November Journal

[syrupmaker]

Man were did October go? Kids made a good haul last night, course i had to help sort the good stuff. Never enough snickers bars and to many 3 musketers.

Rick

[brookledge]

Whats the matter with 3 muskateers? They still put the lbs on the mid section just as well as the snickers. My kids got alot also and now have to try and pace their consumption.
Keith

[syrupmaker]

OK..... :? I thought I posted or pm'd someone that was looking to do pan repairs offering my soldering iron. Well I found my iron but can't find any posts in response to it? So if somebody, somewhere needs it, give a hollar and I can ship it to you. The one I found is the electric one so it is a little nicer to work with than the torch model.

Rick

[syrupmaker]

OK so i was still a little sleepy. I found the post further down the evapporator forum.

Rick

[Al]

Too many Snickers will do that. :D Are you getting ready for all the wind we're supposed to have tonight? Hope not to get to much more limb damage.
Take care

[mapleman3]

as long as the limbs or trees fall in other places(at work) then I get free firewood :lol: 8) I got about 5 or so cord this year so far that way!!

[Al]

Me too. Just cut up 5 big old apple trees that were blown over. Alot of clean up but good wood for 07. Good for a smoker to they say. Didn't get the wind here last night. :D Have to move and plumb in my tank then I'm all set.
Take care,

[Mike]

Ran 2000 ft of 1" main...Got it all tied up and will move the 500 gal tank tomorrow down where the vaccum pump will be....will ad 200 or so new taps befor the end of the year.....should be up to 800-900 taps....alll on vaccum.... :D .....Al, you still looking for a tankk???

[Al]

Yep still looking. Wrapping up all my loose ends this weekend. Need to get ready for snow season.
Take care.

[syrupmaker]

Took the bow for a walk back to the sugar house today and checked things over. A couple large limbs fell acrossed some lines, to big to drag off so I guess a trip with the saw will do. Sat on the top half of a big cherry tree that snapped off, watched 17 turkey, a fist full of squirrels and a gaggle of geese for the morning. Darned if my brother doesn't go there this afternoon and takes a 5 point from the same spot. Oh well I guess tommorrow is another day, maybe walk the bow and the saw with me.

Rick

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Went turkey hunting without any luck this morning. Guess I shoulda went with Rick! :wink: I wasn't really interested in getting one, but wanted to see my Uncle get one as he never has. Guess he has plenty of time as he is only in early 30's and has only hunted a few years. :lol: :lol: Still enjoying the big buck I rattled in last Sat. That was the hunt of a lifetime and if I live to be 100 and kill 1,000 more bucks, I will never have one better than the show that big boy put on when I rattled him in. He field dressed 176 lbs which is huge for a deer down here. The processor told me he would get 600 to 700 this year and probably wouldn't get one larger in weight. Of course, he will look great on my wall once I get him back from the taxidermist next summer. :D :D :D :D :D

Spent a few hours this afternoon and nearly finished up the wood. I am up to around 7 cords and I may get in one more over the next couple of weeks, but I should be fine either way. Split the wood a little larger this year to slow it down from burning up so fast. The larger pieces I used last year seemed to work as well and didn't burn up quite so fast, so I hope my hunch pays off. I only average about 15 gallons of syrup per cord, but my 50 to 1 sap to syrup ratio hurts that a lot. Just over 3 months until the taps go into the trees here. The wife is due any day now, so I won't be doing much more syurping in the near future. :D :D :D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did add the pics of my buck on my website so Rick can eat his heart out if anyone is interested! :wink: :wink: :D

[White Barn Farm]

Spent the day with fellow maplers at the Arnot forest. It was Twin Tiers Maple school for southern N.Y. and northern Pa. It was very informative, around 35 attendees of all ages and sizes of operations.
Topics covered;
Dealing with rodents in the sugarbush and proper deer management
if possible
Filtering options
Tubing cleaning demonstration
Thinning of maple stand
Tour of Anni Davenport's saphouse and tubing set-up
Lots of discussion on all topics and a general agreement that what works for some may or may not work for others. It's all a learning experience. Saw sap ladders for the first time, interesting concept to transfer sap. Just a great day to learn from others trials. Lots of handouts to read over, if I can only stay awake.

[syrupmaker]

Brandon......in the 4th pic what is above your head. At first i thought it was two pouches of beach-nut chewn tabbaccy to celabrate with Bradon. But upon closer inspection it looks like Bradon is standing on your head. After looking closer it looks like he is standing on a log behind you.

Just thought it was to funny not to mention.

