October Journal

[Russell Lampron]

It's hard to believe October is here already. I'm hoping that we have a drier fall than last year. Still have to get the wood in and check and repair the tubing.

Russ

[Pete33Vt]

Same here I am hoping to have a good dry spell. There is so much to do and so little time.I got about a month to get things done before hunting season starts. One of my uncles came up to me and asked what my winter worked looked like. He has a sugar bush that needs to be resetup. We had about 800 taps on it before. We can go to 1100, but the thing is its been almost ten years sense any work has been done up there and it was logged off. They took all most of the trees besides maple. But the logger didn't care about sugaring so its probably a mess. I might try to get up there and check it out before snow flys. Just to see what I am getting into. But thats after I get the wood cut, animals in the barn, house ready for winter, vehicles ready for winter, outdoor stove installed. and the list goes on. Its a good think I like to stay busy. :lol: :lol: :lol:
Hope everyone is safe and healthy
Pete

[Sugarmaker]

Pete,
Hope you have time to take a small break and relax a little too! wow!

Thinking of hunting also. Eric (son) just got home from putting up two more climbing stands for archery for him and Nic (grandson) I was thinking about the conversation I had with the Emericks about squirrel hunting and how much I enjoyed that when I was a kid.

With our state tour behind us, we relaxed a little today and went out for a nice steak and toured the Presque Isle State park. We saw a water spout over the lake and that was really neat.

If I could close the door and stay out of the sugar house I would be ready for tapping next year!

We did have steam up for the tour Sat morning and the sugar house was nice and toasty for the folks to come in and get some of Cheryl's' sugar cookies.

Chris

[Parker]

We are wrapping up the hoit road job,,we got everything we could with the cutter and skidder,,now it is just small scale stuff that I can do with the tractor,,came out looking great,,I am hopeful the thinning will reduce the squirle and deer damage (much fewer hemlock in the bush) and inprove sap flow (less compitition-more light)
Got a 4 foot splitter for the tractor last week,,Ray and I have split up 12 cords with it so far,,I am going to try for 60 cords on hand for sugaring season,,,,just in case it really runs

[Pete33Vt]

Its pretty chill here this morning, I got 31 on the thermometer. Me and the boys got most of our wood split last weekend. Just a few cords to go, barn is coming along. Got most of the wireing done, concrete is poured,should be able to finish up insulation this weekend.So things are coming together. Stopped up to my buddies landing yesterday. He's about done of now, Very ,Very Very wet in the woods. But he has a few jobs to move on that are high and dry. On of the areas biggger sugarmakers was there. He is trying to get ahold of the land owner. Wants to lease the land, says he can setup about 20,000 taps. He has land just across the road, and is setting up about 27,000 taps there. He has a crew running lines right now. Plus he is setting up a new sugar house there. Should be pretty cool when he is done. Other than that its pretty much the same here.
Hope everyone is safe,
Pete

[Mike]

Bow season starts tomorrow.....Ill hunt the evenings an work on the sugar house in the am.....Looks like a great week comming up.....Ahhhhhhhhh......11 days off at camp.....should have all the sugaring stuff done by next week......Good luck to all you hunters....Stay safe....Mike

[Russell Lampron]

Good luck to all of you guys that hunt.

Should get a good start on getting this years wood cut and stacked this weekend. It is already in 4' lengths and split. Just have to saw it to 16", dump it and stack it. Sounds easy but the back feels it pretty quick.

When the wood is done it will be time to get into the woods and check and repair the tubing. I hope it doesn't need as much work as it did last year.

Only have about 3 gals of syrup left to sell before I sell out. I am hoping for a good season this year.

Russ

[mountainvan]

What a day to get back to selling syrup! Did very well at the market, got home at 3, put out the open sign and sold more syrup at the saphouse. Had a visitor from Highland county, Va in the saphouse tonight. Tim has around 60 taps down there. Spent an hour or so talking maple. Small world again. Had dutch couple in the saphouse thursday, his office was in the town my parents were born. Small word again!!

