Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2014

[red maples]

Well I guess Its about time to get this thing started.

I was very surprised to get 2nd place at in the NH maple producers Carlisle competition yesterday at the annual meeting.

Well lots going on in and around the sugarhouse since November.

Got My 200 amp service all fired up at the sugarhouse.

Working on getting my sap storage shed finished up just waiting on my metal roof that lowe's screwed the order up on should have had it 2 weeks ago. hopefully it will be in on Tuesday.

I hopefully put the finishing touches on my application for my energy grant with the NRCS. its been quite a process hopefully it pays off. Got My waiver to purchase before I get funding as well.

Picking up my new RO on Monday(300gph H2O) and Releaser from the maple guys.

Picking up my new 500gal. stainless tank wed. or Thursday. then I can get that in and finally get the wall put on the shed.

The new to me Vac pump is going into the new little pump house I built.

all of that installation should be done by the end of the week. then I can run wire and mainline and tubing for about 130 taps I Plan to pick up by for this season should put me right up at about 530 to 550 taps for this season. looks like I have just enough time to get everything done by the time I need to tap. got at least 10 days anyway by the look of the weather report but we all know that can heart in a blink!!!

Hope everyone else is moving right along well looking forward to a very good season.

[red maples]

Just too darn windy outside today. combined with cold mean I hate it. don't mind the cold just hate the combination of the 2. anyhow got a little wiring done in the sugarhouse. Still lots to go just kinda get it in on an as needed basis!!!

[Russell Lampron]

It's about time you got your 2014 thread started!

Sounds like you did a lot of reconstruction and adding on too. What length roof panels did you order or was it a special color? For my woodshed I bought 12 footers and cut them to the 9.5 feet that I needed.

Congratulations on the 2nd place Carlisle Award. Someday when I have the time to do it I will have to enter myself.

[red maples]

they are supposed to be a stocked item from lowes the green 12 footers which is the exact size I need no cutting needed. They said there was 20 in stock but they couldn't find them so they ordered them but I guess the system would let them order them. So they never got ordered. Then they had to call corporate to get a system override in order to get them delivered. just a big screw up. but they should be in tomorrow. at least they better be.

[Maplewalnut]

Full steam ahead Brad, looks like an exciting year. Will be waiting to hear how a couple of you like your h2O ROs
Good Luck

Mike

[red maples]

Thanks mike I have heard nothing but good stuff from these units. I know chris Pfeil (maple guys) used the 300 last year or the year before, he said he loved it. and I know Morningstar farm has the expandable 600 which he has expanded to 1200 I think for this season and he loved it last year. And Amber gold got the 600 just picked his up yesterday. So they seem to be selling very well and have an ease of use to them from what I have heard.

[Maplewalnut]

Thanks mike I have heard nothing but good stuff from these units. I know chris Pfeil (maple guys) used the 300 last year or the year before, he said he loved it. and I know Morningstar farm has the expandable 600 which he has expanded to 1200 I think for this season and he loved it last year. And Amber gold got the 600 just picked his up yesterday. So they seem to be selling very well and have an ease of use to them from what I have heard.

My local dealer got into H20 about 6 months ago and has nothing but good things to say also.

[red maples]

Just picked up the RO this afternoon along with my new Releaser. Very Exciting!!! My wife calls it the "Flux Capacitor" 21 Jigawatts... ha ha ha. hung some conduit and ran some wires today too getting there!!! Cold and windy tomorrow time for another trip to lowes for stuff!!! :)

[morningstarfarm]

Congrats bud..you are gonna love that new bling....

[adk1]

Her red maple, what do u think the new or is gonna do for your boiling times?

[Russell Lampron]

Kieth from SSFLLC bought the H2O RO that Chris used last year. I'm going to have to go over and check it out when he's got it hooked up and running.

[red maples]

Her red maple, what do u think the new or is gonna do for your boiling times?

Its cut it down big time and save on wood as well. putting through on 1 pass will cut the wood use and time boiling by 1/2. Probably do that the first couple of times just to learn how to use the thing. then once I am more comfortable then I can recirc to bring the concentration up. and cut time and wood use way down.

Yeah Russ. Chris was able to give me some good tips since he used it last year.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Brad - You'll be over the one pass business after the first day so be sure and plumb a tee in the concentrate line so the RO can directly feed the evaporator and the recir tank at the same time. And on the second day you'll be beyond the capacity of gravity filtering. Enjoy!

[NH Maplemaker]

The one thing most people don't think much about is the amount of wear an RO will save on your evaporator!! Half the wood, Half the boiling time, Half the amount of time under high temps! This all equals a longer life for evaporator!!

[Russell Lampron]

The one thing most people don't think much about is the amount of wear an RO will save on your evaporator!! Half the wood, Half the boiling time, Half the amount of time under high temps! This all equals a longer life for evaporator!!

