Tapped the maples.

[Sheepwheat]

Mmmmmmm now you need some fried eggs, bacon, and a waffle to go with it and you’re set. Yum😋

For Christmas I got a couple bags of maple sugar granules and it’s great to throw on toast or popcorn.

I admire everyone who has the patience to do this. Good job.

There is not much for patience involved honestly. Ten minutes go drill some holes and tap som taps in. Five minutes collect sap. Get sap boiling, do something else while it boils down. As it gets close to finishing, this is where i suppose you need patience, or at least proper attention so you don’t wreck it.

Get the kids on it. That’s what us lazy folks do!

[burnt]

There is not much for patience involved honestly. Ten minutes go drill some holes and tap som taps in. Five minutes collect sap. Get sap boiling, do something else while it boils down. As it gets close to finishing, this is where i suppose you need patience, or at least proper attention so you don’t wreck it.

Get the kids on it. That’s what us lazy folks do!

"Close to finishing" is indeed where you need patience, no supposing about it!!!

It can go bad pretty quickly once it gets to the fines bubbles point and when you get the big, lazy bubbles stage you might be closer to taffy than syrup.

We always used a candy thermometer as a guide and when it reached 219, it was finished.

But that figure was not fixed as the boiling point of water varies with atmospheric pressure and would need to be adjusted for the conditions of the day by checking the boiling point of water at that particular time.

We had more than one "accident" over the years by not paying close attention when it was close to finished and went too long. With a wood-fired system, it wasn't possible to just turn the dial and shut the heat off, so we had to stoke the firebox accordingly, usually meaning that we used very light sticks that would generate a lot of heat quickly and then burn out just as fast.

It makes for a pretty sick feeling to see the bottom of the evaporator pan covered in brown or black tar...

[Sheepwheat]

"Close to finishing" is indeed where you need patience, no supposing about it!!!

It can go bad pretty quickly once it gets to the fines bubbles point and when you get the big, lazy bubbles stage you might be closer to taffy than syrup.

We always used a candy thermometer as a guide and when it reached 219, it was finished.

But that figure was not fixed as the boiling point of water varies with atmospheric pressure and would need to be adjusted for the conditions of the day by checking the boiling point of water at that particular time.

We had more than one "accident" over the years by not paying close attention when it was close to finished and went too long. With a wood-fired system, it wasn't possible to just turn the dial and shut the heat off, so we had to stoke the firebox accordingly, usually meaning that we used very light sticks that would generate a lot of heat quickly and then burn out just as fast.

It makes for a pretty sick feeling to see the bottom of the evaporator pan covered in brown or black tar...

I have a black tar wreck every year. It ain’t syrup season without one it seems.