Sunday March 29 is Your Last Chance to Experience Maple Weekend

Just look at those pancakes

Your last chance to hit a spot for Maple Weekend is Sunday, March 29.

I mad the trip out today for pancakes and sausage at Red Schoolhouse Maple in Palermo, Oswego County. Then checked out the FFA students and their maple operation at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, Oneida County.

Go to nysmaple.com for information.

The VVS FFA evaporator boiling away making syrup

Next Maple Weekend is March 29, 30

Maple Weekend breakfast at Red Schoolhouse Maple in Palermo, Oswego County.

I got out to have pancakes and wonderful New York maple syrup on the first day of Maple Weekend.

Did you?

If you didn't, you still have next weekend to get out there. Go to mapleweekend.com and check out which sites near you are open for tours (most open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and then click on pancake breakfasts to see who is serving up delicious syrup and pancakes.

Only one word describes this -- YUM.

Maple Workshop Coming to Palermo Saturday

From Cooperative Extension:

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County will sponsor a workshop for maple syrup producers from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 23 at Red Schoolhouse Maple, on the corner Red Schoolhouse Road and County Route 4 in Palermo.

The workshop is for people who want to expand their knowledge of the use of tubing in their maple syrup business. Employing a tubing system can improve the efficiency in maple syrup harvesting, therefore increasing production and profits.

Steve Childs, NYS Maple Extension Specialist, will run the workshop and engage participants in the latest methods of utilizing tubing to transport sap from the tree to the evaporator. The use of vacuum systems will also be discussed.

Topics to be covered include: preparing the sugar bush prior to tubing installation, site considerations, placing mainlines and setting the slope, installing the mainline support wires, installing main lines, sizing mainlines, installing lateral lines, tubing tools, sizing the vacuum system, dry line systems, boosters, tap hole sanitation, system maintenance, and working with sap ladders.

Participants will also learn how to lay out a sugar bush for vacuum, how to determine the right size and length of mainline and laterals and the selection of the correct size vacuum pump to run the whole system. The workshop is conducted as an open discussion and a variety of suggestions for any given tubing situation will be discussed. 
        

The cost of the workshop will be $10 and includes all workshop materials. Pre-registration is required no later than Friday, Nov. 22, 2013, by calling the Extension office at (315) 963-7286 ext 200 or email jjs69@cornell.edu .

Participants are encouraged to dress appropriately with heavy shoes and outerwear, as the entire workshop will be offered outdoors.