Let it Flow!

We’ve been riding the climate change roller coaster as winter haltingly gives way to spring. After a day in the fifties last week that left our dirt roads scarred with muddy ruts, the temperatures plummeted and we were blanketed with a foot of fluffy, sparkling snow. What’s a farmer to do? Quick! Hang the sap buckets!

First holes are drilled in the sugar maples (that’s Steve doing the honors), then twigs are stuck in the holes so that the person who follows with the spiles knows where to tap them in. (Yes, this is an old-timey operation, despite the power drill.)

Spiles direct the sap to the buckets and also sport handy bucket hangers. Once the spiles are tapped into place, out come the sap buckets and their “roofs” — lids that slide onto the rims of the buckets and shed rain, snow, and hopefully a host of other potential intruders. Moths seem to have no trouble taking a sap bath, but never fear. They’re strained out before the sap enters the sugar house, and the liquid is heated to rip-roaring temperatures during the evaporation process. Nothing but gorgeous, delicious syrup survives the evaporator pan gauntlet of steaminess.

Enough sap was collected during the brief thaw for Steve to season the evaporator pan in the sugar house and make the first gallon of syrup. (There are several posts about the sugaring process. If you’d like to see inside the sugar house, click here.) The snow storm and accompanying frigid temperatures turned off the sap flow for the weekend. What to do? Go skiing of course! That’s what the farm family did.

It’s lovely to see the road adorned with sap buckets and the “maple syrup” board once again hanging from the farm stand sign. Last year was lean — the syrup was sold out by summer’s end. Here’s hoping that the sugar house will be happily steaming away for many weeks to come. Let it flow!