Why aren't we making maple syrup yet?

10:20 pm  

Imagine you're shoveling a one-shovel-width ditch for miles on snowshoes... 

Sometimes a few inches deep, sometimes 4 foot, with a fragile plastic tube running right through the middle.  

That's what it's like to clear a sap lines this spring.

And that's what's happening all over Nova Scotia with maple producers.

Unless they've already called it quits.

Quite frankly, we haven't had the conditions for a strong sap flow yet.  We need a couple of good days of plus 5-7 degrees up, and it hasn't happened yet here in the Cobequids.

And that's a good thing, because when the lines are buried by snow they won't thaw.  

And this prevents any sap coming from the trees getting down to our sap tanks.  

The solution?  Shoveling.  

At the moment, just have some empathy and understanding when there is no 2015 maple syrup or maple butter or candy or cream on the shelves.  

Wait.  Cause the sap will come and there will eventually be maple syrup.