February Journal

[GramaCindy]

HA! I finally get to start one of these. Had a busy day after work yesterday, preparing for the upcoming season. Washed and sanitized sap storage containers. Placed them and surrounded with snow, (although with the 44* temps, not sure how long the snow will last) Scrubbed steam hood, filled log rack inside shack, and then took it easy!:)

[GramaCindy]

I found this interesting, regarding out weird weatherhttp://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions//multi_season/13_seasonal_outlooks/color/page2.gif

[Brokermike]

Lots of break ins in my neck of the woods so i woke up and checked the sugarhouse, garage, etc. What a bizarre time we live in. Also ordered a spare cliP for the .40 online just in case :)

[stoweski]

HA! I finally get to start one of these.

4:43am... hmm, when you wake up at the crack of butt I suppose you should be allowed to start one! :D

[PARKER MAPLE]

Yeah the time is apon us sooner rather then later. Yesterday did a complete sugarhouse clean out including cleaning the evap and test boil/clean while in the process. All wnet good and looking forward to the up and coming season. One of the new sugarbushs is a go and am excited to get it all on line and running, the next im going to put off until late spring/summer to get this just right. Its going to take a bit of scrathing my head in order to make it all work right there. The new sugarbush im prusuing has the possibility of 12-1500 taps and landowner just wants someone to take advantage of these trees. So for the price of a couple of gallons of syrup every year I think me and him will be very happy. The is looking good and im hoping for a great season, good luck to you all



Maple Rookie

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Yesterday was not to good of a run for me. Collected about 6-7 gallons out of the 22 taps. It was 52 degrees out. Now this morning i checked, they ran all night, and still are, and out of one group of 7 taps got about 4 gallons and so about 5-6 total this morning. Its going to be rainy off and on today, and still warm. Tonight freezing, and thursday and friday i hope toget a good run. Hope to boil this friday, no later. I got my new 65 gallon tank for our Kawasaki Mule. Have a good up coming season everybody. :D

[SSFLLC]

Where just about ready for the go day. Just need to raise the feed tank and put the hood on when its ready. Heading out to start doing next years firewood for the house and meple. 14 days till tap in and counting.

[jmayerl]

Holy crap, is it February already? Me and a buddy worked on making 1300 sap sack holders today. Should finish them up Friday. Still crazy watching my test tap dripping away in January and February.

[Farmboy]

Getting closer. Yesterday I cleaned my 2 275gallon tote, cleaned my releaser, and started running my vacuum line to the woods. I should have everything set to tap this weekend. I also put the arch board in an started bricking my evaporator. Hopefully my pan comes in next week from Jim.

[SevenCreeksSap]

We've been adding taps slowly since Jan 22. mostly for a test of the line setup. finding some of the weak spots and fixing. Just about all tapped in, only have about 15 taps left out of 110. So far we've only had a couple of decent runs so collecting it all up and freezing. The freezer is full so time to start thawing and boil. Its all new to me on a 2x8 so wanted to be sure I have enough, now it'll probably be a 10 hr boil:rolleyes:
Did finally get my feed tank fixed up today. finished the copper feed line and tested with water, no leaks woo hoo. I think I'm set to get 85 taps from tree to pan without touching sap. the rest on buckets so we dont forget what its like.

[adk1]

This weekend I will finish runningabout 1500' of lateral lines, then cut in all the drops and install all the saddles. THen the tubing should be complete. Will need to tighten of course right when I am tapping.

Then I am gonna light a small fire in the arch to cure the refractory. Will then install my squirrel cage and plenum that I had made..should be sweet.

Need to add the pully system to open the cupola doors from the floor.

Man this list is still long!

[jrthe3]

Switch the last of my tree savers taps over to cv today extended my wet dry line up and over my driveway including building two ladders giving me close 700 taps on vacuum now time to wait to tap

[stoweski]

80 taps going in tomorrow. I'm sick of waiting and watching the 7 day look like perfect conditions.

I'm IN! And so it begins...

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

I have to much to list good luck every one

[Tithis]

Tomorrow looks like its going to be a big sap day. Going into lower 20 tonight and approaching 50 tomorrow, followed by a mid 40's day.

[GramaCindy]

Had a pretty productive weekend. Finished the rigging for the cupola doors, installed preheater feed tank and supports, installed hood, (still need some stack to get it up to cupola) installed small table for eats and treats in the shack, configured lines to preheater from pump/feed tank, and then from storage containers. Good feeling! The only really important thing left to do is install blower and vent into ash pan.

[Farmboy]

Got alot done this weekend. Tested my releaser today. Finished building my head tank stand today. Bricked the evaporator and filled the back of it with sand. Im going to take it out and fill with vermiculite at the end of the season. Set my flue pan on the evaporator and plumbed it to my head tank. Cleaned up the sugar shack and put a wood bin inside it full of wood. Filled a big bin and put it outside the window too. Hopefully my pan will be here tomorrow from Smoky Lake. If it comes I will test boil to clean everything. Hoping to tap my 90 tap woods on vacume tomorrow and mabey buckets. If not diffenitly on tuesday. We have perfect weather in the 7 day forcast. Let the BIGSAP flow!

