Is the sap running?

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Just curious if anyone on here collects and boils maple syrup?

I don't and have not really even considered it, though I certainly have the Maple trees and the land. Pretty much it all boils down to the cost of the evaporator set-up. Pretty pricey for a months worth of profit.

Still I like to watch the daily sap reports, or tree pee as I like to humorously call it. This years seems to be a pretty good year as its been cold at night (10-15 degrees) and warm (30-35 degrees) during the day.

Maine ranks as 7th in the country for maple syrup production, so its pretty low on the list, but its still good stuff. You have never had a lollipop as good as a maple syrup lollipop , and maple syrup candy, spread out nice and hot on the snow and then allowed to instantly harden, is delicious too. Of course starting the day with good old flapjacks and pure maple syrup is a nice way to start out the day too.

Here is a picture of some tree pee buckets at the Governors mansion here in Maine. They say you know you live in Maine when they even tap the maple trees at the Maine State Capital!!

fofsyrupBuckets.jpg
 
Nahhh, you know it's "just for show" if they're using buckets.

Every sugar-shack that I've visited here in Southern Ontario has vacuum lines out to all the trees. The buckets are only along the trail for the tourists to see.
250px-Sap_plastic_tubing.jpg

The bigger operations don't even use an evaporator (heat/boiling), they use a big reverse osmosis(?) filter and high pressure to reduce it down to syrup.

I know, the romance is gone...
 
No not the romance, the lines are gone!!

We have both types of operations here...the pail haulers and the vacuum lines.The vacuum lines do get more per tree as they actually create a vacuum and suck it out of a tree, but this year the sap liners have had a hard winter.

Their lines are literally under the snow because of the record amounts of snow we got this winter. The deer and moose treading through the snow snagged up on the lines and have ripped plenty down from what I understand, I guess making the whole process one big mess. One guy I talked to, said he had to dig down into the snow to find the taps he set last year.

There is no doubt its a lot of work, but at 45 bucks a gallon, I guess they do alright money wise. I still don't think its going to be anything I do.
 
"I still don't think its going to be anything I do."

Travis,

Good idea. Startup costs are high, and the industry's going into decline. Last summer, my sister-in-law wouldn't let me cut down a maple for turning. I said "they're everywhere!" She said "Don't you know about maple decline?"

I didn't. Warming? Acid rain? Who knows... but fall foliage is less brilliant there, and sap just ain't running like it used to. Lots of arguments about it, but the locals in vermont, at least, are convinced, and concerned.


"http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1D9113EF932A3575260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all"


Thanks,

Bill
 
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Bill your link did not work so I could not read the article so I am not really sure what Maple Decline really meant.

I do know that Maple Products are considered an Agricultural Product though and that changes things quite a bit. Just like the lobsterman, the dairy farmers and everyone else, people tend to whine about crops and whatnot. None of it is easy work for sure, but there are ups and downs.

Typically what generates a good Maple Syrup Harvest is cold nights and warm days and we have got a pretty good supply of that recently. As I type this its 9º outside, but today it will warm all the way up to 30º, so the sap out to be really running. I am not sure what effect the deep snow will have, but it might lower the overall maple harvest this year some.

Probably in another 100 years we will definitively know the answer to why everything goes in cycles, but I know its all weather related. I've been a snowmobiler for years and years and can tell you the good years and bad years. Just this fall people were saying how foolish it is to buy a snowmobile because of global warming these days. After getting 182 inches of snow this year...the most we have had since 1939, I would say having a snowmobile in Maine is a good recreation to be in.

I have no illusions about getting into Maple Syrup, as you said the startup costs are huge, and the stand of maple trees I have is pretty far from the house. But when it comes to all the hype and whining about Maple Decline, I don't give it much thought. For what its worth, last year was one of the most spectacular fall foliage seasons we have ever had. A combination of plenty of summer rain, cold nights and lack of wind.

It all runs in cycles my friend.:dunno::dunno::dunno:
 
Travis, couldn't you just collect and sell to a processor? That's what many beekeepers do with their honey.
Maine 7th producer? Interesting, I had always associated Maine with maple syrup and figured it to be #1.
IMHO, the ONLY pancake syrup is maple. But the pure stuff is expensive.
 
MM good

Hey Travis
One would think that a tree under vacuum, would have a tough time leafing out brilliantly? Just think, if you sucked the blood out of a person, he loses alot of color and more...
We don't have maples out here except for a variety called douglas maple.

I have heard the first nations tapped birch trees for syrup.
Cheers
 
I toured some sugar shacks a few years back when I chaperoned a grade 7 field trip to Quebec. I spoke with some of the owners and was amazed how little syrup an acre of trees yielded. Seemed like an awfully tough way to make money.

Greg
 
Hey Travis
One would think that a tree under vacuum, would have a tough time leafing out brilliantly? Just think, if you sucked the blood out of a person, he loses alot of color and more...
We don't have maples out here except for a variety called douglas maple.

I have heard the first nations tapped birch trees for syrup.
Cheers

Nay, you are only getting a very small portion of the sap running up the tree. You can only get so many taps per diameter of the tree. Big Rock maples say four feet in diameter, might only get 4-5 taps. A foot diameter tree, maybe one.

