Getting ready

[afretired]

The leaves are starting to change. I've made 50 sap sack holders out of PVC pipe for the trees to far out from my lines. Not long now. I still need to make a steam hood.

David

[nace]

hello david: last spring, mark72 had a roll of 22ga or 24ga ( don't exactly remember)stainless 4'wide. he lives about 30 min. north of louisville. i dont know if he has any left but it sounded like a big roll and it was a good price per foot...don't remember how much. it would make a great hood along with many other things. i finally had my stainless made into a 2'x4' divided pan, still have to build an arch and a small shack but i have most of the material for a shack. gonna be busy. good luck. oh by the way, i looked into adding a catagory for syrup to the state fair. if a few of us get together and send a request, they will add it. i for one think it would be a good time and good advertising. i'm hoping to make 50 gallons this spring...if i remember to finish all my projects. at least for this message i seem not to remember much. have a great day...nace

[afretired]

Nace
Good to hear from you. I've got into cooking sorghum this fall. It was a lot more work than I had planned on. I really thought it would be easier than the maple syrup, but I was wrong. It's alot more labor intensive with the stripping, cutting and feeding it into the mill to squeze out the juice. I've got to get working on the steam hood and my son is wanting a cooker, so I guess I had better get that built also. A neighbor the other day had about 200 fire brick he needed moved from a building he had recently sold, so he called me to see if I wanted them. Well of course I wanted them since the price was right, just move them for them. So at least I have the brick to go in another cooker. I've been buying all my steel and Stainless steel from a place in Columbia (Sanduski's) that normally has a good selection and price and it's only 30 miles up the road. I still have people about everyday or so ask if I have any maple syrup, I beleive I could sell a thousand gallons if I had it. This spring I'm going to cook all I can, the only bad thing is I've gone back to work. You know, work has a way of messing up a good thing.

As far as the state fair, I'd be open to it. It could be a lot of fun.

David

[nace]

hey david, i just took a part time job at hobby lobby and a side job for a man to get a commercial building ready for him to rent. looks like no one wants to hire a 50yr old man for a fulltime second job. keep waiting to hear from topura, i'm gonna call them today. where did you wind up working?

[afretired]

Nace
I know all about being 50 and looking for a job. They called me back to the phone company.

David

[afretired]

It's just about time. I've tapped a tree next to my shop and hung a sap sack on it to let me know when the sap starts to run. Boy I wish it would start freezing, maybe in a few days. Any one else getting ready?

David