Rick

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Rick,

Had to poke you a little as I knew you would enjoy it. He is standing on the ground as it is kinda steep there. There is a manhole cover behind him, so I guess that's what you're seeing! :D

[RUSTYBUCKET]

Very nice buck you got there Brandon! The conservation department is experimenting with an antler restriction in my area this year so it should be interesting to see what effect it has on the number of bucks taken.


White Barn,

I read your post on the maple school and would like to know if any of that information on filtering options has an address. I'd like to get a copy for reference. Filtering seems to be hit and miss with us so I'm always looking for advice.


Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

Thanks and I have been pushing for restrictions down here, but I am a nobody. Doubt it will happen any time soon, but I am getting under other people's skin and I know and they are being more selective.

I haven't shot a buck for 5 years. I decided to wait until one big enough to mount came along and hold out for him as I had never shot one big enough to mount. I would normally take a mature doe with the bow, but due to the huge decrease of aproximately 70% in the deer population about 3 years ago, I have been passing on those also. :?

[Father & Son]

Brandon

Nice buck! Pa adopted antler restrictions a few years ago. They have to have 4 points on one side legal but they are still passing out too many doe permits. In some areas you can apply and get even a second permit. The Game Commision has broken the state into WMU's (wildlife management units) and base the allotment on biologist studies of the deer herd. Alot of hunters are against this and there has been a big decrease in the deer (buck and doe) being seen. :cry:

[mountainvan]

hows anni doing? I worked with her at a camp up the road awhile ago. she left to be penn. maple person. I've been singing the hanging tubing song. 2000ft 3/4 mainline, 3000ft 5/16, lost count of taps added so far and still a couple more days in the 2nd year sugarbush.

[lharris1]

Brandon, I printed out a couple of pictures of your buck to post at the home place. I talked to my brother Ron about the buck and he is anxious to see it. He and Kevin and Kevin's boys hunt from there. I'll put a note on it saying "This is the bench mark. Shoot only if it is better than this".

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Larry,

That might be a once in a lifetime deer around there. In 30+ years, that is by far the biggest buck that any of the four of us have killed. Either way, gives me something to hunt for to try to beat it. Might have to go to Kansas or Illinois. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[VA maple guy]

I've been looking for sugar maples for the last two weeks. I found about fifteen with in a quater mile area that i can tap. :D :D That should bring me to about 125 taps this year. I still have mostly reds but hay, at least i have a few sugars now. I also found a whole bunch more reds, don't know if I'll use all of them.
Gerry

[mountainvan]

I have plenty of sugar maples but do not pass on reds. some of the reds I tap with buckets have 3% sugar year after year. If your paying taxes on the land, or lease it, might as well get all the sap you can!!

[MASSEY JACK]

HEY BRANDON, THAT'S A BEAUTIFUL BUCK. VERMONT IS STARTING WITH A 3 POINT ANTLER RESTRICTION THIS YEAR. NEW YORK STILL HAS NONE BUT DID NOT ISSUE ANY DOE TAGS IN OUR AREA THIS YEAR. WE TOO HAVE SEEN A BIG REDUCTION IN DEER IN OUR AREA FROM 3 YEARS AGO. WHILE I WAS LOOKING AT YOUR PICTURES I NOTICED THAT BEAUTIFUL SUGARIN SETUP YOU HAVE. DID YOU USE THAT IN 2005 OR ARE THESE PHOTOS FROM THIS SUMMER? IF YOU DID USE IT THIS YEAR DID THE STARTUP GO WELL. I'M LOOKING REAL HARD FOR A USED RIG AROUND 3X8 FOR MYSELF. I AM GOING TO VERMONT TO MY CAMP ON FRIDAY TO GO HUNTING AND I THINK I WILL STOP IN AND SEE WHAT BASCOM'S HAS LAYING AROUND.

[VA maple guy]

Hay Mountainvan, you are quite lucky if your reds are running at 3%.
My reds run about 1.5% down here in VA.
The reason i might not tap some of the reds i just found is some are pretty hard to get to.
Gerry

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jack,

Thanks and as far as the setup, I have had everything 2 years except the sugarhouse and I just built it this summer. The inside is not finished, but it is useable and can work on the inside next year.

Gerry,

As far as the reds, I run about 1.7 on my trees and they are 95%+ sugar maples. It just comes with being this far south. The farther south you go, the lesser the sugar content. :?

