Do you workout while you boil?

[maple marc]

Running the evaporator certainly requires attention, but between stokes and draws, does anyone else feel like getting in a workout? With all the snacks and beers available in the shack, I feel the need to burn off some calories. I installed a chinup bar in the shack, I have a barbell in there, and I'm thinking about adding an exercise bike and maybe some mats. Anyone else out there doing something like this?

Marc

[PerryW]

I checked my calander to see if this was April Fools day or something. Between tapping in 3-4 feet of snow, gathering, and throwing a cord of wood in the evaporator in a good day,I hardly feel like working out. If you have that much energy, then step out of the sugarhouse and split up some wood.

[3rdgen.maple]

If it isnt enough exercise for you already then you need to put out more taps.

[wnybassman]

You have not seen the ravine behind my house that I haul full buckets up on foot, have you? :lol:

[fishman]

I have some 12 oz. weights;) that I lift about 8-10 repetitions. 3-4 sets is usually about the right number.:)

[jasonl6]

After a day of gathering and getting on and off the tractor, firing the evaporator and everything else i feel like sap season is my workout time...

Jason

[Dill]

I agree you need more taps. The only time of the year I fall asleep at the dinner table is sugaring season. Most of the year it can wait til I hit the couch.

[sap retreiver]

An old timer told me once, he wouldn't need to do that if he had a real job.

[mike z]

I think you're crazy. if you got time to work on your lats, you're not tapping enough trees. Start working on next years, or the one after wood pile. I always have lots of wood and a handy maul sitting close for fidgety visitors. Like your energy, just need to channel it into making more syrup. And then even more.

[Farmboy]

You are crazy. Time to put out more taps. Split some wood or something. I lose weight every sugaring season from all the work.

[Kev]

I still carry buckets... I feel I get plenty of workout. I rest up while im cooking:lol:

[michiganfarmer2]

If it isnt enough exercise for you already then you need to put out more taps.

hahahahahah! thats the answer for evrything. More taps.

Board? more taps.

Wife complaining? more taps

World hunger? more taps

[michiganfarmer2]

You are crazy. Time to put out more taps. Split some wood or something. I lose weight every sugaring season from all the work.

me too. theproblem is the weight loss during sugaring doesnt offset the weight gain the rest of the year,lol

[maple marc]

But seriously........ running an evaporator is a unique process......we respond to the bell every nine minutes to stoke and apply defoamer. Between bells we draw off, skim, watch the themomters. I split the wood in the off-season, I collect sap in the morning before I boil or on days I don't boil. So it's a long day in the shack--sometimes more than 12 hours--watching over the evaporator. I know what you mean about losing weight during sugaring season. I've been tired for a month. I don't think I could handle any more buckets by myself--the number that some of you guys have is amazing. Everything else around this farm has been neglected for a month.

But there are those times in the shack between bells....I've tried reading and I just don't want to get that distracted. So why not sneak in a little fitness tune up? It might even help me in my comeback in the Seniors track and field competition.