What is this half that you speak of? I save way more than that. My first season I used 5 cords of wood and made 57 gallons of syrup. That was with no blower, steam hood or preheater on the evaporator and no RO. Last season I made 210 gallons of syrup with blower, steam hood, preheater and RO and only used a little over 2 cords of wood. If you're using an RO and not cutting your fuel usage by more than half you're not concentrating your sap enough.

Don't be scared Brad, sweeten that sap right up and make some syrup fast. You may want to run the sap in your front pan a little deeper at first but I think you will find that boiling concentrate isn't much different than boiling raw sap other than that you will make more syrup faster. You will still make syrup in batches like you did before just more of it in a draw off and more draw offs per hour.

[red maples]

I am sure I'll be concentrating higher pretty quickly but this year will be a big learning curve for me. Very excited but still a little nervous!!! Chris Pfeil said it might seem a little overwhelming right now but he assured me its really pretty easy and when you start to see how much syrup you make in such a short time and how much wood/ time your saving, you'll never go back!!!

[NH Maplemaker]

Its cut it down big time and save on wood as well. putting through on 1 pass will cut the wood use and time boiling by 1/2. Probably do that the first couple of times just to learn how to use the thing. then once I am more comfortable then I can recirc to bring the concentration up. and cut time and wood use way down.

Yeah Russ. Chris was able to give me some good tips since he used it last year.

Russ, Just a reply to Brads comment That one pass would cut his time and wood in 1/2!
But you are right!! Will be a much larger saving all the way around when he becomes comfortable running RO a little harder. My first year with my RO, I saved way over half!!

Brad, I agree with Chris, you will never want to go back!!

[Amber Gold]

The Maple Poet lives!

[BAP]

Boiling with concentrated sap is different than boiling with raw sap. Things happen much faster and you have to be on your toes more. The biggest thing is syrup is coming off faster so you have less time to get it filtered and put into some sort of container. You need to be set up to handle the syrup faster or you will find your self floundering trying to keep up. You also need to make sure you are setup to add additional sap if the RO doesn't keep up with your boiling. The concentrate will disappear fast.

[Maple Ridge]

BAP: are you running a ro also? I also have a 20x66 Maple Pro and was thinking of going to a 2X6 but my supplier thinks I should purchase a hobby RO. Not sure what to do. Any feed back from anyone would help.

[Russell Lampron]

BAP: are you running a ro also? I also have a 20x66 Maple Pro and was thinking of going to a 2X6 but my supplier thinks I should purchase a hobby RO. Not sure what to do. Any feed back from anyone would help.

I see that you have 200 taps now. How many can or do you plan on adding in the future? If you plan to stay around the 200 taps that you have now a hobby RO would be a nice upgrade. If you are going to add a lot of taps in the future upgrading to a 2x6 and then getting an RO would be the way to go.

[red maples]

I Agree with Russ on that one MAple Ridge.

[BAP]

Maple Ridge, I do not have a RO in my current sugaring operation. I used to be part of a family farm/sugaring operation until a work accident left me disabled. There, we tapped 16,500 on 7 vacuum lots and a few small roadside gravity setups. We had 2 RO's one 600 and one 1200 feeding a 3x10 oil fired evaporator. When I moved we bought a house with 15.5 acres with sugar maples. Las year I bought a used 20x66 Maple Pro and set up 120 taps. It worked good, but if I tapped the hole lot of about 250-300 taps I would need more. In your situation if you are going to add some more taps, I would start by upgrading to a 2x6 or even 2x8 with a hood, preheater and blower first, then add the R/O.

[Maple Ridge]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I do plan on adding more in the future and I also thought that a upgrade to a 2X6 then a hobby RO would be the wat to go. Sometimes it takes some input to make the right choices.
(I get advice from the wife which helps me make the right choices also if you know what I mean, like I woulden't do that if I were you, and we all know what that means). Again thanks.

[red maples]

My Tank is in, just need to go pick it up!!! I'll get that tomorrow morning. Things are coming along.

Hit pretty hard with a head cold on Tuesday, kinda knocking me for a loop. Worked pretty hard outside yesterday. decided to take it easy this morning and get some dreaded paperwork done for the TAX man. I'll get outside this afternoon when it warms a bit.

Setting up the new Releaser today. and hopefully the vacuum pump looking forward to the mild temps this weekend to get lots done without numb fingers.... Weather forecast looks like a 2-3 day warm up then cools right back down. Although thinking about going Ice Fishing on Sunday for a little break. then right back to it on Monday.

[red maples]

Geez don't come here for a few days when the season is so close and there are 4 pages of what's new!!!

Put stairs on the sap house and put the tank in. Oh I love the Aluminum frames!!! SOOOOO light and easy to move. love it. Got the tank in Sunday morning, got the back wall on and the roof finally came in so put that on yesterday too love the metal roofing goes on so quickly!!!

