The Bovine Bugle

Maple syrup making comes to an end

The debate today was whether to gather the sap for the last time and pull the covers off the sap buckets today or wait until tomorrow. Because the weather forecast was rain and wind for tomorrow, my wife, Karen, and I started gathering after an early lunch. We did about half the sugarbush (the stand of sugar maple trees on our property) before I had to stop for the afternoon milking. I had been concerned that we would miss some of the sap run by not waiting to gather until tomorrow, but while gathering I could see that only 1 out of every 5 or 6 taps was still running. Karen's suggestion to gather today had been a good one.

We finished milking and finishing up about 6:30 p.m. Mom watched Justin and Noah, while Karen, Ben, and I finished gathering and pulling covers in the rest of the sugarbush. A little after 8 p.m., we dumped the last pail of sap of the 2004 sugar season. We gathered about 3 tubs of sap. We parked the tractor, pushed the wagon with the gathering tub under cover, picked up the boys from Mom's, and went in for supper.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont