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Fred Schueler

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Nov 15, 2024, 4:11:58 PM11/15/24
to Eastern Ontario Natural History listserve
Everyone,

You can read that sap moves up and down in Maples whenever temperatures
fluctuate above and below freezing. It's also said that indigenous
sugaring without metal pans was such hard work that it was only done in
the spring to fend off starvation.

After a couple of decades of dithering, I have finally put in a November
tap (in the Buckthorn-to-Maple grove across the street), and it is running.

fred.
------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
(613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca>
------------------------------------------------------------

rmb...@istar.ca

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Nov 22, 2024, 8:23:18 PM11/22/24
to natur...@googlegroups.com
Sooo...how much sap did you get? When I read this I had lofty plans
to dust off a couple of spiles and pails, but was in a frenzy of
firewood gathering and forgot to put them on the trees. with the warm
days and chilly nights, I'm imagining that I missed out.

Rose-Marie
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Frederick W. Schueler

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Nov 23, 2024, 8:44:34 AM11/23/24
to natur...@googlegroups.com
On 22-Nov-24 8:23 p.m., rmb...@istar.ca wrote:
> Sooo...how much sap did you get?  When I read this I had lofty plans to
> dust off a couple of spiles and pails, but was in a frenzy of firewood
> gathering and forgot to put them on the trees.  with the warm days and
> chilly nights, I'm imagining that I missed out.

* the tap ran a little - half a litre/day - for the two days when the
nights were below freezing, and then in slavish adherence to the rule of
only-running-when-it-freezes-at-night it dried up. Today I'll pitch
yesterday's generous rainfall, and then wait for after Sunday night
(forecast -3°C) to see if dripping will resume.

fred.
-------------------------------------------------
> Quoting Fred Schueler <bck...@istar.ca>:
>
>> You can read that sap moves up and down in Maples whenever
>> temperatures fluctuate above and below freezing. It's also said that
>> indigenous sugaring without metal pans was such hard work that it was
>> only done in the spring to fend off starvation.
>>
>> After a couple of decades of dithering, I have finally put in a
>> November tap (in the Buckthorn-to-Maple grove across the street), and
>> it is running.
--
------------------------------------------------------------
---------Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad ------------
Fragile Inheritance Natural History - https://fragileinheritance.ca/
6 St-Lawrence Street Bishops Mills, RR#2 Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44.87156° N 75.70095° W
------------------------------------------------------------

rmb...@istar.ca

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Nov 23, 2024, 12:02:45 PM11/23/24
to natur...@googlegroups.com
Hmmm....I'll keep an eye on the temps, may still have time to put up a
pail. May get enough to boil down for one feed of pancakes.

Rose-Marie
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>



Frederick W. Schueler

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Dec 2, 2024, 8:08:48 AM12/2/24
to natur...@googlegroups.com
On 23-Nov-24 8:44 a.m., Frederick W. Schueler wrote:
> On 22-Nov-24 8:23 p.m., rmb...@istar.ca wrote:
>> Sooo...how much sap did you get?  When I read this I had lofty plans
>> to dust off a couple of spiles and pails, but was in a frenzy of
>> firewood gathering and forgot to put them on the trees.  with the warm
>> days and chilly nights, I'm imagining that I missed out.
>
> the tap ran a little - half a litre/day - for the two days when the
> nights were below freezing, and then in slavish adherence to the rule of
> only-running-when-it-freezes-at-night it dried up. Today I'll pitch
> yesterday's generous rainfall, and then wait for after Sunday night
> (forecast -3°C) to see if dripping will resume.

* we've had a few days since when the tap ran a little, and have made
about 30 ml of syrup, but there haven't been any of the +6° days with
-4°C nights which would have resulted in good flows in the spring, and
the coming week is forecast to be consistently below freezing. We'll
leave it in over the winter, and see what happens.

At the recent South Nation Conservation Advisory Committee meeting it
was explained that they couldn't budget on revenue from tapping their
Maple forests, because, depending on the weather of the spring, sales of
sap might bring in anything between $16K or $3K.

fred.
======================================

rmb...@istar.ca

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Dec 2, 2024, 9:19:16 AM12/2/24
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If the sap runs as poorly as it did these past 2 springs they won't
get much revenue. 2 springs ago I saw my neighbours put up more
buckets than in the previous year, and I put up a couple pails, it was
a piddly return. Last spring I didn't bother, saw the neighbour's
pails up and then they came down about 6 days later which told me they
weren't getting anything. We had an El Nino year which is supposed to
end, I'm hoping that this year it will be a bit more "normal". When I
a kid back in the '60s several neighbours set up the tapping, and it
was around the time of March break at the end of March. Now the
darned trees are starting in February or early March, then it warms up
so fast it's over before you know it. I'll have to keep an eye out
and get some taps in early.

Speaking of freezing, my thermometer showed -6 C here this morning,
and it's the first time our little lake has frozen over, except for
one band along the western shore where is deeper water. There are
about 8 common mergansers in the open water. The birds (bluejays,
juncos, doves, chickadees, nuthatches) are busy at the feeders.
Haven't seen the tufted titmouse yet but he was there yesterday, and
there are woodpeckers hammering at the dead white pine tree near the
house. No sign of Baxter the Bunny or the deer that wander through
this morning.

Rose-Marie



uoting "Frederick W. Schueler" <bck...@istar.ca>:
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