It’s time to close up the camp for another year. We will be open Sunday, April 28 then after that by chance or by appointment. With the rain and snow showers today it felt like maple syrup season all over again. Sunshine and warmer weather are in the forecast so maybe spring will finally arrive. To mark the end of the blog for this season here is a closing poem.

Another year has come and gone
A bumper one for sure
I’m very glad that it is done
It was all we could endure.

Sometimes the sap ran all day
Sometimes it ran all night
Sometimes it ran and ran
When we didn’t think it might.

So we boiled and boiled all day
We boiled again at night
Sometimes we still were boiling
When came the first daylight.

We packed the syrup in bottles
We packed the syrup in drums
We counted all our produce
And did our yearly sums.

We’ve syrup enough for orders
For candy and for tarts
And lots to offer clients
Or ship to foreign parts.

We thank you for your patronage
We hope you’ll come next year
When once again we’re open
Cause we’re planning to be here.

Click to enlarge image

We are now busy washing all our equipment for storage until next year. Also we need to back-flush the pipelines and tubing. The spiles are removed from the tree and the taphole immediately begins to heal and will sealed with new wood as the tree grows.Its a big job washing 6 miles of pipelines and 20 miles of tubing. It’s always a rush getting done before the black fly season.

The wild leeks are now poking through the leaf litter as well as the dog tooth violets.The leatherwood shrub will be one of the first to burst into flower. It has a small yellow flower that only lasts for two days. It’s called leather wood because the branches are of flexible and can be tied in knots without breaking. The bark was stripped by the natives and woven into strong rope. Also soon to appear will be the hepaticas and the small mayflowers.

Here is an interesting picture of a tree trunk being pecked to pieces by pileated woodpeckers. Obviously we’ll have to do some line repair when they cut through the trunk.

The camp will be open daily all this week and through the weekend. We will be closing the camp except by appointment starting April 29.

The season has ended. It has been our most productive season to date. One never knows from year to year what will happen. It is almost fully dependent on the weather. This year the sap ran through the night more than usual. This seems to occur when the temperature hovers around the freezing point and the atmospheric low pressure is below normal.It’s always a pleasant surprise to find our tanks full of sap in the morning.

The Kettle Boys and Shanty Men have of course shut down for the season. The snow has gone from the trails but there are wet spots and good waterproof footwear is essential.

The rain has stopped this morning and the birds are singing. Our resident male bluebird has returned and has claimed the bird house. There may be a shower or two later today but much more pleasant than the heavy rain yesterday. Sunday and Monday look very pleasant.
We are open as usual from 10 t0 5 all weekend.

As predicted in my last blog when the sun came out today and it warmed up above freezing the sap burst from the trees. Another big sap run expected tomorrow so it’s turning out to be another bumper crop.We now have dark syrup and are busy filling our orders.

With yesterdays fresh snow on top of the crust animal tracks were very visible. Along with the usual deer and turkey tracks,fisher tracks were also visible. We also see bear tracks from time to time but none so far this year. There is nothing for them to eat until the fresh grass appears.One year a bear found our outdoor garbage bag and then tried to break into the camp for a taste of maple syrup. His or her paw prints were eight feet high on our back door.

A nice day in the forecast for Thursday, so a good opportunity to visit the sugar bush and see the sap gushing into our holding tanks.

What can one possibly say
Winter has returned today
With rain and sleet and lots of snow
And winds that swirl around and blow

But sugar makers are a not so sad
In fact we’re feeling rather glad
When once again we see the sun
The sap will run and run and run

We are busy today boiling the sap that ran yesterday and in the evening. No more sap expected until it warms up again. This cold weather will recharge the trees and we expect another good sap run when it warms up later this week.

The camp is open today as we are busy boiling and will welcome any visitors that make it through this nasty weather.

After three weekends with not so nice weather we are enjoying a pleasant weekend. The sap continues to run although not so hard today as there was no frost last night.

It’s been very nice to welcome many return visitors to our camp each year. In fact, in our main camp we have a Wall of Honour to recognize long time visitors. This is our 46th year of operation and several people have been coming all the time and are now bringing their great grandchildren.  We try to keep our list up to date with three categories – 10 to 14 years, 15 to 24 years and  25 years and over.If you are not on the list or incorrectly listed we would be only to pleased to add your name or family name to the list.

All our activities are in full operation today. The trails are rather soft but passable with a bit of effort. Thje sun may break through this afternoon so it will be an enjoyable day at the sugar bush.

We are open until 5:pm

We are still processing sap that ran over the last two days. The sap ran as hard as we can recall for during this period including all night onTuesday – Wednesday night. We did have a period last year when it ran for three days so it’s not quite a record for us but close. With more spring weather ahead it is shaping up to be a good to very good year for maple syrup in this area.

This is Maple Weekend when many sugar camps will be open for visitors. We will be open as usual welcoming visitors to our camp and to the Kettle Boys and Shanty Men. In the picture Eric Boysen, our key Shanty Man, is treating visitors to a taste of the syrup made on the small wood fired evaporator. This is a good place to see how an evaporator works and to smell the steam from the boiling sap and of course taste the syrup.

We will be open as usual on Maple Weekend from 10:00 to 5:00.

The sap began to run yesterday about noon and continued to run all day and night and is still running this morning After boiling until 2am our tanks are full of sap again so we will be boiling all day. It’s a bit tiring but this is what we look forward to all year so we don’t complain.

The  jet stream has finally straightened out and moved north to the Great Lakes so maybe we are now in the more normal cycle of spring weather. Still lots of snow in the sugar bush so even with warm weather the trees will not begin to bud.When the buds arrive the sap changes in chemistry and the syrup made with this sap has an unpleasant flavour. It signals the end of the maple season.

The weekend looks promising with warm weather. A nice change after the stormy weather last weekend.