What actually dictates how much sap you get, is how big the crown is. Most maple tree producers actually thin out the other trees around the tap tree by quite a bit. Like a tree growing in a field, a tree that has full light tends to grow branches. A full crown is what produces the most sap. It makes for lousy logs, but then again Rock Maple that has been tapped makes for lousy lumber anyway (black streaks in the wood).

As for the birch tree, oh yeah, towards the end of the season you can tap a birch. We used to tap a single Yellow Birch come the end of April or May. Yellow Birch at this time literally fills a pail in no time...like in an hour or two. It has this nice winter green taste and does not have to be boiled off. You can drink it right out of the tree. Just be careful, too much of either Maple or Yellow Birch sap can give you the runs.
 
Yellow Birch at this time literally fills a pail in no time...like in an hour or two.

I can vouch for that, our paper birch in late spring I pruned a branch, and stuck a tin can under it, and it literally poured out and filled. I thought it needed to be boiled down and Maria wouldn't let me into the kitchen with it.

BTW here's a birch story... One day I went out to the 80 acres, where my birch trees, at least 90 of them, exhibited a deep red black patch on each stem 3 to 4 foot long? The birch bark had been stripped off each tree. I had no idea who dunnit. There is a local craftsman(unnamed) who comes out to reharvest every two years my willow patches for his furniture.
Eventually I called him, and he admitted it, but thought it was government land not private property. He assured me, that the birch trees will survive, as long as you don't carve through the cadnium layer. So yes over five years only one tree has died, and the three craftsman wicker chairs on my front deck look fine too(he gave them to me).

Here is a picture of birch bark used in his furniture.
Cheers
 

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It might have just died from Old Age too or disease or something. :dunno:

One fun thing to do with birch trees, especially the fuzzy Yellow Birch Bark Trees, is to put a lighter to them. In one big whoosh, the whole tree goes up in flames. It lasts only for a few minutes, but the sparks and flames are cool to watch. I do it once a year just for the fun of it. It doesn't kill the tree, but I only do it in the winter when I know a Forest Fire won't start. :)

We used to set fire to the fuzzy winter cattails too down on the bog. We would wait until dark, light them off and then skate around them or play pond hockey. It was kind of cool.

When I was a kid, things were different I guess because my Mom never worried too much about me. Growing up on a farm, wintertime was the only time I could really "play". I would go out in the woods, make some spruce and fir bough lean too's, and then spend the night in them. I was probably 10-12 years old, but would spend hours making my shelter, gathering firewood and making a good fire. Because it was winter there was no fear of forest fires.

My mom never worried about me, even though one night it got down below 0º F. That was chilly, but I survived. I am a snowmobile freak, but I always carry a small saw with me, and a hatchet. I mostly use them to cut trees that are in the trail, but if I ever get stuck out in the woods, there is no question I would survive.

Now I prefer sleeping in a nice warm bed, but I can't help but enjoying two shows on TV. Survivorman, and Man Versus Wild. I'm not a survivalist per se, but it was fun as a kid. I got to learn how to make bough shelters, make fire from a match or two, and keep warm all night long. I guess its no surprise that I am not scared of the dark, or being alone out in the woods with a bunch of animals.:thumb:
 
Winter Nights

Hey Travis
Some kids never grow up, and I think thats a fine trait, I wish more folks practised it, at times.

Winter camping in dug snow caves in mountains is not uncommon if you know what your doing. Just make sure you have a thick insulated pad underneath you and you have a waterproof cover on your sleeping bag. You sure are warm after dugging the cave, so hop in the bag before you chill off. Your breath freezes on the roof, and makes a shiny surface to better reflect the candle light burning nearby.(snow caves don't burn)
Cheers
 
I never tried that. I have seen it done on TV before though. They claim that 1 foot underneath the snow, the temp stays at a balmy 28º no matter if it is -40 outside or not.

Growing up we had a Husky dog. He had a dog house, but the only time he used it was when it was raining. Some mornings, after a good snowstorm we would holler for him, and this snowbank would rise up, shake himself off and he would be happy. He would always curl up in a ball and bed down for the night.
 
When I was a kid, things were different I guess because my Mom never worried too much about me. Growing up on a farm, wintertime was the only time I could really "play". I would go out in the woods, make some spruce and fir bough lean too's, and then spend the night in them. I was probably 10-12 years old, but would spend hours making my shelter, gathering firewood and making a good fire. Because it was winter there was no fear of forest fires.

My mom never worried about me, even though one night it got down below 0º F. That was chilly, but I survived. I am a snowmobile freak, but I always carry a small saw with me, and a hatchet. I mostly use them to cut trees that are in the trail, but if I ever get stuck out in the woods, there is no question I would survive.

Well I was digging around today and found a picture of one of my old cabins. Its not much, but after quite a few years it survived, even if it is half buried with snow. Anyway, for what it is worth, here is a cabin I stayed in and built many years ago.

Cabin-As-Kid-small.JPG
 
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