boneheadben
03-21-2013, 07:36 PM
this a lengthy post,
if you will recall i have helped my now 70 year old great-uncle with the family 7500 tap bush for the last 8 years. well at the end of last years dissipointing season i approached him to see what he was thinking about doing with the farm as he gets older.
well he told me that he didnt want to talk or think about it! which i kinda figured it is what he would say, so i told him i was going out on my own, half hoping it cause him to think about it, knowing he wouldnt, which he didnt. so this past spring the wife and i looked at few different propertys around the area that were close with the idea that we could start the business while still working at my job nearby.
well the third woods i wlked into was the best maple woods ive ever seen in this area! average tap count was a steady 50 + with some large areas upwards of 90+ taps per acre, roufly 100 acres,some wheres around 5-6000 taps when fully tapped. so we went to farm credit created a 26 page business plan and recieved a farm start-up loan. the plan is to lease the lease the woods until we can buy it, along with the house that we are renting from the same landowner, this house has a 2 car 22ft by 28ft garage that we have converted into a sugaer shanty. i bought a used 4 by 12 woodfired evap. this was all signed and in motion by sept 1. in the time between sept 1 and feb 15 we brought in 20 cord of wood, bought the equipment, set up the shanty(had to clean it out 1st- 5 pickup loads) run the tubing ( most went up during my brother and cousins christmas break) came to be about 1300 taps. plan for 1st year was 1000. 1st boil was feb 15, since then ive boiled 6 times and a total so far of 175 gallons give or take. i have no ro this year, but have a preheater hood and 7 in drop flu. that is a brief summary of my life up till tuesday.
whis cold snap we are having ive been doing more firewood, i know that i wasnt going to have enough, so my cousin is on his springbreak this week he came up to help do wood. he was cutting the tree tops into logs-like and was dragging them through a reavine and up the other side to block them later.
i had already dragged a dozen through and was on the last 3 small ones. for some reason my 9n ferguson didnt want to pull them up, i reajusted the choke a few times and tried again,on the third try the logs dug into the trail, stopping the tractor from going foward, the tires with chains were still digging when the front end came up, i realized that it was too late to press the clutch and started to jump off. i hit the ground first and the tractor flipped over onto me pinning me down. my left leg was was pinneddown across the logs, my back was being pinned down by the fender and triangle sign to the ground along side the logs. i was face down.from my nipples up i was free. i could deal with my leg but not being able to breathe hardly at all........ i thought that was going to be it.
my cousin saw the whole thing thought i was dead, came down and tried to lift the weight off of my chest, but he couldnt, my phone was trapped in my pocket and he didnt have his. so he ran to my neigbors house 1000ft away and they called 911. ha came back and could lift the tractor a few inches to help me breathe. the cops arrived 10 min later and helped hold the wheel so i could breathe. unfortuneatley the more they lifted the more it pinched my leg. 10 min later rescue arrived and acessed the situation.
all told 5 companys showed up, they had to bring airbags, chain the tractor from sliding and go really slow. i was pinned for roughly 70 minutes. what a relief when the airbags picked the tractor up and they pulled me out. i was rushed to ecmc in buffalo and praise the lord i only have bad cotusions on my left leg and a fratured right #8 rib along with mutiple cuts and bruises and alot of pain. now can take my lazy chair out to the shanty and boss everybody!:D
if you will recall i have helped my now 70 year old great-uncle with the family 7500 tap bush for the last 8 years. well at the end of last years dissipointing season i approached him to see what he was thinking about doing with the farm as he gets older.
well he told me that he didnt want to talk or think about it! which i kinda figured it is what he would say, so i told him i was going out on my own, half hoping it cause him to think about it, knowing he wouldnt, which he didnt. so this past spring the wife and i looked at few different propertys around the area that were close with the idea that we could start the business while still working at my job nearby.
well the third woods i wlked into was the best maple woods ive ever seen in this area! average tap count was a steady 50 + with some large areas upwards of 90+ taps per acre, roufly 100 acres,some wheres around 5-6000 taps when fully tapped. so we went to farm credit created a 26 page business plan and recieved a farm start-up loan. the plan is to lease the lease the woods until we can buy it, along with the house that we are renting from the same landowner, this house has a 2 car 22ft by 28ft garage that we have converted into a sugaer shanty. i bought a used 4 by 12 woodfired evap. this was all signed and in motion by sept 1. in the time between sept 1 and feb 15 we brought in 20 cord of wood, bought the equipment, set up the shanty(had to clean it out 1st- 5 pickup loads) run the tubing ( most went up during my brother and cousins christmas break) came to be about 1300 taps. plan for 1st year was 1000. 1st boil was feb 15, since then ive boiled 6 times and a total so far of 175 gallons give or take. i have no ro this year, but have a preheater hood and 7 in drop flu. that is a brief summary of my life up till tuesday.
whis cold snap we are having ive been doing more firewood, i know that i wasnt going to have enough, so my cousin is on his springbreak this week he came up to help do wood. he was cutting the tree tops into logs-like and was dragging them through a reavine and up the other side to block them later.
i had already dragged a dozen through and was on the last 3 small ones. for some reason my 9n ferguson didnt want to pull them up, i reajusted the choke a few times and tried again,on the third try the logs dug into the trail, stopping the tractor from going foward, the tires with chains were still digging when the front end came up, i realized that it was too late to press the clutch and started to jump off. i hit the ground first and the tractor flipped over onto me pinning me down. my left leg was was pinneddown across the logs, my back was being pinned down by the fender and triangle sign to the ground along side the logs. i was face down.from my nipples up i was free. i could deal with my leg but not being able to breathe hardly at all........ i thought that was going to be it.
my cousin saw the whole thing thought i was dead, came down and tried to lift the weight off of my chest, but he couldnt, my phone was trapped in my pocket and he didnt have his. so he ran to my neigbors house 1000ft away and they called 911. ha came back and could lift the tractor a few inches to help me breathe. the cops arrived 10 min later and helped hold the wheel so i could breathe. unfortuneatley the more they lifted the more it pinched my leg. 10 min later rescue arrived and acessed the situation.
all told 5 companys showed up, they had to bring airbags, chain the tractor from sliding and go really slow. i was pinned for roughly 70 minutes. what a relief when the airbags picked the tractor up and they pulled me out. i was rushed to ecmc in buffalo and praise the lord i only have bad cotusions on my left leg and a fratured right #8 rib along with mutiple cuts and bruises and alot of pain. now can take my lazy chair out to the shanty and boss everybody!:D