Finished up running wires and put in all the outlets lights etc. get it inspected tomorrow hopefully then I will be done with that.

Then onto plumbing everything in LOTS of that to do!!!

Looks like we will be frozen up until at the very least a week from wed/Thurs. So still have more time but really rolling now. Looks like we'll be getting a little snow coming Wed. and then again maybe a big one on Sunday. Hoping I will be done with everything and I can start tapping the beginning of next week maybe.... we'll see.

[red maples]

Well Try to get everything done by next weekend and start tapping on Saturday. although there is maybe 2 days of a little warm up then right back to cold for next weekend guessing sfter these very cold night we are having I don't think the sap will really do anything next Thursday/ Friday.

My Taxes are done see the Accountant on Monday!!

RO is in the sap house gotta put in a couple small tanks for Permeate and start the plumbing on that.

The new Vacuum pump is just about ready to go. its in its new home a little pump shack that's about 8 feet from the releaser. just have to wire the motor and pick up a couple new belts. and put in a drain for the oil and for the moister trap.

Hopefully I can get everything finished by Tuesday/ Wednesday.

Then I can run a little more tubing. to pick up a few more taps.

Thanks again to mother nature for extending winter a little to give me some more time to get stuff done!!! Goal is to be tapped and ready to go by next Monday / Tuesday. Fingers crossed.

[red maples]

taxes are done.... went to see the account yesterday.
Today I have to go to the dentist!!!
rough week so far!!!

Cold here this morning says -7 on the thermo...

Getting there. should finish plumbing and wiring the releaser today. tomorrow we finish up little things and clean up the sugarhouse and get out in the woods and run some wire and mainline. I hope!!!

Gonna be a few long days to get everything finished and ready to tap on Sat!!! will be out at first light!!!

[BlueberryHill]

Looks like Saturday is the day for me too if the outlook stays the same. Good luck!

[Russell Lampron]

I'm planning to tap this Saturday too. It looks like it could start running next week.

[red maples]

the forecast was much warmer but the temps have dropped off a few degrees. still planning on tapping this weekend and if it doesn't flow good then it will just mean more time to get stuff in order!!! That much more ready when it hits!!!

[red maples]

Plumbing almost done... just a couple of fittings short!!! grrrr... back to lowe's in a bit. That's OK, I need a break been glueing for a few hours getting a headache anyway. and need to clear my head and make sure I doing it right!!!

Weather coming tomorrow I guess, who knows what we will get here maybe some rain mixed in so less snow but a little west and north pretty big one I guess.

[red maples]

ah pluming RO is DONE... I have to go back in and count how many valves I put in... geez...

Gonna work on the releaser and vac pump this morning. Then have to run out to basketball ball games with my daughter and then stop at the hardware store again!!! then start tapping right after lunch...

4-7 inches of snow tonight AGAIN!!!........... where the heck am I gonna put it???? Driveway is getting NARROW !!!!!!!

[red maples]

Had to come in and dry out. Man it is tough to navigate through the woods. and ran out of battery in the drill. tried both with snow shoes and without. its a little easier with the snow shoes. there is a little crust on the snow from the little rain we got and man it catches the front of your snowshoe and down you go and its not easy getting up!!!

Anyhow first 100 taps are in, they took twice as long to do because I was adding on stubbies, I tried the 1 piece check valves and didn't like them so going back to the adapter. but those are done except a few.

gotta rest my knees anybody got a spare pair I could use??? :) just motrined up!!!

take a quick break make up some dinner and see if I can get some more stuff done in the sugarhouse.

[gearpump]

Brad you just made my day! We got 300+ out so far and I am wore out! I keep thinking why didn't I start tapping two weeks ago. I also took one big face plant today and it took me a good 15 minutes to unwind myself and get the snowshoes off so I could stand up! My sister in-law suggested that a fitness club around here should have a Maple tapper boot camp in January to get our bodies shaped up for the season....

[red maples]

tomorrow will be a little different more snow here 4-6 inches tonight but windy and cold. I will try to get some in the afternoon. should go quicker since I won't be installing stubbies. but another 4-6 inches blaghh...

[AndrewsofBow]

What did you not like about the piece taps? J

[morningstarfarm]

I agree...the snow is a real pia right now...snowshoes were not the answer today..kept getting caught in the ice..finally dropped them and slogged on...looking pretty good for the supposed warm up...was good to see your new additions...was a really nice setup...good luck partner

[Russell Lampron]

What is it that you don't like about the 1 piece check valves? I bought a bag of them and installed 18 so far. A little slow because I had to cut off the stubby but they fit the tap hole well and the line pushes on easy with a little snow in it.

It's slow going in the woods here too. A lot more snow out there than I expected.

[red maples]

thanks Chris... good luck to you as well.

I just didn't like the 1 piece. I rarely had any adapter style come out, had 5 of the 1 piece come out last year, I think the adapters are quicker to install, when taking them out I had several come apart.

