A Sappy Tail about a Drip!

Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.........and so on, and so on, and so on. So after the taps go in the trees, you wait and check the buckets every day. The temperatures have to work in your favor for the sap to start running well. Days in the 50's with nights with freezing temps is optimal. Apparently the sap runs due to thermal expansion caused by the day time heating.

As with all agricultural endeavors, some years the sap runs really well, and other years not so well. Also, some trees produce a lot some years, and not so much other years. The locals tell me that this year was a good year.

Anyway, we drove the taps in the trees about mid-March and collected sap, drip by drip by drip until near the end of April. There were days during that span where a few of the trees produced over a gallon, and other days where they produced a pint.




About every day, the boys would check the buckets for sap. The sap really just looked like slightly rusty water. Often times, we would check in the morning and find a nice thin layer of ice on top of the sap in the bucket.

The sap buckets were emptied into a big Rubbermaid garbage barrel that we had buried in the snow. I probably should have cleaned the barrel out first, because our syrup tasted a bit like old banana peels, among other things, when it was done. Kidding of course. I bought the barrel brand new and washed and disinfected it. Basically it became a big tupperware container.

It is hard to see, but that is a 33 gallon barrel, buried up to the handles in a snow bank. Great free refrigeration that Mother Nature provides at this time of year.