April Journal

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Even mapleman is slacking, posting on April 2nd in the March journal. 8O 8O Guess all that boiling must have fried his brain. Season has been over here for eons and starting to work towards next year. Got all the ashes cleaned out of the arch yesterday and sold a bunch of syrup this weekend. I had about 60 gallons to sell and it is nearly gone. :D I am going to build a wall across the end side of the woodshed and leave the two small ends open for air circulation. Hope to get some of that done this week so I can start my favorite pastime, cutting wood. :D I am going to wait another year before doing any work on the inside of the building. Will allow me to get some of it paid for and some money ahead hopefully for next year. Hope to put soffit around the outside and build the wall, but that's about it. Hopefully a summer of lots of spare time and relaxing. I haven't had one of those in several years! :lol: :lol:

[ibby458]

Up here in tghe Great White North, I'm waiting for another run or two. I see most everyone else has pulled their taps, but with (up to) 3 inches of snow predicted (It's snowing right now) and temps supposed to drop into the 20s, it should start up again.

We'll see if spraying the drill bit, holes and spouts with peroxide/water mix helps keep the bacteria away. I'd like some Dark Amber,(My wife needs it for her maple cake recipie) but I'll take B or C, as long as there's a market for it.

If I'm all wet, and it don't run again, at least the evaporator and tanks are all scrubbed up and shiny for next year.

I'd really like to build a sugarhouse this year, but I have a few other projects that need to get done first. ( Our 1849 farmhouse has NO insulation, and we burn upwards of 100 face cords of firewood a year. New doors, windows, insulation and siding is THE #1 priority this year)

I still have to pay for this evaporator, or buy another if the owner decides not to sell. I don't like having it in the tractor shed, but it's sure a heap better than boiling outside like we did for years!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If he don't want to sell it, there should be plenty of used ones floating around in the next couple of months as we are approaching the early early season and lots of people will be looking to upgrade. Bascom usually gets lot of tradeins this time of year. :D

[mapleman3]

yep.. I'm slacking... not much going on, been under the weather for a few days.. should get back to cleaning up this weekend.

[Fred Henderson]

I am still on the lookout for a 2x8 or 3x8 if anyone sees one turn up some place that I don't know about give me a shout. Pretty much decided that if I can not find a used one I am going to have Leader build me a 3x6, 2' syrup x 4' flue.

[Mike]

I heard prices for Dark stuff will be $2.00 a lbs.............Not a bad price.....

[Parker]

Who is paying that much?? I called Bascomes,,c=1.30per pound B=1.50,,I would like to get as much as I can seeing as I did not make that much,,,,yet...

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[mountainvan]

still got my taps in, buckets are full of sap, and life is good. back to boiling tomorrow and trying to make a living making syrup.

[ibby458]

Bascom's is who I had in mind for a new (used) evaporator if I can't buy this one. I'd take my bulk syrup over and use it as partial payment. If I can get a better price elsewhere, I'd sell it and take cash with me instead.

It Hit 27 last night, predicted to get almost to 40 today. We'll gather today, and rinse buckets, and hope it runs a few more days.

[mapleman3]

Yes snow today, go figure I wonder if I would get sap, my woods are still tapped, but I'm done, feeling much better too after a few days out of work on the couch... Man there isnt much to watch on TV during the Day! looking to clean up more this weekend.

[brookledge]

Does anyone have a hand held GPS that will measure the distance traveled in feet? Ihave one that is atleast 4-5 years old and it only measures distance in miles and tenths of miles. I want to walk an area and get measurements for mainlines and it is kind of hard to get accurate numbers when it only reads in tenths and miles. I was wondering if any of the new ones will measure in feet?
Mine also is good at speed but when walking at 2 mph still doesn't help me know how much mainline I need.
Keith

[maple flats]

The newest ones can do that but it may be cheaper to get a laser range finder. The ones in the $300 range will measure to within a half yard. If you are going over the max rated range just do it in steps. This will get you so close it will be scarey. I believe the GPS units that can get as close as this are military and not available to others. Even the ones that will read out in feet and not tenths of a mile are not real accurate because the government mandates a error for security reasons. Uncle Sam can get close enough to put a bomb in the vent to your sugarhouse but you are not able to get that much precission from a civilian model.

