Michelle32 ready to go

[SSFLLC]

Finaly up and ready to boil. Wife tapped what was run 140 for now. Still adding more as we run the rest of the mains. Talked to the neighbor with 86 acres. They said tap all you want. There grand parents use to tap over there. Will checK that out when where done running and tapping here. Michelle also split a cord of wood and brought it to the sugar shack 1/4 mile in the woods on saturday. When it was 40 mile hour winds and 10 below out. Nice to have a hard working wife.

[adk1]

I guess we know who wears the pants in that family :)

[Backyard Sapper66]

Keith,
Sounds like you have a keeper!! Good luck and happy sugarin'
Just be weary when she starts wearing that tee shirt that says "Will trade husband for tractor"!!
Doug
:)

[morningstarfarm]

that is soo cool...wanna trade?:lol:

[SSFLLC]

Doug thats why im here. I have the tractor and all the toys that attach to it. She is definintly a keeper.

[Backyard Sapper66]

Keith,
Sounds like your doing something right (which doesn't happen very often for us men according to the lady folk).
Keep up the good work!!
Doug
:)

[Russell Lampron]

It sounds like you are going to be able to tap as many trees as you want in the future. 140 on vacuum should get you something to boil. It doesn't look like a big warm up in sight for a while so you still have some time to add more before it really starts to run.

What do you have for trees? Reds or Sugars or a mixture of both? As I already knew Michelle likes this sugaring stuff. Splitting and moving wood will warm you up in a hurry.

[SSFLLC]

On the trees it's a mix about 50/50. If you stand at the back of the feild you can see the north side of Loudon ridge and you know thats all sugars up there. Havn't really looked at the neighbors yet. But definite big potential. Last time it was sugared was in the sixtys. Its been logged since so have to see whats there.

[SSFLLC]

Spent the day in the woods. Let the vac run from 11 on till dark. Not sure what we got let it dump on the ground. Got 800 feet of main up and laid out where the branch lines will come into it. Should have that done pretty quick. Also have one other main that is done that will get extended today for another 20 taps. Should be close to the 200 mark after that. Going to rain tomorrow so I will walk the neighbors property then. To see what we can get there.

[SSFLLC]

-4 here in G town. Nothing but fire wood today. Leak patrol yesterday. Got the vac up to 25 at the releaser. Looks like Michelle is going to be sapindated this weekend will I go to my paying job. Bring on the sap. Keith

[Amber Gold]

It was 7 near the coast. Will you have your property tapped out this year and looking to expand onto your neighbors for the following year? 200 taps on vac. and running 3% is going to be pretty nice.

[red maples]

yeah 8* when I woke up this morning!!! I wish I could get 3% that would be sweet (pun intended) young trees with small crowns I am super happy if I get 2%. but 1.5-1.75 is the norm.

[SSFLLC]

Josh, we will have about 250 on are property when where done. Than we will start on the neighbors property. Have to walk it with them and do up a contract. We don't want the same thing to happen here that happened at the other place. One of the brothers are retiring in 5 years and is moving up here from Mass then. So if where putting a bunch of money into it. I want to be there for at least 8 to 10 years.

[Amber Gold]

I'd shoot for a 10 year lease which is the life of the tubing.

I also made the mistake of going into my first woods w/out a contract and paid the price for it. Two years before they "changed" their minds and had to pull everything out.

[SSFLLC]

Hi Josh, Do you have a contract with somebody now? And if you do can I get a copy of it. Michelle works for a law firm and the contract that they have done up will definatly scare them away. This covers every thing right down to how many taps can go in what size tree. Keith

[Amber Gold]

I do. After my first experiance, I wouldn't move in without one. There's some money in setting up the woods, but mostly it's the time involved. The big ticket items are the tank/pump/releaser and they can be easily removed. If you think about it the tubing's fairly cheap.

Send me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to you. It's the standard UVM lease form modified a bit to suit our circumstances.

[SSFLLC]

OK made are first syrup of season. 2.5 gallons of dark amber. We got 120 gallons of sap last night which i boiled today. Michelle got home at 6 we went down and pumped up anouther 125 gallons in to head tank for her to boil tomorrow. Sap running at 3.5 % thats nice. Happy sapping and don't forget to change your clocks tomorrow night. Keith

[wcproctor]

yeah 8* when I woke up this morning!!! I wish I could get 3% that would be sweet (pun intended) young trees with small crowns I am super happy if I get 2%. but 1.5-1.75 is the norm.

I hear you on that 1.5. I was even getting .5 on some taps. Not even worth it

[SSFLLC]

Well we just ran out of wood. We made 40 gallons even. Thats 13 more than last year on 100 less taps. If we had the wood i believe 60 would be do able. The only buds popping here are on the one silver in the front of the house. Get back with the sap count later. Good luck to all still steaming away at it. Keith