Sugaring Season

Sap dripping from the spile as soon as we tapped the tree!

​Sugaring season is just about wrapping up (for maples at least – birch is next!) and I finally have a moment to sit down and reflect upon the busy season.  We were planning on sugaring with a group of friends, all of whom decided fairly late in the game that they had other priorities.  I’m not trying to dish out any blame or anything—just setting the stage.  We had been fairly dependent on their land, firewood supply, equipment, etc., to make this season a successful one, and on top of finding out last minute that we needed to go it on our own, the trees decided to start running a few weeks earlier than normal. 
​
We were able to scramble, borrowing some taps and buckets from a friend, carving the rest of the taps out of local hazel wood, borrowing more buckets from another friend, getting free 55 gallon steel drums from a local food distributer to use for storage and sap cooking, and at the very last minute we were able to get a permit to tap on county land a few miles from our house.  We were tapping literally a half hour after the permit was issued and the trees started dripping as soon as the bit got through the bark!

---

​Our goal for the year is to not have to buy any commercially produced sugar.  For every gallon of maple syrup produced, we had to harvest about 40 gallons of sap, all carried or hauled on a sled about a quarter mile out from our site then brought back to the house to boil off gallons and gallons of water.  It is estimated that it takes about a cord of wood to produce 10 gallons of syrup—all of which we had to cut and prep in addition to the 5 cords we needed to heat our house for the winter.  As the season is winding down, we’re figuring that we’ll harvest and make about 12-13 gallons of maple syrup total.  It seems like we’ve put in a lot of work, but figuring that the local market demands about $65 per gallon, we’ve made over $800 in maple syrup and should have plenty of sugar to use for the year! 

Our cooker set up - half of a 55 gallon steel drum over an open fire.

​In addition to making syrup, it is also possible to make granulated sugar from the maple sap.  We’re planning on doing that once I have a sugaring trough carved (which I started last week).  I’ll post about that when the time comes! 

The start of a sugar trough. A 4' x 12" basswood log that will be hollowed out and shaped with an adze (pictured), axe and gouge.