I put up a couple of buckets on some birch trees to give an indicator on when it starts running, so only then would I put up the rest. Yesterday it started to really run. I put up 7 three gallon sap buckets to collect.
The birch trees out in the sun are really running right now. The ones in the woods are trickling, but barely. The way the trees in the sun are running I’m thinking I can fill a 3 gallon bucket in a single day. Doesn’t matter if it’s a white or black birch, they’re both running just as fast.
Of course this comes at a horrible time as I’m getting busy with work around the house and I have a few trips coming up keeping me too busy to boil. So right now I can’t guarantee that I can boil the sap I’m collecting. I’m going to collect the sap today and tomorrow and run what I have through the reverse osmosis and see how strong I can concentrate the sugar. I doubt I’m going to have enough to justify using the pan, so a simple stock pot it may be…
Checked out the old tap holes from the maple trees
Some were dry while others you could tell were still running, but with the buds on the maple trees, the sap would be bad – or if nothing else, all water and no sugar.
