Lessons learned.

[Tweegs]

For many of us the season is done or winding down.
Mistakes were made, of that I’m sure.

So as we mend our sore bodies from the long season and re-grow facial hair, lashes, and brows singed from charging the firebox, there must be light hearted stories tell, lessons learned to pass along.

I’ll begin, feel free to add yours also.

1. Sap haulers leave ruts, sap haulers loaded with sap leave deeper ruts. There is no better place for the deepest of ruts than right next
to the main holding tank.
2. The top rung is the last place you want to discover one leg of a ladder is on soft ground.
3. Never let your wife put the sap hauler in reverse around trees, especially those with hanging buckets.
4. Trees will fall in the direction of their own choosing, which is not necessarily the direction you’d prefer.
5. If there is anything that might potentially prevent a tree from hitting the ground, it will. Unless, of course, it’s a mainline (see above).


Repeated mistakes are the worst. Cold, gloved hands do not provide the grip you’d expect. When tensioning mainline side ties, do not use your body to push on the wire, especially on wire that is about knee high. The first time the side tie wire slipped from my hands cost me a mouth full of snow, mud, and leaves. The second time resulted in a mouth (and ears) full of shin deep swamp water (sure do miss that hat).

[Yellzee]

Thought about a thread like this to help the newbies.
1. Dont vent your tubing lines
2. Dont stir syrup in your filter to help it go through unless you like floaters
3. Dont ever turn your back on a pot of finishing syrup
4. You dont have too much wood
5. Sitting around the turkey pot with 10 taps is way more relaxing than running a flue pan with 150
6. The sap will come, dont tap more trees!
7. Get a hydrometer
8. Use #7 right at the boil, dont let it sit and cool a bit

Many more!

[psparr]

Here here to #5 it's only my second year but I miss that experience already.

[Galena]

OK my turn! This from a microbush producer on buckets only and with just 6 trees tapped this year.

1) Never ever EVER assume that the big trees that *aren't producing* early in the season are holding back on you or are being punky. They'll come through for you, give them time. I still have 3 trees in a horserace to see who can produce the most sap.
2) If you have to go away and entrust the collecting of your sap to a family member/friend/neighbour who uhm maybe doesn't have much if any sugaring experience...make sure they know that that clear stuff in the pails is NOT water but sap!!!
3) Never pin your hopes on the forecast. The local weather guy could be predicting for a region based 80km away and though their region might get sunny, +12 weather with no wind, that doesn't mean you will get the same.
4) To reiterate #3 posted by Yellzee...yeah...don't. Just don't.
5) The maff isn't always correct. Recently according to the maff, I should have got *only* 1.25 litres. Instead because the temp was right there, the perfect window formed, and so I poured it off to get a whole litre more than what was supposed to happen.

Finally...when you collect, always give your trees a pat on the trunk and a few kind words. Ignore weird looks from the neighbours, they are your trees. Keep the karma good. Even though they are *just* trees, I do truly believe that it never hurts to show appreciation to all and any living beings.

[maplefrank]

1)NEVER,NEVER, NEVER, get the idea you want to try different bucket spouts when you have an 83 year old in charge of the gathering crew!!!!!!

[Angela Rust]

Oh, man, you still use horses? So jealous!! No one else feels that way though. They like the skidder and tractor because they can't think. I missed out on the horse team days. :(

[Ausable]

Well - About every mistake that is possible - I have made over the years - This year I had a delayed mistake. I always heard - build your Sugar Shack in a low spot - makes sense and I did. So here we are - about 15 years later and Winter brought us a couple of major thaw and refreeze events. Which totally blocked both my Spring run-off ditches - which were lower then my sugar shack and always served me well - till this year. So the floor was ice for the first boil - no problem -scatter sand. By the time I completed my boil I had wet sand up to my ankles that made and odd sound with each slow motion step. During the second boil we have a Spring thaw and here comes all the snow melt with no place to go as the ditches are frozen solid with some very hard ice and my sugar shack being the new path for the run off is again with a very wet flow as I boil. But - I am out of the Wind - Snow and Rain - just not protected from attack from below. The ditches slowly melt and start to be ditches again as I do my third boil and the floor was dry - for a little while - about three hours into the boil we get a heavy rain that lasts the rest of the day - that the half frozen ditches couldn't handle and wet floor again. But - LOL - I'm out of the rain -----kind of. First time this has happened and hope it is the last. -------Mike-------

[sg5054]

A whole host of things learned but this was a key point.

