December Journal

[red maples]

Well after this weekend I really need to put maple into priority!!! I gotta alot of stuff to get done and the season is less than 3 months away now I have to get my butt in gear!!! Excellent sales here in the fall. A good craft show , some wholesale, and some out of the farm stand. I'll take it. I hoped to get more gift baskets sold but OH well. Just more bags and stuff for next year!!

[Paddymountain]

Spent the day skidding out white pine logs from the hurricane. We had 4 big pines go down and one had the top blown out. I got 24 eight foot saw logs,
3 tens and 2 twelves piled up. time to call my bandsaw man!!!!

[team40]

Finishing the sugar house tomarrow built the cupalio today. all i need to do now is put up pipe line brick/blanket the arch when it comes
and connect the holding tank to the sugar house and some small thing but other then that we are about ready to go

i cant wait

[Ed R]

Spent the day building a proper woodshed (well kind of). Its 100 % green LEED certified. Its made 100% out of salvaged materials from demo sites. I even salvaged the screws from a shelving unit at a school demo site I was working at. Now I've got to get the wood I have laying in piles in my yard under cover for next years usage.

[SevenCreeksSap]

Spent the day skidding out white pine logs from the hurricane. We had 4 big pines go down and one had the top blown out. I got 24 eight foot saw logs,
3 tens and 2 twelves piled up. time to call my bandsaw man!!!!

I'm thinking of buying a small bandsaw and having those logs would seal the deal for me. fortunately we didnt get hit with sandy. unfortunately I dont have logs as an excuse to buy the saw.

[heus]

Spent some time this morning in the woods with my gun ready (its deer gun season) cutting in some drop lines. Stayed close to the sugarhouse of course.

[steam maker]

as i sat in my treestand today i relized ive got alot to do before tapping !!!!! as usual!!!!! was wondering if anybody had ideas on where and how to find help? my dad said go to local tech school and see if any kids wanted to help but i dont know if any kids like to work outside anymore.... i know its gonna cost me but gotta get it done to make the syrup

[McClintick Maple]

Wouldn't hurt to ask at the local tech school. Those are the "hands on" kids vs the "book" kids. One of my own daughters would be up for it if we were near a producer willing to pay instead of, hopefully in addition to, helping here w/o pay. The other daughter is the bookworm. She wants to go for an extra week of summer camp so I told her she had to help more to pay for it.

[team40]

Finishing the sugar house tomarrow built the cupalio today. all i need to do now is put up pipe line brick/blanket the arch when it comes
and connect the holding tank to the sugar house and some small thing but other then that we are about ready to go

i cant wait

well the sugar house will have to wait until next weekend pot the cupalio built and roofed all we need to do now is close in the ends.

[jimsudz]

Just ordered some parts to build 250 gal ro,got vac tank set,need to run vac line to it,need to run a little more tubing. So much to do and so little time.

[jrthe3]

Ben awhile sense I ben on but I little under the gun got the new air over arch about a quarter done ben pluging away every night when I get some pic I post them

[Bruce L]

Cemented and fixed steps in sugarhouse we had to break out to get the new rig in last year while it was warm the other day,had ny son help me dig up and fix where the line went through big O on the old snowmobile trail and freeze up,raised the line and put alot more fall to it,will be burying another big O at the other bush first of the week to go through a hill up there before freeze up,clock is ticking and so much to do to improve!!!!!!!!

[ennismaple]

I did some mainline work on the weekend to get rid of some sags and installed 75 saddle manifolds in our new bush. Those things can be tedious to install - especially with mainline wire ties to loosen and re-position. I figured I was getting efficient so I timed myself - 1 minute 55 seconds to install the saddle manifold. The only problem with limiting your taps per dropline to no more than 5 is you end up with 100 manifolds to install for 400 taps!

[maple flats]

Which manifold did you use? I have the new cam lock one by Leader. They only come in 1" at this time. I am trying to find out what size hole the need in the mainline. The catalog doesn't say, I just called my dealer. They have to check and get back to me. Anyone know? It requires a bigger hole than the old Record Multi fitting I used in years past.

