Saturday was a beautiful sunny day in the 40’s. In February that means one thing, maple syrup time. My son Nathaniel and I tapped around a dozen sugar maple trees and immediately upon drilling the hole for the spile, sap was flowing. In my experience, having days around forty and sunny with nights below freezing produces the best flow. When temperatures reach high forties and fifty the flow actually stops. Every year we tap the trees around this time but usually we are ahead of any flowing. Saturday already yielded six gallons of sap, not a bad start. Other signs of spring were heard and seen by us including chickadees doing their “cheeseburger” song, Canada geese heading north, and even a sandhill crane flying by. Lastly, in the evening 5 red-winged blackbirds flew by.

My son Nathaniel thanking the big sugar maple with a hug

Sap spile dripping into the bucket