Started Tapping Maple Trees Today

[Adirondack case guy]

We got off to a slow start, but had 650 buckets hung by 4:00 this afternoon. Temps warmed from 17F to 38F at 1:00 and we got about 2" of sap snow this afternoon, and it is still snowing.
There were 6 of us today, 3 generations of family. Today I was the Elder, so I got to drive the 5230, by their choice. Tomarrow one of the uncles will be up, so he will be in the tractor, but I have a patch of trees that blew over during Huricane Sandy. They were lodged and "widow makers", but recent winds dropped them to the ground, so I will clean up the mess while the rest complete hanging the 1200 buckets we will hang this year.





 

[Mo 1032D]

Other than being chilly and some work going on, looks like a good way to enjoy the family. At least you had a cab to ride around in. Just curious how much syrup do you end up yielding from your trees? As always nice pictures, you have some pretty country up their.
 

[McKerrow630]

Holy-molie, thats some serious tapped Loren. But yeah better "button-down the"taps" "" the snow is ah blow'en with who gives ah-crap windchill. Icey roads and 3 to 4 foot drifts. Don't know if it will poop-out before it gets to yeah. Nutty's "snowbiz" would do well here. Good luck on your syup season. Take Care
 

[1370rod]

Loren when the sap starts flowing do all the buckets need to be emptied daily? Does your operation bottle and sell syrup under a family label? Rod.
 

[Michael Beeker]

Hey Loren, we have a friend here in NW Ohio who also has a long history of his family making maple syrup. They're on their 4th generation with the fifth one due in a couple months. I would like to buy some of that famous Clinton Camp Maple Syrup if you'd sell me some. Just name your price. Can taste it already !! E-mail is open for address.

Thanks, Mike
 

[McKerrow630]

I like your idea Rod, so if I send the "bubble-rap" and a jar. But I can totally understand if its a "no-sale" wit that many generations hee hee.
 

[Adirondack case guy]

Rod,
When it really runs the buckets run over on a less than daily basis, Keeps us hopping and the evaporators have to be honking for 18-20 hrs per day. Not much time for sleep for a couple of us when the sap is really running. I can remember back when I was 5 or 6, having to make the early morning treck with Dad and Mom across the fields in a trailer behind the 310 crawler or the SC from the sap house back to our home at 3:00Am. I don't know how my Dad and Mom did it. My mother was a school math teacher and dad was always at the dealership to unlock the door in the morning. They made a little cubyhole beside one of the evaporators where I could sleep while they tended the evaporators and canned syrup, in the wee hrs of the night.
Loren
 

[denverslim]

So, Loren, and I"m serious here. How can we buy and get you to send us a quart of this stuff? I"m facinated...slim
 

[Bret4207]

Won;t be any sap running today on this side of the hill Loren! Yesterday was high 30's with a warm, light breeze. At 6AM today it's froze solid and 20 with a cooooold west wind!
 

[oldmisterbill]

Gee it so reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts. We always had a canner of sap on the stove during sugar season. There was a big maple out by the garden that we would put 3-4 spouts in. Simmering it down made a very light almost no amber. That is still hoe I like it. Oklahoma isn't the place to make syrup. You live a beautiful life up there.