Mother Nature has proven again that she is in fact in charge. While many places in southern New England have been hit hard with snow this winter, in Maine we seem to have dodged the bullet and are in the middle of a real warm spell. Here in Bowdoin we have very little snow cover, except in the dark softwood forests on north facing hills. In contrast to the winter of 2007-08, on April first that year many places around here had almost three feet of snow still on the ground. As a Land Surveyor, I find that my slow season is linked very closely with the heavy snow cover. Maybe its just my dislike for shovelling snow all day long!
As you may have guessed, with every blessing there is a curse. It seems that with the limited snow and mild winter, the maple sugar season may go down as a pretty poor one in this area. It seems that the maples in the deepest woods have run well as of late, but the trees out in the open have already begun to bud out. We have produced 12 1/2 gallons of syrup this season, not bad for our small production, but only half of our goal. We are holding out for another cold spell but we are doubtful. On the bright side, we have almost half our wood left for the sugar house, which will be very dry for next season.
Let's hope for some April showers to bless our fields and gardens for the upcoming growing season.
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