[royalmaple]

I have a bushnell laser range finder for popping off bambie. Works great, my upper range is 800 yards, but normal mode is good for 250 and under, you can certainly use it for short distances and works great. I would think you can use it for mainlines etc.

Now you got me day dreaming about sitting in my stand. May go a bit higher this year, my self named "T.O.P." Tower of power may go up higher, set it up about 40 feet of the ground. Gets easy 350 yard visiblility though thick woods from up there. No texas fenced in game ranches with 24 hour buffet either.

[Parker]

I have a garman 76 that works pretty well if you want to try it,,also have the mapping softwear for it,,nice package...kinda hard to get the scale small enough though...

[forester1]

I mapped my map locations with a Trimble gps I borrowed. These come with software and are very expensive, but you can print out a map. All my sap line locations are measured and mapped with distances. I think the Garmin map 76 are the best for the money. You can set the feature on tracks and set the scale to feet or whatever you want. It's plenty accurate. I think they are accurate to within 30 feet.

[mapleman3]

I have a Megellan Explorist 400, I think I can set it to feet, I have been wanting to mark All my roadside trees with how many taps and a note on how they run vs another... thought it would be cool, then I'll see if I can upload back up to my mapping software and print it out for the sugarhouse wall... just another thing to do.... :wink:

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[Banjo]

My wife's new cell phone has a GPS in it. So there's hope perhaps. :lol: :lol: :lol: . 'Course you'd have to explain how to use it over the phone, but it'd have to help :?:

cheers, Andrew

[mapleman3]

Try Geocaching.. it's a blast!! fun to do in the off season, fun to do with GPS go to www.geocaching.com fun for the whole family.

[forester1]

All gps units will give you an accurate point within 30 feet or so and then direct you to that point in a straight line. The nice feature on the garmin map 76 is the tracks feature. Maybe other brands have something similar. You can start it and it will follow your course as you walk (or drive) and map it as you go, giving distance in feet, meters, miles or whatever you want. Real handy feature if you want to map out a mainline location and want to know how much mainline to buy. It costs over $400 though.

[Jay]

Up at the NYS meeting this year there was a class that was called computer mapping for the maple industry by Mike Farrell of northeren NY. Does anyone know what this was about, software or what?

[lharris1]

Last year at the end of syrup production we had a pancake and maple syrup cook with all the trimmings for friends and neighbors. So, we did it again this year and had at least 25 in for the celebration Sunday afternoon. Also, had music and singing and everyone had a great time.

My brother and I walked down a new area for possible tapping for next year on his property. Access is not very good and the area covers over 2000 feet, so it would take a lot of tubing and trunk line. We didn’t get a good count on taps but might be able to add around 200. That would be a big increase over our current 250 taps. We have't decided definitely to add because it will be difficult to haul the sap out of the area.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[sweetwoodmaple]

Wow, wish it was that way around here. Had some buddy sap here and the buds had barely swelled.

Of course, I could be too picky in this regard. If I even see faint yellow or a fish smell, I stop collecting. I hate smelling the steam, so I'll probably never make commercial.

The last batch that I just pressed yesterday came from some slightly yellow sap, but came out fine dark amber with no off flavors. The press probably helped the grade a little.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[sweetwoodmaple]

Sure, though my sap stopped running when it turned buddy.

http://www.water-research.net/nitrate.htm

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[sweetwoodmaple]

Don't you have one drilled from late January?

Not quite fair to drill a fresh one now, unless you know of guys who are just getting around to tapping. :lol:

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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[royalmaple]

Maybe Beth and Leland will help on the rest of the dismantling :?:

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

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