Maple Sugaring - Collecting the Sap

The process of collecting the sap is a simple one. The sap runs when the weather fluctuates between freezing and thawing. This creates a suction of sorts that draws the sap up from the ground into the tree and its branches. Thus the sap will drip into our containers when the temperatures rise above freezing, and it will stop when it freezes again (more or less).

We monitor this all the time. It's easy since we can see the jugs from the windows. We can even see when the wind blows them off the trees and go rescue them. Anyway...

It's a job everyone is able to do, though occasionally the younger two need a hand.

First we take off a jug with sap collected in it and then we replace it with an empty one which we've brought along from inside the house. We then dump the sap into our collection container. In our case, this is our cooler, which we've set in a cool place that gets no sun. This is serving us well, as the sap is staying cool even when the days have gotten into the 50s.

We then take the jug we just emptied and go get the next one.

Simple. And as you can see, it can be a group effort. We've enjoyed sharing it with friends.

We then do it again later in the day.

We do it again and again as often as necessary to keep the jugs from overflowing or the sap from getting too warm (that is, from being left out in the sun too long and spoiling. This is not too much of a worry, but we're mindful of it just the same).

Yesterday morning, I emptied the cooler to do my first boiling (more on that in the next post, probably tomorrow). The temperatures rose into the 50s and haven't gone down yet. In roughly 24 hours, we completely filled the cooler again, and that even with the sap overflowing the jugs overnight. It has been a very VERY fast running day or so.

Our big tree - which at first we weren't sure was even tapped properly - is producing copious quantities of sap. The other tree, which ran more at first, has slowed down. They seem to take turns in some fashion. It is such a fascinating process, and I cannot say we have any idea why this is, but it sure is fun to observe!