Last week, maple sap tapping had begun as the midday temperatures got above freezing. But this cold snap will shut that down for awhile.
During that bit of a thaw we had in the middle of February, Gary and Monna Hess, who live in western Clark County, had just enough time to get a pitiful 10 gallons of sap from their four sugar maple trees. Last year they got 90 gallons, which boiled down to approximately two gallons of maple syrup.
However, when the 10 gallons is boiled down they will end up with less than one quart of syrup — and that is a problem in the Hess household.
“That is just for us,” said Monna Hess, talking about the wonderful homemade syrup. “The kids will not eat store bought syrup anymore.”
The Hess family is hoping that another week of sap tapping weather will occur soon before the trees begin to bud and they have to remove the spouts from the trees. Tapping spouts should be removed after six weeks, she explained.
Monna grew up on the 40-acre farm on the edge of Lawrenceville, but spent most of her early adulthood in California. Years later, she and her husband Gary purchased her parents’ farm on St. Paris Pike and set out to make the best possible use of their land. The couple strives to be good stewards of the land, but realizes that being a good steward is often labor intensive.
“I didn’t go through this growing up, but I understood it was hard work,” said Monna.
The first year the family tried boiling the sap over an open fire, but soon realized that something more modern was needed. Even though Gary used his engineering skills to design and set up an electric boiler outside, the boiling still takes all weekend. Sap runs generally for six weeks in the spring from mid-February to late-March.
The early sap is clear and not as concentrated as sap that is tapped later in the tapping time. The later sap boils quicker. When large quantities of sap are collected, the boiling is done in a series of batches. Monna then uses a hot water bath to can and seal the syrup.
Maple sugaring is not the only sweet activity that the Hess family participates in. Gary has recently started keeping bees. Since there is so much honeysuckle bloom in the area, it just seemed logical to have bees.
I must admit that learning how to tap sap from the sugar maple trees sounds like it might be something good to try next spring. It is too late for this year because spring will be here soon, I hope.
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