Sap season a business to some, a passion and a hobby to others

Jeff Green | Mar 23, 2022

Maple syrup season has been moving in fits and starts over the past two weeks, as the weather fluctuates in and out of the sweet zone of frosty nights and warmer days that allows maple trees to draw moisture from the ground, and send sap up the tree.

Commercial Maple Syrup producers have systems in place, lines and vacuum tubes, that mitigate against some of the slow downs warm days and nights that remain above the freezing point, but for the legions of backyard, bucket and spile syrup makers, it has been a relatively slow start to the season.

Mike Procter, who retired from his job as an Adult Protective Services Worker in Sharbot Lake two years ago, has been making syrup on his one acre property for decades.

“I peaked at about 60 taps some years ago” he said on Monday of this week, as he was boiling down a few gallons of syrup that he had just gathered, “but I only tapped 25 or 30 this year, just the ones that are close to where I boil.”

While small scale evaporators are the envy of small producers, and they are readily available throughout the region, Procter said that the cost does not really justify the expense for him.

Instead, he uses a 2' by 2' pan, set up over a bracket of bricks over a fire pit in a small open syrup house that he built a few years ago, adding sap to the boil to keep about a 3 inch depth of sap in the pan as it boils down.

He sometimes preheats the sap over a propane burner before adding it to the boil but has not done that yet this year.

Once the sap has thickened to near the syrup stage, he filters it with a paper filter held in place with a home made bracket and brings it into his house to finish it off and bottle it.

“It's a pretty basic system. I make a few gallons of syrup for our family and friends. I get out in the spring air. It works for me.”

He had expected the sap to be running better on Monday, as the temperature was up at around 7 in the sunshine, “but it was only -2 here last night, not enough to get the sap going. It should be better after tonight. It is going down to -8. I think we will get a good run this week.”

When the ground freezes under maple trees, the water in the soil compacts into ice, and when it thaws it expands, creating enough pressure to flow up through the roots to the top of the trees where it provides the tree with the energy it needs for buds and leaves to develop.

The syrup season lasts until the buds develop, so it can run as long as a month or so, or it can be cut short, depending on the weather pattern. A cold snap is not generally a problem, but prolonged warm weather without a frost can mean an early end to the season.

“I'm happy with whatever I get, because I don't sell it. I'm happy to get out and enjoy the spring weather.”