[team40]

we worked on the sugarhouse a little the cupalio is all done except for the pulley system to open it and the ends are all closed up will be putting in the door
this weekend and still have to finish up some small stuff but we are just about ready to go

[sjdoyon]

installed shelving unit this weekend to store all the various tubing fittings and tools we have. No more storing in numerous cardboard boxes.

[adk1]

I will be running some new laterals to pick up some more trees this coming weekend. Not many, maybe 2 laterals and will pick up another 20 trees. I will be looking into straightening out some of my existing lats. I have some of them that really zigzag up the hill..By doing this I will be installing some more saddles etc. Other than that, I need to start on the house firewood for next year. I will wait till the dead of winter when there is nothing else to do to start working in the sugarhouse.

[heus]

Things I have left to do:
1. another test boil
2. install several saddles on mainline
3. cut in about 200 more drops
4. get a double hobby releaser
5. set up and test vacuum system
6. re-wash all sugarhouse items: finishers, tools, etc.
7. trade 200 sap buckets for sap sak holders
8. cut house firewood for next year and year after
9. build enclosure for vacuum pump
10. waiting for new 500 gallon storage tank and 125 stainless gathering tank from A&A
11. a hundred other odd jobs

[Jim Brown]

Maple flats:
The hole will be 7/16 .Use an old 7/16 bit and tap it off so as not to drill clear through the main line.
Works for us
Jim

[maple flats]

My dealer got back to me today, after checking with Leader. They said 15/32". That is essentially a half inch. I wonder why so large? I might test a few 7/16 on some scrap pieces of mainline to test.

[GeneralStark]

Maybe it's 31/64"? It seems like many new saddles are about 1/2" and you use a slightly smaller bit to get a good seal with the gasket.

[ennismaple]

My dealer got back to me today, after checking with Leader. They said 15/32". That is essentially a half inch. I wonder why so large? I might test a few 7/16 on some scrap pieces of mainline to test.

We're using the Lapierre super saddles. They need a 3/8" hole. The old saddles were a 31/64" hole but they found the hole was too big and got oblong over time. I haven't used any other saddles so I don't know what size gasket you ay need to drill for.

[smitty76]

Well, just a little more than a month to go and so much to do. Just got leases on 2 more bushes (sweet), alot to do now. will probably only get one of them set for this season due to timing and finances. looking forward to the winter conference next month.

[Timberwolf]

Well, just a little more than a month to go and so much to do. Just got leases on 2 more bushes (sweet), alot to do now. will probably only get one of them set for this season due to timing and finances. looking forward to the winter conference next month.

Awesome, I just got a nice little lease myself to help me start paying for all of the equipment I purchased.

[Paddymountain]

Just finished welding the top of my new gathering tank, 1st try at welding stainless steel ,I shake a little, but it's turning out OK. The tank holds 132 gallon and will be an improvement over 2 55 gallon drums as it will be only 27" tall compared to 35" for the drum. Sure will make dumping buckets easier!!!6112

[maple flats]

Set a pre filter in there and you'll exclude some future problems. Niche job!
Dave

[maple flats]

We've been in the woods again this week. Doing some expansion. We added my remaining inventory of 3/4" (about 800') and put in about 1900' of 1", a 1000', and a couple of 450' runs. Then we started putting in the laterals. When I have to leave for work, my 2 grandsons are checking for and repairing damage.
We are trying to get ready to start tapping about Jan 7 or so. Far earlier than ever, but the boys return to college Jan 16. Trying to be done tapping before then. Lots to do.

[Paddymountain]

I'm planning for a filter with elastic that will fit right over the flange

[smitty76]

Awesome, I just got a nice little lease myself to help me start paying for all of the equipment I purchased.

I hear that, we also hope to see some light at the end of our purchasing tunnel. Congrats and good luck with your new bush and cheers to a good season, and most important, have a great holiday season.

