Shawn E. Massey points out healed tap holes in a maple tree at his ranch in Watertown. (Provided photo — Zachary Canaperi)

WATERTOWN — After a winter’s rest, the woods across the North Country are waking up. For maple syrup producers, this means that it is time for their work to begin again.

This is especially true in warmer woods, where the trends of higher temperatures have really kicked things into gear.

The sugar shack at Massey Ranch, town of Watertown, is one of those spots. Shawn E. Massey, who operates the maple sugaring business and Massey’s Furniture Barn on Arsenal Street, divides his time between the two places. As of last week, he has been spending even more time at the ranch.

The sap started flowing last Thursday, marking Massey’s first run of the season. He boiled down 1,500 gallons of sap last weekend, which equates to roughly 30 to 40 gallons of maple syrup.

This is just the beginning of the season, and that yield is only a fraction of Massey’s goal for production.

“I would like to make 600 gallons, but Mother Nature is going to tell me how much I am going to make. It doesn’t matter how good a job I do, the weather dictates it,” Massey said.

The weather that maple syrup producers are looking for is above freezing days and below freezing nights. This is the only scenario in which trees produce enough sap for makers.

According to Jake Moser, who runs Moser’s Maple in Croghan with his two brothers, temperature is only one of several factors that determine the outcome of their season.

He said that moisture is one of the other important considerations. This is because trees need water to produce sap. Snowpack and frost in the ground increase moisture, but there hasn’t been much of that this year, Moser said.

“If you’ve ever noticed in the spring, when stuff is thawing out it is muddy, but generally, right before leaves start to pop, the ground gets pretty dry in the spring. That’s because not just maple trees, but all the trees are bringing up that moisture from the reserves in the ground,” he said.

Moser, like most producers, is uncertain about what the season holds this early on. Nature will decide how things turn out.

“In previous years we really have had water, snowpack and frost to rely on for moisture in the ground,” he said. “This year it doesn’t seem like we have a lot of moisture, but if we get some rain, that will help. But if it stays like this — if it stays unseasonably warm — it could be a short season.”

Although it is hard to predict what will happen during the months to come, producers are seeing a larger trend within the industry. Over the years, the timing of maple syrup season in the North Country has slowly been shifting.

“On average, the seasons are starting a little earlier and they might be ending earlier,” Moser said. “But, you have your weird fluctuations in there.”

About 12 years ago, Moser said, “the season was done by mid-March, right around Maple Weekend, because we had a long-extended warmup. But two or three years ago, March came in as a cold month, and during those Maple Weekends we actually had temperatures of below zero.”

Haskell Yancey, owner of Yancey’s Sugarbush just outside of Croghan on Long Pond Road, also sees this shift in the season.

“50 years ago, a lot of people wouldn’t even think about tapping until March,” Yancey said.

He blames some of this shift on climate change, but some of it he believes to be a result of advances in technology. The vacuum tubing systems, which use a pump to pull all the sap to one central location, let producers start slightly earlier.

Equipment has become more efficient, and snow cover doesn’t slow them down as much with four-wheel-drive utility vehicles.

This week, another cold spell has arrived in the North Country, and for syrup producers and most North Country residents, this means they will be waiting for milder weather to be up and running again at full speed.

The Moser brothers, who are nearly tapped out from the early season rush, are just fine with taking a break.

“For us, it means we are going to be able to take a deep breath,” Moser said.

The upcoming Maple Weekends, organized by the New York State Maple Producers’ Association, celebrate maple producers across the state. Sugaring businesses host education and tasting events, tours and other special festivities. This year’s weekends are March 16-17 and 23-24.