by Don
3/7/2012 4:25:00 PM
The unusually warm weather of 50 degrees on March 6th, began the awakening of the sugar maples in our forest. Our first significant flows were today and we anticipate our first batch of syrup this weekend. The forecast looks favorable with warm days and cool nights.
by Don
3/7/2012 3:23:00 PM
Today we had the wonderful opportunity to meet WCCO TV anchor/reporter Angela Davis and Bob Cowan, the experienced video photographer at our sugarbush. Angela does a series entitled "Finding Minnesota", where she explores the unique aspects of life in our wonderful state.
Angela shared she had reported on backyard maple syruping in past years, but was intrigued by the story behind our maple experience. How do you evolve from 22 taps on a barrel stove to 700 taps with state of the art technologies?! It's obvious she is a talented Emmy award winning reporter, as she explored the transitions at Somerskogen Sugarbush. Bob, who has 42 years of experience at WCCO TV, enjoyed capturing the beauty that is Somerskogen.
We won't give away the story, so see it for yourself on Sunday, March 18th @ 10PM on WCCO TV Channel 4 or Monday, March 19th at 5:50AM.
by Peter
3/4/2012 2:15:00 PM
The taps have been in for two weeks, but hardly a drop of sap has been collected. As soon as we got everything ready for the first sap runs, spring reverted back into winter. Things look great for this week:
Ideal sap flow occurs when the day time and night time temperatures fluctuate around the freezing point. The change of pressure inside the tree due to the freezing/thawing causes the sap to flow. Hopefully the predictions will be accurate, providing strong early flows that typically produce light syrup, which is great for making maple cream.