Trees with a larger circumference can safely handle two taps. Costigan recommends tapping trees once during the year and leaving them alone. Sugar Bin alternates sides for tapping yearly and makes sure not to insert taps close to each other. Over-tapped trees will result in drilling into deadwood. Colby is learning the correct angle to insert taps to get maximum sap and allow the tree to retain sufficient nutrients.
Sap can be collected in buckets or bags, which requires a lot of lifting, pouring, and dipping. Stoller switched to the system this year, while Sugar Bin has used it for several years, hanging more than 8 miles of plastic tubing this winter to collect sap.
The tubing is strung from tree to tree and brings sap to a central location. Vacuum pressure maintains a steady pull on the trees, creating a consistent and larger flow from fewer taps. A tap normally heals or seals by the end of the season, but occasionally one fails to close. An open wound on a tree is a potential entrance for disease-causing bacteria or insects.
Fewer taps mean fewer entry opportunities. Costigan says Sugar Bin is careful to avoid damaging trees by scarring or breaking branches any time they are in the woods. There really is a lot to managing a woods. A good sap season depends on the previous growing season. Stressors reduce the reserves a tree can store, which impacts syrup quality. A good growing season generally results in a good sap season the following spring. Everyone gets involved Running the sugar operation is good for kids, Stoller says, and his six children are all part of the family business.
His 5-year-old nephew taps two trees at his home and brings his sap when they are cooking, scooping his sap into the cooker with a tin cup. There are lots of good life lessons out there, and plain old hard work, like having to get six cords of wood ready the summer before the next season. At some point, you just have to dig in and get it done. We plant a tree now, and our grandkids could be tapping that down the road. Costigan says their sugar shack is always open, and a lot of people stop by.
The extra money he makes from the syrup is nice, but his biggest goal is just to have fun and enjoy the outdoors. Most of the income produced through Sugar Bin goes back into growing the business for now.
Costigan says they have made a little fun money and bought four-wheelers with tracks to move sap out of the woods, use on the farm, and for recreation.
The syrup makers enjoy the woods. Syrup is boiled to the candy stage and poured upon the snow. Author: Anita. Home » Articles » Maple Syrup Season! Maple Syrup Season! Sponsored by. In Partnership With. Join the Party! See what the country was up to! There will be federal help available to sugar makers from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
Hope said grants are serviced through local Farm Service Agency offices in each county. We're looking forward to opening sugar houses and having people come visit. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Facebook Twitter Email. Vermont's sugaring season was one of the worst in years, even as maple syrup demand grew.
Maple syrup making connects past to present in Shelburne. Each spring, residents at Wake Robin in Shelburne take a vacation from their retirement, roll up their sleeves, and head out to the sugar house, where they gather sap, haul wood and boil to make dozens of gallons of maple syrup.
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