General NY tapping thread

[chenango maple]

Wow a 100 gal on 243 taps is beyond fantastic. You might consider entering those trees in guinness. I am at about 25 gallons on around 350 taps gravity. I thought I was having a pretty good year. Oh well I would say we are miles ahead of last year at any rate. Enjoy.

[MilesTeg]

If you hit 100 gallons on 243 taps you need to tell us what your secret is. All my sap is boiled through and debating wether to finish off whats in the pans and do a complete cleanup and start fresh come the next run. What little sap that came in friday looks pretty clear and had an amazing lol 1.6% SC. Oh well atleast it went up 2 tenths of a point. Been making grade B for last few runs with very good flavor. Would like to get back into some medium fro some glass that needs filling. Hoping the deep freeze brings the color down. Should bee making syrup well into april with the forecast.

I know that I'm not running deep vacuum but I was hoping to get 0.3-0.4 gal per tap I know that its kind unrealistic without deep vac but with all new tubing I was hoping. We are around 65 gal already and if it holds out for 3 more weeks with good runs I think we can do it. The sugar here has been low too right below 2. We've made the bulk of our syrup in the past 2 weeks. I'm heading over this morning to do the same clean the evaporator and hopefully get back into some Med syrup. Lets see how long we can milk this cow guys!

[3rdgen.maple]

Even if it was over today those are great numbers of 243 taps with low vac. I have 602 taps out and not even hit those numbers yet this year. Would be way over that with the sap flows I have had if the sugar content was 2. or higher. Oh well all good fun anyways.

[danno]

I've been noticing, the higher the vac, the more the sap BUT lower the sugar content. I've gone from 16-17 in. vac to 22-24 this year. Volume of sap is excellent: 1-2 gal/tap per day, but sugar has been below 1.5 all year. I don't think it's a coincidence. The sap volume makes up for the low sugar and the state of mind. You can't see the sugar, but you sure can see a full tank:) RO takes care of the rest.

Now a member of the burnt pan club. I've burnt before, but not this a bad. One and half channels of a 4 channel pan. Tasted some syrup coming off during the last run and knew immediatly I had a burn. Thankfully no warp. I've been working on the pan for a few days and it's slow going. Tried EZ Off and vinegar - it's not cutting it. It's time to get serious. Off to TCS for some acid. We'll see what that does to the solder.

[3rdgen.maple]

I've been noticing, the higher the vac, the more the sap BUT lower the sugar content. I've gone from 16-17 in. vac to 22-24 this year. Volume of sap is excellent: 1-2 gal/tap per day, but sugar has been below 1.5 all year. I don't think it's a coincidence. The sap volume makes up for the low sugar and the state of mind. You can't see the sugar, but you sure can see a full tank:) RO takes care of the rest.

Now a member of the burnt pan club. I've burnt before, but not this a bad. One and half channels of a 4 channel pan. Tasted some syrup coming off during the last run and knew immediatly I had a burn. Thankfully no warp. I've been working on the pan for a few days and it's slow going. Tried EZ Off and vinegar - it's not cutting it. It's time to get serious. Off to TCS for some acid. We'll see what that does to the solder.

Danno I burnt up my syrup pan myself friday. 2 of the 3 chambers completely covered on the bottom with burnt syrup about a 1/4 inch thick. First time for me. I just chucked wood in right after a drawoff and fedex guy pulls in driveway and I ran up to get the package. Was gone maybe 5 minutes tops. I knew before I hit the door it burnt. Poor dog ran out of there and refuses to come back down. I tried everything I had at hand and ended up with the drill and wire brush. Was suprised only had one high spot that I heated with map gas and beat her back down. Almost never know unless you looked hard for it. Wire brush on the drill did a good job and didnt scratch the pan all up like I thought it would. Rather it polished it back to a nice shine. Dont want to do that again. From what I could tell the float either stuck or got airlocked as there was no fresh sap coming in and tank had atleast 200 gallons in it yet. Just another one of them lows in the maple business.

