November Journal

[DrTimPerkins]

I see you folks are asleep today....so guess I'll have to start the November Journal myself.

Busy planning and prepping for spring 2013 experiments, buying supplies, getting the woods set up.

[RileySugarbush]

We are topping off the wood pile, splitting some ash cut two years ago. We certainly had plenty of firewood left from last year so this will be an easy task.

Also looking to replace our wood countertop with a stainless prep table in the sugar house. I found a smaller one cheap on eBay for my greenhouse potting bench and will look for one with a backsplash for the sugarhouse.

[lastwoodsman]

Now that I have a tractor with a bucket I am looking at forks to put on it. I am thinking of bringing pallets from work, cobble some sides on them to hold wood and fill them split dry wood. Overflow from woodshed. This wood make it easy in the spring to move the full pallet to the deck for the arch.
Thinking of running another 400 foot 5/16 gravity line and connecting another 30 or 40 trees.
Also kicking around getting setup and doing it with 3/16 but not ready to have another plethra of fittings around yet. May change my mind though.

[red maples]

Had a big old maple loose one of is branches, the branch measures more than 2 feet so you can imagine how old this thing is. the trunk of the tree at breat height has to be close to 31/2 - 4 feet in diameter. there really wasn't much holding it on. Where the wood is green man its hard!!! its a road side too so it has years of grown over cut offs lots of wood but hard to get through!!! Wishing I had the money for a bigger saw now not next year but still have to wait!!!

[Sunday Rock Maple]

I saw a tree snapped off and took down the triplex that brings power to our pump house. Have to fix that Saturday and check out the rest of the woods for damage from the wind on Monday.

[sjdoyon]

Father is finishing up our firewood for the summer, he's 72 and just about finished 40 cords (cutting/splitting/stacking) by himself.

Put up some new 1" lines last weekend and a bear came by and decided to chew up a good ten foot section this week. Squirrels stole about 50 drop lines this summer. Need to replace them.

What in the heck are they doing with these drop lines? Been avoiding introducing them to Mr. Remington but might need to re-evaluate.

If we have time, hope to run a few more lines to grab another 250 taps but the slope is fairly steep.

After the above, order new drill bits and get ready to tap in January.

[Jeff E]

Getting ready for snow. We are getting perfect sap weather, 20-25 at night, mid 40's during the day...rats, its november and not march!
Took releasers out to the pump houses, with new valves, all cleaned up.
Still cutting some trees out of a 2 acre area I hope to get tubing into this winter. Will need a pretty good sap lift, 15 ft or so.
I plan on trying with with traditional 5/16 sap ladders, total of 12 lift lines. about 100 taps.

One more scrub of the flue pan, then set the steam pan on it and get it plumbed up for the spring. I know it will be here soon.

Also, getting some grouse and bowhunting in, gun season 2 weeks away, 1 kid in college, 1 going in Jan, and 2 more in high and middle school. Oh yeah, my job....

[mapleman3]

I went in the sugar house last night. Looked at everything and got goose bumps! I haven't sugared since the 2011 season. But going to give it a try this year. May not have as many taps but what the hell.

[bnbmaplesyrup]

Where do you get your 3/16 supplies - i found tubing at mcmaster carr but what about the fittings and spouts?

[mapleack]

Good morning everyone from isla mujeres mexico! My new wife and i got here last night for our honeymoon, no maple this week for me! Im pretty bummed that i forgot to bring a pint along for breakfast.

[heus]

I went in the sugar house last night. Looked at everything and got goose bumps! I haven't sugared since the 2011 season. But going to give it a try this year. May not have as many taps but what the hell.
Mapleman3 its nice to see you posting again. I visit your site from time to time and was wondering if you were going to be sugaring in 2012.

[heus]

Finally did a test boil on my new 2.5x10 made by A&A Metal Shop. It sure puts out alot more steam than my last evaporator. The floats are not as sleek as on my Patrick Phaneuf but they worked ok. I boiled with baking soda to clean the new metal and any remaining solder residue. Rinsed it all out last night. I think I am going to do another boil with vinegar just in case. One thing that suprised me was how long the full size firebricks hold heat. On my last evaporator, with half bricks, it cooled off fairly fast after the fire went out. With these full size bricks, they were still hot to the touch 5-6 hours after the fire went out. Maybe thats also why it took alot longer to get to a full boil compared to my 2x6.

