Once again, a lesson from the backyard maple sugarmaking operation. This time it's economics.Some trees have completely stopped (the sap). In other trees, one tap has stopped, while another keeps dripping away. And in still other trees, the taps are all running as if spring will never come.
The weather is warm. The sap will spoil if it's not processed the day it is collected. So the maple sugarmaking end game is short boils, each night. Two nights ago I collected just about 14 gallons of sap. The short quart of syrup on the left is from that boil. Last night I collected probably eight to nine gallons. The syrup on the right is from that boil.
Last night's production was barely enough to test in the hydrometer. It's time to stop. The investment of time and fuel does not match up to the end product: diminishing returns. Determining when to say when is tough.
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