So I went back to the old style its just a personal preference for me that's all.

Everything is moving along a little cold working outside this morning but gettin' r done!!!

[Amber Gold]

My wife was talking to a friend the other day and mentioned how much weight I lose during maple season and said she wanted to come out in the woods with me...I haven't seen her yet.

I agree, the snow is making tapping in much harder. Really could've done without the ice crust we have.

Brad, fired the RO up yet?

Anything new is one piece CV's, anything old is the two piece. I like the one piece.

[red maples]

Yeah Chris (maple guys) and Ed came buy last night for startup so that's all ready a few leaks on the machine here and there but a little grease and some Teflon tape and we are good to go.

Yeah always drop the maple season 10 lbs , I have had a few people that wanted to join me in the woods to tap but haven't heard from them I dent out the messages but...nothing

still a have some tapping to do but getting there.

Yeah more snow coming!!! 5-9" I guess but I am just wondering where I am gonna put it. piles are getting quite tall!!!

Looks like 5 days of some good sap weather but I am guessing its not going to be as good as the forecast predicts following this hard freeze and the snow pack which seems to be growing by the day. just have to wait and see I guess. that will be followed by so far a 4 day freeze up. hopefully then I can put in any finishing touches clean bottle some syrup I hope and finish everything that I won't have ready for this run and maybe take a day or 2 off before we get right back to it!!!

alright I am warmed up now back out!!!

[red maples]

after tapping, plowing and shoveling yesterday I had good intentions of going back out and plumbing my sap pump but made the mistake of sitting down at 7:30 after dinner and woke up at 11:00. OH well guess I needed the rest!!!

Just Finished the last of the shoveling for this storm anyway... ended up with about a foot a little more than the 4-6" predicted.

Heading out to finish tapping have to fix 2 sections of tubing that came apart one from a tree on it the other from what looks like something chewed through it. Lost my one handed tubing tool yesterday in the snow while tapping sorta know where it might be retraced the steps but nothing. it will turn up in april/ may. Gotta lug the 2 handed I guess!!!

[red maples]

its 44 bright sun pulling 26" vacuum. Had 1 section that I had to shut off cracked manifold on the dry line whip connection so that section is still off just got back with new parts. but happy with 26" right now. but aint getting no sap. trees aren't letting go just yet. need a few more days of weather like this to really get things going. then we got the big freeze coming 6 days so far...

[Russell Lampron]

Could only manage 21" vacuum here and can see that about 1/2 of the trees are running. It's still above freezing and the vacuum is still on. I'm hoping to get enough sap to boil this weekend.

[morningstarfarm]

How is that pump working for you?

[red maples]

so far so good, don't like the oil vapor coming out of it. had to add oil to it yesterday afternoon. runs good otherwise. needs a better exhaust system with an oil reclaimer, fine for now but it needs to be addressed. I think it will run better once the trees are actually running and the releaser is dumping at a more normal rate and there is more air moving through the system. I could still touch it and hold my finger on it for at least 30 seconds. once I got the one manifold fixed I was able to get it to 25" with the sap ladder leak in. I still need to walk the woods and look for leaks but that will require a few hours for how long it take to get through the woods.

Hoping to boil this weekend as well.

RO Question....
OK So guessing we will get more sap in the next few days, look like an extended freeze of more than 7 days, what do I do with the RO? Chris said run a soapy wash after I am done with it save all my permeate and the leave the soap in it for no more than 5 days then rinse it out and I should be good for another 5 days before I get bacteria. yes?

[BAP]

If you don't have an oil reclaimer you will have oil vapors coming out the exhaust. One thing that can help that is to run the exhaust up vertically 4-6 feet before going horizontal and this will allow a little of the oil to drop out of vapor and run back down into the pump.

[morningstarfarm]

Considering that your tanks are all in a heated room...I would do the same...good luck this weekend bud

[SSFLLC]

Brad if you look on here you can make a simple oil reclaimer with some pipe and some steel wool. Just take your exhaust run it strait up bush up to a bigger piece of pipe say 2 feet bush back down and run out and down to a five gallon bucket to keep any excess from getting in the soil.

[red maples]

That sounds like the easiest thing so far. I like that. I just have to find a fine thread pipe to fit in the exhaust port.

[red maples]

Well ended up with just over 350 gallons of sap from the weekend. Saturday was the best day, no gusher but not bad sunday was a little lack luster, didn't get a really good freeze sat night and what did freeze took a long time to thaw due to no sun.

All I can say about the RO is AWE-SOME!!! I love it... I am hooked!!! after taking 1.8% sap to 10% concentrate I was left with right around 60 gallons, 20 to fill the evap. and 40 to boil. I started at 8am and it would have been much quicker but I had some stuff to do in the sugarhouse before I could boil. and I was done, machine cleaned and rinsed by 1:00 and shut down the Evap. I will shave a lot off that I am sure once I get the hang of everything.

