The original plan for this year was to get out the buckets on March 1st, however the weather had other plans. A major snow storm a couple weeks prior had left over 50cm of snow on the ground making getting around without snowshoes a good replacement for a workout. We made the best of things, and with the help of friends (they did most of the work), managed to carve a nice hole into the ice to dunk between sauna stints. A relaxing consolation to not being able to get out the buckets.

By the following weekend the snow was much more manageable and we were able to tap the trees with buckets. 9 went to the new area behind the main cabin and 25 were scattered along the hill at the top of the road. We added a few extra blue bottles and were able to tag some new trees as well. Two weeks later we returned to beautiful weather that melted most of the snow! The snowed in tractor was finally freed and I plowed most of the remaining snow allowing 1 of 3 cars to drive in. Only one got stuck on the hill trying to drive in.

With perfect sap conditions over the past two weeks, every bucket is completely full. We collected over 500L of sap and started the boil Saturday morning wrapping up in the wee hours on Sunday morning.

This year, in an attempt to improve the colour out of the final syrup, I endeavoured to transfer the sap from the large boiler to a smaller pot for every hundred or so liters, with a final boil inside. Unfortunately, the golden amber colour did not develop, but it did really help make finishing and bottling less stressful. Instead of scrambling Sunday morning to get it done, we had a slow production line of finished syrup.

While we managed to boil all the sap down, the forecast showed ideal weather for the next week so I left most of the sap unfinished and with plans to return to boil again.

Ice

The next weekend brought us a forecast of freezing rain which did not disappoint. We spent Friday evening finishing most of the syrup from the previous weekend and filled another 3 - 4 bottles. We awoke Saturday morning a fresh layer of ice on everything and no power! Undeterred, we cooked breakfast on the fireplace and got to work. We collected another 250L and began the boil. I decided to remove the taps since we had produced over 10L of syrup, more than enough to last the year. With Sheldon’s expert fire management, we boiled all that remained down by dinner; just in time to start finishing in the smaller pot and catch the end of the Leafs game (thank you backup generator for being tied into the TV/Sat outlet). Unfortunately, we got sucked into an intense third period and let half the sap boil over while burning the pan. We opted to leave the other half for the morning when we where rested and could fully pay attention! Unfortunately, Sunday brought disaster - the freezing rain continued all night and turned the forest hazardous. A branch was falling every minute and our road was completely blocked by bent over or completely fallen trees. We opted to stay inside to play Blood Rage and hoped for warming temperatures and the power to finally come back. No such luck for us. So the afternoon was spent chainsawing and cutting debris off the road. Eventually, after a few hours of hard work we headed home with the chainsaw in anticipation of a tree blocking the highway.

Lake Kujtan 2025

Worth the hassle? Definitely