Well, we finally turned the corner with the weather – for the moment anyway. The sap is running like crazy! The kindergarten class at St. Peter’s Lutheran School will be glad, for today is their field trip to Adams Maple Mountain. We collected 110 gallons on Wednesday, 175 gallons yesterday – but left some out there for the kids to collect this morning. We will most likely have two collections today as the sun is shining, the temperature is already at 37 degrees and things are shaping up in the sugarbush.
Dry Buckets at Adams Maple Mountain
Our maple season is experiencing a season shutdown due to cold weather. What would typically make more sense is a shutdown due to warm weather. It has been ten days since we have had a run. Unreal for this time of year. With our syrup total at six gallons, we really need to have this season go longer than usual. We were looking for a warmer weekend this weekend, but it is not to be. The temperatures have been hovering around the freezing mark, with snow on the ground and the sun is nowhere to be found. That does not help the trees produce sap. This week is looking better, but now most of our crew is heading to Florida. We will be looking for all hands on deck if this sap runs late week. Come on weather, let’s get this season started!
Maplefest 2013. What can we say – the weather was somewhat uncooperative. I say somewhat because we had a great day in the sugarbush, despite the fact that it was too cold for the sap to run.
Frozen Sap
Although our activities were not so much about collecting sap and boiling syrup, we did have a bit of sap to boil that day. The temperatures were hovering around 30 degrees, and the sun decided to shine a bit in the afternoon. We still had many visitors, plenty of food, syrup making and fun. The kids (big and small) were disappointed about the sap, but they made the best of it by sledding down the snowy hills.
Truly, Maplefest is a good time for all no matter what. Who can say we did not have a great day? And, we did manage to make a bit of syrup for our visitors.
Maplefest 2013
Click the Maplefest Group Photo to see all the photos from Maplefest 2013. Enjoy!
The first syrup weekend of 2013 was a success! We were looking forward to a weekend of gushing sap, boiling like crazy and the syrup stock getting a good start this weekend. It was all seeming to be a perfect weather weekend as the prediction was for the temperatures to be in the 40’s and sun on Saturday.
Greg and Blain started out OK on Thursday collecting 90 gallons for the first sap gathering. Greg started boiling later on Friday in hopes of another large sap run but the weather was just a bit too cool for that to happen. By the time the temps got up there the day was about done. We had sap running for just a couple of hours, so he shut down and decided to wait until Saturday when the cousins were here to dump sap again.
Saturday morning was cold and no sun. The cousins arrived around 1:00 p.m. They also brought a few friends and we had some friends stop by. At 2:00 p.m. we went out and gathered 95 gallons. It was enough to boil for the day. We enjoyed visiting in the cabin while Greg boiled. No finished syrup on Saturday.
Sunday morning we all met back at the cabin at 10:00 a.m. to dump buckets again. We did not have a freeze Saturday night so the sap ran all night. The temperature was 35 at 6:00 a.m. Greg had gathered 40 gallons alone to get the boiler started. We dumped another 95, then 25, 27 and a final evening dump of 60 gallons. Our total was 247 gallons of sap for Sunday. Total sap so far 432 gallons. A pretty good start to the season.
Boiling continued through the day Sunday and until 8:00 p.m. We had a bonfire and Greg finished a total of 6 gallons of syrup today. It was light, buttery and good! And, the maple crown toddies were yummy! A fun syrup weekend!
The Maple Syrup season has started at Adams Maple Mountain. With the tapping of 275 trees on Saturday, and a crew of people (I lost count) we had a wonderful day in the sugar bush. Although we were missing several key members of the family due to the State Wrestling Meet which our Dominic was participating in, we still had plenty of help on hand for the season starter. Our family from the suburbs of Detroit were here for the weekend to help out as well. We had a pancake breakfast to celebrate Blain’s 28th birthday in the morning. Greg and Kevin had prepped the equipment in the morning, and the breakfast crew helped gather the buckets and spiles for tapping. We hit the sugar bush around 11:00 a.m. and starting tapping the trees around noon. With a break for lunch, we finished around 5:00 p.m. It seems good to see the buckets on the trees again. The weather was beautiful. We starting the morning with cold temperatures – 11 degrees. The afternoon brought the temps to 25 degrees with calm winds and sun. By the time we finished we were all hot! The bonfire warmed us up through the day, but it sure wasn’t needed by late afternoon. We had new tappers help us this year, and they really enjoyed the day. There was plenty of snow on the ground as this February was quite snowy. In fact, we had the second snowiest February on record in Michigan. The kids enjoyed he sledding hills when we took a break for lunch. Matthew our youngest tapper this year at 2 years old, loved the sledding hill. I’m not sure his Dad and Mom have recovered yet. A perfect tapping day!
