Tapping Maples

This is our "sugar bush". 

It isn't very grand, and it doesn't even have sugar maples.

What it DOES have are 3 solid red maples that are around 20 years old.

They might be a bit older, but I am guessing around 20-30 yrs based upon their size, bark, roots and the age of the house.

I bought fairly expensive stainless steel taps (on Amazon here for around $7), but am using cheap buckets to collect the sap. The dollar store buckets are working just fine thus far for our three little trees. Larger trees and a more expansive sugar bush would certainly require professional buckets. You can get a plastic tap and tubing kit for around $25 HERE or a beautiful stainless steel kit for $114 RIGHT HERE. I went with a compromise by using the nice steel taps. I have one of our trees set up with a plastic water bottle (a large 1/2 gallon one) and it is actually a more practical solution for the amount of sap the trees are making, but I like the look of the metal buckets. 

To tap a tree, drill a "starter" hole at a slightly upward angle. The pith of the tree should be quite white. If there is any black, pick a different spot. Insert the tap and gently hammer it in. Attach a bucket and watch the sap flow every morning!

Here is our half-frozen sap this morning. We plan to boil some of the sap into syrup this season, but typically the kids just drink the sap straight. It tastes like fresh, slightly sweet water and I can't imagine anything is much better to jumpstart your day than fresh spring sap!

 Sap Snow maybe??