Last Boil Monday, April 25, 2011

Harvey finally finished boiling yesterday, April 25.

We made approximately 1,250 gallons compared to the 980 gallons last year and we have 1,000 less taps this year. So we had a very good year.

When the syrup is picked up by Jim Greene next week sometime, we will know the exact amount of gallons we have.

We still have a little bit of snow, ice on the pond and my chair has finally emerged from it's winter blanket.

Snowing & Cold

No boiling for us yesterday, but we did boil this morning.

Snowing, windy & blustery.

Sap stopped running at noon today.

Chili Maple Dressing

Harvey boiled this afternoon and made 47 gallons of syrup.

The grade started out B and turned to A-Dark.

This is a great dressing for salad...

Chili Maple Dressing

1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

1/3 Cup Cider Vinegar

2 T. Dijon Mustard

1/2 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp. Chili Powder

Salt & Pepper

32 degrees this morning and one full tank of sap and running into the second tank.

Harvey will boil this afternoon sometime.

He made 20 gallons of Grade B yesterday.

Snow

We woke to 30 degrees and snow covered ground, all white again.

Yesterday, Harvey made 46 gallons. It started out C, but turned to B.

April Showers Bring...Sleet, Freezing Rain, Snow & High Winds

Big storm here last night. After it snowed in the early evening it turned into pouring rain and very high winds all night long.

Still pouring rain this morning, but the wind has stopped. 40 degrees.

Sap ran all night and Harvey has a full tank of sap this morning.

He made 30 gallons of C yesterday.

Cold & Windy

18 degrees Friday morning, beautiful sunny day, but a high of 37 degrees and a very cold north wind. Sap started running later in the day, but not enough to boil.

Harvey ventured to St. Albans yesterday to the Maple Festival and ate his way through the maple suppliers businesses. The suppliers always serve, free hot dogs, hamburgers, chili, donuts, cookies and yes, he ate everything.

This morning, 25 degrees, cloudy and rainy. It froze last night, so we will probably boil later today.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Harvey is getting ready to boil. I don't understand how the sap keeps running, it is so cold. The thermometer says 40, but it feels like 25 with the wind.

Apparently our moose visitor wanted to know where all those lines in the woods led to. Harvey found moose tracks this morning coming down out of the woods to within just a couple of hundred feet from the sugarhouse.

Tess loves to carry things in her mouth when we are on our walks. Today she found a huge piece of slab wood that she carried all the way home.

The pond still has ice and my chair is becoming a little more visible.

Grade C Today

Harvey made 33 gallons of Grade C today.

Maybe our season's end is near.

Signs of Spring

Sunny, warm day today brought signs of spring. Rhubarb emerging from my garden beds with snow in the background, a wooly catepillar, and my lounge chair beginning to show arms.

Harvey boiled late this afternoon, Grade B, working on the 23rd barrel.

Rain Storm

We had pouring rain, thunderstorms and lightening this morning. Rivers are high every where and over the banks in some places. High of 60 degrees today.

We lost a ton of snow today, but we still can't see the grass on our front lawn.

Harvey and Ryan boiled today. 1 barrel of Grade B

Visitor in the Sugarwoods

Harvey walked the sap lines this morning, found moose tracks and this bunch of moose hair attached to one of our main lines.

Harvey has boiled every day since Thursday. We have approximately 22 barrels = 850 gallons. Last year we made 900 gallons for the season.

It was 60 degrees today and has now started raining.

Harvey boiled late this afternoon.

He made 1 barrel of A-Medium = 40 gallons.

Ozzy on the ice of the pond.

Harvey made 60 gallons of Fancy this afternoon.

We are at 16 barrels or 650 gallons.

We have about 2/3 of a crop as of today.

Snow, rain, snow, rain, cold and raw all day.

Sap is still running tonight, but it's beginning to clear off and should freeze tonight.

No Sap Yesterday

The sap didn't run yesterday. Very windy and cold with a snow storm in the morning and rain by afternoon.

The sap did start running by evening and ran all night. We will be boiling today.

42 degrees, raining and very dense fog this morning.

Fancy Syrup

Harvey and Ryan made Fancy grade last night. Harvey said it was very, very light.

He made approximately 60 gallons.

Snow, changing over to rain, 42 degrees for today.

Boiling Tonight

Our tanks are full of sap and the arch has started.

Harvey and Ryan are boiling tonight.

This is a picture of Harvey cleaning one of our sugaring pans.

April 3, 2010 was our last day boiling and 80 degrees. I could sit in my chair by the pond in my bathing suit.

April 3, 2011, we are buried in snow 30 degrees with an extremely cold north wind blowing.

The picture of the chair is buried this April 3rd and I am dressed for the Arctic.

A-Dark to Fancy

Harvey made 80 gallons of syrup yesterday.

The grades went from A-Dark to Fancy. This is the first time we have hit fancy this season.

Today should be another boil day...26 last night, sunny and in the 40's today.

Sap is Running

Sap ran until 1 a.m. Friday morning. Harvey boiled Friday and made 60 gallons of A-Dark.

Sap running good today, Saturday, April 2 and wouldn't you know we had troubles with the vacuum pump. Ron Goff a local electrician was called to help out.

I decided to look back through my blog for April 2010 (last year) to see how much snow we had. We didn't have any and April 3, 2010 was our last day boiling for the 2010 season. So I went out and took pictures of what we look like this year.

Take a look at April 2010 and 2009 located on the left hand side of the blog. No wonder we are sick of winter!

The second to last picture is my garden. If you look at April 2009, you will see that on April 14, 2009, I had daffodils coming up!

Take a look at my chairs that I sit it at the pond!

Double click any picture to increase the size.