July Journal

[Brian]

This year is flying by, I am going to improve a few things around the sugar house and put in a couple of sap ladders. The only other thing I am going to do is buy a propaine gas canner. I hope every one has a good 4th, :D

[pennslytucky]

we are going to go a bit bigger this year. so i need to get a new set of fire grates for the 2x6, get all the extra buckets out of storage and see how many will need replaced, i need a bigger tank for haulin sap, and got to go scoutin on the new property for the trees that will be tapped and build an acess trail......... new stack to fit to the evap, finish the mortar on the fire bricks, find and purchase a stainless sap pan....etc. etc. :!: wow its alot more than i thot! whew!

[Parker]

I have got to do more thinning,,havent done any for a while (pretty busy), stack more wood in the sugarhouse (have about 7 cords in there)finish the roof on the woodshed, extend the woodshed another 20 feet and build a tank room off the other end of the sugarhouse,,,,,,and set up 1000 taps in hill,,,,,sounds like a lot of work,,,,

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did get my floor for my sugarhouse poured as planned a couple Saturdays ago. I guess I had too many gravels inside(225 ton) and 20+ yards of concrete for the lower wall as it decided to bow out a little. It was out about 1.25" at the farthest point, and when the concrete dried, it pulled back away from it about 1/4". The following week, I filled the entire 64" x 48' wall full of high strength grout mix concrete and a piece of rebar in every hole(70+ pieces). I am going to backfill against it also and was planning on having that done yesterday, but too much rain the previous 3 or 4 days. We were able to lay about 300 blocks on top of the concrete yesterday and finished up all those. As of now, I am planning on taking off July 14th and 15th and am going to try to get it under roof. The guy that is helping my dad build his house is going to help me. Likely just be the outside walls this year as I will have to lay up 3 courses block for all the inside walls and I may put that off until next year.

I am heading to post pics of the progress so far on my website if anyone is interested! :D

[mapleman3]

Brandon the Sugarhouse looks great!! Man thats alot of work. sure will be a fine place,
lets see, July we are working on the barn and more yard work, no sugarin going on due to lack of extra $$ since my wife doesn't work thru the summer(School system) so we will work with what we have!
Good luck to everyones improvements.

Hope Kevins Maple school went well, I got so busy and brain farted and forgot to send a sample of syrup up! :cry:

[Parker]

Well I am up to 15 cords in the sugarhouse,,it will be nice to have dry wood to burn next year

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Took off Thurs and Fri and worked Sat too and was able to get the sugarhouse walls built and set and the trusses set and the sheeting boards on the roof for the tin. Still have to put the three posts in on the end wall for the woodshed and 4 more trusses and hang the windows and doors and install the tin to get it dried in, but got a lot done in three days. Hope to take a few pics soon and post them! :D

[Parker]

way to go brandon!!! feels good to make serious progress dosent it!!!

[lharris1]

At Grassy Meadows Maple Syrup we are having a SS steam hood fabricated by the Amish fellow Brandon connected us with. I checked with him and it may not be finished until early September.

Our plans for the sugar camp are to enlarge our building from 10' x 12" to about 22' x 12'. This should give us room for a finishing stove, sink and some wood storage. The steam hood will give us water for the sink. We plan to get this done starting in September.

[pegjam]

We're still cutting tree tops out of our main sugarbush, hope to have that done by Sept 1, and then it's onto running lines. We almost have the haying done, just another 15 or 20 acers to go. We also added some honeybees this year. That was something I haven't done in along time, so I have been spending alot of time at beesource.com reading.

Our improvements for this year include getting our main bush back on line, and try to get the vacuum system installed and working.

pegjam

[sweetwoodmaple]

Brandon - Almost had to do some major rework to my sugar house today. Had a 10" dia tree limb fall about 4' away from the front. Did some minor damage on the peak and smashed my wheelbarrow, but otherwise ok.

I have some pics posted under Maple Season - Storm 2005 on the web site.

Brian

[forester1]

Could have been worse Brian, that's the way to think on something like that.

I have been working on building a 10x14 storage building with a small loft. I need to get all of the miscellaneous tools and equipment out of the sugarhouse so there is more room. I have it all framed and almost roofed. Just waiting for the siding boards from the sawmill to be cut. We finally got some rain and cooler weather after about 3 weeks of no rain and 100 degree temps.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I added 4 pics of the partially completed sugarhouse to my website. I had the company camera and it doesn't take real good pics on the resolution it is set on. I got the upper side of the roofing on this evening and hopefully I can get the rest on next week! :D

[mapleman3]

Hmmm I did look at the sugarhouse the other day... oh and every week when I mow the lawn behind the barn I have to duck under the pipeline or risk getting knocked off the tractor, so I guess I have been steadily involved with the sugaring all summer :lol: :wink:

[Parker]

I have got to find a way to get rich so I can concentrate on the important things in life like sugaring,,,I feel like I am a hamster on a treadmill in the summer,,running hard and getting nowhere. No time latley for thinning, ect.,,

[themapleking]

That sugar shack looks like there's room for a 6x16 evap. Kitchen, pool table, Living quarters.
Adding taps are we :?: 425 taps to 4250 taps. Busted. :wink:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Joe,

I did build it big enough for a 12x11 bedroom, 12 x 13 kitchen, 18x24 garage and a 18 x 24 sugarhouse in the center with a 8x24 woodshed on the end. I am about big enough as far as taps. Might add a few more but with a family and living about 30 minutes away and a full time job, I am content with the current size. It is big enough for a 16' evaporator if I had too, but don't see me ever needing anything like that.

Kind want it for a weekend gettaway place to take the kids and spend the night and etc. :D

[sugaring42long]

Looks great Brandon, you're making lots of progress. That's some nice looking country around there.
I bet if you did your own "maple weekend" down there at your new place you could retail all the syrup you could ever make or buy locally.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I am hoping to have a mini maple weekend sometime. I could get quite a few people out there and I have personal and product liability now on the place, so I am more able to do that.

I did get my evaporator moved yesterday with the help of 6 people and a 4x4 John Deere tractor & bucket and a 16' trailer. I am guessing it weighs around 1700 lbs with just the arch. I only moved the arch and then moved the pans seperate and it was a job. I am hoping to get the other side of the roof on this week and finish up the osb and doors and windows maybe Sat. :D