Walking away from a hard boiling pan "just for a minute" isn't a good thing.

2ft high flames in the center of the pan and a shack full of dense smoke is a bad thing....:o

[SevenCreeksSap]

Hope everybody is getting #3 from Yellzee and the seconds from others. I'll second that. walked away from my finishing syrup (got distracted) not once, but twice, and ended up with at least a gallon on the floor. boiled completely over and down the sides of the finisher, very good smelling mess. I've taken a break and will finish the rest thats frozen when I will pay more attention.

[Super Sapper]

I was finishing a pot and thought I should get some defoamer before it gets boiling and boils over. I got the defoamer and looked at the pot and just turned to do something else for a minute and then I hear it boil over. If you going to get the defoamer, use it before it boils over (lesson learned).

[jrgagne99]

Biggest lesson:

2" of clearence between your smoke stack and combustable material is not enough. My sugarhouse roof caught fire and it was seconds away from getting very much out of control. Fortuantely, I had a bucket of steam-away water right there to put out the flames. Two days later and I'm still shaken. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

I have seen many sugarhouse smoke stacks pass through the roof with only 2" of clearance to the wood. This summer, I'll be installing double-walled insulated passthrough.

It brings to mind a saying, "A wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from someone else's mistakes."

I hope you all can learn from my mistake.

[Rugburn]

Also, warm up the frozen defoamer in your pocket BEFORE you need it!

[PerryW]

about 10 years ago, I noticed the pine boards smoking and glowing charcoal where my stack was about 16 inches away from the pine wall boards. I hung a sheet of galvanized on standoffs between the stack and the wall. (love your saying about wiser man)


Biggest lesson:

2" of clearence between your smoke stack and combustable material is not enough. My sugarhouse roof caught fire and it was seconds away from getting very much out of control. Fortuantely, I had a bucket of steam-away water right there to put out the flames. Two days later and I'm still shaken. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

I have seen many sugarhouse smoke stacks pass through the roof with only 2" of clearance to the wood. This summer, I'll be installing double-walled insulated passthrough.

It brings to mind a saying, "A wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from someone else's mistakes."

I hope you all can learn from my mistake.

[PapaSmiff]

I learned that you must put a barrier between the bottom of the turkey fryer and the wood floor in my shed. I now have a nice, charcoal-colored, circular spot in the center of my shed. I'll need to learn how to hide this from my wife.

[northwoods_forestry]

Before transferring sap/syrup check from one tank/pan to another to make sure the receiving drain valves are closed. Then go back and check again!

[Asthepotthickens]

It's a bad idea to boild down a half gallon of syrup from 60 to 67 in your kitchen and have the pot boil over when you are busy on the telephone. Three hour clean up and syrup that I think must be 70 plus.

[TRAILGUY]

always check your taps. found 30 running on the ground
always warm your flters

[jnmartin]

Being my first time ever to even live in a state where Maple trees grow much less syrup being made, everything I've learned about sugaring, I learned this spring. From identifying species of maples to filtering that blasted sugar sand. 95% of which I learned from having the benefit of this forum and it's many so willing to share their experiences so freely...to all I am grateful!

Probably the most impressive thing I've learned I see many others learned as well. In brief it is the admonition that things change quickly in the pan, don't go getting all happy, happy, happy about your latest creation until it's off the fire...I'm still cleaning on the new pan I used on my first boil.

I've also learned I'm going to be much better prepared and much better equipped before next season rolls around. Being ill-prepared makes a job out of what would otherwise be a fun project.

[Tweegs]

Also, warm up the frozen defoamer in your pocket BEFORE you need it!

Had to chuckle reminiscing about that.

I usually put the defoamer on the back edge of the front pan as part of my start-up sequence, but I occasionally forget.