[Parker]

Spilt another 4 cords and trucked home another 6 cords,,I have 30 in the sugarhouse and am trying to make a 20 cord pilr outside,,,"mount woodmore" is geting big,,,will cover the stuff outside with a big tarp,,want to start building racks to put the wood in but really want to get it split and home befor I get disstracted by another project,,,,,,WHAT A DAY yesterday,,,

[Fred Henderson]

Parker , if it was a nice a day where you live as it was here all I can say is you couldn't beat it with a stick. The weather station says 2 more days of this.

[Sugarmaker]

For all those Maple / Hunters :o
Our grandson Nic Casbohm arrowed and real nice 6 point Saturday morning at 7:45. The rack is not real big, (about 11 inch spread) but what a excited young man!
This deer came in to nine yards and Nic placed the broad head thru the heart. The deer ran about 125 yards before piling up.
This looks to be a older deer as the head and nose is a little longer and grayer, Also this was a very aggressive deer. All points were broken or damaged (except for the brow tines) and his lip had been cut up to his nostril. Probably due to a horn from another deer? This was a 160 lb deer (live weight)
Nic was using carbon arrows and Mussy broad head. This was his first deer with a bow and his second buck.(Nic is 15 and as a junior hunter, this 6 point is legal in PA).
Our son Eric (Nic's dad) was in a climbing stand next to Nic and got a real nice video of the deer coming in and Nic's shot. When I watched it it looked just like the professional hunting videos! Of course they followed up with 15 minutes of celebration on the video too! :lol:
They choose to process the deer here at home. With the warm weather we now have a refrigerator full of venison to work on in the next few days.
Here comes the JERKY!!!! :D :D

Regards,
Chris

[Fred Henderson]

Congradulations Nic.

[HanginAround]

That sounds great Chris, I bet he was beaming.

You can post videos on YouTube for free to share with family and friends. Paste the link here after you upload it.

[Pete33Vt]

Chris pass on my congrats to Nic. I was there when my oldest step-son shot his first deer and there is no other feeling thats any better.I still get a little smile when I think about it. My parents live in Greencastle, Pa and I have been down there hunting once and would love to go again soon. My father and I saw 73 deer in the woods and over a 100 during the whole week. It was alot more fun then VT hunting where you are lucky to see a flag all month. I've been lucky at the house here. I have a doe and two fawns that have taken a likeing to my leftovers in the garden. I see them every day. They come to within 10 yrds of the house. It great to watch them out the window. I finally got to the point where I can slow down alittle. Most of my projects are wraping up. It was a great weekend. I had a chance to just sit down on the excavator trailer and drink a beer and enjoy the view from our house. Great fall foliage. I love this time of year.Only 3 more weeks of work then lay-off for the winter. CAN'T Wait.
Well I'll quit babling for know.
Hope everyone stays safe
Pete

[Russell Lampron]

Congrats to the guys that have gotten deer this year. I don't hunt but do like the taste of deer steaks on the grill.

It was a beautiful weekend here for a change. Had enough help show up so that I got all 6 cords of wood for the house sawed up and stacked. We also split up another 1/2 cord of wood for the sugarhouse and should be able to saw that up and get it in next weekend.

Russ

[brookledge]

Parker
as far a wood racks go
Some tractor companies use metal racks that contain new tractors that can be moved with fork lifts.
I don't know if any tractor companies still use them but I have a few racks that are about 6'X3.5'X3.5'
I think they were from small compact New Holland tractors
Anyway they hold about 1/2 cord of wood and are great to move with forks.
Keith

[royalmaple]

Well finally made it home. Can't wait to sleep in my bed tonight. Fair went well, highlight was being able to meet a few fellow maple traders.

Really a pleasure meeting Keith & Family, and Parker. Sorry I didnt have more time to chat, but I'm certainly interested in stopping by and seeing your operations.

Long 10 days, but tons of people and many happy customers. Glad its over, those were some long days.

My wife just got back safely from a mini trip to florida with our neice who has CF and it was her "Make a Wish" trip going to disney. From what I have been told the make a wish people did a fantastic job and really go the extra mile for these kids and families.