Worth every penny

What would have been 9 hrs and ALOT of wood. was boiling for well a little longer due to the fact I had to cure some refractory cement in the arch but otherwise would have been less than hour!!! WOW...

[Amber Gold]

And now you're hooked...nothing like boiling concentrate.

[red maples]

yep!!! I can't wait until I get more sap!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Another believer in the RO!!!! I sure love mine even if it is too small.

[red maples]

Well I still have some stuff to do and as much as I want the season to get started already. kinda enjoying the time off.

I had a nice visit from my Sister this week, she lives way up in VT up above Stowe, works at Stowe.... guess most folks do up there. She said she had about 5 sugarhouses in a 2-3 miles radius around house. glad I don't have that much competition!!! geez. I took them to Chuck E Cheese they were thrilled they always see it on TV but there aren't any over there.

Took the kids ice skating yesterday and had some frozen yogurt, took them Ice fishing today caught 20+ fish.

Working in the woods tomorrow morning for a bit then going to brunch (which we never do) then roll myself back out to the woods in the afternoon(might need a nap after the feeding!!! Hopefully I can finish up the woods on Monday afternoon might need to cut in a few more drops on Tuesday but will be happy that's done. Then finish a few things in the sugarhouse before the sap starts running again!!! Which will hopefully be Friday!!!

Hope everyone else is having a productive break!!! Or at least having fun anyway!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I had a nice visit from my Sister this week, she lives way up in VT up above Stowe, works at Stowe.... guess most folks do up there. She said she had about 5 sugarhouses in a 2-3 miles radius around house. glad I don't have that much competition!!!

Your post got me thinking about the sugar houses in my area. Including mine in a 4 mile stretch of Rt 129 and a couple of side roads there are 8 sugar houses that I know of. If I were to include the ones on Loudon Ridge Road and Lower Ridge Road I could double that number and that is less than 10 miles from my house.

[red maples]

yes that's true!!! there a lot in your area. there are a lot popping up by me too. although they are spread out a bit more than by you.

[red maples]

Well I was hoping for a little more sap today but its getting better. ended up with about 100 gallons and still running. still cold in the woods a little more sun today would have made things a little better. I got some ice at the bottoms of the trees still so that doesn't help either.

I got my 26 gravity taps in and about 35 roadside buckets so far... will probably pick up about 30 more. Still picking up more of those, people see me tapping roadsides and come out of their house once they know who I am they offer me their trees pretty cool!!! Vacuum still running better than the road sides though. .25 per vs. .18 per. Even though the woods are colder but I am sure the sugar is better in the road sides just the trade off we deal with!!!

when I am all said and done the estimated count will be 26 gravity, 62 buckets, approx. 490 vacuum for an estimated grand total of about 578 taps. we'll see how many the vacuum actually is I lost count when I was making drops so I don't know how many I did!!! I took all my loose stuff and added it in as well so I can't even go by bag count. should be about 130 or so maybe even a little more.

I cut in the rest of the drops this morning on my additional taps on Vacuum missed a few trees here and there with tubing but I will get them not sure how you miss a 24" diameter tree but what ever. I just have to run the mains out a little more and tie everything together, that will be tomorrow morning hope fully I will have those all tapped in by tomorrow afternoon. then get the rest of my buckets out by probably Wednesday. I have to finish cleaning the sugarhouse on Monday because I have some woman from a farming magazine wants to do a story on me. So she's coming out on Tuesday for an interview and photos and stuff cool!!!

Tomorrow doesn't look so good sap weather wise but hopefully we can pick up a little more at least. not sure how it will go.

Hope everyone else is hanging in there. need mucho syrup to get ready from maple weekend. All I got are sweetened pans right now!!!

[red maples]

Well Finally got some syrup yesterday about 5 gallons. yeah.... very dark to start since it has been sitting in the evap since the last boil Feb. 24th. it looked like it just started to lighten up to a close DA by the end of the boil.

Sap runs getting better and stronger yesterday, a better freeze would have been a good run. got a total of 350 gallons since it started running the other day. sugar was at about 2.25 but has dropped down to about 2 as of last night. and even though it was 34* the woods must have been colder because there was nothing at all coming into the releaser. Over 130 new taps one line since Sunday PM. Buckets running OK but not great yet.

A but of a learning curve boiling concentrate. only going to 8% right now until I get used to that. Also running the pans a bit deeper helps too. Had close call once the front pan got a little too low but I was firing when I noticed so I just left the doors open for a minute to get the level back up. phew...

[red maples]

Wow sap is running good today... maybe in NJ. man I think am just gonna turn off the vac ran it since it was 33* out at about 1:30 or so and I got about 10 gallons to show for it. woo hhooooo!!!

