Sugaring is officially here!

Cloverdale Sugarhouse

Last night sugaring officially arrived!  We fired up the evaporator at 3:00 in the afternoon and boiled off a small collection of about 1,000 gallons of sap.  This first processing is essentially the moment of truth for a sugarmaker.  There are many processes that must come together and function properly for maple syrup production to occur.  Last night we assembled the evaporator and threw the switch and everything kicked on without a hitch.  While we only produced a small amount of maple syrup we are now fully prepared to process when warmer weather brings on tankfulls of maple sap.  A fresh foot of new snow and steam pouring out of the cupola!  Sugaring is here!