The Bovine Bugle

Sugaring season looks like it's finally here

One curious cow wonders, from the outside, what all the
fuss is about inside the Sugaring Shack,
where sap will be boiled during the upcoming
maple sugaring season on the Gates farm.

Today looks like another sunny, fairly mild day. Every day this week has been fairly sunny with temperatures into the upper thirties. Things are getting thawed out, and we are getting geared up for the maple sugaring season--which requires the warmer days of late winter.

Most of the large maple syrup producers around here, who have pipeline operations, have had their trees tapped for several weeks now. They haven't really made any syrup yet, since the temperatures have been so cold. We have a small operation, and we still use buckets, rather than pipelines, so we haven't been in a rush to get going. But the weather forecast looks good, and we will tap trees and hang buckets this weekend, when plenty of help will be around.

On the agenda for today is washing the pans of the sugar rig to get it ready for boiling the sap. We also are repairing the wagon that we use to put out the buckets and to haul the tub in which we gather the sap.

Left: Noah and his grandmother work on giving the evaporator bins a good cleaning. These bins will be where raw sap is boiled down into maple syrup as soon as the sap starts running in a few weeks.

The 4' X 8' back pan of the sugar rig needs the most scrubbing. That is where most of the water is evaporated out of the sap. With some good hot water, a strong acid detergent, and a good brush, the stainless steel will be sparkling in no time. I picked up 2X 8's, a sheet of 5/8" plywood, and some ceramic screws yesterday to repair the wagon body (below). Once the new deck is on the wagon body, I can put the sides back on and the wagon will be ready to load up with buckets, covers, spouts, and hammers. And kids.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at March 17, 2005 07:31 PM