I got my Dad hooked on making maple syrup now. Ha... he's in Northern NJ and I sent him a bunch of stuff and he's got I think 10 or trees tapped and boiled some sap and made a 1/2 pint of syrup so far he loves it and he's hooked.

[red maples]

Well I am not panicking about maple weekend... All I can say is... it is what it is. I don't think I am gonna make any maple cream unless I get a lot of syrup this week. I wanted to have 60-70+ gallons by now but things just won't break right for us. I will be doing nuts, Mustard, and candy but and put out what ever I have for syrup. As you can see I am not being that optimistic about this up coming week. after a freeze up yet again on Sunday and Monday Tuesday will be too cool to get everything defrosted so that leaves wed, thurs, fri. with a potential for 20-40 gallons that is if we can get the trees to break loose. Maybe a pep-talk??? maybe run the chainsaw next to them give 'em a little scare... give sap or else!!!???

[red maples]

Well feeling a little better about the season I guess. getting some yesterday and boiling today got 6-7 gallons of syrup today hard to get that much in 1.5 hrs and getting it through the flat filter. wish I had more money this year for a filter press!!! that's first for next year boy!!! But I am just happy I am getting syrup!!! I think I am around 15+ gallons so far. and only boiled for a total of maybe 5 or 6 hours and very little wood!!! I like that part.

[red maples]

Well it would been nice to have a little more sap today. only managed to get 150 gallons if that. 41 today but cloudy, raw, and windy.... blah... that doesn't work. Anyhow I think we are looking pretty good for tomorrow wish I had a few more hours of energy to get some more of the little stuff done. Oh well. up early tomorrow. Weather looks a pretty bad but we'll see who ventures out.

Boy if I only had as much Syrup as I do Mud I'd be rich!!! Pretty sloppy out there. But I do get a kick out of watching people in loafers and heals try to maneuver through it. what are people thinking!!!???

[SSFLLC]

We have the mud here also. Already posted to wear your boots it is mud season. We got 450 gallons of sap last 2 days plus the 100 we lost on the ground with the busted valve. Good luck this weekend

[Russell Lampron]

Good luck with your open house this weekend. The sap didn't flow too good here either. I managed to get 525 gallons since last Sunday and that is concentrating now. At the flow rates that I've got my RO set at I should have about 150 gallons of concentrate to boil tomorrow. If it doesn't run enough tomorrow I may not boil Sunday.

[red maples]

Hope everyone else had a good day!!!

I ran the raw sap I got yesterday. still managed to make a couple gallons simmering all day. Slow start to the sap but it turned on high this afternoon.

Had a big turn out as usual. not Quite as big as last year but I think many figured they wouldn't venture out because of the forecast which was a chilly start but we finished before the wind. Now for some the question isn't did you run out but WHEN did you run out!!! I was outta syrup by 11:30 out of everything else by about 1:00. which I figured would happen. but I don't do the late night Saturday thing anymore. I just make everything split it in 1/2 put out 1/2 on Saturday and 1/2 on sunday. So buckets are collected sap still coming in good.

Oh yeah I have a good one for today. So I have my 2nd place carlise syrup on the shelf next to the ribbon and grading sheet in a completely different room than everything else I am selling and I have a friend working the cash register she never worked with us before so she was kinda learning as she went along. So its about 12:00 I am getting some more business cards out so people can check my website for when I will have more syrup. Some scum bag swipped my syrup went to the cashier and it had a number 3 sticker on it, and she asked about it said I am not sure you can buy that's then said I gave it to him. paid $3 for it. What an (@*#$(& I would have just eaten it anyway but the nerve of some people. So much for may display!!! oh well she felt really bad but she didn't know any better.

[Russell Lampron]

Hope everyone else had a good day!!!

I ran the raw sap I got yesterday. still managed to make a couple gallons simmering all day. Slow start to the sap but it turned on high this afternoon.

Had a big turn out as usual. not Quite as big as last year but I think many figured they wouldn't venture out because of the forecast which was a chilly start but we finished before the wind. Now for some the question isn't did you run out but WHEN did you run out!!! I was outta syrup by 11:30 out of everything else by about 1:00. which I figured would happen. but I don't do the late night Saturday thing anymore. I just make everything split it in 1/2 put out 1/2 on Saturday and 1/2 on sunday. So buckets are collected sap still coming in good.

Oh yeah I have a good one for today. So I have my 2nd place carlise syrup on the shelf next to the ribbon and grading sheet in a completely different room than everything else I am selling and I have a friend working the cash register she never worked with us before so she was kinda learning as she went along. So its about 12:00 I am getting some more business cards out so people can check my website for when I will have more syrup. Some scum bag swipped my syrup went to the cashier and it had a number 3 sticker on it, and she asked about it said I am not sure you can buy that's then said I gave it to him. paid $3 for it. What an (@*#$(& I would have just eaten it anyway but the nerve of some people. So much for may display!!! oh well she felt really bad but she didn't know any better.

