Store Sugaring Report and The Promised Sugaring Walkabout.

The sap is running again.

The thing I noticed yesterday was that some of the people who came in to buy sugaring stuff, mostly containers, seemed stressed. They were in a hurry. Like... IF I DON'T GET BACK SOON THE SAP BUCKETS WILL OVERFLOW!!!!

The other thing I noticed was that the sugaring folk were chatty about their sugaring experiences so far this season. I heard a lot about numbers of gallons produced and some about the quality of the syrup.

The thing I noticed TODAY about the sugaring people is that they looked TIRED. They must have been boiling all night. There is an unwritten sugaring law: "As long as the sap is running you MUST collect and you MUST boil."

This was delivered today:

So I didn't get any pics of local sugar shacks,
but here are some pics of a local guy sugaring in his driveway.
He usually gives us a quart or two as a gifts throughout the year.
(He also makes wine.)
(And keeps bees for honey. He sells his honey at the store.)

This is the new way to collect sap. Blue plastic tubing is attached to the taps on the trees and runs all through the woods to a central collection vat. We sell lots of those 5 gallon plastic buckets for collecting sap and we have huge spools of the blue plastic tubing out back in hardware.

The Iconic Sap Bucket

This is the old way. You have to haul each bucket to a big tub to empty the sap. We still sell this type of sap bucket becuaes people with 5 taps and little kids like to use it. It is picturesque.

The Iconic Maple Syrup Tin

This is my favorite syrup containing device.
It shows the old way of collecting sap.

It is not old or anything. You can still buy syrup in these tins
I stole this pic. I forgot to photo one at the store today.