[mountainvan]

Yep I guess I'm lucky, but the reason the sugars so high is that most of the sugar maples, cherry, and ash were logged out of this particular property. The reds have very large crowns and the only real competition they get is from beech. The only thing I have to worry about is the reds bud out a little earlier than the sugars. This year I pulled the taps out of the reds the beginning of april. Today was the american tradition of hanging out at the general store morras market, talking about yesterdays elections. tomorrow back in the woods to hang more tubing.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Most of my sugarers are well spaced and have enormous crowns and very little competition from other trees and it doesn't matter. Guess it just comes with being down south!

Either way, God has blessed me to be able to make syrup and enjoy it the way I do! :D :D

[VA maple guy]

I went out for a mountain bike ride this evening and found four more sugars. The trees around here at peak color right now, that sure makes it real easy to find the sugars.That should bring me to about 30 taps on sugars. :lol: :lol:
Brandon it will be interesting to see what the sugar % is in my trees compared to yours. Most or the sugars that i found are about 12" to 20".
Gerry

[syrupmaker]

Well winter finally showed up in Western NY. Tuesday night at 1:00 AM it was 70 deg. out, :P I was in the garage in a T-shirt. Wendsday morning it dropped to 42 deg. with rain :( and by Thursday as i type this it is snowin to beet the band 8O and we already have 14". Wonder what Mapleking and Dropflue got over the next hilltop. By Saturday it is supposed to be back up to 46, :? sloppy for sure. Almost like sugarin weather. Well, wait it out till spring I guess.

Rick

[Maple Flats]

Today I put about half of my firewood in the sugarhouse. When the next dry day arrives I will put the other half in. I finish cutting and splitting it as soon as sugarseason is over for the next season and stack it off the ground with a piece of roofing steel over it. Then just before winter arrives I move the stacks into the sugarhouse. When this is done as I cut more during the winter it gets stacked outside to start the cycle again.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Spent several hours last Thurs afternoon and Sat and nearly finished up my wood. I have around 7+ cords and may get in a little more, but either way, I should have more than enough for next year. I spent my of my time Sat working on wiring up my building. Got several outlets in and will wait until I finish the inside and put up the inside walls before I wire the rest of the building. Also installed a large dusk to dawn light on the outside of the building and it is next to the wood so it lights up the entire front of building and parking area and also the wood storage area for when I boil at night. :D

Baby due any day and wife was dilated to nearly 4 on Monday. I can't believe the little one didn't come when the moon was full early Tues morning, but she is stubborn like her mother. Hopefully she will wait until at least next Tues or Wed as Monday is the first day of rifle season and I have the entire week of next week! :D

[lharris1]

Brandon: Good luck with the delivery. Hope all goes well.

I plan to help my brother work on the sugar camp Saturday 11/26 and the following Monday and Tuesday.

[Dropflue]

Well there’s a new sugar maker in our family. Our second son was born Tuesday November 15th at 7:10 AM. Jonathan Richard weighing 8lbs 1 0z. Mom is doing well. I won’t be on the trader for a few days because of our new addition. Maybe he’ll have the maple bug like his old man! (I need help collecting them sap buckets!)

[mapleman3]

WOW The Mapletrader family is growing at leaps and bounds.. Congrats dropflue!!

Brandon I hope all goes well, may as well be this weekend, you already got your tasty buck!! :wink:
Wish Janelle All the best from Charlene and I !!

[mountainvan]

congratulation on the baby. to get them hooked on maple just mix a little syrup with the formula!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Rick,

Congrats as you beat me. Little ones sure are the greatest blessing to a family from God. :D

No baby so far and it doesn't look like it will be today. Just taking it easy and spending time with family. :D

Larry,

I might try to look you and Richard up next Sat if I am in the area!

Good luck! :D

[sweetwoodmaple]

No need to mix it into the foumula, it's in the blood! (and then the wallet later on)

I've heard that maple bug affects at least 3 generations!

Congrats on the new one.

Brian

[Al]

Wow!!! All these babies!!! :D Congrats to you all. W.F.Mason's wife had a little girl last month up there in Maine also. Almost finished off the inside of my sugar house. My Dad calls it the boys club since that's were the boys are most of the time. With my little proane heater I can maintain about 55 degrees easy in there. The boys are waiting for the TV to go in next. We have a little 12 inch color TV for the boys to watch during sugaring. Great place for Dad to go and watch the games also!! Need to find a little woodstove next.
Take care,

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Al,

Sounds like a swell little place. I am hoping to finish mine next summer and keep the bedroom and possibly the kitchen heated year around. I have water coming in, so will need to keep it around 45 degrees or so to keep it from freezing. Will pile in as much insulation as possible to help with that. :D

[mountainvan]

took a walk in the new sugarbush I just finished plumbing, dead tree on the mainline!! up there tomorrow with the saw and repair stuff. Cleveland Browns won!! Still have big pile of wood to split tomorrow before winter arrives for good tuesday.

