PANCAKES TO MEET THEIR MATCH

North country maple syrup makers are off to an early start, meaning they should have plenty of product when many open their sugarbushes over the next couple of weekends.

However, sugarmakers are hoping for a drop in temperature to extend the sap flow and ensure a productive season.

"I don't know what we're going to be doing this coming week, if we're going to be spinning our wheels or making syrup," said Haskell A. Yancey of Yancey's Sugarbush, Belfort.

Mr. Yancey said his preference would be for temperatures about five degrees below the ones forecast. "If it did, we could have a real good week," he said.

Sap in maple trees tends to flow best when temperatures are above the freezing point during the day and below freezing at night.

"They're dripping a little bit, but they're not doing a whole lot right now," Mr. Yancey said Friday afternoon.

However, he noted that his first batch of syrup was produced Wednesday, his earliest start for at least a decade. "It's usually between the 15th and the 20th" of March, he said.

Mr. Yancey, who taps about 5,500 trees, runs a traditional operation, with most sap collected in buckets and gathered by teams of horses drawing sleighs or wagons.

While about 600 taps on tubing were in place more than a week ago, the remainder of the tapping wasn't started until Monday and has yet to be completed, he said.

"We've got a long ways to go," Mr. Yancey said. "We'll have maybe an eighth of a crop by this weekend."

The fifth-generation sugarmaker said the syrup produced thus far has been very nice and, given favorable weather over the next few weeks, there is potential for a good season.

"But when you find yourself making excuses for the trees, it's not a good sign," he said.

Thirteen maple operations in Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties — including Mr. Yancey's — will hold open houses over the next two weekends as part of the 15th annual New York Maple Weekend festivities, intended to help promote maple products.

All of the sugarhouses will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 27 and 28, although one — Golden Maple Shanty near Lowville — will be open only on the 27th. Five of the maple producers will open their shanties next weekend, as well.

"Maple Weekend provides an easy and enjoyable, free family-oriented opportunity to see how New York maple producers make some of the world's finest syrup and related products," Michele E. Ledoux, executive director at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County, said in a release.

Mrs. Ledoux is encouraging people to visit several different sugarhouses to see the various techniques used to gather sap and boil it into maple syrup.

"Our techniques for making maple syrup today are both time-tested by tradition and enhanced by modern technology," she said.

Like Mr. Yancey, Donald E. Finen, owner of Fine-n-Dandy in Norwood, plans to open his sugarhouse only on the later Maple Weekend.

Mr. Finen said he had his maple trees tapped more than a week ago, at least a week earlier than expected. "You don't want to miss the boat," he said.

The sap ran particularly well on Sunday and Monday but tapered off later in the week as temperatures rose, he said.

However, Mr. Finen said, other area sugaring operations may have experienced different trends because "everybody has their own mini-climates."

Mr. Finen said he is also somewhat concerned that the warming trend could lead to a shortened season. "But that's a concern every year," he said.

While hopeful that sap will still be dripping when Maple Weekend rolls around, Mr. Finen said that won't be necessary to provide a good experience for visitors.

"We can always throw a little water in the evaporator and make steam," he said.

During Maple Weekend, some producers will demonstrate the making of maple syrup into other products, including maple cream, maple cotton candy and maple sugar. Other activities, like horse-and-wagon rides, will be offered.

The American Maple Museum on Main Street in Croghan will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 27 and 28, with pancake breakfasts scheduled both mornings.

Also on March 27, pancake breakfasts will be held from 8 a.m. to noon at the Lowville fire hall, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mannsville United Methodist Church and from 7 to 11 a.m. at the High Falls Lodge in Colton. A pancake supper is slated for 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hermon fire hall, and a maple dessert smorgasbord will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Beaver Falls United Methodist Church.

A pancake breakfast is scheduled form 8 a.m. to noon March 28 at the Smithville fire hall.