We have been extremely busy this winter w/ a million different projects.  After a hard day, Idunn needed a shot of maple syrup (locally bought) for stress relief or something.  I obliged and took a shot glass out and poured the syrup thick and cold.  Idunn asked when we were going to tap our trees, something I mentioned in the fall and was now hoping the idea had been lost.  This is an activity we haven’t done on our farm in the past.

So we started tapping on the 10th,  a week or two later than many maple producers.

The taps started slowly the first couple days.  Idunn and I walked the bucket line on the third day w/ the aforementioned shot glass to taste some sap but  really just check the buckets to make sure sap was not cascading over the edge.  No, I was told we had to taste from every bucket!  It was amazing to detect subtle differences between taps in what is a very mild tasting liquid, that in no way resembles the final product.

We had enough sap for a cook down on the 18th.  Now mind you, I haven’t had time to buy a pan to cook the sap down (deep pots take longer to cook due to the small surface area for evaporation).  We didn’t let that stop us, we only had about 25 gallons to cook down (~1/2gallon+ syrup).  Got it done in the end and man is fresh maple syrup tasty.  The south can keep their Karo knock off, the north east got it good.  I will be in Ithaca to pickup a large pan before we cook 60 gallons this weekend!  John