Site Discussions

This article and picture pretty much confirms what happened to a young white pine (8-10 year old) that suddenly turned brown this fall. We last had currants on our farm some 60 years ago and removed them after a pine on the farm became infected. No other outbreak until last year. We live in northeast Mass, about 20 miles from NH.

My hubby has milkweed plant growing in his garden and I have noticed that there are monarch caterpillars all over them. I am so excited to watch the whole process!!!! Thank you for this site.

Thank you for this informative article. My children and I are having a nice time observing the mourning doves that have begun visiting our home…now we have a clearer picture of their world. Cheers!

A couple years ago my wife and a niece and nephew rescued a young crow at the Franklin Falls Dam in Franklin,NH. He was caught in a fishing line, hanging by one wing about 10’ up in a tree-over water in the summer. My wife ran to get a ranger from the station that brought him to Henniker for rehab.  He was released later that summer and I hear he was doing quite well. He seemed to fully trust me to gently pick him up and place him in a tote to get him in the rangers truck.  It was a challenging yet, rewarding experience for everyone.

In our backyard operation we tapped three weeks ago. The syrup got progressively darker throughout the week. Last week the bacterial colonies were visible in our buckets and the sap got cloudier.  Because we collect in buckets, it’s easy to clean and re-hang them.  It’s hard to imagine how this is impacting the commercial producers.

I’ve never tapped any trees before, but thought I’d try it with my 9th graders. We knew from the fall colors that there were maples on the property and we looked for alternating branches and found 9 big trees. We put two taps in each, and two days later, we had about 12 gallons of sap. I later found out through some knowledgeable people and a little more research, that all our trees were red maple. We finished our first batch on Tuesday and had it on some ice cream with the class yesterday. It is so yummy, not too sweet, but has a really nice caramel/butterscotch flavor. Perfect for ice cream.

I didn’t know that a good seat starts with a wide plank. There is a lot of shaping and work that goes into wooden furniture. I love the look of pine furniture. It’s so versatile and could be very rustic or fit right in in the suburbs.

We come back from FL the first of March. My friends have already made a third of a crop. My first boil was 3/8. Sugar content seemed a little low. Everything else is fine, good color, flavor and times.

Hi Tom,

I have made one handle of cherry and it was beautiful, but broke shortly thereafter.  I have never made one of black walnut, but just finished two spoons of walnut, a branch of a planted tree a long way from its natural range. A wonderful wood with hand tools.

To find more about the wood characteristics of black walnut, I would suggest that you make a search for a chart of wood engineering measurements or specifications, and the two to pay attention to are Modulus of Elasticty and Modulus of Rupture.  These measurements, expressed in comparative numbers will allow you to compare walnut to the real gems in axe handle woods: white ash, hickory and maple, and other woods.  In this small space it is difficult to copy the charts, but I just looked them up and Black Walnut is less elastic and less strong, in resisting breakage, but not by much.  I would give it a try with walnut; it is a wonderful wood to work with, and local to your area.  Go for getting perfect grain as that is a major consideration, and let me know how it turns out.

Thanks for asking, Ross

What are your thoughts on using Black Walnut for the handle? Or possibly Wild Cherry?

We have a red fox who uses my husband’s cross country ski tracks frequently. We saw it late in the day last week running at a fast pace. It travels through the old pastures behind our house and along the Androscoggin River. But it is the gray foxes who hold my heart! Both have been here just about dark, looking for any leftover scraps of food I might have put out for the crows or to come up on our deck and eat birdseed. “Momma” is looking pretty scraggly but “Daddy” has a great bushy tail. We have had a pair every year since we built our house in 2008. Pretty sure it is not the same pair after all this time. From time to time we have left out mice that we have caught in traps or maybe some leftover veggies from our meal. They don’t like green pepper ! Last summer. We had one kit under the bird feeder late at night munching quite noisily on bird seed.

Every year gets weirder, but this is the weirdest one yet. I tapped in January - a week later than neighbors. (I’m just not thinking sugaring that early.) It’s been up, down, and sideways ever since.

Is it possible for skunks to spray under your home (I’m guessing they may be denning there for the winter) when it’s 3°f? I know their metabolism slows but there’s nothing about spraying during the winter.

Feels like we missed the entire first half of the season and while preparing to boil now, we wonder if we should have been ready to tap in January (we were not). As mere backyard hobbyists without sophisticated RO and vacuum and limited number of taps, our stakes are lower than those who make a significant annual income and must do so as return on investment… different game when you must boil vs. would like to boil some sap.

Cold weekend will feel good. Hit the “reset” button. Timely dispatch, Dave Mance.

Delighted to see your ‘column and remarks’ continued.  Your stories are always my favorite and I look forward to sharing your signs of spring with my family members.

We’re dealing with the same issues, Val. I don’t trust anyone who’s completely sure of anything—especially Ag related—so my suggestion is to wash all your equipment well during this cold snap, empty your pans of all the old sweet that’s in there (you can save it and finish processing when you know the sap’s going to be off), process your next batch of sap when you get it, and hope for the best. The flavor might come back. That said, if you live in southern NY, there’s a good chance the physiology of the trees have changed and the sap is going, or has gone, buddy. Once this happens you’re usually stuck with off-flavors.

Our season is far early and inconsistent. I am always happier with temperatures too cold rather than too warm. Wearing long underwear to insulate against the evaporator’s heat makes for an uncomfortable sweat in a 90 degree sugarhouse due to a 70 degree day. My move to 3/16 tubing has been helpful in moving sap more quickly through the lines and in extending a warm weather run due to the increased vacuum. Yes, the red-wing blackbirds arrived almost a month early, the ants have been present, and the maple moths are swimming, some poplars are in bloom, and the peepers have sung. I am carefully tasting the most recent batch of syrup for taste. My students are scheduled to come for a day of sugaring this Tuesday. An early March date used to be too early, yet now it is almost too late! But as I always answer, “I will better tell you in April.”

sap in the gathering tanks gets cloudy during the warm days. we’re making dark syrup only.

we don’t have an r.o. perhaps that would reduce the problem

We are familiar with the saying “the devil is in the details.”  The study pertained to the Northeast while totally ignoring what is going on in the southern U.S. where widespread clear cutting is going for supplying pellets for European power generation.  Please address this topic in the future.

Heating my home, I try my best to minimize our “carbon footprint.”  I cut only dead, dying, and downed trees for fuel.  Often they are partially held up from the ground and are already partially seasoned.  With the level of disease currently in our forests, this isn’t too hard to do.

Thanks for the interesting article. This is another bizarre syrup year, 68 degrees a few days ago and 16 today. My first two batches are dark, dark, dark with an off flavor. Question since I’m new: if I note the sap coming out of the tree with a slight yellowish tinge, is this ALWAYS an indicator for bad tasting, dark syrup? Should I just pitch any sap on those extra warm days/nights?