Maple Syrup Time at Covill's Sugar House

There's a rule of thumb with some of the long-time sappers up here and that is:  you don't sugar until the 21st of March no matter what the weather. 

Well this year the cold weather hung in there some extra days and the sugaring is actually just getting underway.  Gordon Covill and his brothers have all been collecting sap for more years than I've been around and one of the brothers, Edwin, comes from Montana or Michigan (think it's Montana) every year to help.

Used to be they hung out the buckets but last year and the year before they went to the tube system.  I noticed that they've gone back to the buckets this year and I couldn't help but wonder why.  Maybe the moose hauled the tubing down? 

Any ways, it won't be long until it's bottled up and on the shelves!

  Gordon Covill's Sugar House on Danforth Rd. Pittsburg, NH

Collecting buckets in the woods