Rod Caster

Yep, I slope hard to the north as well. Discussing with my buddy, we were thinking of using tubing for a few clusters and then buckets for the rest. Good point about the freezing-up, I really didn't consider that. I just jarred the last 2.75L of dark syrup for 2015! Is it a good idea to take maple shots just before bed?? edit: once I get a chance to upload the million photos I took this month I'll post photos of my season.

I liked Line Crosser and Rage Monster hahaha.

haha I thought the same thing I wonder how many worms and bugs she stepped on during her walk. MURDERER!!!

With the rain coming this week, I'd say my season is over. Today I had another good run and I'm right now boiling down some dark syrup, maybe 2-3L worth. My total will be approx. 8L for 17 taps. Not bad, not great. Some trees produced extremely well and others were essentially duds. Next year I hope to double my tree count and aim for 20L of syrup. For this summer I'll be tending to my maple forest, creating trails, a proper fire pit (concrete or blocks maybe), thinning out trees and applying forest management techniques. Maple syrup season makes you appreciate winter, without it, there would be no sap runs!

16l is more than enough syrup for a family for one year... although I bet you give a bunch away! You have any birch where you are moving? Maybe try making birch syrup. My trees ran strong again today.

I'm at a whopping 3.5L.... I still have 2-3 feet of snow in places, so I might eek out another week of sap, if so I'll do ok.

she's givin' 'er today!! I bet TJ has his hands full.

Ouch... let's hope you get a few strong days I'm banking on today and tomorrow to save my season.

Boiled my first litre tonight... Hardly worth the effort , but I wanted a batch of the early stuff. Took approximately 25L of sap to get nearly 1L of syrup... I'm happy with that ratio!!

16 ain't bad, but that's a big drop from last year. Rough so far up here... Only collected 20L so far (17 taps) and things may shut down over the next couple days... Some trees haven't even started yet. Saturday and Sunday look like nice days but after that it may be too warm. My new, reduced goal is 5L.

Double post

Today was good, but some trees are still silent Seems that sun exposure makes a huge difference. I'll boil my first batch tomorrow

3.5L from 4 trees is a great return! Nice work! It barely climbed over +1 degrees, but nearly all my trees were dripping this evening.They want to run pretty bad... otherwise like TJ said, it's been cold here. Can't wait to read your updates when the sap starts flowing TJ!

I'd like to know as well. I used my 'foggy' sap last year and it worked just fine, but I don't know if there are reasons not to.. If it's just a bit of ice, let it drip a bit then discard; if it was very cold at night, don't throw it all out.

Gmail is the worst...their systems read your emails and they advertise based on what you type. It's just as bad as facebook for mining your thoughts. I went with vianet.ca. It's a super-low-tech email with no intent of information mining.

It was nice today, +5 and partial sun, but the sap still won't drop. I'm starting to think that the deep snow around the trunks is keeping the sap low. It's going to -14 tonight, so I'll check again on Monday or Tuesday.

It's sugar based, hot water should dissolve it, no?

This tap leaked a lot, so I hung this little wire and it now drips into the bucket.

Haha, nice. Same as me last year. I'm using two turkey fryer burners this year...next year I should have a good fire pit built.

Half my trees started yesterday! Dripping at a good pace. I imagine it'll run today and tomorrow then lock up for the weekend again

barely any signs where I am Expecting a good run Thursday or Friday.

my 45 lbs Siberian will gladly chase and fight a wolf... he's already been in one scrap.. Haven't seen the wolf since. Never seen a tougher dog, he seriously kicks butt and most large dogs seriously regret showing him any dominance! It's funny in one sense, but I don't want him hurting someone else's beloved pet.

ya, he looks like he's well behaved during fishing outings... you can tell he's sharp as a tack! My husky is a bit of a dummy when it comes to going fishing; he'll wander, visit every group of people he can find and doesn't always get along with other male dogs. Yesterday he got freaked out by people doing some target practice as I'm loading my sled into the truck, right beside a highway. That was a nightmare, had to drag him from under my truck like 4 times. Overall he's good though, definitely likes going on long runs.

a beauty for sure! Those are gonna be some nice filets.

Hey, you got your boat free. Did the neighbor finally move his vehicle? You got that today? Christ that's a fat fish!