Spring snow into thaw provides ideal conditions for maple tree tapping in Minnesota
Sunday felt like a true changing of the seasons with temperatures ranging in the 50s. The sun and heat brought a big spring melt for most of the metro, which was perfect conditions for one of Minnesota's well-known March activities: Maple tree tapping.
A large group of adults and kids learned how to tap sap at Carpenter Nature Center in the St. Croix Valley near Hastings on Sunday afternoon.
Alan Maloney is a naturalist at Carpenter and has been taking visitors on maple tree tapping tours for the last 30 years, and he enjoys making it interactive for everyone, giving the group a chance to drill, tap and taste the sap.
"Maple syrup season always feels like the first start of spring around here," said Tess Zahradka, one of the interactive naturalists at Carpenter Nature Center and guides the tours along with Maloney.
Recent weather did slow down sap production to start the season off.
"We haven't collected a whole lot because our weather has been a little iffy with a big snow storm that we had right after we tapped trees," Zahradka said.
With the spring thaw, now visitors are seeing much more sap flowing.
"Below freezing at night and above freezing in the morning is what you want your trees to do to get that sap moving," Zahradka said.
The Carpenter Nature Center grounds saw people out enjoying walks in the sun, even though it was muddy and wet. The temperatures made it worth it.
"We weren't able to do much snow shoeing this year. There wasn't enough snow, so if you don't have enough snow to enjoy the snow, then let's get it over with and move onto spring," Steve Meyer said while out on a walk at Carpenter with his wife, DIane.
The couple also spotted the signs of spring along their walk.
"I saw my first blue bird today," Steve Meyer said.
There's another chance to tap maple trees at Carpenter Nature Center on Saturday, March 22.
It's open to the public, but registration is limited, so sign up soon if you're interested.