Well since I had a few extra bucks burning a hole in my pocket, I stopped and picked up a cordwood saw for my tractor on the way home today from the fair. Guy had one on his front lawn that I saw on the way upto the fair and still had it when I drove by today. I got it here tonight. Something that I always wanted. It is PTO driven.

Gotta pour my slab hopefully end of this week or beginning of next and get going on the sugar house. After a couple of days of doing lots of nothing I hope.

[Revi]

We cut some wood yesterday at the woodlot. I have a bunch of 2 foot basswood split up for the evaporator. The log landing is almost cleared out for next season. We have lots of low grade wood ready for the season. since we got a bigger evaporator we can use longer wood now. It was about 80 degrees!
Colors are at peak, or a bit past now. Most of the red maples have lost their leaves. The sugars are being pulled back into the core, leaves are falling. The wooly bear caterpillars have a thick brown stripe. Will it be a cold, snowy winter? It would be a shock after the last 2 non-winters!

[mountainvan]

Made 400 sugars yesterday, more today, and have to get to bottling syrup. Picked up bottles on the way to fishing monday, caught some nice bass and walleye. Went out this morning and the world was orange. The trees and the sky were beautiful. Seen wooly bears here too. Noaa projects a warm winter again, maybe an early sugaring season!!

[mountainvan]

( sung to rawhide) bottling, bottling, bottling. got to keep on bottling, bottling bottling, syrup!! Going to bottle lots of syrup, so I can sell lots of syrup. Bottling , bottling, bottling, syrup! That's my day!!

[royalmaple]

Got my brother and his dump truck and trailer to get my boards today.

Went to the saw mill and picked up the two units of rough sawn boards they had ready for me. Pretty big pile of lumber. Now just need to transform it into a sugar house.

We had one heck of a storm pass through here last night, I thought the roof was going to blow off.

Anyone add a couple of rows of block on top of their slab before they started their walls? I was thinking of adding 2-3 rows of block on top of the slab just to get the walls up off the ground and also to help when cleaning or washing down. Might be overkill, any thoughts?

I also got the plans from UVM ext on sugarhouse construction. I think I am going with a version of the 16x24 modified for 16x20. Pretty much exactly what I had in mind already.

[Fred Henderson]

I put 2 rows of block when I built because it is recommeded when you are using a wood fire arch, sparks you know go every whereand might still be glowing when you are long gone. Also keeps the wood up out of the snow.

[cncaboose]

Life is full of compromises. I am gaining on my new 20x20 sugarhouse. No blocks on the pad. I used pressure treated wood for the sill on top of the pad. Also pressure treated sill girts that hang over the edge of the slab under the board and batten siding. I figure it will outlast me.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

I put 3 rows of 8" blocks and then 8' walls on top of that with a pressure treated 2x8 base plate. This gave me 10' ceilings and really comes in handy having that much ceiling especially with the 320 gallon feed tank sitting beside the evaporator and the top is 9+ feet from the floor. Also gave me plenty of head room for my Kubota backing it in and out of the equipment end. :D When I was down, I don't get any water on the walls, just the brick! :D :D

[Parker]

If I had it to do over agine and had a little more time during the build I would do the blocks,,my wall sit right on the pad,,not a great situation

[royalmaple]

Thanks guys, yeah I think I will go with 2 rows of block. I was thinking it through and seems to make sense in many areas and shouldn't be too ungodly of a task to do.

Hopefully next week is the start of the big build.

[super sappy]

I dont know about the rest of you traders but I cant wait to tap my trees!I have scheduled vacation time for spring and am shooting for(I will tap 225 trees.)I have been, Working like a dog, And On Sunday I am going to spend the whole day at the sugarhouse.LIFE IS GOOD. -Sappy

[royalmaple]

I was walking down to my mailbox today and a large red maple I have at the end of the driveway looked like it was budding 8O 8O :!:

This one has already dropped all its leaves, maybe just my mind teasing me.

once I get my sugar house built and new evaporator here and set up, I think I'll try boiling 500 gallons of water through it just to take the edge off. I'm getting pretty excited too Sappy.
But honestly I got way too much stuff to do before I am even close to ready to think about tapping.