[Mountain Winds Farm]

Just finished up our second weekend of the Maple festival. We met over 250 families in the four days, most of them new to our operation,was a really great time , however very hectic at the same time.I highly recommend the festival to any body who is looking to expand their business or just get out the word about maple .It also helps your bottom line !!!!

[CBOYER]

3rdgen, if you brush stainless steel whit steel brush, yo need to acid clean the stainless to prevent pitting. stainless need to be passivated to be "stainless", already protection for stainless came from oxydation of chrome/nickel in it.

[Revi]

I have heard you aren't really a sugarmaker until you've burnt a pan. It's not an initiation we would like to have more than once though.

[allgreenmaple]

Danno I burnt up my syrup pan myself friday. 2 of the 3 chambers completely covered on the bottom with burnt syrup about a 1/4 inch thick. First time for me. I just chucked wood in right after a drawoff and fedex guy pulls in driveway and I ran up to get the package. Was gone maybe 5 minutes tops. I knew before I hit the door it burnt. Poor dog ran out of there and refuses to come back down. I tried everything I had at hand and ended up with the drill and wire brush. Was suprised only had one high spot that I heated with map gas and beat her back down. Almost never know unless you looked hard for it. Wire brush on the drill did a good job and didnt scratch the pan all up like I thought it would. Rather it polished it back to a nice shine. Dont want to do that again. From what I could tell the float either stuck or got airlocked as there was no fresh sap coming in and tank had atleast 200 gallons in it yet. Just another one of them lows in the maple business. Did you find out why the float stuck?

[danno]

The acid worked much better on the burnt pan. Looks like this IS the week. Vacuum's on. We'll see. 200, here we come!

[3rdgen.maple]

Did you find out why the float stuck?

From what I coud tell the float wasnt stuck it just seemed to be air locked or something. In the mad panic it is hard to say exacally cause the main concern was getting the pan flooded and off the evaporator. There was so much smoke in there. In the panic I ran to the float box to push it down to flood it and before my and hit it I noticed there was a little trickle coming in but not enough to keep up with what was boiling off. Wish I had a better answer cause i never had it do that before. The thing that burns me (lol) is I was actually running the pans a little deeper than normal cause I was expecting my dad to boil for me while I cleaned up the releaser and woods tank so instead of the normal 1/4 inch above the flues I was running it more like 1 1/2 to 2 inches. If Patricks syrup pan wasnt made like it is with three seperate pans welded together for strength I think it would have been warped front to back. With just a small gap between the sections it makes for a pretty rigid pan. Another thing that I was having problems with is my thermostat. Darn thing was all over the map, one minute the pan was boiling and the guage was reading and inch below O. Then it would jump up to 2 or so and was driving me nuts. Now the darn thing after I burnt it up is reading normal again. All I know is it was at 40 when It was burning. Dont want to do that again. I have been on the fence about getting a second syrup pan for rotating or incase of what just happend I would just swap them out and keep on going. Problem is I was planning on upgrading rigs again to a 3x8 here in the near future but think I will go ahead and get the second pan anyways. Might be another season on the 2x6 in my future really dont want to do it again but decisions need to be made, another vac setup or new evaporator. I would rather at this point bust my butt and get the taps in boil till I fall over and then get the new evap. We all know what another releaser and tubing can cost. Vac pumps I have and a big one at that. Maybe I will build another milk can releaser and run that instead. The first one I built and runnig this year is working very well and seems to have no problems with 24 hg on it now. Decisions decisions.

[3rdgen.maple]

A guy at one of the places I service there printing equipment at told me this morning he heard on the news that some guy from Constantia burnt his whole house down trying to make syrup in his garage. Something about he was using a turkey fryer to make syrup and had several full tanks of propane in the garage as well. Apparently he had a meltdown of his equipment and caught the garage on fire and from there it blew up the propane tanks and the house was caught on fire. I hope it isnt true but if it is I feel for the family.

[danno]

Anybody in NY get a decent run today. High temp here yesterday was 35 and 41 today. Thought that would jump start things, but run today was not blockbuster. I was not around during the day to see what time things thawed out. I'm relying on the CV's to bring home the money late season.

