A Day of Gathering Sap and Boiling

Today we had to run the sap bags and empty them and boil up the collected sap.  It was a real chore, not only because of the deep snow, but by afternoon the temp had risen to about 40 something and the pathways in the woods were total mud.   The deep snow was wet slush.   Our leg muscles got very sore and overworked trudging through the snow and carrying the heavy buckets.  Harold drove the big tractor down the wood paths, but it made for a muddy trail.  We will be boiling until about 10 this evening to get the "near syrup".  We will be repeating the process every day that the sap runs. 
     We often wonder how long we'll be able to do this as we age!  It sure is a lot of exercise!  But we have spoiled ourselves with good maple syrup, and family members also love the good maple syrup.  Using that stuff the grocery store sells, like Mrs. Butterworth's, is horrible.  It is just corn syrup and coloring really.   There is nothing quite so wonderful as good pure maple syrup!   It is what God intended folks to put on their pancakes and waffles! We sell our syrup at our market booth in town, and also to friends and church members by word of mouth.   We are known to be one of the folks in the area that make maple syrup every year, so we have a good customer base.  It really is fun, in spite of the hard work.  It's just that this year with the deep snow, things are a little more difficult!
Here are some photos from today to show you how things went:

As the buckets fill up, we dump the sap into a large 55 gallon drum attached with chains to the bucket loader of our International Farmall 400 tractor.  We set a strainer into the lid of the drum to strain out twigs or leaves that get into the sap buckets.

Because we are using the bucket loader this year, we raise the bucket and open the drain of the drum directly into the bulk tank to empty the 55 gallon barrel. 

One of the paths in the sugarbush (the term used for maple trees along the woods path).  You can see several sap bags hanging from the trees.

Some of the paths are pure mud!  We need to wear high boots for this job!

This mud puddle is about 9 inches deep and just about came over the tops of my boots!

Harold is collecting sap from a tree by his sister's cabin in the woods.  She has property next to ours and we tap trees on her land also.   You can see how deep the snow is here.

Harold starts back down the path to another area.

Without our big tractor and chains we would never get through the paths this year.  Our smaller tractor wouldn't get through the deep snow and mud.

Big tires and big chains give plenty of traction through the snow and mud, but it sure messes up the yard!

Will our yard ever recover from these mud ruts?  Amazingly, yes, it will.  This section of yard isn't in the front yard, so we aren't too concerned.  By the time grass starts growing and I do lots of yard mowing all summer, you can't tell where these ruts were.  It just looks bad now!  Besides, we have a "country yard" - not a lawn of nice grass.

From time to time while boiling the sap, we need to skim off foam.  This is formed from the minerals in the sap.

You can see the foam beginning to form on the sap as it boils in the evaporator. 

And so, this is what we will be doing almost every day while the maple season lasts.   The sap will probably not run tomorrow, though, as the overnight temperatures will not be freezing.   We will get a day of rest!  The maple sap only runs into the bags when the overnight temperatures are below freezing (a good strong freeze) and the daytime temperatures are well above freezing.