[mountainvan]

so in maine the snow cover is like tall grass down south, the snow melts/cut the grass and you find a truck on blocks you forgot about!! :D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

Wish I were closer and I would take a few pound of scallops off your hands. 8O :D

[mountainvan]

yup. used to live in north conway, married in conway. spent a bit of time in fryburg and hiram and on the saco for trout. coldest when there was 40 or so below 0. mustach froze to my beard and could'nt open my mouth till I thawed out. too many tourist so we left.

[brookledge]

Jeremy,
Whats an average day take on scallops? Do you do bay or deep sea?
Like Brandon said wouldn't mind buying a few lbs if I was closer.
Keith

[syrupmaker]

WOW..... congrats to all of you that have, or will be having little ones. Either you were all done and waiting for sugarin season to start or took a break and got side tracked. :lol: :lol: They are definately a blessing to have, watching as they grow and wonder about the world around them.

So down this way we spent the last 3 days slaughtering turkeys for Thanksgiving. 1700 birds will help you find muscles you didn't know you even had! Sunday morn was a bugger trying to get out of bed and get to church. Even today things are tight and slow. Looks like winter might be here for a spell now,forcasting snow for Tues all through the rest of the week. The lake is still 42 deg. so we could get our avg. snow fall (plus),real early this year if the cold and winds stick around.

Rick

[mountainvan]

no woods cause its supposed to rain now. instead I split way too much wood. when under my fingernails hurt from the splitter, did'nt put fingers in, that's too much wood.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Supposed to be at hospital at 6:30 tommorrow morning if not sooner, so hopefully will have a little one by this time tommorrow.

Thanks in advance for your prayers! :D :wink:

[ontario guy]

i think it must be the syrup. We just had our third child three months ago. Sister to our 2 1/2 year old twins!! 8O 8O It is aa bit nuts at our house. Congrats to eveyone who is having children. They kind of make you wonder what you did with all your spare time before having kids.

Mark

[Father & Son]

Finally got the cupola done on the sugar house and just beat the storm that started hitting us today. :D The weatherman is calling 6-10 inches by Friday if not more depending on the winds. Decided to try some of the wiring and lights today and there is where the problems begin. :( Last year all I had for light was a high intensity quartz work light. My power comes from the house via 2 - 100 ft extension cords. I bought two cold start shop lights and hung them only to have the breaker kick each time I plugged only one in. An electrician I am not. Do these require alot more power than the work light or am I running too much extension cord?

Jim

[mountainvan]

probably both, or you have a short somewhere. all appliances have a tag that says how much power they use, take a look at the light and see. plus 200ft is a ways to run cords unless they're beefy. most cords are 14/2 or 12/2. so look at the ratings on the cords. I'm not an "electrician" either but wired my own house thanks to studying the books, and yes it did pass inspection!

[VA maple guy]

Is the breaker you are plugged into with the extension cords a GFCI type breaker? If so it could be that one of the fixtures has a minor ground fault
where the current to ground is small but large enough to trip the GFCI.

What happens when you plug them in another outlet? Not the same one the cords are plugged into.

My friend, and master electrician, Byron may be able to help .
Gerry

[brookledge]

Try pluging the lights in the oulet that you are pluging in the ext. cord and if they don't trip the breaker then I would get a larger gauge ext. cord
Keith

[ontario guy]

my 2 cents...

If you can run one one of those quartz light you can run fluorecent. The quartz lights usually take 250 or 500 watts. Your fluorecent should use less than 100 for two bulbs(40 watt each if they are 4 feet). I would say you have a problem with a) possibly GFCI or b) you have it wired wrong.

did your lightst come with a plug on it or are you wiring it into the light yourself?

[Father & Son]

Thanks for the info concerning ground fault breakers. I plugged the light into the outlet in the garage and it tripped the breaker :? , soooooooo I went to my second home (The Home Depot) and picked up a new ground fault breaker and put it in the panel box. Problem solved! :D

Thanks everyone for the advice :D

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

We did have a new addition to the family yesterday at 12:18 pm--Brooke Lilly Daniels. She was 8+ lbs and is doing great. Everyone got to come home this afternoon and hopefully will get some good rest tonight.