Blain taps the first tree using the pioneer method.
Morning Tappers
Afternoon tapping crew
Tapping day will happen in March this year. March 2 to be exact. We will start the day with a pancake breakfast and then begin the drilling of the maple trees. The weather is promising sun, and we sure hope so.
Adams Maple Mountain 2013 is gearing up for another year of syrup making. Things are going to be sweet this year with the addition of the new Ranger. Greg has fitted the Ranger with a new sap tank for double the capacity of prior years. He also added a platform for the kids to work off of to help them dump sap. It looks like we are going to have a snowy start to the year. The weather this winter has certainly been more normal. We have had plenty of snow this year and cold temperatures. We are hoping the weather stays more consistent and not extreme like last year’s 80 degree week that ended the season early.
Here is Greg on his new toy – the Ranger. He fitted the back of it with a new tank for added sap capacity. He also added a platform on the sap trailer for the kids so they could dump sap into the tanks without help from the adults. They will love it! This added tank should help us avoid too many trips back to the sap cabin for dumping.
Now that the season is approaching, we are getting excited. We are ready for spring in every way. We look forward to having the family up and all of the friends around. We are planning a field trip for one of our local schools which will be fun. So let’s all get ready – Adams Maple Mountain season 2013 is about to begin!
Tapping day will be Saturday, March 2, 2013. Remember we need freezing temperatures at night and above freezing temperatures during the day for the sap to run. We are at the cabin on Friday – Sunday to boil the sap and make syrup through the month of March.
LORD, we thank you for your gifts and we pray that you will bless our 2013 syrup season!
Maple season ended early as mother nature decided to grace us with two weeks of summer weather! We did leave the taps in for an extra week in hopes of having another cold snap, but it was not to be. Greg and Blain pulled the taps on Sunday and cleaned up the evaporator. Although we did not have a four-week season this year, we managed to have two wonderful weeks of syrup making. We have plenty of syrup in our inventory and should be good for the year for all our family and friends to enjoy the fruits of all our labors! A big thank you to all who helped out at the sugarbush this year! We appreciate all of you. Special thanks to Kevin, Ralph, Erma, and Jen for always being on hand to help Greg, Blain and Kathy! Also, a special thanks to Mom for being the syrup jug fund-raiser! She did a great job. See you all next season! Have a SWEET year!
Maplefest 2012 Group
With high temperatures hovering in the 80’s and no real freeze since Tuesday night, we were still witness to the trees giving sap in abundance. We collected 270 gallons of sap on Maplefest Saturday! The only explanation can be a true miracle from God. We were surely blessed with everything good on Saturday, so we praise God and thank him for all of the good things he gave us on the weekend. A beautiful day, a wonderful turnout of family and friends, and plenty of sap for the kids – big and small – to collect. A day full of sap boiling was still going on, and bottling of syrup to sample with those famous potato rolls all made for the best Maplefest ever! It was all about syrup making, but the people enjoying the day in the woods with friends, family, food, fun, kids running around in shirt sleeves; all made the day a joy to all! Wonderful memories from Maplefest 2012!
Early morning group!
Some late arrivals missed the group shot …
…and those that had to leave early.
Graceanne Viviano was our basket winner!
Lovely little hands love sap!
Maplefest 2012 will be going as scheduled on Saturday! Greg, Kevin, Ralph and Mike collected 300 gallons of sap tonight from a run yesterday. Also, the snow worked well to preserve our sap from Monday night. Greg has sap to boil for five days now! So, although we might not have sap to collect, we will have sap to boil. And, of course; food, family and fun will all be part of Maplefest 2012! Can’t wait to see you all at the sugarbush.
Maplefest 2011 Photo
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