This week began with anticipated forecasts of daily temperatures hitting 50-60 F. The nights were projected to get below freezing, however 40's became the norm !
This resulted in sap flow that was marginal at the beginning of the week, and came to a screeching halt by Friday evening, inspite of applying 24" of vacuum.We have only been able to collect and process 1000 gallons of sap from our 900+ taps.
HOWEVER, there is a glimmer of hope today. I awoke to 30 deg. in the sugarbush and anticipate some flow to return. The collection tank deep in our woods has been drained of the 2 day old sap because its exposure to 60 deg.for greater than a day will degrade the quality of the sap due to bacterial contamination. This results in a syrup quality that doesn't meet our high expectations. All the stainless steel tanks have been power washed and equipment is fully operational. And so.....we wait.