[Troutman10]

Well I'm brand new to sugarin'...I have a very, very small operation as of Sunday. It'll give me a spoonful of sugar if I'm lucky. Bought 3 taps and 3 bag set-ups hoping that I wasn't too late to try things out for a week or so. I tapped a tree in my back yard and 2 at a neighbors house. My personal tree is giving me a good amount with today being my best day. All trees were tapped Sunday Morning. A good amount of trees in my area are budded, but I still found an ok number of trees around that haven't budded. I think I have 2 or 3 gallons of sap from the tree in my yard and about 1 or 2 gallons each at my neighbors set-ups. I almost don't know where to start b/c so many questions are running through my head. I'm sure I'll be busy asking questions on the rest of the forum for quite a while. How's everything goin for people right now? Is it over? If today is any indication how things can speed up then I think the next 4-5 days should be pretty good for me until Sunday. Anyways, good to be here. I will mirror what others have said...this is addicting!

[stoweski]

Came home from work today - around 4:15 and quite a few buckets were overflowing. Totaled 150 gallons of sap - my record so far this year. Quite a run as I banked yesterday's sap (shouldn't have) and went to almost 250 gallons.

Thank God my father is retired and can spend the day boiling because otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with all the sap. My two tanks hold about 240 gallons. I've manged to get down to 160 but will have to shut down soon so I can be alive when I get up for work tomorrow. **** work gets in the way of my playtime!

[barkeatr]

NICE recovery and positive mental approach to your burnt pan. Not to try to sound like a know it all and you prolly do this also, but I try to keep an emergency sap bucket next to my evap with 4 gallons of sap, i figure this will add water quicker than pushing the float. Also, along these lines i notice the feed line to my evaporator is one inch line, but I have mistakenly run a 3/4 line to it. Im going to fix this soon as I think it could vapor lock easier without the head pressure of the one inche line...

[barkeatr]

came home thinking i would find my buckets starting to thaw and some dripping..but at seven pm there was just the bare beginning of the lines starting to unfreeze...I have some cold woods! There is still a good 12-sixteen inches of snow in most places! My buckets are frozen solid but seems like tomorrow is the day? of course at 26 degrees for a low its not a hard freeze. Im sure i will come home to overflowing buckets because the ice has not thawed yet...

[collinsmapleman2012]

been boiling the rest of my sap... last is in the pan, finishing off soon. i had been putting cedar in for a while today, that stuff burns long and hot!!!

[3rdgen.maple]

NICE recovery and positive mental approach to your burnt pan. Not to try to sound like a know it all and you prolly do this also, but I try to keep an emergency sap bucket next to my evap with 4 gallons of sap, i figure this will add water quicker than pushing the float. Also, along these lines i notice the feed line to my evaporator is one inch line, but I have mistakenly run a 3/4 line to it. Im going to fix this soon as I think it could vapor lock easier without the head pressure of the one inche line...

Well there is really nothing a guy can do but look ahead and take it for what it is. To late to change what happened. I have a garden hose hooked up and its close to the evaporator but the darn thing was frozen so thats why I went for the float. My infeed line is 1 1/4. I really cant wait to get into a bigger rig. The 20 hour boils are tough to do after the first one of the season. LOL

Danno wasnt anything for sap to write home about today thats for sure. Managed to pull about a gallon a tap of the vac and it never really started running good till after 12. With the long freeze we had I expected a couple days before they would explode again. Buckets didnt start dripping till well after 2 and wasnt worth looking at them. The cold wind is what killed us I believe. Tomarrow should be a good one. I boiled out my pans tonight and they are soaking overnight. FIgured since the last few boils have been B mine as well give her a good bath and start fresh and see what we get for grades. Sugar content on the vac was still low. 1.6 the long boils sure does eat wood fast. I will never ever run out again. I will have a minimum of a two year supply on hand from here on out. Nothing like dealing with all the work involved let alone messing with cutting wood.