[Russell Lampron]

Hurry up Matt, The freeze thaw pattern is just getting here for fall tapping.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-

You got it :!:

At the rate I'm going I'll be ready Mid March. Shouldn't be too bad once I get the slab completed. This week looks crappy for that, especially since I have a siding job to do this week. I'm 1/2 tempted to order my concrete even if it is going to shower, but set up a large tarp canopy over the slab so I can still work. Now that's desire. Or ignorance.

Remember you said you'd take your new bike over to take a look at the new sugarhouse, you may want to take that back now, since I may have to give you a ride home if you don't want hypothermia :lol: :lol: .

Got a buddy coming over any min now to help square up the forms I did the other day. Not 1/2 bad for doing it solo. Just a couple of inches off on my diag.

[Russell Lampron]

I finished getting all of the wood for the sugarhouse in yesturday. Started cutting and splitting next years wood today. I gave up after doing 1 1/2 cords because my tractor was acting too much like a Ford. Wait a minute it is a Ford. If I can get some good weekends maybe I can get it all done this fall.

Matt, the tarp canopy sounds like a good idea, I covered mine when I poured because it rained right after I got it done. I don't think I will be riding the new bike over this fall. The temps are getting too low for taking long trips. Right now I have 10 miles shy of 3000 on it, not bad considering that I bought it August 6. I may be able to sneek away on a saturday or sunday to help you build your new sugarhouse.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-

Thanks, I'll let you know when we get to that point.

I talked to another buddy today that does concrete for a living and if the weather holds out this week, which at this point does not look good for anything past tuesday... he is going to try and make it over this week to pour the slab. So should be in business soon.

Got the forms all square and level today and installed the floor drain.

My wife got a kick when she looked out the window and saw me testing the drain, she was shaking her head. :oops:

Result is I got nice pitch to the pipe and it drains well. I was too tired to go to the house and turn on the hose , so used what I had. 8O 8O :oops:

I'm just too much of a hick at heart I guess.
:oops:

[mountainvan]

Had another great weekend of sales at the markets. Syrup went to holland, england, scotland, poland, israel. denmark, canada, nj, va, seattle, houston, florida, ohio, oklahoma, wisconson, and all over new york. Have to make sugars and cream today and bottle syrup this week.I'm tempted for a fall run.

[Revi]

After this last rain the woods are too wet to extract wood again! I swear we only had about 2 weeks of dry ground this whole year. It didn't really freeze much last winter, so I am glad we got out the wood, but this is ridiculous! I hope it freezes up around December and stays buttoned up until February. That would be nice. We'll see what we get.

[mapleman3]

Did my first craft fair on the 7th, did pretty good in sales, I sold a little syrup but did good on the candy, lollipops, and maple peanuts and walnuts, also a few jars of granulated sugar, I wasn't happy though that they put me next to the fudge guy, and the stream of people went by him first, He was selling mapple nuts also but at a much higher price, my same sized bag that I sell for a buck he was getting 5.50... well ya know I sold mine out! next year I want to be away and before him!

I have another fair to do but not sure I will, it's for the scouts but they want $10 for the booth and $20% of your sales-the $10 for the booth, not only that but they want a raffle donation to boot, Does that sound excessive or what?

[Jim Brown]

Mapleman; You may want to give that one some space. We we looking a simliar set up this summer and they wanted $25.00 for the space.they would give the 'customers' tickets to buy your products.the customers' would buy tickets from them at face value( 50 cents each) you would sell to the customers(they could only pay with the tickets they had no cash) but when you went to redeen the tickets at the end of the day you only got 40 cents each for them! PLUS they wanted a $25 dollar item to raffle off.Total cost of the set up was $50.00 plus 20% of your sales.
We PASSED thanks you very much!!
Jim

[mountainvan]

mapleman, If you're there to support the scouts, it's not excessive. If you want to make money? yep. I was next to a cookie booth a couple years ago, sales were slow. Split a cord of wood this morning, first time I've swung the maul in awhile. Felt good that I can still split wood by hand, especially that one place is getting $185/cord!! That's nuts in the middle of the woods. For you guys selling wood, it's a y camp that just got a million $ gift!

