Associated Press: A winter thaw in the Northeast has triggered sap to flow in maple trees, launching an early start to the syrup season for some producers in parts of New England who have already decided to tap their trees.
"It's too damn early for this," said Doug Zecher of Havoc Hill Sugar House in East Dorset, Vermont, before he set out in rain and sleet to check on his sap lines earlier this week.
His operation started tapping trees about two weeks earlier than last year, and on Tuesday it gathered about...