[jmayerl]

Finished all of the sap sack holders, test tap ran about 2 gallons today! Gotta call Smokey Lake tomorrow and see when the pans are gonna be done. Next warm day after this week the taps are going in.

[mapleack]

Finished tapping our 600 vacuum taps on Saturday, chased leaks yesterday and hauled in 830 gal of sap. The first 280 went down the drain rinsing the RO. Sap content is low, 1.3. Boiled for a couple hours to sweeten the pans, will probably get first syrup tonight.

[Tweegs]

Shack should be done by tomorrow. Need to move the evaporator in and set the feed tank. Woods are all ready to go, just need to plug the trees in. I might be a little light on wood, but I get the feeling I won’t need as much as usual this year.

May tap this weekend, depending how next weeks temps look. If I do, it will be about 3 weeks earlier than normal.

[Farmboy]

Tapped today! Well started to at least. I set my releaser and tapped the 80-90 taps in those woods. Started bandaiding the vacuum leakes with electrical tape so I can fix them this week. The leaks weren't as bad as I thought they would be. Sap was running good today. My New syrup pan was supposed to be delivered today but it didn't show up. Hopefully it's here tomorrow. I still need to test boil before I boil sap.

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

divider wall up, cupola pully system done, gable to cuploa done, hope to pour crete for base of arch today, and get arch in before weekend

[Tithis]

Started boiling today and so far the changes I've made to my block arch seem to have made a difference. I had to tend to it a lot less than I used to and I'm getting a good boil. There was some bad new though, I burned a bit of my hair...

[jgrenier]

Made 12.5 gallons of that sweet Maple Juice today

[Tithis]

Went try collecting sap this morning... not happening. I havent collected since wednesday because I was busy and the tap in the front yard never did much (typically its the first to start) Today I did and ever single bucket was frozen solid :lol: A few buckets were nearly full but most only had a bit over a gallon. The rest of the week looks decent.

I was surprised to find that the reds seemed to have finally opened up and their buckets were as full as the sugar maples. Unfortunately one looks like a squirrel took a crap in it :/ **** squirrels.

[KV Sappers]

I was surprised to find that the reds seemed to have finally opened up and their buckets were as full as the sugar maples. Unfortunately one looks like a squirrel took a crap in it :/ **** squirrels.
Lets see.... were did I put that 22 rifle of mine!!!!:lol:

[Farmboy]

My new pan came from Smokey Lake Friday. I boiled for the first time to sweeten the pans. My flue pan has more leaks every year. Hopefully I make enough syrup to get a new one this year. My vacuum is tapped but my gravity tubing and buckets I didnt get to last week. Im doing them tomorrow. This week Im tapping about 20 taps down the street on buckets. This week looks like prefect temps for sap flow. My sap hauler this year is an 89 toyota with a 275 gallon tote in it. The rear end is a little low when the tank is full. It doesnt need to go down the road with that much sap though. It only needs to go 300 feet from the woods to the sugar shack. Bring On the BIG SAP!

[dano2840]

Hey guys its been a minute or two. college has kept me a busy man. unfortunately this kids not sugaring for him self this year :/ i only get every other weekend off from the VTC farm and just cant swing it this year and am selling both of the rigs i own to pay for school. i did buy a 40"x12' this summer to replace the 3x8 but i havent gotten it yet, it just happened to be down the road from college. even though it wont be the same i am sugaring for vtc, tapped the 700 we had already monday, adding about as many currently wire tied 2400 feet of 3/4 today should have laterals run and tapped before the weekends out. cant wait to start boiling! track went on the snowmachine the other day so its a long walk up into the woods! if any one knows of a 121"x15" track they could get their hands on id be very grateful! racking up hours in the vtc woods and on the farm the toyota needs an oil pump brakes and shocks and moneys running low! had some speed bumps in life this year but doing allright considering, back on the trader now ill try and keep you guys posted, oh and i dont know if ive been on here since last spring or not been busy but i became the 2011 Vermont maple king not looking forward to giving that up in a couple months its been fun! i was told theyre changing the name to vermont maple ambassador next year so i can keep the title of maple king forever i guess!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Good to hear from you Dan. Keep us posted.

[Dill]

Hey Dan say hi to Jared Birch for me up at VTC he's my cousin.

[mapleack]

Good to hear an update Dan. The good news is that you can still sugar, even if it's not your own woods! I've been to the VTC sugarhouse, nice operation. Good luck!

[Yellzee]

hoping to tap Sunday here, thought I could get check valves locally but apparently not... so regular taps again for this year I guess.
Not really ready, but who is? finally got the slab wood cut up, but it's not really that dry as I didn't have it covered. Will see how it burns. Evaporator falling apart inside but will have to try and get through this year.

[jrthe3]

My brand new double went down today for the 3 time in less then a week after an hour on phone with the company and it still not working packed it up and sent it back ordered a new one from a different company I hate spending that much money on junk

[jmayerl]

This has been a crazy busy month, at I'm sure it is only going to get more crazy in the next month. Started a new job which is really going to cut into boiling and collecting time. I wish I would have tapped in half my trees a week ago but o well. New pans from Smokey Lake are getting picked up friday night and we will be ready to roll. My buddy up the road is getting swamped with sap so I think I will just buy a tankfull from him to boil this weekend(600gals off 180 taps in the last 2 days).