2025 Sugaring Season

First Pickup at the homewoods. 1400' pumpout line and raising sap about 90'.

We started tapping February 27th and finished up March1st. This year we tapped the Homewoods' (didn't tap last year) 1000 taps since we have completed our pump out system. This replaced carrying out 150 gallons of sap at a time via a tractor. The Harmon Woods has 4600 taps. There was no snow on the ground but the frost was in the ground up to 2ft which made for a slippery surface on the sidehills. After tapping we do line inspections to ensure all trees are tapped and any hole in the line is fixed. The deep frost has frozen up many producers underground sap lines. They had to run new lines above ground. Our dry line at Harmons as froze up for about a week but the wet line was always open so we had no issues. First load of sap was picked up March 4th. The sugar content was 2.5% as compared to last years first load of 2.1%. By March 15th we have about 10,000 gallons of sap/300 gallons of syrup. We had 3 bouts of sub zero weather this past winter which usually leads to a higher sugar contect.

This first 2 weeks of March has seen temps from 6 degrees to a record 75 degrees March 14th. Thunderstoms Friday nite March 14th will be followed by temps to 16 degrees Sunday morning. Due to the deep frost (caused by minimal snow cover this winter) the sap flow has been slow. - usually running 25% of normal and running from noon till 6pm only. If the trees roots are froze there will be minimal sap until the ground thaws.

March 21 update. Spring is here and the sap is finally running at higher rates. On March 20th after a freezing nite of 25 degrees it was sunny and in the mid forties. The harmon woods was running at the highest recorded rate of 600 gallons per hour with 25 inches of vacuum. In 10 hours we got 4500 gallons of sap. Inspecting all lines for vacuum leaks has paid off in higher run rates. The improvements we made the last few years are paying off.(wire tied manifolds, larger mainlines, additional feeder mainlines, homewoods electrical service with a new vacuum and pumpout line). As of today we have collected about 20,000 gallons of sap with a sugar content of 2.6% that made about 600 gallons of syrup. It might turn out to be a good year yet since most of the frost is now gone and the weather looks favorable for sap flow. Usually the last week of March and the first week of April are the highest sap flow rates.

March 26 update - Went over 40,000 gallons of sap collected today and Sugar is at 2.54%. Dave checked the Harmon Woods west main line Monday - there were a few small trees on the line which caused it to sag and create back surging. He used a level to ensure that the line was always going down to the collector. Dave completed checking the east side of the Homewoods Oak Knob. There were 2 trees not tapped, 2 drops not connected plus 1 large hole in a drop and many holes in the lateral lines. This increased vacuum to 18.5 inches which should increase output. The theory is a 5% sap increase for each inch of vacuum. Both woods are now in maintenance mode since we have gone over each line. Forecast is for rain and then snow this weekend - we need the moisture which should lead to good sap flows after the storm since the temps will be freezing overnight with highs in the 40's.

March 29 - After the warm weather the last 2 days (60 and 69) No sap today - Low pressure system moved in with Thunderstorms last nite and rain/ snow expected today and tomorrow. With freezing expected Sunday nite the trees should be giving us plenty of sap after the storm. Jim and Dave cleaned and emptied the sap tanks today and delivered to the sugar house. As of today we have 45k gallons of sap and 1300 gallons of syrup which is a 34 to 1 ratio. The Harmon woods is outdoing the Homewoods by a 2 to 1 margin. Lower inches of vacuum and less than optimal line layout are the reasons. We believe we can increase output by 2x tl 3x if we redo the line layout. On March 28th Dave was continuing with the project to remove all nails holding the lateral end lines with the wrap around line around the end tree and clipping to the incoming lateral line. . He completed the west section. Also removed 3 line tees, added and tapped 3 trees and fixed 2 vacuum leaks.

April 1st - sap started to run yesterday but didn't start till 1pm. collected about 2000 gallons. We received 2.5" of rain and 2" of snow so there is plenty of moisture to keep the sap flowing. Dave cleaned the collection tanks, dumped out 20 gallons of old sap to ensure we have top quality sap collected this week. Also rerouted 1 lateral line, added a manifold and tapped in 2 new trees. More snow is expected today and tomorrow.

April 6th - hard freeze last nite but sap flow is only 25% of normal. Tap holes on south side of the sugrbush have stopped flowing. Nancy reportedher first peeper sigting new River Falls today so this will be the last week of the sugarng season. Sap collected is 52,000 gallons and sugar content 2.4%. We will get some more this week so will be down from last year. Yesterday Dave and Brad worked on replacing end tees (with nails) with the new clip end lateral line. We have completed about 1/2 of the sugarbus so far.

April 9th - The weather is good for more sap but the Tap holes have sealed up so will pickup final sap tomorrow and then start to remove the spouts from the homewoods. Plan to do HarmonsSaturday and then wash tanks Sunday.

April 10th - Thats it. It's the final cooking day. Jim and Dave delivered 896 gallons of sap to bring the season totals to 53,501 gallons of sap which made 1,521 gallons of syrup - decrease of 7.7% from 2024. Sugar content was 2.44% or a 35 to 1 ratio. The consensus is that deep frost limited sap output the first part of the season and then 2 bouts of warm weather (70 degreees) caused excess bacteria grouth which sealed up the tap holes which resulted in the down year. Jim and Dave picked up the 4 1500 gallon tanks and all were pressured washed plus the 550 gallon truck tank.