Take care! :D

[chris]

Brandon,
Congrats to you and your family,
Chris & Kim

[sweetwoodmaple]

Looks like you have lots to be thankful for!

May God bless you and your family.

Brian

[mapleman3]

:D :D :D Congrats to the 4 of you Brandon, what a nice way to celebrate the Holidays!! Enjoy!!!,We talked with Janelle for a few minutes She sounds Great for just having Lil' Brooke Lilly, Glad everything went well, and from the sounds of it your already busy taking care of things! Again Congratrulations, I'll catch up with you later!
Jim & Charlene and the Kids

[RUSTYBUCKET]

Congratulations Brandon!! Two more hands to pitch in, better find some more buckets.


Russ

[Maple Flats]

Congratulations. Glad to hear everyone is doing fine.
P.S. Trust me, you won't get a full night sleep, and your wife needs extra help for sure. Is it 9 months since the sap first started running? Hmmm, must be the mapleing!

[Al]

Congrats to you all. What a joyful day!
Take care,

[Dropflue]

Congrats Brandon! What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving. Take care of Mom, she needs the rest.

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Sounds like you got you lights fixed. We dont have a power problem at our sugar house but if it gets too hot in the room it will kick off the thermal protected lights.
Your Sugar house looks great! Tell Chase I said Hi.

Chris (Albion)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Thanks to everyone and everything is going great here other than little sleep. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[brookledge]

Brandon,
Having a new born is like sugaring season. Work all day then up all night.
Best of wishes to your family. There will be time for sleep later in life.
Keith

[mapleman3]

Well Time to go into the sugarhouse and heat up 5 gal of syrup for bottling, getting orders for Xmas, have to do some cleaning out there.

[mapleman3]

Sitting in the sugarhouse now, Got the Patriots game on and writing this as we speak... sure bringing back memories of boiling time back...the bottler is at about 130 deg and climbing, getting a whif here and there of maple!! finally got the counter clean of little rascle messes... man those mice get everywhere , they think they own the place when I'm not using it... that and cobwebs from spiders.. maybe I should hire a maid to do a monthly cleaning.
Rick(Syrupmaker) and his family are coming up in a few weeks so I'll wait and get some pan cleaner for that weekend and fire the evap up and get some steam going and clean the pans.... maybe make some candy and cream that weekend for goodies to eat!!
Hopefully the snow will be gone in a few days and I can finish up getting things put away for winter!

[Parker]

I was able to spend the day in Hill,, THought I was going to be able to use the existing mainline but on closer examination looks like Ill have to go all new,,,Lots and lots of taps,,hope I get it all in by the season,,Have gotten about 27??cords in the sugarhouse,,lots to do but looking better than last year,,good luck!!! Marty the place looks great,,how many taps do you have now,,are you going to run the same evap?? Congrats Brandon!!

[Race]

Brandon ,
Congratulations on the new addition to your family . As you know , the sleepless nights will be all but forgotten in just a short time.

Race in Wisconsin

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

To look in the face of a beautiful daughter is worth much more than sleep. :D :D :D

I have been considering a Kubota tractor. Has anyone got any input on them as they seem to be a very good tractor and service very well??

[mountainvan]

Cleaned all the summer/fall stuff out of the saphouse today. I can actually walk all the way around the evaporator without running into bikes, fishing poles, baseball bats,etc. Saw orion the other night, that's my sign that sugaring is coming soon. :P Rain all week here so just going to putz and chill! Congrates on the baby for the mountaineers!! You going to be taking her down the New or Gaully first?

[VA maple guy]

Hay brandon, my brother has a smaller Kubota tractor,not sure the model. He has been using it for about ten years on his horse farm. He has never had any trouble with it. he swears by them. My electrition buddy Byron has loaned me his 1978 Kubota B7800 tractor. It is all beat up and has about one or two billion hours on it. It still runs and works great. I wish he would just sell it to me ,I love it.
Gerry

[lharris1]

I just returned home from spending Friday, Saturday and Monday working on the sugar camp.

Brandon: Congratulations on the little Girl! :D You now have the All American Family. I also had a boy and a Girl - but they are now 34 and 31 years old.

We expanded the shack from 12 x 10 to 12 x 24. Got it under roof and 90% of sides. My photos show the expansion complete with skylight. Now we need lots of firewood inside. It is not too pretty but should be more functional. We are anxious to try out the new steam hood and pre-heater.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Larry,

It looks great! Keep up the good work and maybe I can catch up with you some weekend when you are up. I don't have much spare time for anything after the addition to the family and I still have at least 3 full days to get ready for next season! :D