[danno]

the long boils sure does eat wood fast. I will never ever run out again. I will have a minimum of a two year supply on hand from here on out. .

If I had a $ for everytime I said that, and then proceeded to run out the next year:) Nothing like burning unseasoned wood at the end of the season. I even had to split more wood last week and I've got the RO. Actually, I had a bunch of wood bucked and ready to split right next to the wood shed, but the early snows buried the wood/splitter so I never got to it, so I started with less split/seasoned than I was planning on.

Man, I hope those CV's work. I tapped mid Feb. and my taps usually dry out after 4-5 weeks, so I'm pushing it. Hoping CV's and high vacuum will pull me through and get me these upcoming potentially good runs. Today will be the test.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well Danno I said it myself a hundred times but it wont happen again. There is nothing more fustrating then trying to boil unseasoned or wet wood. Never again. I have bartered for a total of 18 almost full cords of slab wood and hauling it home and cutting it up every week. And I will get more as the guy just keeps saying take it all take it all. LOL
Today my friends sap is running better than it has all year. Record day I hope.

[danno]

3rd gen - just got back from your neck of the woods. Drove up to check on camp. Could not drive in - still mid winter on the Tug. Fields are bare, but woods and area around my camp, including my road still has 2' on the ground. Have to find out where you are sometime? Altmar, right? Near the hatchery?

Envioulsy checked out the pine slap pile next to the amish wood mill on Rte. 2. Looks like they are boiling sap as well. Alot of bucket guys uo and down Rt. 2. Have not been home yet ... hope it's running.

[danno]

4:15 update. I guess I'm back in the game. My wife just checked tank - gallon per tap today and flowing heavy. I'm converted. Now officially a CV believer!

[3rdgen.maple]

Well all I can say is holy crap lol. Managed 2 gallon a tap on vac and about a gallon a tap on buckets yesterday. Worked till 6, gather sap and finished cleaning the pans and satrted boiling at 9pm. Just got in for a few hours sleep. Managed to get it all boiled down except the 300 gallons in the head tank. To my suprise I am making Light syrup for the first time this year. Strange being this late in the game but I need it to fill some orders but after tasting nothing but dark and B for the past few weeks that light stuff has no flavor in my opinion. Looks good in glass however. Checked the buckets on the trees in the yard and they are overflowing. Tomarrow or rather I should say today is going to be a long day. I am getting to the point of desperation for the suped up 3x8 and my dad stopped by tonight and said son you might want to jump to a 4x10. Any one got some extra hundreds lying around?

[stoweski]

Any one got some extra hundreds lying around?

You will after you sell the syrup! :)

Took in a new record for me yesterday... 212 on 127 taps! Sure was nice to see. My father boiled all day and by 10 we knocked down the total of 375 to 60 now left over. Went out this morning and some were overflowing again.

Running out of wood. :(

[MilesTeg]

We only got 125 gal yesterday but last night they sure did open up 300 gal over night! The icing on the cake is when my father checked it this morning nothing was running yet that means we got a freeze last night. I've been in dark and B too for the past few weeks it will be great to be in some light or Med again lets see how the newly cleaned evaporator goes tonight.

[Mountain Winds Farm]

pushing 110-120 gallons an hour through the old girl and we are not catching up! Pulled 9 1/2 gallons of medium off tonight and almost 25 gallons for the day. Our best day ever!

[barkeatr]

Seems everyone had strong runs yesterday but us, I got maybe a quart per tap today and last night. Snow is still 12 inches deep in the woods. My five gallon food grade pails are only half thawed. We must be a few days behind eveyrone!

[briansickler]

We had our best sap collection for this year yesterday evening of 438 gallons of beautiful clear sap. It was still running good too. Hope to have another 300 gal. today. We are up to 75 gallons of syrup all grade A so far. The sap from yesterday is making what looks to be medium to light. Have a good one.

[danno]

Sap's still running down here in CNY, but it's not running as hard as it was before the cold spell. Picked up about 1000 gallons in the past 36 hours. I'm dissapointed to see they've bumped the low temps for the next week. A few days ago, they had every night for the next 10 below freezing. Last couple nights have not gotten below freezing and now forecast is for lows of 32-33.

