Site Discussions

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?

I observe doves all day long. They even nest in my courtyard. There are aspects of their behavior I’ve havn’t found anywhere. During the day when the male is on the nest and the female is feeding in my yard and there happens to be a single male, it seems to leave the female alone and the female also will show some aggression towards the male if it happens to be standing a little too close. Where as single females are constantly taunted by single males. Never understood how a male can get a female by annoying it severely. Is it like breaking a horse, you ware the female down to the submissive state?  Another thing is I’ve heard two different calls coming from the male. The typical cooing seems to happen during mating season. The other call, a sad short two phrase call I’ve heard when the parents loss their nest to a predator. Has anyone experienced this or know anything about their calls that could shed some light on this. It’s the little things I find interesting in birds. Thank you.

I was delighted to spot an opossum feeding in the grass in my backyard one night last fall. It might have been eating leftover parrot kibble that I put out for squirrels and ground feeding birds. Opossums may eat thousands of ticks every day in warm weather so having them in or near one’s yard is very beneficial.

Anytime it gets above 50 the microbial loads in your tapholes and lines multiply, which will eventually cause your taphole to slime over and stop running. This doesn’t happen right away, though. My advice would be to wait and see what happens. It’s early enough that if you get good sap weather again (ie freezing temps at night), the holes will likely start running again. Generally speaking, it’s not good practice to redrill your holes. Not only does it stress the tree, but once the weather has been sufficiently warm to slime up a taphole, the tree’s metabolism will have changed in a way that’s not conducive to making good syrup. You might get another run or two out of the new hole, but the syrup you make will likely be off-flavored and not worth your time or the added tree stress.

Enjoyed a great tapping week in early Feb. 2017.
Then temps hit 50!s/60’s, including warm nights.
Tap holes appear dry.
Predictions now are for good hi/low temps for at least a week.
Can I use same holes?
Or should I make new tap holes?

Yikes! Absolutely beautiful! What a privileged little person. Thanks for letting us all in on such a personal message!

Most lawn grubs are beetle larvae. They frequently are C shaped; white; brown headded and more damage is done by skunks digging for them than is done by the grubs. Thanks for the question!

Brave leap, Dave Mance. Waited for the hard shift from reverse gear and rear-view mirror to first gear and you jumped right to fifth! Good editorial gives me something to think about for a while.Thinking about my dad (who never owned forestland) and my son (who will).  By mentally ceding management priorities for small - and yet much beloved - family woodlot to our heirs, we better manage with their best interests foremost so as to not diminish their modest inheritance. We also need to make fond family memories on the family tree farm so as to remain in love with the place. Need to get next generation to do likewise. Then I have less fear for what we might do and they likewise. Managing for next generation seems the conservative approach.

PS - tried to write this without an “I” in text. Failed.