[mapleman3]

Well, it's a toss up, I'm a major part of the cub pack so there's the want to donate, yet I am in the business to make money too!, so we'll see... I probably will do it , just in the back of my mind I will will be grumbling about it :lol:

[mountainvan]

I do a couple fund raisers a year. You may not be making lots of money in the short term, but in the long run it gets your product noticed and good pr for your farm. around here we don't see walmart donating syrup, but oliverea maple does! I believe that every good act comes back to you, and if you're grumbling, grumble with a smile!!

[Parker]

Mountianvan,,,If you think selling wood is a Y camp come on out to my place for a littel R&R,,,or better yet buy my wood processor and then YOU can make the BIG MONEY,,,with fuel prices there is about as much money in firewood as there is in sugaring,,,,,,Try moving 20 -30 cords a week week in and week out,,sounds easier than it is my friend...............a very hard way to make an easy living,,

[mountainvan]

parker, I know it's tough. The place selling the wood is a ymca camp that I worked at for 14 years. They have a processor, bought with a grant for nonprofits, pay the guys squat who do the logging, get huge endowments, yet still charge more than the local loggers, like you, who try to make a living. The camp is becoming the Taj Mahal of the Catskills, for rich NJ, Nyc residents, and my neighbors are paying for it with the wood prices. I obviously do not like that camp any longer!! I mean no disrespect to you or any other loggers. Here in the Catskills it's still the us, mountain residents, against them, NYC. NYC gets its way every time. Thanks for letting me vent.

[royalmaple]

If anyone is interested...I have updated some pictures of the sugarhouse project, at least what I have so far.

Got the slab poured today and looks great. Now ordering some lumber and block.

[brookledge]

Matt,
Pics look good
Keep up the good work
Keith

[HanginAround]

I think that big building next to your pad would make a good sugar camp 8O 8O :D

Thanks for the pics!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

Sure looks nice. You have an awesome looking house and garage?? Sure is one of the nicest garages I have ever seen! :)

[royalmaple]

Thanks guys, many more pictures to come of the sugarhouse as it takes shape.

I guess my 40x60 barn would be pretty neat if it was a sugarhouse, but I'd have many displaced diecast vehicles that would need a good home. With only my wife and I here, we got pleanty of room for visitors. :lol:

I think I'd need a heck of a lot more taps, and my 2.5x8 would look pretty funny in that size building.

Looks like rain tomorrow, so I won't be working with siding. I may run over to the lumber yard and order up my framing materials. Gotta get the blocks and motar as well. Hopefully get the block set this weekend.

[mountainvan]

Bottled 25 gallons today, actually last 5 are heating up now. Really nasty weather here, pouring rain and strong winds.

[Fred Henderson]

Snowing here after heavy rain all day.

[Russell Lampron]

Mountainvan how much syrup do you have left? It seems like all you do is bottle and sell syrup. I only have about 1-1/2 gallons of the 80 I made left.

Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

He is really making moonshine and just using the syrup as a cover. No wonder he can fish all the time with all the money he is making. Soon he will catch the Kennedy(s). 8O :mrgreen:

[mountainvan]

Russ, I have very little syrup left. With the caterpillars last year cutting into my sugar content I had to go get syrup from a friend a couple counties over. He has a lot more taps than me and does not sell much retail. Honestly I don't like buying bulk and packaging it up, but if I don't have syrup I'm out of business, and 12 years of hard work building the business is gone. I console myself by thinking that at least I don't drive up to Quebec, buy syrup, and put it in NY bottles. Unfortunatly there are people who do that. Brandon I don't make moonshine, had it, hated it. I don't drink anything that burns if you put a match to it. Actually I had some shine on the New River a little over 20 years ago, fishing is great on the upper streach by the way. And I have no ambition to be the Kennedy of maple syrup. The grossly rich people that I know, not many, are heart attacks happening and trying to make life simpler by moving to the country and becoming farmers. Kinda funny to watch!! I'm already there, simple that is. By the way I took awhile to think of an answer to your question Russ. When I first started selling syrup and learned that guys bought bulk and resold the syrup I did'nt like the idea, or the guys I met who did that, thinking that they were greedy businessmen who only wanted to make money and did'nt give a hoot about "mapling". Well either I was wrong, I do admit being wrong after 20 years with the same wife, or I'm the greedy businessman. Hope you think I was wrong. I already pissed of Parker this week. Also I talk/write too much!!