I did learn that I have enough taps now to warrant a dry line. Now that the sap has slowed, I can keep the vac at the end of my lines within a 1/2" of the vac at the releaser. When the sap was flowing HARD, I was losing 2 or 3". Anybody have a few 1000' of 1 1/2 they don't need:)

[3rdgen.maple]

Well Im in deep trouble now. I have 650 gallons of sap and only collected half the buckets today and vac tank is half full yet cause I have no where to put it. Dad boiled all day while I was at work and after 12 hours of boiling I think he pulled of 2 gallons of syrup. All I can say is WTF 12 hours he should have knocked off 400 gallons of sap. I cant figure that one out at all. I have to work all day tomarrow as well and he is going to boil again. I checked the sugar content in the head tank and its at 1.8 so what gives with those numbers. I wonder out of the 12 hours how much of it was a nap lol.

[barkeatr]

Still no big sap today up on the near the canadian border. it was going good this morning and then got windy and snowed. Yes, it was 43 degrees and snowing....

we maybe got a half quart per tap. the chunks of ice went from 50% filling the bucket the other day to 35%. Most of my yield today was probably melted ice.

I suspect we will get big sap but it still needs more time. I wonder if all the snow on the ground affects flow.

barkeatr

[stoweski]

After boiling off 175 gallons yesterday I'm ready to pull the taps... at least on the reds. The 7 day doesn't show a single night below freezing. Though the past two nights were forecast to be in the high 20's we wound up waking up both mornings to 35.

I'll be cleaning the tank and boiling water in the flue pan (hopefully to clean it) and watching the remainder of my sap boil off in the sugar pan.

It was a very good, and tiring season. For a while I thought I'd be doing this for two months. 10 days shy of two months isn't bad.

Enjoy the remainder of your season!

[3rdgen.maple]

I do believe its is getting close to over but watching weather report right now and shows no more freezing temps. I have 750 plus gallons in the tanks right now to get through. I think todays run is it. Bitter sweet is all I can say. I welcome the warm weather but hate to see the season go.

[RockFarm]

Just got back from the Catskills. There was lots of clear sap in the buckets, and still some snow under the hemlocks. My bush is at about 1700 feet. I'm hoping for some freezing nights this week.

[Mountain Winds Farm]

Looks to be all done here in Berne. The mountain is red with buds and it's 47 degrees and rising with no drop off tonight and 60 plus tomorrow. Have about 500 gallons to finish of and then the cleanup begins

[danno]

Tomorrow night and Wed night supposed to drop into the mid-20's. No open buds on the sugar maples yet, but they are browning up. Gonna keep collecting this week. Picked up almost a gallon per tap each of the last two days, no hard freeze since last Tuesday or Wednesday.

[MillbrookMaple]

Our trees just dribbled today but weather doesn't look bad from Tuesday night on. I pulled all the Reds today since they are starting to swell but the sugars still look tight. Most of the guys around me are packing it in, my bush is above 2000 feet so I am hoping to get runs through the weekend. I hope I'm not being overly optimistic.

[TroutBrookSH]

Fired for last time tonight (I think) and drew off last 3+ gals B grade. Still tallying final numbers, but best season ever by ~2x.

Had some great crowds for both NY Maple Weekends. Decided to get listed on www.mapleweekend.com for first time and Greater Rochester responded! Even got a little TV spot on WHEC Ch 10: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2031796.shtml . Sponsored 3 pancake breakfasts for 3 different youth groups, and all did well. Hope to have all four NY Maple Weekend days covered next year.

Time to close the steam vents, flush the lines, and start catching up on my sleep....until Sunday, when the alpaca shearing guys arrive.

