We finished tapping today. The progress  became slower and more difficult as the snow became soft and sticky. While tapping has been underway we have been checking pumps, testing the vacuum system, the Reverse Osmosis machine and the evaporator. Everything worked, which is unusual, but we still have the Clayton bush to test. So we are not quite finished.

Some sap has been running and so far we’ve collected about 5,000 litres. This may sound like a lot but on a good day we  collect about 30,000 litres. The 5,000 litres was processed through the Reverse Osmosis machine and we ended up with 1,500 litres of concentrated sap. It takes 550 litres of sap to fill our big evaporator and we need to add 4 or 5 times that amount, as we boil, before we reach syrup. So we boiled today but ran out of sap before making any syrup. Once we reach the syrup stage and we continue to add fresh sap, we produce syrup at the rate of one to two litres per minute. We can hardly wait for that taste of fresh syrup.

We are not yet open for visitors. Maybe next weekend but we need more sap We want to have fresh syrup to taste and that depends entirely on favourable weather.