I didn't run out of syrup yesterday so I guess I'm out of the lottery for that one.
The sap didn't run much here yesterday. I got 50 gallons out of my buckets which hadn't been collected since last Saturday and I only got 100 gallons out of my vacuum taps and that was from a 24 hour period.
That sucks about your prize winning syrup and the guy got it for $3 too.

[red maples]

customers came out in waves today not steady and slower than yesterday. I think the word got out about it being a slow cold start to the season a lot of people were commenting on articles they read about the poor start to the season.

Anyway we sold everything we had just 3 bags of pancake mix left on the shelf. I took a few orders as well. Had my best run of the season yesterday over 400 gallons in 1 day woo hoo!!! managed about 200 gallons today not too but not too bad either. so that was nice to see. boiled raw sap again today made a couple of gallons I am gonna RO and boil everything out tomorrow morning. get everything bottled make a little candy and some nuts maybe a small batch of mustard and get cleaned up and start my private tours on Tuesday. but for now going out to get a little take out and sit on my but with the family.

Hope everyone had syrup for a while at least. I have 1 back up gallon and that's it. but we'll have a few gallons tomorrow!!! Good night all!!!

[SSFLLC]

Brad glad to see you were able to make a little product. Sorry to hear some scum bag couldn't wait till you made more and had to steal what wasn't for sale. We had a guy from down your way stop in and get some syrup. Didn't get his name said his gps had him lost all the way over here.

[Russell Lampron]

The customers came in waves here as well. Some were buying and some had already bought at other sugar houses before they got here and were only taking the free samples. The turn out yesterday was less than last year but the sales total for the day was the same as last year. Today the attendance was down as well as sales.

[red maples]

Numbers were down over the entire weekend. There was a lot of articles and info that this was a bad year so far too. So that combined with the colder weather and poor forecasts was the reason for the lowers numbers I am guessing.

but good over all. recovering and cleaning today!!!

[Russell Lampron]

It didn't get nice here Saturday until the sun came out at 4:00, even then there was still a cold breeze. The temperature was warmer Saturday than it was yesterday but we had more sun and pulled more sap in yesterday than we did Saturday. Yesterday the temp never got above 33* and it wasn't there long.

With the amount of people that came through here we did alright with the sales. I'm going to add more value added products and put some things on the table that are only a buck or two next year.

[red maples]

I wanted to have more value added items this year but I was just lacking syrup period.

after boiling yesterday it put me just shy of 30 gallons for the season. which is about 30% of my crop from last year so far but that's with the addition of 250 taps which puts me at 20% of what I wanted to make for this year. and I haven't even pulled off anything but Grade B got pretty close and it took a while for things to lighten back closer to DA at the end of the drawoff yesterday. I am gonna filter everything out again hoping to lighten up before we warm up and go darker again next week.

Really hoping the temps turn a slight bit cooler at night. things are stsarting to swing a to 50's/30's very few 40's/20's in the forecast I hope that changes!!!

[BlueberryHill]

I hear you. Same thing here with darker than normal syrup. I drained and filtered my syrup pan other night. Sounds like we are in the same boat on production vs. last year too. I upgraded a bunch too (a bunch for me, nothing like you did) and the forecast does look a little scary next week. Hey, this stuff is all built to last so there is always next year!

[red maples]

yes there is always next year I just need to make enough money to pay for my loans for the year, pay off my Lowe's credit card and pay for my bee hive stuff too. so I need a little more syrup for that since I am completely out of honey!!! its not easy staying positive. but I am gonna keep the pumps going until the syrup is just so awful I can't stand it anymore at least with the RO I can make $20 a gallon for the bad stuff and I still make money from it!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Now that's staying positive. Bascoms will still give you 5 cents a pound less if you bring it in 5 gallon containers too.

Although I really like it I wish that I hadn't had to use my sugar house construction money for a down payment on my new truck. I still owe Home Depot $1700 and need to make some syrup to pay it off. After a low of 2* in the forecast for tomorrow night it looks like it might warm up a little for a few days. Lets hope that it doesn't warm up too much too fast. With all of the ice on my haul road and all of the snow in the woods I think we've got a lot of season left. Glad I'm using cv's and I like the new clear seasonal ones I put in.

[BlueberryHill]

Yeah, I guess I am looking at it from a different perspective than you are. I was not thinking of all of that. Guess it's easier to brush it off when I don't have much invested. 10-day looks good though. Looks like a couple nights without a freeze but I bet we get a lot of sap in the next week for sure. Best of luck!

[red maples]

got everything cleaned up from the weekend finally. had my first tour yesterday 40 2nd graders. I started charging for tours this year $1 person. (pays for coloring books at least) then I cleaned up got some stuff done scrubbed the floors that had a pretty good layer of mud from the weekend. Scrubbed the tank and wiped out the other tanks. Front pan is getting a Vinegar soaking, will probably filter and rinse out the back pan. Need to do a quick wipe of collection tank and releaser too. they aren't too bad but getting a film in them.

