Dear Reader, The years turn, the seasons turn, sugar season returns. Once again this blog will jump into the cycle of the maple tree’s life, and the sugarmaker’s year, at tapping time. It’s Year 46 of sugaring at Nebraska Knoll.
Out the door. Veteran tapper Ross Scatchard and three others began tapping on February 3rd. [FC photo]
Out the door and up the hill. [LL photo]
The tappers release the tap lines from the snowpack by, in this case, scooping snow away; lifting the line up as they trudge along it; or cutting the line, pulling it out, and splicing the line back together.
Every day veteran tapper Larry Lackey finds much of interest besides maple trees. These are bear markings on a beech tree. Bears thrive on beech nuts. [LL photo]
Lew Coty, Chief of Operations, taps a sugar maple. Every February we drill a fresh taphole, moving sideways around the tree according to our guidelines. Note an old hole on the front of the tree which is starting to heal over. [FC video]
“You look up a steep line to the next tree and say How will I ever get up there, then you start switching back,” says Chief of Operations. [LC video]
“It’s not that we’ve had so much snow this year, it’s that we haven’t had a thaw,” says Chief of Operations (Chops). Here is Freedle Coty documenting the snowpack in the upper reaches of the sugarbush in early February. [FC photo]
Jenn Galliott of Woody Point, Newfoundland is back on crew this year. She dropped her drill in the snow on the trek down the hill one afternoon and, to her relief, found it the next day. Often we retrieve lost tools in May. [LC photo]
It’s time to call it a day. The February moon is officially called the Snow Moon; here it appears as the Blood Moon, according to Chops. [LC photo]
It’s interesting to see this stage of the game. Looking at trees and their individual characters The minutiae of tapping and setting up the tubing. Navigating through deep fluffy white stuff. All of this to get a little sweet water from a tree. lol.
I can immerse myself in the beauty and work of the Nebraska Knoll- it is as remember it decades ago.
Those of us on the West coast now experiencing the blooming of Indian plum on our walks. In our yard watching bees diving into crocus blossoms to escape rain drops-
the snow is like a spellbinding tale.
Thank you for making this window unto your world- esp. enjoyed the videos.
The Nebraska Knoll Blog
It’s interesting to see this stage of the game. Looking at trees and their individual characters The minutiae of tapping and setting up the tubing. Navigating through deep fluffy white stuff. All of this to get a little sweet water from a tree. lol.
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I can immerse myself in the beauty and work of the Nebraska Knoll- it is as remember it decades ago.
Those of us on the West coast now experiencing the blooming of Indian plum on our walks. In our yard watching bees diving into crocus blossoms to escape rain drops-
the snow is like a spellbinding tale.
Thank you for making this window unto your world- esp. enjoyed the videos.
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Clairmonde, I like “the snow is like a spellbinding tale.” Please continue sending us word pictures of spring in Oregon. Audrey
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