Blowin' Buckets

This spring has been so very windy in our neck of the woods that my sap buckets keep blowing right off the trees! The ground all around my tree is stained a tawny blonde colour, proof that the my sap has indeed been running, but my buckets weren't staying put to catch it! I'm still getting some, I think I'm up to about 7.5 gallons of sap now, but I betcha there's that again poured all over the ground!
Today I went over with a ball of twine and tied all the bucket handles to the spigots. Should help. Fingers crossed.

Liquid Gold

I can't get over how dark and how sweet it is, straight out of the tree!

First Sap

Only about a tablespoon in each bucket, but it's running!

On Tap

That's right, I've now got sap on tap. Or rather, on 4 taps.

I went over to my friend's house today, it's past time to be tapping the trees in this weird season, and we decided that today's the day. Of course, today's about the only cold day we've had all month, but at least the spiles are in place now.


Dar met me in the garage and explained the process to me.
First we'd be drilling holes at an upwards angle, about 1.5 inches or so into the tree with a 5/8 drill bit. Then we use a special, high tech tool (a twig pulled off the nearby brush) to clear the wood shavings and check the depth of the hole. Then we push the narrow end of the spile into the hole and gently tap it into place with a mallet until it's firmly seated. The hook that hangs off the spile has to support the sap bucket. If you can wiggle the spile with your fingers, it's likely going to fall out of the tree and spill your precious sap all over the ground.



When we get to the tree the next obvious question is where to put the holes. As far as height goes, it needs to be high enough to suspend the bucket below it, and low enough that it will be easy to lift down the buckets, even when they're heavy with sap. Pictured at the right is a plugged hole from last season. Dar fills her holes in with pieces of wine corks to help the tree heal quickly. Any holes recent enough to be visible like that should be avoided by at least 5 inches.



This is the first spile! Right now it's only finger snug, it still needs to be tapped into place. I took pictures once the bucket was hanging, but it was so bright out I couldn't tell the picture was blurry on my camera screen. Use your imagination.

Dar doesn't use lids on her buckets and I decided not to either. Lids help to keep debris and rain water out of the sap. Rainwater just dilutes the sap which means you need to cook it down further, and bugs and bark are easy to strain out with coffee filters before you start to boil the sap.
It takes a little extra effort, but apparently is not as cumbersome as trying to work around a lid. I'll go with the voice of experience on this one.

In the first picture you can see the three buckets on the front side of the tree, and there is a fourth around the back side. Having the spiles all in one tree will make it easier for me as a beginner, because the sap should all be of a similar consistency on any given day. Different trees have different sap characteristics, and then I'd have to decide whether to separate them and make two separate batches or blend them all together.
On a warmer day the sap would start pouring down the spile almost immediately, but today it was too cold, so you'll have to wait for shots of sap in the pail.
Eagerly waiting for the mercury to climb.

What a Sorry Sap.

I'm talking of course about the maple sap we're likely to get this year. I was talking with my friend and mentor in syrup making yesterday, and she says we'll be tapping the trees this weekend. She's not anticipating a great season though. The weather has been too funny, and already there are buds on the trees. Now, the sap is fine until those buds open, but once they do, the sap starts to take on a bitterness, and the syrup isn't very pleasant. The ideal condition for syrup is weather where the roots are covered with snow, the days get above zero, and the nights dip below it, and before the buds break open. We'll have a narrow window this year folks.
I think for the sake of learning the process, even if the sap goes "buddy" and gross tasting, I'll take it through the steps to turn it into syrup. Even if it's not fit for pancake consumption, at least I'll know how to do so in the future.

I've started saving used up bottles from syrup around here, and I can buy more of those types from the tractor supply company (TSC) for .99 cents. They only hold about 250 mL of syrup, or about one cup, but they'll make the liter or so that I make seem to go further.

Sap Buckets

The Sobeys here in town has their muffin mixes delivered in these 5 gallon buckets with lids. Perfect for sap buckets if you ask me! I called them the other day, and the nice lady in the bakery department told me I could come by and pick up the goopy, muffin batter covered buckets for free. Awesome. I'm glad I brought along a garbage bag to protect the car!! They were slimy and disgusting, but with a good scrub down they're just perfect!

Of course, now the weather has finally decided to behave like an early February should and the temperature is too cold for the sap to be running. Oh well, I'm prepared for when it does.

I'd Tap That

A friend of mine has been tapping her own trees and making her own syrup for as long as I've known her, and I've always been slightly envious of her abilities to make homegrown sweetners. So this year I fired off an email to her: If she hadn't started tapping her trees yet, could I come and watch and learn and take pictures for you dear readers. She of course said sure, and that she could do me one better. If I could bring her plastic buckets with tight fitting lids I can take home some of the sap myself. I'll stand at her elbow while she boils down one batch, and get a feel for the whole process, and then take my buckets home and make my very own sap from trees that she grew, and we tapped. HOW COOL IS THAT!! My goal is to bring home about 10 gallons of sap which should make me a 1 quart mason jar full of the sweet sticky stuff. Dar Kingstone has 9 spiles, 5 mature maple trees, and usually only uses 6 spiles. This year she plans to use less because she still has syrup in the freezer from last year. If I'm really getting the hang of it and enjoying the process then I could make much more than just 1 qt. Weather permitting of course.

The ideal weather for syrup is days that come up into the positive numbers, and nights that are below zero. The change in pressure within the tree as the wood expands and shrinks acts as a "pump" to draw the sap up the tree in the day time, and shunt it back down to the roots when it chills at night. With the freaky weather we've been having, the sap has probably been flowing most of the week, and will next week too, but Dar's not ready to tap the trees yet, so I'll patiently wait for her go ahead.

In the mean time I'll be contacting local restaurants to see if I can get food grade pails for free. Failing that I can buy some at Home Depot or TSC.