[Gary R]

We got the 3/16" drops cut in yesterday. I'm looking forward to see how they work. I've been working the credit card a lot recently:) I bought a new 465 CFM blower for the under fire air. This allows my high pressure blower only feed the over fire air. I also bought a 12 VDC bilge pump. I'll use it to pump the sap from my remote tanks (thanks Sugarmaker). Of course a few orders to McMaster Carr for fittings. I bought food grade cam lock connectors for sap transfer and full port SS valves for all syrup handling.

Andy, congratulations on getting married. Are you bringing her to LEME?

[red maples]

yeah money is getting tight here too thanks to the wonderful season of 2012. and I have to go get some supplies next week. for a show in 2 weeks. hopefully that will bring in enough money I can get my projects done for this year although not all of them have to push a few things to next year due to lack of funds!!! but you know its all gonna be over in a few weeks anyway due to the end of the world coming in dec. HA

[Tweegs]

Finished getting the sap hauler ready today.

The crew is coming out next weekend to cut wood. Figure I’ve got enough trees down now that once carved up should be somewhere near 8 cord, I need 10.

Went to a local tubing seminar last Friday, learned a few new tricks.

Still have some work to do on the stack, but otherwise the shack only needs a good cleaning.

Got 500’ of new mainline to run and need to rework the existing mains and a few lats.

Compared to last year, I’m well ahead of the game. Enough to stay busy, but not that wild, winter long scramble that’s plagued me in years past.

[Dennis H.]

I now have all the tubing done up at the cabin. Just needs the sap tank and releaser put in place along with the vac pump.
I am picking up a releaser from Chris at The Maple Guys. I am picking it up at LEME this coming weekend.

I also have been working on my Delaval 73 vac pump. I will be using that pump here at the house.
I have made a new oil feed line and from a remote oil tank. On the 73's the pump as an built in oil tank in it's base, just not enough oil volume for my liking.

Sold a bunch more syrup this weekend, I now have only 4 quarts and 3 pints left. I haven't checked in with the farm store that sells my syrup lately so the rest will most likely end up there.

[Dan W]

I had a tree blown down by Sandy. It hit the wood shed and my canoe but didn't do much damage. Got that all cut up and bottled up the last 10 gallons of syrup on Saturday. Been busy making stuff for a big Fall Festival on the 17th. Still working on getting somebody to work for me so I can go to the LEME-I'll probably have to miss it though. Only about 10 to 12 weeks to go here in SWPA.

[maple flats]

I've got just 1 weekend to install my additional mains, because we stay out of the woods during gun season. Any we don't finish this next Sat. will be done during Christmas break. I still have 3000' of 1" to run if I get that far. I'm also working on finishing running grid power into the sugarhouse. The solar installers will soon be ready to finish that part. Then I'll have 30 solar panels and 6.35KW hooked to my sugarhouse and net metered to the grid. Until I build our home there, I fully expect to get a check from the power co each year for my generated power they used from my panels. After I build the bill should be about even coming in and going out.
We worked in the woods Saturday and it looks like both woods fared well from Sandy. My grandson has been busy when he is not in class or doing homework in college, cutting and splitting evaporator wood for 2014. It seemed with the solar expansion there was an area of clear cutting needed, about 150' long and up o 30' deep into one corner of woods. I actually had to sacrifice 5 sugars of 12-16" diameter in addition to some cherries, silvers and ash.

[mapleack]

@garyr, sadly or not, we are getting back from mexico sat at midnight, so i wont make it to the leme this year! The weather is beautiful here and im eyeing up the palms wondering what theyd do under vac!

[Yellzee]

Not much action here..
worked hard on getting the trail to the bush fixed up for a couple months... put some gravel on top of all the fence rock I had spread on it and it looks pretty good. only about a 100 foot section to finish but doubt it will be done this year. Dug a bit of a hole in the hill to put in a new collection tank and keep the top below my gravity mainline.
No real damage from the winds Sandy brought through my area
Lines look to be in good shape in the woods... need to get up and ensure all the drop lines are off the ground and up high so they don't get frozen into the ground/snow.
Quite cold nights this week, need to get that battery out of the lawn tractor before it gets frozen.

Gun season started Monday for me, so I'll be out this weekend!

[220 maple]

Helped the tubing crew Monday and Tuesday at my cousins woods, this is the biggest one they have ever worked on. Two years ago they did a 2500 tap woods, this one should come in at 4000 taps. Should be plenty of expansion left, at least another 2500 taps when complete. The good thing about this sugarbush all taps will run directly into the sugarhouse.

