Maple Sugaring Apprentice - Week Two

The Williams Farm Sugarhouse circa 1940

Williams family collecting sap in the sugarbush

This week at Red Gate, we set up all the main tapping lines and prepared for the sugaring season to really kick off. I spent Monday up in the sugarbush learning the process of how taps are put in, and how the lines are set up to make an easy flow to the collecting tanks. We set about 5 or 6 different tubing lines that flow into the main line. Tuesday was spent tapping a different section of woods that runs into a large silver tank located near the site of the old sugar house. Over the next few days, we cleaned multiple plastic tanks that will be used for sap storage, and got the sugar house ready to be put to use next week - hopefully on Monday.

On Friday, I got set up with a project that I will work on throughout the next few weeks.  I will be doing an inventory and check of all the maple trees on the land. This includes noting the tree’s health, measuring its diameter, and making sure that the metal tag in its bark is accurate and safely inserted. All of this information will be logged in a google document so that over the next few years, staff can refer to the database to get a better understanding of what's out in the field.

This project also entails making sure that the tree map that has been generated over the years and used for setting up the taps, is accurate and matches the layout of the land. When we were setting up the taps earlier this week, we noticed a few minor inconsistencies in the map, and so my job is to fix these minor details.  Friday I got to start this project, which was really fun, except for how cold my hands got!

This was a really great first full week of work, and i'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to start boiling next week.