The official start of the Maple season at Somerskogen was March 1 with our first measurable sap flow. Our fall preparations went quite well during very pleasant weather conditions. We had quite a few large branches and trees that came down during summer storms that required more line repairs than usual. After that was completed we switched to new spiles on all the drop lines. We waited for pleasant weather in February to place 1050 taps in their new location on the tree. We always look for fresh wood at least 4” to the side and 2” above or below last years hole. The previous tap site tends to be healed over but there is non conductive wood above and below this previous site so it needs to be avoided as it no longer transports sap.
Our son Peter, and grandchildren Greta and Jack came up for the weekend to assist with finding leaks and line repair as well as set up the RO , test and put our pumps and evaporator through a test run. All equipment is working as hoped, and we collected our first 400 gallons of sap on March2. It will be stored in a large refrigerated tank until we get a total of 1000 gallons at which point we’ll have our first boil of the season. Should just be a couple days. Check back!
Our vacuum pump is operational but the vacuum not yet high enough until we find further leaks in the system. We have found quite a few chew marks from squirrels which can dramatically reduce the vacuum.