I finally got some time to boil. It’s a good thing too! We had maybe close to 40 gallons of sap that needed boiling right away. I had done my best to keep the 5-gallon pails buried in the snow bank, but after a string of warm spring days with temperatures well into the 50’s, my stockpile of snow was shrinking. Heck, I was starting to see some shoots pop on one of my raised beds!
I had a few errands to run in the morning, so I got started boiling late morning around 11:00AM and loaded the last pieces of wood closer to 6:00PM. This latest stretch of warm weather had left the buckets dry all week, and all the snow in the woods had disappeared. The majority of this sap was collected towards the beginning of the week and because it’s so late in the season I am hoping for some Grade B syrup. The really dark maple-ly stuff that can be used for cooking or beer.
It was a little windy Saturday so this was my best steam cloud picture. I had to time it just right when the wind had stalled.
Towards the end of the boil the wife and kids decided they wanted to have some roasted marshmallows! I figured what the heck, and told them we could roast them if they could find the camping forks. The kids had roasted marshmallows and hot dogs for dinner. At the end of the night I ended up with a little more than 4 gallons of concentrated sap, which provided I have time on Easter, I will boil down to almost syrup, and eventually bottle sometime during the week. I am only expecting 1/2 gallon of syrup, so we will have to wait and see how it turns out…