We have had a a very busy week with outstanding flows and fortunately, light amber syrup to make delicious maple cream. For all of you who have been waiting, maple cream is now here. Our webmaster will soon make the change on the ordering page; go ahead and satisfy your sweet tooth. It's perfect on toast, bagels, alone on a spoon, or simply with peanut butter on bread.
This year with the vacuum system providing 25 inches of negative pressure throughout the entire system, we have averaged 1/2 gallon of finished syrup per tap. By maintaining the correct drop line (greater than 5% slope) and fixing sporadic leaks, we have had this gentle suction throughout the sugarbush. The vacuum pressure acts like a "low pressure system", encouraging the trees to keep dripping, but without any negative effect on the trees. The reverse osmosis system installed this year removes approximately 75% of the water in the sap before it enters the evaporator. Enabling us to use much less wood and reduce our carbon footprint, the RO has added sanity to our lives with all the sap we have collected.
Our total syrup production at this writing is 340 gallons, with today our first day of Grade B. We will finish the season on Wednesday and report our final production total for 2011 towards the latter part of the week.