From 10:00 Sunday morning until 6:00 Monday morning, we collected between 2200 and 2500 gallons of sap from our nearly 1000 taps.  Typically we consider getting one gallon of sap per tap to be a pretty good run.  To get an average of almost two and a half gallons is something we've never seen in the 25 years we've been making syrup.  At the peak of the run we were collecting 180 gallons of sap per hour!

We continue to be amazed by the quantity of sap that we are gathering so early in the season.  As previously posted, we've never made syrup in February.  By March 1st we were up to 105 gallons!  Yesterday we made 40 gallons of Grade A Dark Robust syrup, bringing our total 145 gallons.  

The forecast for this upcoming week predicts temperatures will return to more seasonally normal levels with highs in the 30's.  The 15 day forecast looks good for continued syrup production.  Below is Paul Douglas' temperature predictions.  We look for days that straddle the freezing point. You can see looking at the chart below that a shift of 5-10 degrees can make a big difference in potential sap flows.  From Wednesday to Wednesday we might have perfect weather if it is slightly warmer than predicted or things might freeze up and we won't get any sap if it is cooler than predicted.  Time will tell!

Once again, surprised by Mother Nature, we had 2200 gallons of sap from our 1000 taps in about 36 hours!!! Watching the sap flow through the tubing and travel through the woods to the lower collection tank was sheer fun - one of the many delights of being out in the woods and observing a transition to Spring.Take a look at some of the videos on our website of sap flowing into the manifold, releasing into the collection tank for further understanding.

The sugar content of the sap was 2.6%, which calculated to 33 gallons of sap making 1 gallon of maple syrup. All of the processed syrup was Grade A Dark Robust and DELICIOUS! We have hit a new record of 100 gallons of maple syrup by March 1st! In years past we didn't start syruping until the second or third week of March.  The Minnesota DNR puts our warm streak into perspective: "Minnesota is in the grips of a historic warm streak, now standing at 18 months in many locations, including the Twin Cities.

Weather forecast for the next week looks promising for more sap flow! Stay tuned!

We've had several days of no action in the sugarbush, due to temperatures below freezing. We had an anticipated a major winter storm last Thursday and Friday, but patterns changed and southern Minnesota had 6-12" of snow, while we had none. There is no snow on the ground, so when we do have a warmup, the frost should begin coming out of the ground.

The weather forecast for tomorrow and Tuesday looks promising for sap flow and making maple syrup. The best news is the major warmup this weekend, continuing for a full week! Here is a visual graph from Paul Douglas' blog on the StarTribune page. We'll be syruping!!