Wrapping up the season

Went by the sugarhouse yesterday after a walk in the (almost snow-free) woods, and was a little surprised to see that Fraser was still boiling!  But he says he's just about done...he's turned off the vacuum (sap still running in, but slowing) and he plans to wrap it up today.

But what a run in the last 10 days!  The syrup window is just about full:

And according to his tally sheet, he's passed 8500 gallons:

But here is the real prize -- Fraser gave me a couple of gallons of the really dark late-season syrup, for the cooking of pies, bread and such!  Here's what Very Dark (formerly known as Grade C) looks like, set next to a partially-used jar of Amber (what we used to call A Medium):

I'm looking forward to making Fraser a maple pecan pie.

-- Bill Clark