That Time Of Year Again

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

You are a rare breed

Yes, I am. I predate planned parenthood.

[Dean Romig]

Originally Posted by edgarspencer

I predate planned parenthood.

Aha! So you were a surprise! Just as we thought!! You surprise us too

[edgarspencer]

No, I wasn't a surprise. In fact, my grandfather asked for a grandson for his birthday, and my mother delivered (hehe) right to the day. It's just that they didn't have a test back then, so I wasn't a surprise, until I was actually born. My mother is the originator of the popular expression 'WTF?"

[Dean Romig]

[QUOTE=edgarspencer;95178] I wasn't a surprise, until I was actually born. [QUOTE]


I'll bet it was the first time a doctor ever slapped the mother instead of the baby...

[Bob Davis]

Edgar: Having grown up in Connecticut (now live in Texas), I have fond memories of going to a sugar shack in Southbury every spring (I think in April) to buy several pints of fresh-made syrup. It was kind of a ritual of spring and something I looked foward to not just for the delicious maple syrup, but also for the knowledge that warmer weather was just around the corner after months of cold winter.

Thanks for posting. Is that receiver in the background a HAM radio? I'd imagine it helps pass the time when you're boiling the sap all night.

Bob

[edgarspencer]

[QUOTE=Dean Romig;95181][QUOTE=edgarspencer;95178] I wasn't a surprise, until I was actually born.

I'll bet it was the first time a doctor ever slapped the mother instead of the baby...

I don't know if the Doctor did, but I'm pretty sure my grandfather did.

Originally Posted by Bob Davis

Edgar: Having grown up in Connecticut (now live in Texas), I have fond memories of going to a sugar shack in Southbury every spring (I think in April) to buy several pints of fresh-made syrup. It was kind of a ritual of spring and something I looked foward to not just for the delicious maple syrup, but also for the knowledge that warmer weather was just around the corner after months of cold winter.

Thanks for posting. Is that receiver in the background a HAM radio? I'd imagine it helps pass the time when you're boiling the sap all night.

Bob

Bob, It's an old military transmitter; spare to another set, up in the loft with an appropriate vintage Hallicrafters receiver. I haven't used it in years, but never when I'm boiling, as that takes all my attention, not to burn the pans.

When thinking of Maple Syrup, people usually think of Vermont, But New Hampshire produces nearly as much as Vermont. The supply house in NH, where I get stuff from also produces maple sugar, and syrup. They put in over 50,000 taps, and boil off upwards of 100,000 gallons of sap per day. I think my best SEASON was about 3500 gallons of sap. Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia produce more than VT, but their sap is much lower in sugar content, so their syrup is darker. The maple sap in CT has, in past years, had a very high sugar content, and as a result, our very small production is considered a very high quality. In previous years, the sugar content has been close to 3% at the beginning of the season, requiring only about 35 gallons of sap to boil down to one gallon of syrup. This drops off rapidly, towards 2%, requiring 50 gallons of sap. I'm pretty concerned, as yesterdays production figures out to be less than 2% sugar. Syrup will most likely be darker this year. No thanks to Al Gore, but climate change has clearly had an effect of the maple trees. Our season was pretty predictably started around Lincoln's birthday, and went till the end of March. It's begun progressively sooner each year, and each years season is a bit shorter than the one before.
Between the Eastern Long Horned Beetle and the climate changes, I have serious concerns for the long term viability of making syrup in CT

[Dean Romig]

To say nothing of the "Winter (or Snow) Moth" which feed voraciously on maple leaves.

[Keith Bedard]

Well Mr Spencer.. every time you came back from collecting sap there you reaked of cheap perfume and your pockets were turned out with no money left to buy coffee! Just an observation of course... besides weren't you the one that told me it was?

[Bob Davis]

Edgar: Thanks for the brief background on syrup production. I had no idea it was so involved. I always knew that it took a lot of sap to make a gallon. Is that 35:1 ration pretty standard? Also didn't know that the sugar content fluctuates year-to-year, and is also different by region. I'm curious... do you have a device that measures the sugar content of the sap? I'm sad to think about the possibility that syrup production could be a thing of the past in Connecticut and I didn't even think about the affects of climate change and insects on the maples. Thanks for clarifying my question on the radio.

Best,

Bob

[edgarspencer]

Originally Posted by Keith Bedard

Well Mr Spencer.. every time you came back from collecting sap there you reaked of cheap perfume and your pockets were turned out with no money left to buy coffee! Just an observation of course... besides weren't you the one that told me it was?

I know you think your funny. Sad really. It isn't why we're here.

Bob, some guys carry a pocket refractometer that tells them the % of sugar. It's a bit more science. But in the end, you can't change a tree you've already tapped, so I just go with what the trees give me. It's just a hobby for me. For some, it's a competition and they have to call six times a day to tell me they just did what I did, 25 years ago.