[lakeview maple]

Worked on the stack yesterday,its all in and looks really good .I installed the flap cover and am hoping that with no restrictions on the stack it will boil like crazy,lol,did some work on the sheet metal for the AUF also,the flange that hooks to the arch was toasted ,so built all new and I was installing it and was drilling out the pilot holes and using sheet metal screws to hold it in place.Well the darn drill was a hair to small and I snapped off 2 of the screws ,so I had to go back to the house and get the right drill bit.All in all I got the plenum all installed replaced the stack and heres the big one,I finally insulated the doors to the arch.Wasnt as bad as I thought drilling through the cast ,nice and slow with lots of oil.It came out great ,cant wait to fire her up.Well I finally have to shovel a little snow so take care all and God Bless,Al

[Timberwolf]

Going to pickup my steam hood tomorrow, finally I will have the last major piece of equipment I need. Some installation of course required, but at least I will have everything I need. Need to get it put together so I can do a test boil soon!

[jmayerl]

Going to pickup my steam hood tomorrow, finally I will have the last major piece of equipment I need. Some installation of course required, but at least I will have everything I need. Need to get it put together so I can do a test boil soon!
How much does a hood run from a&a?

[Tweegs]

Well, Winter has arrived.
Only a couple of inches of the white stuff but it’s howling out there. Too windy to be in the woods.

Deer season wraps up here on Sunday. My neighbor has been out in his shack, probably doing more sleeping than hunting, but that’s alright, he’s 80 and entitled. I don’t want to screw up his hunt, so if he’s out there I leave the woods to him.

Not much left to do here. My hood should be in any day now, want to build a preheater for it. Need to run another 250’ of ¾, replace the wire on a 400’ run, add laterals to the new stuff and rework a few of the old laterals, really only 3 or 4 days of work out there on the lines. Minus the preheater, I should be done next week. Can spend the rest of the time cutting wood.

But today...I think I'll cozy up to the wood stove and just make a few drops.

[Timberwolf]

Thank you Smitty, and best wishes to you for the holidays and a good season, sounds like both of us could use it!

[heus]

How much does a hood run from a&a?
It is $200-300. I dont have my price list around.

[sapman]

So much for the CNY drought. The swamp that's my sugarbush has been dry since June, til this week. Now it's higher than normal, and needs the culvert cleaned regularly to keep it draining decently. Hopefully the precipitation will subside. Sure wish the town had put a bigger culvert in way back when!

[maple flats]

An old timer once told me winter will not arrive until the swamps are full. Guess what? They're full after the last few days. On my bus route I have a pond that reflects the fullness of the swamps around here. After being down about 5' in Sept. and very gradually rising, the pond finally started to flow out the overflow late this week. Winter then arrived yesterday, a day or 2 after the overflow resumed.

[mapleack]

Picked up an 800 gal milk tank today for a slight size upgrade of our raw sap feed tank. Didn't get any other maple stuff done like I'd hoped, started running gas line in my basement for a ventless heater to keep the wife's feet warm. I figure if the floor is warm christmas morning, it'll be a happier christmas! :)

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Got the evaporator bricked finally, still need to fill the back part with sand, and finish setting everything else with it up. Still working on tubing.... It was nice working in the woods yesterday, with a few inches of snow it was nice- until I unhooked one of the end line hook connectors to put a drop on it, and when I did it came around fast and smacked me in the face and eye... Ouch... :cry:

[smitty76]

I finished building the skid for an 800 gal bulk tank and got the tank on it. took longer than i thought, had to fix tire chain for the loader, then it wouldn't start. all in all, it is on the skid, on the trailer read to be delivered. hope to get a chance to get out there today, but momma may have other plans. need to get the tractor and brush hog up there before we can set the tank. we will see how far we get today and tomorrow is Christmas. yeah. Merry Christmas everyone.

[sapmaple]

Working on getting 2500 taps going in my new woods this year. Have the wet-dry line up New tank in place Vac pump going in on weds the 26th, all lateral main lines are brushed out Running wire and 3/4 pipe the next two weeks then 5/16 lats and drops all before tapping time in feb. doing the work myself with a couple of days a week from my son and bro.Hope I'll make it
Looks like a 6-12 inch snow storm coming on thursday Bring it ON

[waysidemaple]

Finished the last section of woods this morning. There are somewhere around 3750 and 3800 in this woods. All that's left is to run the 1600 foot trunk line and install the pump and releaser, move the tank in and then plumb up the R.O. and run the line to the head tank. There are 30 or so taps down where the pump house will be but I'm not sure ill get them online this year or not.

Merry Christmas

Scott

[adk1]

I ran two more lateral lines and picked up another 20 taps on really nice 20"+ hard maples!

