The sap kept on flowing, we kept boiling and eventually made a record of 45 gallons of delicious light and medium amber syrup in one day!  The days and evenings have been long with sap to boil, but a great time to partake in the magic of spring and what nature provides.

We have heard the whistling (tundra) swans flying to their northern home, the honking of snow geese, pileated woodpeckers tapping out a new home, turkeys gobbling and we've noticed the ice has melted off most of the lake.  Spring is a great time of the year!

Temperatures have been unseasonably warm with few nights in the low 20's. Yesterday we expected a large volume of sap with below freezing at night, bright blue skies the following day and temps in the 40's. We boiled all the sap possible and made 25 gallons of rich dark amber with a robust maple flavor.  We are optimistic the weather will turn cold at night in the near future and this will jumpstart the sap flow. We hope to have another banner year!

Yesterday we had our first boil of the season after installing our new 4'x5' syrup pan.  After boiling for five hours, we had to shut down before getting any syrup.  But today we were able to draw off 10 gallons of syrup from 450 gallons of sap.  Since the weather has warmed up, we are out of sap for the next day or so. We're hoping for some colder nights to kick start more sap flow!

With the help of some friends, we've made several improvements to the sugarhouse, including putting up new lights, building a cedar enclosure to insulate the (very noisy) vacuum pump system, and expanding our sap storage capacity.  These changes will improve our efficiency and make the boiling process much smoother (and quieter!).  We've also raised the steam hood nine inches over the syrup pan so we can keep better track of the syrup's progress and show visitors how sap becomes syrup.  Having the syrup pan more open also makes my mouth water from the rich maple aroma.