Mark 220 Maple

[jimsudz]

Heading to LEME in the morning! Hope its worth missing a day in the deer woods.

[heus]

On my way to leme in the morning too.

[Paddymountain]

I spent the day working on my tubing exspansion. Had to put up 2 sections of mainline because of Sandy. After that I ran about 8 laterals,
picking up about 48 more trees. Also built a sap ladder and installed it. I need to repair one other ladder that got broke when my mainlines came down. seen there are 4 big white pines that went down, need to get them skidded out to get sawed for siding boards. I have one fitting in the sugarshack my cousin is building for me, then I should be about ready for Feb. I don't think I'll get much more done before Christmas,as deer season starts
next Sat. in New York. I shot a small 6 pt last week with the bow in Ny. I'm hoping to see something next week!!!

[team40]

Finished setting the two tanks today. wood is done and all in sugarhouse up but need to finish
closing it in and have to build the cupalo still. got to put up pipe line still and build a sap hauler.
we also got a lot of small ods and ends to tie up befor the snow hits

[Tweegs]

Never thought I’d have the doors and windows open and working in a T-shirt come the middle of Nov, but I was. 70 degrees here today.

With the help I had yesterday, we managed to get most of the wood put up, they left me about a cord to split and stack today. Got a total of 7 cord up now, 3 to go.

The wind was blowing pretty good today and on one of my numerous breaks I heard a tree come down. As luck would have it, it landed on one of my mains. As luck would further have it, a stump from a branch blown off long ago grabbed the mainline wire driving it about a foot into the ground, snapping it. It was a precision blow, got the wire but left the tube with nothing but a scuff mark.

Had been giving thought to replacing that stretch of wire anyway. I wanted to extend that run of tubing to grab another section just across what this year has become an obsolete path. I guess the matter is settled now.

Oh, and it would seem I’ve gotten into the poison ivy again…wonderful.

[red maples]

Pretty warm here today too. weekend full of maple!!! getting ready for fall holiday fair, candy cream honey, Almost all done.

So today it all about processing my fall flock of meat chickens, came in to grab a quick lunch then head back out!!! 16 more togo.

[waysidemaple]

Worked in the woods again this weekend. Got 350 laterals run and used 22 rolls of 5/16. Bit of a surprise in this woods because I never really walked it to see how man taps were there. Originally I was figuring 3000 taps for this year but after this weekend I'm uping that to somwhere between 3200 and 3500. Time will determine how close I get to 3500. What I dont finish before this season starts will be the extent of the expansion next year. Only a few more months till season.

Scott

[maple flats]

I put up 1500' of additional 1" mains today. I'll just add 1 more main this year, about 500' estimated. Then comes the laterals. I'll do 1 more day this week then the rest will be after deer season, which starts Saturday. I don't work in this bush in deer season, too many crazies out there. This week I've also got to finish some wiring at the sugarhouse. My solar installer is there and I must finish running a new entrance for him to tie into.

[marc]

I am cutting a hardwood ridge heavy on sugar sugar maples today and i must say that i have never seen the sap run out of the trees so good, even in the spring. I tasted some and tasted hardly no sugar content. Lots of 8-15 inch trees. Kinda heartbreaking to cut them:(

[Pumpkin Village Maple]

Hi Jim, long time no see. Everything fine up here in Vt. Up to 200 buckets after last years 11 gallons. I'll either make the same amount or be flooded with sap.

Al Hayford

[lakeview maple]

Spent the last 2 days working on sugarbush behind the barn and the new stainless bulk tank stand,I got all the debris cleaned up from the summer and fall storms and was able to add 15 more taps to an already nice piece of woods,its already to go except for drilling holes.The sap tank stand was finished today ,I got the deck on and the stairs finished all I need now is some sap .The rest of the projects keep pilling up ,the preheater has hit a couple of snags and I need to get a new roof jack for the new stack,otherwise I cant wait for the season to start,hope all is well with all the Maple people out there and God Bless,Al60336034

[Bruce L]

We set the pans back on in place with new ceramic blanket on the rails ,the little 4 legged varmints decided to chew through the blanket.My wife and kids thought maybe we should leave the pans on and just open the door and spark trap to allow for aeration in the summer,that crimp pan is pretty friggin heavy to lift to set ceramic blanket under.

