Finally some moderating weather and we can start tapping. The snow is very soft which makes moving through the sugar bush very tiring. Snowshoes help but if the snow gets sticky it tends to pack on the snowshoes and adds to their weight.
We tap in teams of two people: one person to position the drop line and drill the hole, the second person to insert the spile and connect the drop line. The operation can be done by one person but the operator is continually changing tools from drill to mallet. Also the lead person, the driller, is breaking trail which is tiring and the two people can change places from time to time and ease the strain.
On a good day two people can insert about 800 taps, more if there is a crust on the snow to speed up the walking. The distance covered will be 2 to 3 miles.
Jamie Fortune 
Al MacGregor 
Ray Fortune 
Ordering Maple Syrup
It’s time to place orders for this year’s crop of fresh syrup. This year we have added a shopping cart page to our web site. We hope this helps your shopping experience.
A Poem by Ray
Tapping is a lot of work, each tree must have its tap, connected up with pipes and tubes, to collect the flowing sap. Snowshoes are mighty handy, when snow's two feet on the ground, but they're not so good in bushes, or you have to turn around. At last the trees are all tapped in, and we are set to go, we hope the sap will run and fill, our tanks to overflow.
Fortune Farms 