Got to foaming bad on one of those forgetful days and there I was, with a bottle of frozen defoamer. In a last act of desperation, I chucked the uncapped bottle right into the foam. It worked, there was enough defoamer in the tip that melted and put out the volcano, but man, that was a close one. :lol:

[lpakiz]

Post number 15 from Northwoods Forestry also applies to the tote parked out on the road when you are pumping out the collection tank. 140 gallons makes a very distinct, identifiable washout on the gravel road. I got there thru 2 feet of snow-covered shortcut in time to save almost all the foam....

[Galena]

It's a bad idea to boild down a half gallon of syrup from 60 to 67 in your kitchen and have the pot boil over when you are busy on the telephone. Three hour clean up and syrup that I think must be 70 plus.

Yep...my sweet babboo has learned to tolerate me putting him on speakerphone when I'm standing at the stove and there is a batch finishing in front of me...and usually you can call em back too!

BTW whereabouts in Perth are you? Assuming you mean Perth Ontario, like a little jaunt down the road from me. (Near Oxford Mills, near Kemptville)/

[Asthepotthickens]

Yep...my sweet babboo has learned to tolerate me putting him on speakerphone when I'm standing at the stove and there is a batch finishing in front of me...and usually you can call em back too!

BTW whereabouts in Perth are you? Assuming you mean Perth Ontario, like a little jaunt down the road from me. (Near Oxford Mills, near Kemptville)/

Indeed, I drove from Maxville to Perth yesterday. I live on Otty Lake.

[lastwoodsman]

OK my turn! This from a microbush producer on buckets only and with just 6 trees tapped this year.

1) Never ever EVER assume that the big trees that *aren't producing* early in the season are holding back on you or are being punky. They'll come through for you, give them time. I still have 3 trees in a horserace to see who can produce the most sap.
2) If you have to go away and entrust the collecting of your sap to a family member/friend/neighbour who uhm maybe doesn't have much if any sugaring experience...make sure they know that that clear stuff in the pails is NOT water but sap!!!
3) Never pin your hopes on the forecast. The local weather guy could be predicting for a region based 80km away and though their region might get sunny, +12 weather with no wind, that doesn't mean you will get the same.
4) To reiterate #3 posted by Yellzee...yeah...don't. Just don't.
5) The maff isn't always correct. Recently according to the maff, I should have got *only* 1.25 litres. Instead because the temp was right there, the perfect window formed, and so I poured it off to get a whole litre more than what was supposed to happen.

Finally...when you collect, always give your trees a pat on the trunk and a few kind words. Ignore weird looks from the neighbours, they are your trees. Keep the karma good. Even though they are *just* trees, I do truly believe that it never hurts to show appreciation to all and any living beings.


I could not have said it better. We must be on the same learning curve. I am definitely going to have a high school kid lined up next year to collect sap!!

[Moser's Maple]

Make sure that your 70 year old father really turned on the valve from the storage tank to the evaporator before you hear the metal starting to "ping"!!!!:o Thank goodness Algier Metal Works have some pretty impresive welds:mrgreen:

[Hal]

Lets' see,

Manual control of pump to head tank, Manual took three sap showers getting it shut off too late.

Forgot to tighten screws on filter press, once.

Left oil feed valve open on vacuum pump overnight. They start hard at 32 degrees when filled with oil.

Forgot to open cupola doors until sugar house was completely filled with steam.

Opened firebox door while under full blower pressure.

Poured syrup in canner without checking drain, it was open.

[whitetail farms]

1.make sure the fire is all the way out before leaving to pickup more sap you guys can guess how that one turned out
2.dont leave the sugar house for to long after the fire is out and forget to turn of the holding tank
3.nothing burns like hardwood in the evaporator
4.try not to hang buckets to early or the taps with close up and you wont even get 50% crop(I blame the Weatherman for that one though)

[Galena]

Oh, man, you still use horses? So jealous!! No one else feels that way though. They like the skidder and tractor because they can't think. I missed out on the horse team days. :(

Yeah, I used to train horses for a living. Would have love to have collected sap with horses rather than a pickup or tractor. I did once work with a horse logger on a property we were clearing for pasture, that was fun and interesting.