[red maples]

Had a good day on saturday at the yuletide fair at the middle school although I couldn't get my Square to work for some reason. Ticked me off but only lost 1 sale. everyone else was fine with writing a check and even got alot of exact change....have to go in with lots of $1's.

did a little hunting and some odds and ends yesterday, kicked the deer out of the woods on my way in thats always great when you see tails on the way to your stand :(

Made out my list of maple stuff I still need to buy, filters, T's blower, etc etc etc.

Off to the bank then back to clean the sugarhouse and behind do some leaves, cut and split the remaining wood from the fallen trees from the storm then work putting up the x-mas lights.

Going to the local x-mas tree farm to put some syrup and atuff in there to sell on wednesday(owner is a very good friend) I wanted to giver her some money as she is reciently divorced with the kids, but she said no just too proud. So I said OK then I will give you some syrup honey and some maple candy...she couldn't say no that!!!! good I felt better then.

Alright everybody...have a happy thanksgiving and enjoy that bird and family.

[waysidemaple]

Worked in the woods this Satday. Looks like 1300 in this section. That will put me at 3600 for this spring. Unfortunately
, the land owner came over while I was working on it sat and after saying it was okay seemed to be alittle taken back by the amount of tubing. He's worried about his hunting now and I'm a little worried he will want it taken out after this season. Will have to wait and see what happens there. He never really said he didn't like it but body language says a lot. Fingers crossed.

Scott

[ennismaple]

Worked in the woods this Satday. Looks like 1300 in this section. That will put me at 3600 for this spring. Unfortunately
, the land owner came over while I was working on it sat and after saying it was okay seemed to be alittle taken back by the amount of tubing. He's worried about his hunting now and I'm a little worried he will want it taken out after this season. Will have to wait and see what happens there. He never really said he didn't like it but body language says a lot. Fingers crossed.

Scott

Scott - We hunt our sugar bush and the deer dont care. They go under, over and around the laterals and mainlines almost like it wasn't there. They may modify their travel routes a bit but it generally doesn't bother them.

[waysidemaple]

That's what I told him. Not sure if he believes me or not. I'm hoping he gets lucky and shoots a big one. I'm paying him .75 cents a tap. Not much I can do now but wait and see I guess.

[red maples]

I hunt my sugar bush too. its like going through brush to them as we all know the deer are pretty nimble in the woods.

[maple flats]

I also hunt my bush as do my 2 leases. In sections where the lines are not too high off the ground deer will often follow the mains, on the downhill side before leaving the trail thus formed. But if the are running to escape they run under/jump over but I have not had any run into the lines. I did however have a deer run into a fence around my market garden, it was 7.5' tall and the deer hit the fence so hard they snapped off the T post and bent the wire mesh.( the fence was 5' high wire mesh and extended to 7.5' with molded fabric)

[waysidemaple]

Talked with the land owner today and showed him some of the post everyone left about the hunting situation. He seemed to believe me a little bit more. He also checked his trail cam and has a nice 8 point on camera about 30 yards from his stand that cam through a bunch while I was installing. Defiantly a plus for me. A plus for me. Offered to drop the laterals for deer season but he seems okay with everything. He was mainly just shocked with how different it was. So, now for this season the tap count is 3600. Thanks for the replies everyone.

Scott

[maple flats]

My solar project update. Entrance finished, power co. came and connected line at the transformer. Utility is awaiting net meter (an electric meter made to run forward & backward, it seems the local service department does not stock these.) ( My solar contractor said the net meters generally take about 10 day-2 weeks to arrive, inspection and meter request was last Fri, 11/16. When they get it in a service tech will come hook it up. A regular one could not be connected because they are not designed to accept power flowing toward their transformer. My original 1480 watt system with battery backup is ready to send them power as soon as the meter is connected. The new solar is awaiting a replacement inverter, due in next Monday(?). It seems the one that came had internal damage in transit. Something about a relay breaking loose and causing damage to the motherboard and circuitry. Everything else is wired and ready. New panels are 22 @ 220 watts each, just grid tied. 4840 watts new + 1480 watts existing = 6320 total nominal. Next year I hope to do a couple of solar open houses and maybe invite some school field trips (& have each feature a syrup sales booth).
When this is all finished, I will look at converting my gas powered RO to electric and I'll more pleasantly run later at night. In the past my solar ran everything all day and about 2-3 hrs into the evening. After that I had to fire up my diesel generator and listen to that noise til shutdown.

