractor into the woods to a bulk tank, and pumping sap into a 200-gallon storage tote, we're running tubing all the way down to the sugar shack, streamlining our sap collection.

In this photo, Don and Will are stretching the high-tensile line and checking the grade of the slope.  Tubing will be added later this week.








We're also adding about 200 taps this year, bringing us up to around 650 taps.
Our sugarbush is a giant web of aquamarine!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

In addition to adding tubing, we also spent some time in the sugar shack, setting up the evaporator and adding the stovepipe through which we will soon sweeten the air of our neighborhood...literally!





On a good day, anyone within a half-mile of the shack who has a functioning olfactory system will know when we are boiling, as the scent of burning maple, ash and apple wood mingled with the sweet aroma of hot maple sap drifts through the air....Mmmm, mmm!












Here, the guys lined the evaporator's firebox with fire bricks, designed to concentrate the heat where we need it.  They added fire blanket to the edge to seal the heat inside.



Then, Don, Will and Rosie carefully placed the main syrup pans on top.

 In this photo, Don is cutting the hole in the roof for the stack.
















And, here is the finished product from the outside:

We will do a "test boil" with water in the next day or two, just in case we need to tweak anything.  We have a few other crucial things to do in the coming weeks...

Priority #1:  Build our reverse osmosis machine!  We have all the parts...

Stay tuned for our progress!  Please pray that we get it all completed before the sap starts to flow. We're getting really close, and who knows exactly when the season will begin with our crazy weather this year.

While our on-line store is closed for the next couple of months, we still have several quarts and pints from 2015. (An excellent vintage!  Syrup will not "go bad" so long as it is in airtight jugs or jars.) Don't hesitate to stop in or call - I don't mind shipping it to you, either!

Stay Warm, Friends!