This year's extremely cold winter has kept some maple syrup producers from tapping their trees as early as they'd like to.
Ray Bonenburg says some of the equipment used to gather the sap would have been too brittle to work with in February.
He's with the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association.
Bonenburg says the weather we're getting now - below freezing temperatures overnight, above freezing during the day - are ideal for a good sap run.
According to him, the critical thing is to have the tree freeze for several hours overnight before it thaws each day.
And while the extreme cold may have delayed the tapping of some trees, Bonenburg doesn't think it's going to have any impact on the quality of this year's maple syrup crop.
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Bonenburg is optimistic about the quality of this year's crop.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BONNENBURG-Syrup-1.mp3"][/audio]
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He says the cold did keep some producers from tapping their trees in February.
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Bonenburg says it's important for the run for the maple trees to freeze overnight.
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