Maple Syrup Season Begins

We are back to WI at the lake and ready to tap maples. There is hardly any snow left here--muddy and wet, but the ground clear. The bald eagle was feeding at the spring where a small opening in the lake ice shows lots of small fish dead from the winter. This is normal--they come up into the spring to get more oxygen and many die. We won't know if there was a bigger fish kill until the lake begins to open up.

Where the creek runs into the lake is also a small open pond area. A pair of trumpeter swans have moved in and are claiming the lake already. Probably the pair that stayed here last year.

I tapped one tree this morning and it is just barely dripping. We will tap a bunch more tomorrow.

Cooking the sap