This video documents the first boil in this unusually early sugaring season. Records that go back to the 1970s show that this is the earliest calendar date that we've boiled here.
The day started out unusually warm, but began to drop sharply through the night as a storm blew in. Wind and snow engulfed the sugar house, blowing down trees as we boiled. Inside things were warm and cozy, with snacks and good cheer.
We kept the fire burning hot as we boiled hundreds of gallons of sap. This first boil is known as 'sweetening the pan', which fills the evaporator with sweet sap that is almost syrup. Typically we don't draw off any maple syrup on this first boil, and we'll need to wait until we can collect even more sap.
We began tapping trees on 2/21/24. This is the warmest winter on record, and probably the earliest sugaring season we've ever had. Way earlier than historic sugaring season dates, before rapid climate change created this new normal (on average 3 degrees warmer than 100 years ago). The sugaring season has trended earlier in the year by several weeks on average, but this is the most extreme we've seen yet. We’re at over 2200’ elevation in the high peaks of the Adirondacks so tend to be a little later than most others in New York.
Maple syrup production is especially sensitive to changes in climate, because the trees need below-freezing temperatures during the winter and a range of temperatures during late winter or early spring to produce sap.
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This is the highest elevation farm and sugarbush in New York, at Camp Treetops & North Country School. It’s a 220-acre educational farm/school/camp in the chilly High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, USDA Zone 4a.
29 сен 2024
