April 4, 2023 ~ Calm before the Storm

 Good morning everyone! 

Here’s the update from the sugar bush.  It’s all quiet on the western front.  And the eastern front.  And the north slope. 
I took advantage of the quiet over the weekend to add a few more trees to the equation.  But for the most part, things have been a little too cold to really open up the production.  We are still waiting for enough sap to fire up the boiler, and looking at the weather the rest of this week, we could be starting by Friday. 

The local Conservation Authority reported this week that snowpack is 190% of normal for this time of year.  And the water content of the snowpack is quite high as well.  This should be an advantage for the 2024 maple crop.  I have noticed while walking and giving pep talks to the trees, this means the snow is still over my knees in most places, and the occasional “soaker” has shown that the frost depth is very shallow.  Overall, I am expecting a good crop of syrup to start happening over the next couple of weeks.

This past weekends heavy anow and rain did freeze up the main line in several places, but also looked amazingly beautiful when the sun came out and sparkled all the diamonds on the branches and lines.  Trail boss Farley was more concerned about the number of deer on the trail, and set about enforcing trespass regulations.  (“Get off my trails you young punks!”)

Happy Mapleing!
~ Michael