Sugarbush Time  

      Up around here that time of year we call the sugarbush has begun and is in full swing.  Our Canadian neighbors (Up in Manitoba and far western Ontario) will probably be starting any day now too.  The Ojibwe word for maple sugar is zinziibaakwad, and a maple tree is zinziimitig.  It's that time of year when it's freezing at night and in the early morning (when I have to go to work and spend some time working outdoors), and warms up to above freezing, and even into the 40's (F).  This morning it was only 15 degrees F, and I had to wear all my winter coats (yes it is plural), and as the day progressed I had to continue to shed layers till I was in a T-shirt (45 degrees F is T-shirt weather up here in Nordern Minnesoda). Preparing for a work day outside up here is like trying to prepare for the weather at Big Island Rendezvous - you have to have a full wardrobe. 
      Weather like this is perfect for maple tapping.  During the day the sweet, sugary sap goes up the tree to the developing leaf buds, and at night when it cools down the sap says (silently, of course), "holy crap it's cold, I'm gettin' out of here!" and it scampers back down to the trunk and the roots.  As the sap goes up and down some of it flows, or rather drips out of the spigots, which are also called spiles.  The more prolonged this untra-temperate season is, the better the maple harvest will be.  There are other factors that affect the harvest too. 
      You don't have to have a whole forest of maple trees to harvest sap.  If you have only a few maple trees (like 4 - 6 for instance), you can still harvest it, cook it down, and have it as a special treat for you and your family.  I would suggest that you involve them in the whole process.  It's an experience they will always have. 

How to do this

      You could either do this the yuppie way, and buy all the stuff for it in a specialty store or online as your "Happy Yuppie Maple Tapping Sugarbush Kit" for $599.92 + local taxes where they apply and a contribution to the "Green Party", the "Very Green Party", the "Adopt a Garden Slug - They have a Right to Live Too Foundation", and the "Overaged Hippies Who forgot to Grow Up Retirement Fund."  Either that or you can improvise.  Personally I prefer to improvise, and not just because I don't share an affinity of any sort with garden slugs.
      Making the spiles:  (the taps)
      You can pick up some 1/2" PVC or CPVC at the local hardware store Just a small stick of it is all most people should need (it depends on how many trees you are able to tap). 

      You can cut the PVC or CPVC into pieces 4 1/2" to 5" long.  I have a fancy cutter, but you could use a hacksaw.  Just be sure to remove all the little filings.  They would cause a lot of trouble later during the boil phase, and would be almost impossible to filter out.  

      You can collect the sap in gallon size Ziploc bags.  Just punch a couple holes in them, up near the top to tie them up to the tree and hang them underneath the spigots/taps/spiles.    

       You will also need a drill (with a 5/8" bit) to drill the holes in the trees for your spiles.  You might be tempted to use a cordless drill like this one, but it won't work very well.  The dampness and density of the wood makes it hard for the drill to get through.  If you have to use a drill like this you better have a couple good batteries.  You'll run the juice out of them in a short time. 

      If you have access to one, an old fashioned auger will work far better.  This is one of those rare cases when the tools of your grandpa's generation work far more efficiently.  15 t0 20 seconds with this baby and your hole will be ready for the spigot. 
      Don't worry about it wrecking the trees.  It won't.  They will heal in only a few weeks.  In fact that is why you have to really watch the weather and not start this until the weather is perfect for tapping.  They can end up healing over before the sap is done running. 
      You will want to to drill them in at an upward angle, and you should drill them in a couple inches.  The sap moves up through the tree, not through the inner bark layer.  Tap the spigots into the holes with a hammer. 

      With only a one gallon bag, you will have to monitor them closely.  They will need to be emptied daily, and if the sap is running really good maybe twice a day.  Another point to remember; on trees that are about 10"  to 12" in diameter you can put in one spigot, but if the tree is much larger you can put in more.  The most you can put on any tree however, no matter how big is three.  Last year I had a few trees that were big enough for three spiles.  At the height of the season I was getting two gallons a day from each bag.
      To get the sap out of the bag, the best way to do it is with a siphon hose.  Unlike siphoning gas, it tastes really good and even refreshing when you get some of it in your mouth.  I don't even worry about mouth bacteria getting into the sap.  It gets boiled so long and so hot that anything in there will definitely get killed. 

       I siphon it into five gallon buckets, and save it (in a cool place) for Saturdays .  On the weekends I have the time to be able to boil it all down.  I use a strainer to strain out all the pieces of bark or stray bugs or whatever before boiling it. 

       As you can see, all I do is set up a few concrete blocks, lay on some sticks of 1/2" square stock and build a fire.  I use a couple of canning kettles to boil it in.  I only fill them about half way.  They boil much quicker that way.  I pretty much did the whole burn using pieces of dead fall. 

     Sometimes it gets windy and you will need to use something for a wind break.  The day I used this one the wind was blowing the fire right past the pots, and the sap wasn't boiling at all.  It was also so windy that one of my chickens laid the same egg three times, but that's a different story - a very weird, different story.  

      As is pointed out in the next picture, there is another very important tool you will need if you are going to be boiling sap for about eight hours or so - coffee.  

       During the boil a layer of dirty looking foam will occasionally appear.  Use the strainer to scoop it out.  Sometimes the heat was so intense, it would want to boil over.  Simply blow on it and use the strainer to stir it and it will settle down. 

       The finished syrup for 2 1/2 gallons of sap should be about a cup (40 to 1 ratio of sap to syrup).  When the contents in the kettle get down to a little less than a pint I strain and pour it into a smaller kitchen kettle to finish it off in the house at the kitchen stove, as the fire is too hard to control when the sap/syrup gets that low.  It boils away real fast at that point.  As I get it down to the right consistency (mostly judging by how it felt stuck to a spoon) I pour it into another kettle to blend all the batches together (for a consistent batch overall).  You don't want to take it down to the thickness of a commercial, corn syrup brand (like Log Cabin or Something), because if you do it will thicken as it cools and crystallize into sugar inside your jars. One time my friend Mike and I boiled up some maple syrup till it got to that consistency.  It was so much sugar that we were seriously buzzing on a sugar high.  

      I take my blended syrup and heat it up to a boil, and pour the boiling liquid into sterilized mason jars and put on a sterilized lid with ring.  They all seal up fine.  I usually take some and boil down to the thick mass that will crystallize into sugar.  I use that for cooking at the rendezvous and canoe treks during the summer.