[adk1]

I have not done a thing maple over the summer or fall. plan on getting to it once hunting season is over in a few weeks!

[heus]

Just about have all of my wood split and stacked. Got a 500 gallon stainless tank from A&A Metal Shop coming through Ray Gingerich at Deer Run Maple. I will have to build a wood frame around it. It will be my main holding tank at the sugar house. I purchased a 205 gallon Groen stainless bulk tank at Ray's auction which will become my head tank. Also have a 275 gal cage tank for reserve storage, and 325 gallon and 169 gallon tanks in the woods for gravity collection. Also have a stainless 125 gal gathering tank on order from A&A to help with the 200 or so buckets that we will still hang. Trying to streamline the sap colllection process so I can spend more time boiling.

[heus]

adk you better get moving!

[Tweegs]

Took this week off and got a bunch done.

Stack is all set now.
Cupola doors (louvered) have been fabricated, installed and are fully operational.
Winch installed on the Gator, got it pre-wired for the sap collecting apparatus, too.
Another cord of wood cut, split, stacked.

Been hunting the morning and evenings. A smallish 6 point and a nice 8 point are roaming the property, can’t get either of them in close enough for a shot (hunting with a handgun this year).

Going to leave the tubing alone until after deer season.

Whilst dinking around with the stack, I noticed that mice had taken up residence in the arch under the flue pan. Hadn’t planned on pulling the pans, but it looks like I’ll need to now.

A few things scratched off the list, one added on. At least it is getting a little shorter.

[FDA]

My solar project update. Entrance finished, power co. came and connected line at the transformer. Utility is awaiting net meter (an electric meter made to run forward & backward, it seems the local service department does not stock these.) ( My solar contractor said the net meters generally take about 10 day-2 weeks to arrive, inspection and meter request was last Fri, 11/16. When they get it in a service tech will come hook it up. A regular one could not be connected because they are not designed to accept power flowing toward their transformer. My original 1480 watt system with battery backup is ready to send them power as soon as the meter is connected. The new solar is awaiting a replacement inverter, due in next Monday(?). It seems the one that came had internal damage in transit. Something about a relay breaking loose and causing damage to the motherboard and circuitry. Everything else is wired and ready. New panels are 22 @ 220 watts each, just grid tied. 4840 watts new + 1480 watts existing = 6320 total nominal. Next year I hope to do a couple of solar open houses and maybe invite some school field trips (& have each feature a syrup sales booth).
When this is all finished, I will look at converting my gas powered RO to electric and I'll more pleasantly run later at night. In the past my solar ran everything all day and about 2-3 hrs into the evening. After that I had to fire up my diesel generator and listen to that noise til shutdown.

If you dont mind me asking what did your solar cost per watt or how long does solar take to pay for itself ? I looked into wind turbines here in Wisconsin and it would take 25-30 years to pay for itself with the current prices per KW hour. I am always looking to save some money, even if it takes a while to happen.

[PerryFamily]

Have been wiring the sugarhouse, just waiting on hooking up the generator lead. Now when we loose power all I have to do is flip my main breaker and fire up the generator. Sweet. Will be nice to not have to listen to the generator and have lots of light. Got a ten yr lease on a small bush, 150 taps max. Going to talk to the neighbor to see if I can tap his as well. Most of the wood is done but want to have plenty just in case. Still need to do some plumbing for the sink.
Will be tapping before we know it.

[maple flats]

Upon returning to the sugarhouse this afternoon, I found that the meter needed had been installed. I am now on the grid, with 1.48 KW solar, soon to be 6.32 KW solar when a replacement inverter arrives. Electrical inspection last Friday, utility connected the lines from the transformer to the meter socket Tuesday and the missing net meter was installed today. That chain of events took a lot less time than I expected. I guess that was to make up for the 2 month wait for the utility to approve the plan and quote a price. Then another 2 months to run the wires in from the road to a pole. Then in about 3 weeks time I had the rest done and awaited the required certified installer to install my expanded solar system (I was not allowed to install my own even though I had run the first 1.48KW that is now grid tied.
On another note, I got a call from a friend who was hunting at my blueberry fields. I had asked if he would try to shoot one of the does, and he did,in his first 30 minutes he hunted it. I'll try my hand tomorrow morning there too. I have far too many deer, especially does in there.