[mountainvan]

By the way, had my best day this year at the Saugerties farmers market. Putting B/ Ny extra dark in glass sells well!!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Van,

Just giving you a hard time! :D :wink: Where were you fishing on the New river if you remember??

[Parker]

Van- its better to be pissed off than pissed on,,HA HA,,,I tend to get pretty defensive when people tell me how easy it is to make a living doing firewood or logging,,,thats all,,I do like reading all these posts,,keep up the good work,,,and remember,,you have a standing invatation to CAMP CORDWOOD anytime your in the Salisbury, N.H. area.....

[Russell Lampron]

Van,

I don,t think that you are a greedy business man at all. I also don't think it is wrong for you to buy and repack syrup to resell at retail prices. You are right about the going to Quebec part, There are people in NH that do that too. One producer I know used to run a pancake breakfast during sugaring season and he would buy the Quebec syrup to serve with the pancakes. He also uses it to make candy. What you are doing is helping a local producer get rid of some of his product by doing all of the leg work of repacking and selling. It keeps both of you in business and keeps some of the other syrup north of the border.

I thought it was funny that you thought $185 for a cord of wood was outragous. There is a guy in Londonderry NH that runs an add in the NH Weekly Market Bulletin that reads: Firewood, $1,170+/cord; partial cords avail. Then it gives his phone number and email address. The price for dry firewood around here is $200/cord and up. Harvesting and selling firewood is hard work even with the best of equipment. Even at todays prices it is hard for someone to make a living at it. Except for the guy in Londonderry.

Russ

[royalmaple]

I see people getting 200-230+ for a cord. Most think "green" wood is standing or has leaves on it. So dry to them I guess means cut and split and not wet from the rain. I am surprised the gov't has not stepped in and regulated the "seasoned" tag put on wood. There are pirates in every industry, it is too bad and give the guys selling truely dry wood an unfair hit, since they are 10-20 bucks less and joe public looks at price and does not realize what he is buying.

It is amazing but the average dub that lives around portland has no clue either way, or much less could tell you what a cord is, and just pays it.

A buddy of mine is not all there and last winter he asked me to cut down some dead trees for him this later in the spring/summer. I asked him what they were for trees and how did he know they were dead. His reply...They don't have any leaves 8O 8O I just shook my head.

As the guy on the comedy channel says, "here's your sign"

[mountainvan]

Had a great day selling syrup in New Paltz. Thanks for the encouragement and the hard time. Brandon I can't remember exactly where I put in. I did hang out in Beckley a little bit. I do remember getting thrown from the canoe going over the greyhound. Thinking back, attempting class 5 rapids in a coleman canoe filled with styrofoam was pretty **** stupid. Parker where's Salisbury. I lived in North Conway for a bit, drove for a lumber company there. I got married in Conway. Beautiful country, too many tourists!!! One more weekend of markets and then I get to stay in the mountains where I belong!!

[Parker]

Van- Salisbury is just west of Franklin,,my eastern property line is the Franklin- Salisbury line,,,if you look at most maps of N.H. the Daniel Webster birthplace is marked,,,my place is next to the birthplace,,,,,,,,who did you drive for in Conway? Log truck of lumber truck?

[mountainvan]

Lumber truck for North Conway Lumber, Out of business a while now. Spent the day cutting wood and dragging it out of the stream bed by hand, actually some rope and pulleys. Can't get my truck close, or in, the stream or the nycdep would give me a big fine.

[maple flats]

I am finally getting some work done in the sugarhouse. Having bought a 3x8 rig after last season, I am now removing the wood floor in the sugarhouse and getting ready to put in concrete. Today after work I pulled some floor boards. As soon as I get enough off I will begin hauling the sandy fill to raise the ground under the concrete. I have from 2 years ago the footings for this evap already poured and blocks laid up to support the floor and evap. I do however need to put in a drain line for the footer and drains for a floor drain. Then the cement work begins. I may end up wishing I had found more time in the summer when I was working in the blueberries everyday as i end up pouring concrete in freezing weather BUT too late now.

