Here are pics from the first weekend of tapping…

The first thing you need to know about maple tapping is that it is virtually impossible to do without a beer.
I call the following photo series: “Yeah, We’d Tap That”

Once the trees are drilled and the taps placed, then we hang the buckets.

Some get one..others get two.

And some, have nicer buckets than others…

NICE CANS! (Had to be said.)
The way that we collect the sap is to drag it out of the woods in a wheelbarrow, with a tiny cat in each bucket.

This is after just one day of sitting on the tree:

And now, the shining star of our season… our new Leader Evaporator!

An evaporator is a combination wood stove and compartmentalized boiling pan that facilitates the boiling down of the sap. Much better than the bottom of a crate MacGuyvered as a boiling pan.

The evaporator was put into the greenhouse and vented through the roof.

The sap is brought into the greenhouse in water carboys, then collected into garbage cans, then loaded into the evaporator about 5 gallons at a time.

I’m so proud of how much we have accomplished! And all of our limbs are still intact! So far. (Knock on wood.)

Now… can we find this boy a date?

Tags: Family, Farming, Maple Syrup, Winter