Greg

[3rdgen.maple]

Well the night crawlers are out in full force tonight. Always a sign its just about over. Tink I ran over about 10000 frogs hopping across the road on the way home tonight. I think the weather forcast will be wrong for another freeze after seeing all this. But who knows. Still working on last 400 in the tanks. Making B but tastes very good. It is the syrup the fish smokers hold out for smoking their salmon. Definately wll be over by weeks end. Kind of glad too cause Im getting really tired of scrounging for dry wood and mixing in the wet crap with it. Gph way down cause of it.

[danno]

The cold front has gone through. Down to 36 degrees here now at 8:20 am and snowing moderatly. 6 days since a freeze up and the sap on vac fianlly slowed way down last night. May turn the vac off today and restart tomorrow if we get a freeeze tonight. Will be done by weeks end.

[briansickler]

Well, it turned out to be a decent year for me after all. 90 gallons of syrup finished. I hope everyone else had a good year. I'm already starting to prepare for next year. Have my eye on an old RO that I can get in trade for syrup. I want to install some tubing as well. I'll be able to handle more sap with the RO, if that works out. Have a good day.

Brian

[3rdgen.maple]

Looks like I was wrong and there will be some frozen worms in the ground tonight. Got a couple inches of snow this morning. I m good with one more run of sap. Just have to find some time to get it all processed. Work alone is overwhelming this week.

[barkeatr]

i think my bush is starting to thaw out. even though no freeze last night i had a run today and most of the ice has thawed out of my food grade pails.

snowed all day today despite 42 degree temps...three or four inches on ground tonight. my season is just starting.

barkeatr

[danno]

Last night I ran 800 gallons of permeate through the RO to rinse. In hindsight I should have run 600 gallons through to rinse, and saved the other 200 gallons to add the off season preservative and put her to bed for the summer. Now I need enough sap to run the RO one more time to get sufficient permeate to store the machine. Got about 500 gallons sap and will collect through tomorrow. That will be the end.

Will wind up with 180 gallons of syrup from about 12500 gallons of sap. Yup, that's 70-1. Was certain on 200 gal/syrup a few weeks ago, but nothing during that 7 day cold snap the end of March, then when it warmed up, we did not have any cold nights. Have only made 25 gallons since we thawed out.

[barkeatr]

My trees cut loose today..55 degrees. Cold clear sap. Still some small ice chunks in the pails from the big freeze. Gathered 120 gallons of sap today from 130 taps. Some of that is the melting ice but thats OK. Dont need the snowshoes anymore, life is good.

clear sky, cooling off quick should be one more freeze night and then it looks like some warm nights after that.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well tomarrow will be the last boil. For some reason it feels like sending a child off to college. Hard to beleive the season is over when just a short few weeks ago I was complaining my head off that we had no good weather. Will tally up the totals but think I am somewheres between 65 to 70 gallons. Not too bad considering the low sugar content. Was a decent year and better than the last 3 thats for sure. Missed my 100 gallon goal but it is what it is and something to get next year. I will definatley be cutting up slab wood for next year starting this coming week. It sure was hard boiling with the wood we had at the end of the season. Actually was fustrating more than fun. Hope everyone had a good year.

[Bucket Head]

Today was the last boil for us. Sad to see it end but we had a good year. Our upgrades worked great and we made a little more syrup than our last record. Tomorrow we start preparing for next season!

Steve

[stoweski]

Three mornings below 30 degrees with highs near or slightly above 50. Would have been worth keeping the taps in for those three days but nooooo, I was stupid once again and listened to the forecast when the projected lows were in the mid 30's.

Ah well, was a good season.

Let the cleanup begin!

[MillbrookMaple]

We are in the same boat here. Starting today no freezing temps in the forcast. I expect for a small run today after last night's freeze but I plan to process everything tomorrow and start cleaning up. Big improvement over last year. Last year 54 gallons, this year we will probably end near 140. Next year more taps and a vac system.

[danno]

Three mornings below 30 degrees with highs near or slightly above 50. Would have been worth keeping the taps in for those three days but nooooo, I was stupid once again and listened to the forecast when the projected lows were in the mid 30's.

Ah well, was a good season.

Let the cleanup begin!