[maple flats]

Got the evaporator bricked finally, still need to fill the back part with sand, and finish setting everything else with it up. Still working on tubing.... It was nice working in the woods yesterday, with a few inches of snow it was nice- until I unhooked one of the end line hook connectors to put a drop on it, and when I did it came around fast and smacked me in the face and eye... Ouch... :cry:
Clark Farm, if you fill the back with sand, you risk collapsing the arch. Use vermiculite, available at places like Milikowski Greenhouse supply. Drop flue can use sand, but with raised flue the extra depth of sand adds a lot of weight. For a 2x6 raised I'll guess 1-2 bags. Calculate the volume and compare with a bag. On my 3x8 I used about 2.5 bags. They offer either large or small grade. Either works but the small is cheaper, use it if you can get it. After you fill with vermiculite, cover it with half brick to hold it in place, or put some morter mix on top and lightly mist it several times. It will then harden. I left about 1/4-1/2" below flues, to force heat up.

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Clark Farm, if you fill the back with sand, you risk collapsing the arch. Use vermiculite, available at places like Milikowski Greenhouse supply. Drop flue can use sand, but with raised flue the extra depth of sand adds a lot of weight. For a 2x6 raised I'll guess 1-2 bags. Calculate the volume and compare with a bag. On my 3x8 I used about 2.5 bags. They offer either large or small grade. Either works but the small is cheaper, use it if you can get it. After you fill with vermiculite, cover it with half brick to hold it in place, or put some morter mix on top and lightly mist it several times. It will then harden. I left about 1/4-1/2" below flues, to force heat up.

I have already put 2 bags of sand in the back, between the arch ramp and the little wall that was built out of bricks half way inbetween. The previous owner also used sand, in the 3 years that he had it... Should I put anything under the stack portion of the arch???

[Timberwolf]

Looks like a 6-12 inch snow storm coming on thursday Bring it ON

A bit jealous of the snow you are expecting. Pretty much a green/brown Christmas here. Would be nice to have enough snow to take my daughter sled riding with the relative arriving from North Carolina tomorrow. Oh well, I am sure we will get a real snow eventually.

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a blessed and safe holiday!

[lakeview maple]

Merry Christmas to all ,woke to a couple of inches of snow with more in the forecast.Hope everyone has a blessed day and a great New Year and full buckets this Maple season for all. Allen @LakeView Maple

[Tweegs]

Merry Christmas everyone!

We do our thing Christmas Eve, it’s tradition. Didn’t get anything maple, but did get a couple of nifty woodworking gadgets and 50 sqft of figured cherry veneer. Something good will come of that, to be sure.

Was 2 AM before we got the riff-raff out and the house cleaned up. My daughter was home from the Navy, back up at 5 AM to put her on a plane back to Biloxi. Thought I might just stay up after I got back home from the airport, but couldn’t manage it. Woke to the weatherman calling for 3 to 7” starting tomorrow, high winds to push it around some, just for fun.

Put the plow on the tractor, swapped the mower for the blower and checked the generator, plenty of food in the house, a week’s worth of firewood in the garage. All systems are go, let it rip.

Spent the rest of the day stringing wire, ran out of steam and daylight before I could get the tube on though. It will keep ‘til the storm passes.

Anyone else in the path of this one, keep your heads down, eh?

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Well, got the evap all bricked, and sanded and set up. Had to put the rail gaskets on, and set the pans on again... Now that thats done, I have to get the blower hooked up, fix the preheater, set on hood and do the stacks. Hoping for test boil within 2 weeks :)

[Timberwolf]

Guess we are expected to get slammed with the white stuff too. Saying as much as 10-12 and it is snowing pretty good right now. Should make it fun to drag my livestock trailer and pig around to be butchered today.:o

[adk1]

Snowing in OH right now, nice..They are saying gonna start here around 5pm ish. We are in the 12"-17" range, so I will prepare for 6-9" of snow! haha.