[Sugarmaker]

Made a batch of maple mustard last night and while waiting for it to come up to temp talked to Paul Burgess and Jim Bortles. Jim is getting ready to add on to his sugar house to store wood and Paul is gathering barrels of wood from local Amish factory to be ready for next season.
Seems I just cant keep the maple mustard on the shelf. Just added a new ingredient and a little more zip to this unique blend of flavors. YUMMMM!

Weather is changing towards favoring winter more than fall. Actually feels a lot like those gray days of spring. Maybe that is the spark that gets more maple folks excited about upcoming maple season.

Chris

[Revi]

That nip in the air will get us all thinking of mapleing. Nice website! Maple and Honey. Sweet! We've been getting things ready. I've got some basswood that I had made into planks for carvers. Checking out chainsaws with my friend yesterday. Everyone else has a bigger saw than me now. Oh well... We've got the sugarhouse woodshed full of the limbs and cut offs from the basswood, and other softer woods. Should burn well!

[mountainvan]

Bottled more syrup today, stacked wood, and then went and bought more bottles to put syrup in. Could be useless for this weekend. Weatherman is calling for 1-2 inches of rain saturday. With as wet as it's been, snow on the mountains today, could mean more flooding here. Hope I'm wrong.

[Sugarmaker]

Revi,
Thanks! I finally got the web site working again and at least updated some of the text. Did you click on each of the four pictures on the picture page? They take you to other pics of bees and maple.

I was drooling over a new Stihl the other day too. I need to cut through some 36 inch logs. I want to get several thin (4 inch) slices thru the tap area for display. Looks like there were easily 200 tap holes. As I cut some of the other 14 inch sections in half so that I could move them to the splitter I found that someone had wrapped a cable around this tree probably 100 + years ago. That was tough on the chain but I did not have much choice, just keep cutting and sharpening.
My little Stihl 025C with a 16 inch bar works great on the pallets and most small to medium stuff. Getting to old to sling those big saws around.

Just had a ham steak fried on the grill with the new Spicy Maple Mustard as a glaze. Great!

Sales are starting to pick up as the weather gets colder and folks think about pancakes. I don't have a lot of syrup left , Probably 10 gallons on the shelf and 5 gallons of dark and 5 gallons of light in the freezer.

Regards,
Chris

[Parker]

Revi-I hope you have better luck burning basswood than I have had,,years ago someone gave me a pickup load of the stuff to burn it had been spilt for 1 year,,and very dry,,I threw it in my basment,We have an "allnighter" that will take a 30 inch stick,I just could not get it to burn,,wound up throwing it out of the basment and burning green ash...........
Over the course of the last month Ray and I have worked up 50 cords of 4' wood,,,,,
We have 30 cords in the sugarhouse and another 15 under a tarp outside,,(its really gonna run this year,,right?)
We have moved the logging equipment to a neighbors lot across the road from my house,,,
Need to get over to Hoyt road with the tractor and horse and finish some of the tight work over there,,just wont dry up enough,,I need to get that done so we can rehang the lines that are now laying on the ground,,,,need to finish that befor we get too much snow
GOOD LUCK TO ALL

[HanginAround]

Wow, that's a lot of wood 8O 16' x 30' x 8' is 30 cords, pretty big woodshed to hold that. How much will you actually burn in your evaporator?

My uncle makes 1400 US gal at his big camp with 13-15 cord (w/ RO of course), so I was just wondering.

[mountainvan]

Bottled more syrup tonight to deliver to customers tomorrow. Flying to Ohio Sunday, my dad is having heart surgery so figure I should be there. Hope everyone has a good week.

