Sunday February 16, 2020

Tap day!!! A busy day all in all from church this am to the first 4-H meeting tonight. 

8 people in 4 teams tapped the whole woods in 2.5 hours!

It was sunny today. No wind. You could place spiles and undo the tubing without gloves on! SO NICE...compared to any typical day of tapping in our memory.



Icing on the cake....the taps were actively dripping immediately!!

The tapping process involves waiting for a cold snap that will likely be followed by some warm (40 degrees is adequate) and sunny weather..that will typically be enough to initiate a sap "run". The weather forecast is favorable for the next week in that regard...if you tap too soon the taps scar off and do not run as well and if you wait too long and the buds pop...the sugar content changes in the sap and the taste is lost (bitter!). Never really know if you guessed correctly till the end of the season. 

We tap each tree by hand with a cordless drill and 5/16th inch bit. We attempt to put the new tap in an area of the tree that has not been previously tapped within 6 inches. We typically do not tap any of our trees less than 12 inches in diameter. 

The whole needs to be drilled at a slight angle to facilitate the sap draining.










The tap is lightly "tapped" in...no pun intended....with a hammer and we have the tubing connected to a food grade plastic 5 gallon bucket sitting near the tree. 

Our system is to have one person drill the hole and the second team member place the spile, tap it in and set the bucket. 

Now all we have to do is wait and see what mother nature provides! 

Having buckets and lids dispersed throughout the woods really helped this project. 

Local FFA student Maddie B helps Brad with spiles and buckets.


The group returned to the camp and lifted the back pan into place, a job that takes 4 strong people and 2 extras to move the wood braces...so we had enough hands on deck to get the back evaporator pan back down in the sand. We lift it out at the end of each season in an attempt to keep it from being exposed to the moisture in the sand all winter. 

We still have to get the edge of the pan caulked with heat caulking and do some dusting inside the milk tanks to have the camp ready. The tank and stairs will need to be put on Walle yet as well.....almost ready to go.

Thanks again to all who helped today.....PLEASE come back tomorrow...because this was a video of the flow two hours after we tapped!