Don't beat yourself up. We had lows of 29-30 for the past few nights and my sap output still dropped WAY OFF even on high vac and check valves. Your woods may have been different, but sap is done here.

[barkeatr]

big sap here near the northern border...a good gallon per tap for last 24 hours or less. its clear and cold.. hard freeze last night did the trick. No more freezing nights though...I expect this run will go well into tomorrow and I will pull the plug. Then a weekend of clean up...

sounds like everyone has had a great season.. thats good

[sapman]

Same thing as Danno for me. On high vac, Tuesday to Friday only yielded 750 gal. on 2200 taps. Pump got turned off Friday. Still made decent dark amber from it.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I wussed out yesterday PM. Not enough sap to pay for the gas to run the pumps. No freeze for another week and 70 degree temps in between. Will be pulling spouts in mosquito heaven:rolleyes: Final tally will be about 2200 gallons. I purchased 20,000 gallons of sap so I figure I made 1700 from my 4500 taps. About .38 gallons per tap. 1/3 of those are reds so I'm satisfied. Now to get it sold and clean up. Already big plans for next year.
Doug

[PATheron]

Doug- Heck of a job! Good season. Theron

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Thanks Theron! You still got it sucking?

[PATheron]

Im still going and still getting sap. Its pretty bad stuff though. Dirty dishwater with not much sugar in it. Bout over. Theron

[sapman]

I ended with 525 gal. on 2200. Pretty bad, but better than last year. If I can make some changes in the woods, think I might improve the #'s a lot.

[stoweski]

Washed 127 buckets and lids with the wife this afternoon. That after grocery shopping, raking & fertilizing the lawn, planting the early veggies in the garden, and playing on the tractor.

Next year I'll have tubing!!! What a PITA those buckets are!

[Mountain Winds Farm]

pulled the plug this morning on the vacuum , finished cooking this afternoon,now for the cleanup

[danno]

Tim - I talked to Harry the other day. 270 gallons on about 600 taps in 4 weeks:) He stopped about 10 days ago when his vac died. His trees produce!

[sapman]

I know! He always seems to do pretty well with that little old pump. Wish I could make his averages.

[3rdgen.maple]

Well gents the cleanup is underway. Finished the last boil of the mersh off wednesday. Ended the year with 67 gallons of the good stuff and 15 gallons of mersh. Was a good year for me. I wish my woods trees ran like some of the ones you guys have but regardless these are good numbers considering most are on buckets and in the woods. The vac is what made the year. Less than 200 taps on vac outproduced over 400 on buckets and the sugar content was no more than a tenth of a point differernt between the 2 for the yearly average. Already have the next section walked and gearing up to get another 300 to 400 on vac next year. I decided to keep on growing. Theres an easy 2500 to 3000 taps on my land alone and then all the neighbors want me to get their trees as well someday. I have more potential taps then I ever want. Time for a day off.

[allgreenmaple]

Well gents the cleanup is underway. Finished the last boil of the mersh off wednesday. Ended the year with 67 gallons of the good stuff and 15 gallons of mersh. Was a good year for me. I wish my woods trees ran like some of the ones you guys have but regardless these are good numbers considering most are on buckets and in the woods. The vac is what made the year. Less than 200 taps on vac outproduced over 400 on buckets and the sugar content was no more than a tenth of a point differernt between the 2 for the yearly average. Already have the next section walked and gearing up to get another 300 to 400 on vac next year. I decided to keep on growing. Theres an easy 2500 to 3000 taps on my land alone and then all the neighbors want me to get their trees as well someday. I have more potential taps then I ever want. Time for a day off. Sounds like you could almost make a living off your land. :)

[3rdgen.maple]

Sounds like you could almost make a living off your land. :)

Probably after the kids are all through college, well maybe. I have considered getting a guide license to take fisherman on the Salmon river as well. Get me a nice drift boat, and fish away. Some of these guys make a decent living just doing that. Then Maple in the spring when the river is flooded. Man Im onto something now. NO more running around the country selling, installing and servicing printing equipment. Sounds good to me. lol