Poultney VT

[GregMVT]

Started tapping yesterday and was able to get about 170 taps on tubing in with about 80 left to go. Should have about 50 buckets also here at home. The college where I work/tap had a major tent catterpillar problem last spring so I think I'll only have about 100 taps there this year.

Greg

[GregMVT]

Collected at the school yesterday, about 20 gallons not including all the ice. Have 75 taps there with another 25 to go. Can't put them in until the 15th when the students have their science lab. Looking forward to a good run after Thursday, worse than waiting for Christmas right now!! :lol:

Greg

[GregMVT]

Boiled for the first time this year yesterday, started with about 170 gallons. Trees ran good at the college, 105 gallons on 75 taps some buckets with 1 1/2-2 gallons in 23 hours!! but there were quite a few that only had a couple of quarts in them. I checked the sugar when I got back home, 2% a little low for these trees since the students have checked them last year and they were up at 3% and a little higher. The wife surprised the heck out of me yesterday when she asked if I could make the sugarhouse bigger!!!! She's into sugaring almost as much as me and collects the 57 buckets around the house and helps collect at the college too as well as watching the evaporator when I take the tractor to collect on ones on tubing. I'll have to get some pictures of her and her little red wagon she uses at the school to collect. At home she uses the Polaris Sportsman and spills less than I do with the tractor :oops:

Greg

[SteveD]

We're getting mixed results too...with the bigger, more open trees producing far more then the smaller more crowded ones. We just bought the land last summer, and havent had time to get into real "sugarbush management". I guess that will give us something to do this summer.

It is nice when one's spouse is as interested as you are...makes for enjoyable times, and :D good memories.

Steve

[Russell Lampron]

If it wasn't for the help and support I get from my wife, parents and children I wouldn't be able to do this hobby. I even get help from my 6 and 7 year old grandchildren.

Russ

[GregMVT]

Having a family that helps sure does make a big difference. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to tap as many trees as I do now without at least my wife's help.

Steve where do you live in Monkton? I lived in Vaugn's trailer park, off the N Ferrisburg Rd., for 14 years until 2002. Great little town but glad to be out of that park!!! Lost my job when Trinity College closed. Moved down to Poultney when Green Mountain College had an opening for the same position that I had at Trinity. Really great place to work PLUS they let me tap their trees every year. I donate a lot of syrup each year to them, mostly to the dining hall and the board of trustees.

Greg

[SteveD]

Greg....We are located on Turkey Lane, about 250 feet south of the Hinesburg line, up in the Northeast corner of Town.

It sounds like you have found a nice situation there in Poultney. It's great how life works out sometimes...We just moved here in '05 after several years away from the north country. It is truly wonderful to be back !!! :D

[Rob Harvey]

Greg did the sap run in Poultrey yesterday?

[GregMVT]

Rob,

It was running a bit in the morning. I tapped the last 25 trees at the college in the afternoon. Every tree we tapped the sap ran. There was a group of students doing core samples on the trees, a few of them were complaining about having sticky fingers before they were done. I took a quick ride up on our property but it didn't look like the taps on tubing were running.

Greg

[GregMVT]

I had my first group visit our sugarhouse yesterday afternoon. It was a nature club from the elementary school that borders our property. I was told to expect 15-20 fourth graders....there was 26 of them!!! plus 5 adults. We walked around the trails in the sugarbush showing them the lines and buckets then went to the sugarhouse. They couldn't all fit in so had to do it in two groups. I had boiled down about 80 gallons of sap the night before and bottled what I had ready into 26 1/2 pint containers figuring that would be more than enough for everyone that I was told would be there. At least all the kids got to bring home there own 1/2 pint, and it was fun to do. My wife is friends with the mother of one of the girls that came. The mom called Paula, my wife, last night to say how excited her daughter was about getting the syrup and that she had been jumping up and down!! She also wanted to thank us for everything.That made me feel pretty good!!

Greg

[SteveD]

Way to go Greg!!!! :D

I'm sure you made a positive impression on all the kids...teachers too ..most likely.

Hopefully ...they will build upon that to nurture an interest in taking care of the earth's resources in the future. There is more to life than shopping malls and gameboys.....

Have a great season.

Steve

[GregMVT]

I hope so Steve. We own the largest lot in the village, a little over 13 acres most of it wooded. There's an old apple orchard on the eastern edge, plus a lot of maples, mostly reds, and decent trails all over it. Unfortunaletly the land has been used for years as a place to get rid of junk, mostly metal, a couple of cars, a lot of tires and broken glass. Last year I took to big trailer loads of metal/tires to the dump. I'll do the same this year. We have a free dump day in May when we can take whatever we have without paying the usual fees for stuff other than trash. If I knew that they took cars I'd load them on my trailer and get rid of them too!! The first thing I told the kids was to stay on the trails because of all the trash that had been dumped in the woods. Hopefully it'll sink in that they are the future caretakers of open land.

Greg

[GregMVT]

Ended up with 80 and a 1/2 gallons of syrup after finishing off what was left in the evaporator last night. More than we've ever made!! :D Also a lot more medium and less dark. Still about 18 gallons of B so I'll be happy for the next year. It was an eventfull season, scorched the pan, not paying attention, broke two hydrometers, they don't bounce well, had the fire dept called on me early on a saturday morning, they thought it was funny and would make a good story, have four quarts of syrup set aside in case I find out who the guys in the truck were that was boiling when they came. Still have to pull the buckets from the college, they wanted them left up for the big open house they are having this weekend. May not tap around the house next year, sugar content was way down all season.

Have a great year.

Greg