Here and Gone

The 2011 is gone. It was a very generous season here in CT. I started to tap on Feb 12 and finished in late March mainly because of exhaustion. The season warmed up a bit and shut the trees down but went back to producing sap shortly thereafter.

Along with the syrup, this is my second season making the oh so addicting Maple Coated Pecans and Peanuts and they are simply amazingly delicious.

Below are a few photos of this season.

  Spiles all sterilized and ready to go!

A couple of buckets across the street from my house. I had about 25 tapped out behind the pond.

  Night time boil midweek.

One of several weekend boils.

 Front pan getting close

 Sampling of the "goods"

In the Field Of Opportunity It's Tapping Time Again!

This is the weekend. Same as last year. February 12th I'll be out tapping some trees. Still a lot of snow but nothing that my new snowshoes can't handle. I always wanted a pair but I just couldn't justify them until the Winter of 2011. The forecast is a solid week of warm daytime temps and cold nights. Perfect for and early run.

I've been washing buckets, collecting new ones, and tweaking my evaporator. I'll let you all know how it goes.

The Ansonia Nature Center is having their annual Maple Fest I believe on the second Saturday in March. Looking forward to that event. Always a good time with good people.

The Season is Almost Upon Us

Wow. Sure is a lot of snow out in the sugar bush! Last season the trees were tapped on Valentine's day and the sap was flowing well. Not so sure about this year. I've been working on making trails to all the trees hoping to save some time when I start to tap.

I've made a few tweaks to the evaporator making the back wall more are tight.

Stay tuned for future posts once I start to tap.