[heus]

[QUOTE=maple flats;197168]Clark Farm, if you fill the back with sand, you risk collapsing the arch. Use vermiculite, available at places like Milikowski Greenhouse supply. Drop flue can use sand, but with raised flue the extra depth of sand adds a lot of weight. For a 2x6 raised I'll guess 1-2 bags. Calculate the volume and compare with a bag. On my 3x8 I used about 2.5 bags. They offer either large or small grade. Either works but the small is cheaper, use it if you can get it. After you fill with vermiculite, cover it with half brick to hold it in place, or put some morter mix on top and lightly mist it several times. It will then harden. I left about 1/4-1/2" below flues, to force heat up.[/QUOTE


Dave, thats my former evaporator. No way sand or anything for that matter is going to collapse that arch. It only ends up being 40 or so pounds of sand anyways.

[heus]

Just put my pump house in the woods before the big snow gets here. I will side it and insulate some other time. It will house my electric releaser and pump.

[red maples]

Nothing like going to Bascom's and dropping $1125 the day after x-mas. We are going get some lovely snow rain and sleat from this storm!!! I wish it were just snow!!! hate the mess from snow then rain!!!

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Snow is coming down hard here now. We are in the 4-8 according to one channel, the other more reliable one says 8-12... Bring it on!!! :cool:

[Tweegs]

They’ve downgraded us, only expecting 2 to 4 with some blowing and drifting. Looks like the bulk of it is going to slip to the south of us, but it is coming down at a pretty good clip right now.

Managed to get that 250’ of tube hung this morning before the winds picked up and chased me out of the woods.

[waysidemaple]

6135Dad got me a 7 by 7 shed to use as my pump house. Got that moved in to place and leveled this morning. Cut brush till the snow started around 230. Got everything cleared so now all that's left is to set some posts to support the wire and run the wet dry down to the pump house. We have about three inches out there now looking at 8 to 12 by morning.

Scott.

[heus]

Scott is the shed in that pic somewhere?:)

[waysidemaple]

No that's my brush cutting for the day haha. I forgot to get a pic of the shed. Maybe tomorrow.

[maple flats]

Heus,
If you are right about it only taking 40# of sand, the arch is not a typical design but, you need the vermiculite for insulation value in that case. Even if the arch won't collapse, a thin layer of sand will likely protect the arch but it won't insulate. You want to push as much heat up to the pans as possible. Not insulating slows the boil rate or uses more wood or both. However, if the 40# guess is even close, you don't need the big bag of vermiculite. You can use much less. Measure the width, length and thickness, do the math and buy the right amount of vermiculite. It is packed in various sizes and measured by the cubic foot.

[heus]

Just did what the maker (Patrick Phaneuf) told me to do. Worked awesome.

[DanE.]

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/27/e3ydahyb.jpgI finally got the stack through the roof. highly recommend everyone wait until there is snow on the roof before you do this, its loads of fun :)

Dane.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

[ClarkFarmMapleSyrup]

Heus,
If you are right about it only taking 40# of sand, the arch is not a typical design but, you need the vermiculite for insulation value in that case. Even if the arch won't collapse, a thin layer of sand will likely protect the arch but it won't insulate. You want to push as much heat up to the pans as possible. Not insulating slows the boil rate or uses more wood or both. However, if the 40# guess is even close, you don't need the big bag of vermiculite. You can use much less. Measure the width, length and thickness, do the math and buy the right amount of vermiculite. It is packed in various sizes and measured by the cubic foot.
I have already gotten the thing done finally. Between the ramp and the stack there is a brick wall that Heus built, and I filled the front side of it between ramp and wall with sand...Ontop of the sand there is half brick and then full brick up to the top rail of the arch almost. Between the wall and the stack I put alittle bit of ceramic blanket in at an angle to create a small ramp downward, then put brick on it too. I hope it works out good...

[red maples]

Down here we got 2 inches of slush now we have rain and some thunder actually and very windy!!! 1-2 inches of rain expected here.

[SSFLLC]

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. Here at the farm the loggers have started to thin the sugar bush. Saw mill will be here in 2 weeks to start milling the timbers for the new post and beam barn ( 24x36). That we are putting up in the spring.Happy holidays Keith & Michelle

[heus]

We only ended up getting maybe 7-8 inches or so.

[farmall h]

Dan E, have base and stack ordered through Lapierre...should arrive sometime in mid January. Received 7-8 in. snow today. Probably by then it will be -20 degrees.