February Journal, Is this it this year???

[mapleman3]

Ok Crazy weather again for the second year in a row, Lets see what Mother Nature throws at us, I know I'm waiting to tap at least 2 - 3 more weeks, a cold front will be coming in with unseasonable cold, so theres time. My My how everyone gets turned around during the late Jan early Feb thaw.. the only downfall in my eyes is that here in Ma. My area we really havn't got down to 0 yet... maybe a couple days that were close but thats it.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jim,

Same here! I don't remember the last time it didn't get down to zero. Now that we are in Feb, I doubt it will happen but we got a lot of nights in Feb last year in single digits and maybe even 1 or 2 in March. We had 2 or 3 nights it got down to about 5 in December, but that's about it. Calling for cold weather here all next week, but that is too far away but I am sure praying hard for it anyway. I normally tap around the 11th, so if it gets cold and stays cold all week, that will work out for me. The 15 day accu shows it even cold the next week which would be even better and I could maybe wait until the 18th. I just hope to get cold weather and to be able to make syrup. Date don't matter now that we are in Feb. :D

[brookledge]

It has been a lousy year for others also. I've heard that snowmobiling has been lousy in the northeast. With January behind us even if we get a little cold weather I feel that there is no way to really freeze things up like the lakes and ponds. The sun is getting stronger and the days longer. I have a good size brook that runs through my orchard that is almost always ice covered so I can walk accross it while tapping but there is no way I'll be doing that this year. I also talked to a logger who was complaining because he was unable to get logs from an area that was not frozen.
Keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Worked about 3 hours around the sugarhouse and outside this evening and I am ready. Lines and tanks are all in place and evaporator and tanks and everything inside is hooked up and ready to rock. 10 day forecast shows it getting cold on Sat and high temps around 30 with the high being 37 thru next weekend and the 15 day accu shows it cold thru 16th which is as far as it shows. Sure hope it stays cold at least a week and 2 or 3 would be fine with me. Might get cold and not warm up any until March, who knows. I just glad to get the cold weather and I am not concerned about when it warms up. When I was in college, we always had spring break the 2nd full week in March and I would always tap the Sat before and I always made around 15 gallon off of 100 buckets in 7 days. Sure wouldn't bother me to have a 2 or 3 week season like that. :D If you hit it right, you can make 1 quart + per tap in 2 weeks! :D Won't happen for most of us as we can't wait that late. Normally the season was over by the end of the week that I made syrup in college. Sometimes you could have made syrup another week, but it goes to show how fast the sap will run if you wait right until the end of the season to tap. :D

[maplehound]

While we wait out this crazy weather, check ot this great web site.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/b856/index.html
I think we can all find something of intrest here and maybe learn a few things

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I agree this is an awesome source. The brand new revised with color photos is supposed to be out by April 15th and I can't wait! :D :D :D :D :D :D

One of the best $ 12 you will ever spend! :D :D :D :D :D :D

[brookledge]

Kevin
Last I knew you couldn't make syrup in Ethiopia?
Keith

[sweetwoodmaple]

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4453590&nav=0Ra7

An interesting article on the weather and jet stream.

My luck will be it freezes up until mid march, then hits the 60's. :roll:

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sounds great! :D

[Russell Lampron]

Ethiopia? What kind of syrup do they make there, Aunt Jemima? :lol:

Russ

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

I don't know :?:

[Mike]

I heard yesterday that Gilles Bernard (sap releasers) was bought out by La Pierre ..............I dont think youll be able to buy them any more...........

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

That's all we need, La Pierre buying someone else out. :roll: :roll: I have a LaPierre 320 gallon round bottom stainless head tank and I like it very much but when I got it thru Waterloo a few years ago, they were giving me such run around I had to call La Pierre and it was hard just to get someone on the phone that spoke English. :roll: :roll: :roll: At this rate, soon it will be only La Pierre/CDL and Leader as D&G will probably be next. :roll:

[emericksmaple]

Worked at sugarin stuff all day even after working 7 hours last night to fix a broken rail for the railroad I work for. We think we finally have all the woods ready as we finished up this morning while the snow was coming down lightly. Worked the rest of the day in the camp cleaning up and rinsing out the pan; as it looks like we may start on tues or wed tapping. Looks like a small warm spell coming then to get cold again. I am going to tap some tom for a friend of mine who has heart trouble but loves to gather sap.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Snowed most of the day today while I was tapping and there was about 6 inches when I left this afternoon. They are calling for 6 to 10 more inches by Monday morning. 8O

[Sugarmaker]

Loaded the 400 buckets on the trailer today, and stacked some wood in front of the evaporator.
I got a call form a friend of mine and he is bringing the syrup sample bottle rack for the sugar house window, tomorrow morning. He is a custom wood worker and I commissioned him to design and build a display rack for the little square samples that we take during the season. I may take some pictures and post if anyone is interested.
I also went to one of our many sugar bushes and used loppers to trim and cut small stuff near trees and open some walking paths for carrying buckets. This saves time when we finally do get into the season.
Hope everyone is having fun. (lots of work I know!)
I was thinking of designing a canvas cover for the evaporator for the off season? Has anyone done this? Ideas? We have a local Amish family that makes anything you want from a variety of canvas products. Might keep some of the dust and dirt off during the summer.

CEC

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

The canvas painting tarps at Lowes work great. Run around $ 20 for one big enough for yours. The only problem is they have a built in moisture barrier in them. :?

[mapleman3]

I got a good amount done in the sugarhouse this weekend before the 19" of light incredibly fluffy snow came on Sunday, I finished up my electrical for extra things like an inside switch for an outside outlet above the sap tank for the pump to the feed tank inside.. no more plugging and unplugging the pump every time the feed tank gets low... also an outlet for the new hands free bottler from our Maple Guys!! ( plug plug :wink: )
also picked up a 65 gal horizontal leg tank that is my new feed tank, should be easier to take down and clean often. unions & pvc connecting it to the float box. I dropped the sap tank lower so now I can gravity feed off the truck tank.. I was worried it wouldn't be low enough. now this coming weekend is tubing tightening and repair time... it's getting close!! 8O :D

[brookledge]

Did anyone have any damage from the high wind? In massachusetts the wind was real nasty and took down trees and power lines. I saw alot of shingles that where tipped up on roofs. I haven't had a chance to check my sugar bushes to see if any trees came down. I did see some buckets and covers flying across a street though.
Keith

[maplehound]

We had alot of high winds here in Ohio as well. I haven't been able to get out to the bush yet to check it. Sure hope that Ihave no damage but the way this season has been starting out for me I am sure I do.
Ron

[Daren]

Hey brandon....dont be too hard on Lapierre, I work with the wife of the new US representitive. He got set up this past fall and he is working his butt off. He is looking to hire some more help also. (wife told be that last night). Anyone looking for a full time job in the sugar business? He is not even surgaring himself....just selling sap I guess. All pipeline and RO. He likes the business though. He was on a service call last night at 10:00 pm to start a guys RO up. He wanted someone there to do it for the first time I guess. Anyway, if you call now, you should get someone who speaks only english..... :)

[mapleman3]

Off to find a stainless welding guy today, I broke a couple spot welds on my float last night cleaning it... hard to explain bit it's a short peice of flat stock welded on the riser tube that the adjusting screw goes into, the plat stops the float from wobbling back and forth, probably a 5 minute job to do for a guy... hopefully I can have a guy near work here do it around lunch.. I won't need it for a week I'm sure BUT I hate not to have it NOW :?