Here is a deluge of photos mirroring today’s deluge of sap. All photo credits go to LC, Chief of Operations.
Cresting. We caught it in time, opened the drain to the lower tanks, and didn’t lose a drop. All day long, all tanks were close to overflowing. Overnight the run will ease but not shut off.
Let’s flip back a few days to the storm that reset winter.
Snow blew through the open doors of the cupola.
The sun came out and warmed the crowns of the maple trees. Soon the open doors of the cupola served their purpose.
Light and delight.
Froth and frolic.
Mystery photo
The bubbles in the center and left troughs resemble bath bubbles; the bubbles in the front trough remind today’s boiler Ross of thermal mud pools in Yellowstone. The density of the mud, or in this case, the density of the syrup, alters how the bubbles pop and collapse. Sheep’s eyes? By the way, a triplet of lambs were born last night at a neighbor’s place.
Love all the pictures, your sugarhouse has been a constant that I always love to revisit, and I can put myself there with each of them.
You asked about records the other day – we set one on Thursday, not for total gallons, but for gallons of syrup from a single days collection. We boiled on Wednesday, expecting to catch and boil what I expected to be a good run. I guess that the trees must have been colder than expected as it didn’t run hard Wednesday, and the RO was through everything we’d collected by 9 with the rig only about 45 minutes behind. When I went out back to clean the concentrate tank after cleanup, I was shocked by how quickly one of our tanks was filling – instead of slowing down with nightfall the run was accelerating. I checked again when I started washing the RO a little after midnight and was alarmed – in three hours we’d filled one of our 10,000 gallon tanks and it seemed like it was picking up, not slowing down.
In the end, the RO had to go back up at 2.30, and the race was on. I spent Thursday morning amazed at how the run was sustaining, and trying to find a window to reset the RO. By early afternoon we realized we just weren’t going to have space – our concentrate tank was almost full, we had a mountain of raw sap in front of us, and the run just wasn’t slowing. We fired up around 3, and by the time we’d drained the concentrate tank again (right around 9) the RO hadn’t made it through about 3000 gallons of sap and we’d made 1100 gallons of syrup (it was really unique syrup, a deep vanilla flavor that I’ve never tasted before – I’d have believed it if someone told me they’d put a bucket of vanilla beans in the evaporator).
The metaphor that comes to my mind is a freight train. A gradual acceleration, an extraordinary volume on board, and ride that isn’t going to stop for anything.
Things slowed more gradually than they started, and we collected a lot of sap through the day on Friday, and boiled again yesterday. Today’s run has felt like the woods are as exhausted as me, and while I’m nervous about a long freeze, I am ready for a day or two of quiet.
Hi Ben, While the freight train barrels on down the track it does seem unstoppable. Apparently your train’s freight included vanilla beans. We made Coty Classic.
The latest mishap here was losing an entire concentration due to – what else – human error. The good news is that we got a strong run yesterday at a snowy 34 degrees.
I’m off to brew sap coffee in the sugarhouse. A cup of joe will help to dispel the clouds that linger from last week’s wild ride. AC
Oh man, that’s a really tough one, I’m sorry to hear it. I too left a ball valve unchecked and open on Monday night, to possibly catastrophic consequences. I was lucky to avoid anything other than a shattered sense of self confidence, a bit of PVC work, and some lost sleep due to a later than intended boil, but it was an adrenaline filled hour here. Sugarmakers brain fog can be so limiting, and I’m building a safety net into my system to prevent that specific mistake from ever happening again.
We boiled everything on hand out Monday night to come into this layoff with dry tanks. The Monday run was surprisingly strong here – right around 1/2 gallon/tap – and we even moved sap around in the 29 degree sunshine yesterday. It seems the trees are thoroughly primed, though following some mid teens nights here it may be a slow start to next week.
Rest was the order of the day yesterday, and it’s hard to believe that the forecast high of 40 today will come to pass right now. There’s plenty I’ll be cleaning and repairing the next couple days, but it’s a relief to have some time to do it in.
Hope that you’re all seeing your fog banks recede, and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a continued window on the backside of this freeze up. As much as there was almost an entire season compressed into the last two weeks we’re still about a week of runs shy of a crop up here, though it is slightly heartening to be almost even with last years short crop.
The Nebraska Knoll Blog 
Love all the pictures, your sugarhouse has been a constant that I always love to revisit, and I can put myself there with each of them.
You asked about records the other day – we set one on Thursday, not for total gallons, but for gallons of syrup from a single days collection. We boiled on Wednesday, expecting to catch and boil what I expected to be a good run. I guess that the trees must have been colder than expected as it didn’t run hard Wednesday, and the RO was through everything we’d collected by 9 with the rig only about 45 minutes behind. When I went out back to clean the concentrate tank after cleanup, I was shocked by how quickly one of our tanks was filling – instead of slowing down with nightfall the run was accelerating. I checked again when I started washing the RO a little after midnight and was alarmed – in three hours we’d filled one of our 10,000 gallon tanks and it seemed like it was picking up, not slowing down.
In the end, the RO had to go back up at 2.30, and the race was on. I spent Thursday morning amazed at how the run was sustaining, and trying to find a window to reset the RO. By early afternoon we realized we just weren’t going to have space – our concentrate tank was almost full, we had a mountain of raw sap in front of us, and the run just wasn’t slowing. We fired up around 3, and by the time we’d drained the concentrate tank again (right around 9) the RO hadn’t made it through about 3000 gallons of sap and we’d made 1100 gallons of syrup (it was really unique syrup, a deep vanilla flavor that I’ve never tasted before – I’d have believed it if someone told me they’d put a bucket of vanilla beans in the evaporator).
The metaphor that comes to my mind is a freight train. A gradual acceleration, an extraordinary volume on board, and ride that isn’t going to stop for anything.
Things slowed more gradually than they started, and we collected a lot of sap through the day on Friday, and boiled again yesterday. Today’s run has felt like the woods are as exhausted as me, and while I’m nervous about a long freeze, I am ready for a day or two of quiet.
BSH
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Hi Ben, While the freight train barrels on down the track it does seem unstoppable. Apparently your train’s freight included vanilla beans. We made Coty Classic.
The latest mishap here was losing an entire concentration due to – what else – human error. The good news is that we got a strong run yesterday at a snowy 34 degrees.
I’m off to brew sap coffee in the sugarhouse. A cup of joe will help to dispel the clouds that linger from last week’s wild ride.
AC
LikeLike
Oh man, that’s a really tough one, I’m sorry to hear it. I too left a ball valve unchecked and open on Monday night, to possibly catastrophic consequences. I was lucky to avoid anything other than a shattered sense of self confidence, a bit of PVC work, and some lost sleep due to a later than intended boil, but it was an adrenaline filled hour here. Sugarmakers brain fog can be so limiting, and I’m building a safety net into my system to prevent that specific mistake from ever happening again.
We boiled everything on hand out Monday night to come into this layoff with dry tanks. The Monday run was surprisingly strong here – right around 1/2 gallon/tap – and we even moved sap around in the 29 degree sunshine yesterday. It seems the trees are thoroughly primed, though following some mid teens nights here it may be a slow start to next week.
Rest was the order of the day yesterday, and it’s hard to believe that the forecast high of 40 today will come to pass right now. There’s plenty I’ll be cleaning and repairing the next couple days, but it’s a relief to have some time to do it in.
Hope that you’re all seeing your fog banks recede, and I’ve got my fingers crossed for a continued window on the backside of this freeze up. As much as there was almost an entire season compressed into the last two weeks we’re still about a week of runs shy of a crop up here, though it is slightly heartening to be almost even with last years short crop.
BSH
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