March 16, 2019 – Little Cedar Lake, WI – Today’s 1920 history photo is courtesy Lee Krueger. It’s the Theo Richter ice house.
I was after a photo of maple syrup tree tapping. Krueger said the weather is warm enough and the sap is probably running.
Krueger and his wife Mary live on Little Cedar Lake. He’s been making syrup for the past 48 years. “As a kid I made it with my grandfather,” he said. “I resurrected syruping in 1969 after I returned from ‘Nam.”
A typical three-week season of the maple run ends when the trees start to bud. A good year, according to Krueger, may produce 2,000 gallons of sap, which boils down to 50 gallons of syrup.
Riveredge Nature Center in Newburg has already started tapping trees. Most of its tree tapping is coordinated with education and school tours. The sap started running earlier this week when temperatures were in the 40s.
