Well the photo above kind of sums up this past week of sugaring! Nothing has ran since last Sunday February 23rd, 2014. We have been in the freezing tundra of New Hampshire or caught in some kind of polar vortex. Despite the last couple years of unpredictable warm-ups, it is looking like this year will be more of a typical winter and sugaring season. So, I sit here wondering yet again for the 3rd season in a row if we may have tapped our trees to early? Only time will tell, but the reality is tapping last weekend made so much sense, given the warm weather and timing. It’s always easier to put the taps in on the weekend then during the week. We will just have to wait and see, but the freeze up provided for some pretty good photos as we walked the sugar bush this afternoon.
The 10 day, puts any worthwhile sugaring another week away with the first glimpse of sugaring weather occurring on Friday March 7th! It will probably take at least a couple days to thaw us out too!
The sap is frozen like water in the lines and in the buckets. I would estimate 15 or so gallons frozen in the buckets with more in the tubing.
All of the tees are iced up solid from each drop line…
To each end line ring where the tubing terminates into a 5 gallon bucket.
And a drip frozen in time, just before it hits the pool of frozen sap in the bottom of the bucket. Truly wild!
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