twall
Member
I really hate winters like this.
I'm from WNY - about an hour from both Buffalo and Erie. Twenty more minutes either west or south, and I'd be in PA! Although "from NY" tends to make one think of strange dialects and city as far as the eye can see - I am not from that NY (I just pay for it). We're about as country as you can get.
That being said, we know maple syrup here. As you may or may not know, when we have autum, the sap 'runs down' for the winter. In the spring, it 'runs up'. The run up is what's critical. If it warms up, and it stays that way, the sap doesn't run well, and is weak. Every time it snaps cold, it runs back down. With each 'up', the sap gets a stronger flavor, and runs in more quantity.
Poor runs make for more expensive syrup, and what you get is yukky.
Last year, when 'global warming' was going on - we had a light winter, and a quick spring. The sap didn't run worth spit. Now that Al Gore is in hibernation, and we are having a normal winter for the first time in a long time - the sap should run like a fire hydrant.
I'm no expert, but that's what I've always been told about the cycle.
Here's to hoping for a good syrup year.
I'm from WNY - about an hour from both Buffalo and Erie. Twenty more minutes either west or south, and I'd be in PA! Although "from NY" tends to make one think of strange dialects and city as far as the eye can see - I am not from that NY (I just pay for it). We're about as country as you can get.
That being said, we know maple syrup here. As you may or may not know, when we have autum, the sap 'runs down' for the winter. In the spring, it 'runs up'. The run up is what's critical. If it warms up, and it stays that way, the sap doesn't run well, and is weak. Every time it snaps cold, it runs back down. With each 'up', the sap gets a stronger flavor, and runs in more quantity.
Poor runs make for more expensive syrup, and what you get is yukky.
Last year, when 'global warming' was going on - we had a light winter, and a quick spring. The sap didn't run worth spit. Now that Al Gore is in hibernation, and we are having a normal winter for the first time in a long time - the sap should run like a fire hydrant.
I'm no expert, but that's what I've always been told about the cycle.
Here's to hoping for a good syrup year.