[Pete33Vt]

Van, thoughts and prayers are with you and your Dad. I hope everything goes well.
Pete

[Parker]

Van- good luck,,,,
My woodshed is 20x40 ,,(whole sugarhouse is 20X70)and the wood is stacked 8+ feet tall,,the last 16 feet of the shed only have the outside walls filled with wood,,hollow in the middel and filled with vacuum pumps,,my welder,,ect,,ect,,the other 15 cords are under a blue tarp outside,,,dont know how much I would really burn in a good season,this will be my third season boiling on my own,I think I burned 25? cords last year but it was not much of a year,(329 gallons),,I have around 2300 taps,,most on vacuum,,my evaporator makes around 18 gallons of syrup per cord,,the longer you can keep it running the more efficant it seems to be,,,A lot of the wood I have this year is pine so I thought I better have extra,,,an old dairy farmer always told me "there is no such thing as two bad sugaring seasons in a row,,," well,,after 2 bad seasons I figure this year will be a winner....

[Russell Lampron]

Van,

My dad had a valve replaced in his heart when he was in his mid sixties. He will be 83 in December. One of the things that has helped him live longer was when I purchased my evaporator. He is an old sugarmaker and had to get out of the business in 1965. He always wanted to do it again but never could until I decided to give it a try. Your dad should come thru with flying colors. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Parker,

I was told that you won't have a bad year on an even number year. Last year wasn't a record year but it wasn't as bad as the year before. Like you I am hoping for a good season this year. I hope you can afford an RO machine after this season. You will be amazed at how much you will save in boiling time, wood use and wood cutting time.

Russ

[HanginAround]

Well, I think you'll be all set no matter what it does :D That's a hefty pile o' wood.

Ever think about an RO? Would cut your 25 cord down to 9, and the time spent boiling accordingly.

[Revi]

We could use a good season after 2 bad seasons in a row. We've been cutting wood, so we couldn't tap until the cutting was over. We missed the runs some got as early as January last year. This year we are done with most of the woodlot, so we can tap half of the trees as early as we want. We'll see what happens this year. I hope it freezes up hard so that we can get the wood out early. Then we can put up some new tubing and get started as soon as it turns into sugaring weather.

[Parker]

After getting 2 inches of rain on saterday it was too wet to log yesterday so we went up the the sugarwoods in Hill and cut a trail where the next mainline is going to run,,,,then the three of us worked at thinning out the new group of trees we will be tapping,,,now we will be able to lug in all the suppliesout there with 4-wheelers,,,,I bought a tank from Maplecrest this summer and I think I will put it up there,,there were a few times this past season that that tank ran over,,or had to be pumped out twice

[Revi]

Parker, Well I sure hope the basswood burns! We split it, left it all summer drying in the sun, and now have lots of 2' long wood. There are a lot of other kinds of wood in the sugarhouse, so we'll see what it does. We have a lot of popple from pre commercial thinning. It's really dry, feels like balsa wood. All the good wood we take home to keep the home fires burning. There's also almost no good wood at the sugarhouse to tempt people during the heating season.

[H. Walker]

I think you will be impressed with the basswood. My father swore by basswood & poplar to keep the evaporator pan hopping. BUT, last year I almost lost the back pan with a good fireing of poplar, I was in the middle of a big syrup take off when every thing slowed down to a trickle. The sap was evaporating quicker than the float would let it in. I caught it quick enough and flipped the float off for the sap to come in full blast. Of course that only happens when you tell everyone that you'll be OK by yourself and they may as well go back to the house for supper.

Any way, if the basswood is dry it will give you lots of flame for the back pan, but it is hard to make syrup at the front with it, so it is good to mix with some hardwood.

[Revi]

We have a nice mix of wood, but we have a lot of dry popple! I'll have to watch the evaporator like a hawk! Thanks!

I am selling some basswood as planks for carvers lately. I like to use it for wood block prints, but one tree is a lifetime supply. A guy who makes toys is meeting me at the sugarhouse this Saturday to buy some basswood planks. I am selling them for $15 a board. The boards are 8 feet by 12" x 4". I love basswood for carving. It has nice grain that doesn't split. I think the early settlers used it for signs and carving too.

[Revi]

I sold three boards to the guy who came on Saturday and gave some basswood to a teenage kid who was just paralyzed from the waist down for carving. Maybe he'll get into some carving, or woodblock printing. I hope so. I gave him some tools, and a sharpening stone so he can get started. I hope he is able to do some, it would sure help him with the hours he'll have to work on carving.