Limington, ME

[lobstafari]

Tappin a few trees tomorrow along side the driveway to get a feel for things like sap run and sugar content. Might have a few warm days this coming week. Still too cold at night (below 0)

[TapME]

you and me are in the same boat. Only had 2 days above freezing here in the last month and the extended looks like the 2nd week of March which would be on par for me. Just going to get everything ready for the season. If it comes sooner then we will tap.

[lobstafari]

Yes I agree, still WAY too cold out at night for anything to happen, but good to see whats going on, and get a feel for things I think. If you want to make light syrup out of some taps today isnt soon enough, but certainly wouldnt go all out for it.....got 120 on tubing that seems to run better sooner than later, might dub with those some next week or so, mostly soft, so are junk late march anyway.

[TapME]

those reds seemto run first and quit first.

[lobstafari]

yep, definitely go to crap first too, when they bud out....learned that one at the school of hard knocks years ago

[Mackdaddy]

We gotta get you boys fired up!! I grew up in Somerset County and at this time of year wish I was still there. We are tapping tomorrow morning here in Central Ohio and hoping to have syrup Sunday night. We may start a little earlier, but you conditions back home are still much more desireable. You guys have a great season, and get fired up!!!

[lobstafari]

Saps running pretty good here, right now, although windy almost 50 deg. going to get real cold tonight, then might run tail end of the week. Prob tap one bush of 120 really soon to get things started, then wait to see, with the better trees.

[lobstafari]

All false hopes so far...just trying to fiddle with tubing and fine tune the equipment. Ive tapped a few around the yard with no production. Extended forecast looks like March 16th with a few piddly runs in between. Might be a bad year hopefully the forecasters are wrong, or April is really cold !!

[Revi]

I looked at the first dates we collected from the past 8 years, and it seems like around the 6th of March was the first collection date most years. The weather is supposed to be really nice on Saturday, so maybe we'll get our first sap then.

That would be right on schedule.

[lobstafari]

I think youre right, weather just changed looks like Friday on ,is go time. I usually figure on keeping an eye on things 3rd week of Feb. mostly for sales on beer, then get ready to tap soon thereafter, then make syrup until abut April 10th. After all expenses are figured in and final gallons tallied up, I return all those empties and call that my profit and much fun to boot. I usually come out of sugarin season a burnt sticky mess.

[Stickey]

Jimny Crickets lobsta, how many cases of them boilin sodas do you go through? I mean in order to make any profit, must be a few. So as the seasons change, do you go from a burnt sticky mess to smelling like 2 week old herring?

[tessiersfarm]

Looks like Saturday it all starts. No turning back now. Gonna have 100 buckets in by Friday night and gonna start running mainline and taps at new bush first thing Saturday. I ain't stopping till I hit 150. Hope to Boil next week, maybe Sunday with a little luck, I can sweeten the pans.

[gmcooper]

Hey Jeremy,
By any chance does your accountant work for Lehman Brothers or Morgan Stanley. I think I have heard some type of big business using that same formula to justify bonuses! LOL
Good luck in Limington!
Mark

[lobstafari]

Maybe so, whatever it takes right? Looks like the bigsap starting this weekend...give a call if you need a hand with anything...should be all set here by end of Friday, then back to fishing for scallops Saturday while the sap runs I hope.

[lobstafari]

What perfect sap weather we've had! I only have a couple hundred tapped. Real work keeps cutting into sugarin. Sap isnt very sweet at just over 2.5 %. Made about 8-10 gal. med so far.

[Revi]

Perfect sap weather! We're burning the candle from both ends too. We'll have to boil today and tomorrow just to keep up with it.

The weather looks like it may slow down by the end of the week, though.

[lobstafari]

Swamped in sap here, noticed reds are popping today. They started giving the syrup that bitter caramelley type smell, time to pull those soon !!

[TapME]

Don't you just love that. Swamped in sap. We have the same problem here.

[gmcooper]

Jeremy,
No sign here of reds starting to bud. I have a lot of them and sap has been very clear with no odor.

Been boiling here till 1-2 am every night and still don't have room to empty all the tanks yet let alone get the feed tank empty. Vacuum pump has been filling tank twice per day! Good to get enough sap but it would be nice to catch up. Didn't freeze last night but sap still dripping this am in buckets. Vacuum should still be going strong. If this keeps up were gonna need a bigger boat!
Sugar content has been low. 1.8 - 2.2.
That RO I looked at last winter is looking like it would have been a nice addition this spring if I bought it.
Good luck to all
Mark

[lobstafari]

Glad to hear things are going well for you Mark. I didnt see much sap here today but boiled for a good 12 hrs. Thought that bitter smell in the sap was from the reds sap while I was pumping, turns out its something much worse...smells almost like vinegar in the drawoff box, and a "plasticky" smell in the fluepan. Dirty lines, or a dirty tank somewhere are the only things I can think of. Still makes a decent tasting medium A, after being filtered/finished, but annoying as heck....just wish one of these years everything could go somewhat right for at least 1/2 the season. Off to go clean up and start over.

[Revi]

We're swamped, but we finally caught up a bit last night. We took today off of boiling, but we may be boiling again tomorrow if it starts up again.

This is going to be a heck of a weekend!

Wish us luck. We'll need it!

[lobstafari]

Didnt advertise for Maine Maple Sunday, where its just my wife and I, had 100 or so people stop by anyway. Sold about everything we had put up. Everyone seemed happy to be out of the house doing something fun, regardless of the snow squalls. Cold right now, but good sugarin week ahead.

[lobstafari]

Been a bit slow around here in bucket world. All these guys with vacuum suck what little sap there is right out of my buckets, through the taphole, and down the road to their house I think. Cold as heck out this morning at first light, muddy road froze solid, nice for collecting. When I was finishing up here at 9am, it was 39 degrees out with stiff breeze, and sap was pouring right out....nice to see the trees reload.

[lobstafari]

Going to call it quits here. The runs are too sporadic to keep clean, my woodpile is about gone, and I have other things to do. Made a little over 30 gal. off 220 buckets, in about 3 weeks w/ 3/4 med. 1/4 dk. and a small amount of B right now. Should be finished everything during next week. Low production, had fun, didnt wreck anything (yet).

[TapME]

been slow here too. We will see what it does this week before calling it quits. I found that the syrup has a different taste this year. For us it is very sweet compared to the last few years. How about you?

[lobstafari]

The only differences I have noted, are I made lighter syup this year, which might be from replacing some older taps? and a lot more black, burnt on sugar sand, than the usual brown scale. I have noticed in the past, it seems like syrup is sweeter the sooner you process your sap...let it sit for a day it changes to more subtle caramel flavor, or a tinge of vinegary maybe. Thats the only thing I can think of. Havent heard any peepers yet, plenty of snow out there still, I might be making a bad move, but just pulled 180 buckets since my last post this morning...prob 1/2 gal sap/bucket if I saved it.