Only managed to get maybe 25 gallons of sap yesterday on vac. buckets did nothing got just above freezing at 1:00pm and only got to 36/37 by 5:00 and cloudy. today will nothing either. windy as hell and only 34 maybe an inch of snow. not even worth turning on the pumps for that. Oh well looking forward to the weekend. First Softball practice and a bunch of tours and a bunch of sap.

forecast is getting better and better. something to look forward to!!!

[red maples]

Well today is defrost day. I am hoping for a little freeze tonight. Just to keep the trees motivated!!! :) and since there won't be one for several days. there isn't even much in the buckets so I guess I will let them go 1 more day or I might dump them twice tomorrow. we'll see.

Had my second tour today... 40 second graders(second 1/2 of the one from the other day) (sold about $200 of syrup between the 2 not bad). Got the moms of club of Derry tomorrow morning, should be a little more relaxing smaller group I like those better. then I have a cub scout group in the afternoon.

Good luck with sap for the weekend everybody... and I will leave it that....

just realized my signature still says waiting for the weather to break to start the 2014 season. I guess that's pretty accurate!!!

[Russell Lampron]

I was thinking that same thing when I read your sig line the other night. I'm still waiting up here too!!!

[red maples]

Boy what I wouldn't do for a little frost tonight. Sap sacks were full again today but dripping very slow when I collected. Sap is coming slow and steady all day it was a little better this morning when the sun came out. had a Girl scout tour this afternoon that went very well. Between visits to the sugarhouse, the tour, and my farm stand, I sold about $400 worth of product today. just about wiped me out. good thing I could boil today had about 400 gallons since yesterday morning and what I made during the weeks tours is putting me pretty close to 40 gallons.... Well its about time I hit that mark anyway. syrup is coming in darker now but flavor is getting slightly stronger. Flavor is getting closer to the color. and sugar is starting to drop as well 2.25 last weekend 2 yesterday and 1.75 this evening. guessing it will be even less by morning. I would love to get into some DA but the Grade B is flying off the shelves!!!

not expecting any big loads of sap in the next few days but vacuum is dialed in and pulling a steady 27" Guessing that's where the syrup will be made from here on out unless we get a frost Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday night. Fingers crossed. If its gonna happen it will be those nights. and it warms up after that. Hope saps coming in for other folks. just getting getting starte din the north contry from what I can see from postings. Good luck up there!!!

[red maples]

So sap is still coming slow and steady. got about 200+ gallons today. I rechecked what I made last night and it was the lightest stuff I have made yet a very close DA still B but closer. sugar is holding fast at 1.75 hopefully it stays there. forecast is slightly better might get 3 freezes in a row. Probably won't be boiling until Tuesday. guessing I won't have enough sap until then. at least I hope I will anyway.


Had 4H tour today. had a girl with a written list of questions. She started asking before the tour even started. I asked her to save all her questions until the end and I will answer all of them. So at the end I asked her about her questions and HA I answered all of them in the tour. Got 2 more tours left for tomorrow Brentwood kindergarden class AM and PM classes. then Private tours are done Thank goodness. I think if have to explain how the maple thing works 1 more time I will go crazy, as much as LOVE to do what I do it does get old explaining it 100 times. but the tour bring good sales!!! then I can concentrate on just making syrup and be a little more relaxed!!!

After 2" of steady rain and snow melt the water was comng up pretty fast this morning but it has already dropped about 2 inches already this afternoon the too small culverts are raging!!! lots of water in the ground now!!!

[red maples]

sap is actually come in pretty good considering it only got to 32* this morning for a few hours. I wonder if the slushy snow had anything to do with that.

went out last night to vacuum problems. thought I fixed it, checked about an hour later only to find the releaser hanging up lubricating everything can't get it to work right. finally figured out that the locking collar on the float rod fell off. got back on tightened it up good as new. I will probably change that out drill a hole in the rod and put a pin in the rod under that collar I don't wanna mess with the weight combo but then I don't have to worry about that slipping off anymore.

Had my last 2 tours today 24 kinder gardeners in the AM and 13 I the afternoon. the morning was tough(bad weather and all) . Its tough anyway trying to keep their attention but I kept it most of the time. Everyone had fun anyway. At least the tours are done!!! Now we just need some sap to keep me busy!!!

[Russell Lampron]

The sap ran a little bit better here today too. Not good but better than it did the day before.

[red maples]

Man I really though I would get more sap today. a little bit of a let down. but not terrible I guess considering this season ended up with 250 gallons. was hoping for a lot more but didn't really get the freeze I was hoping for it was just enough to get what I got. Squeezed and cooked off the 550 or so gallons I got since Sunday sugar is really dropping of though was down to 1.5 so had to take out a lot of water to get to 12% but it beats boiling it all let me tell you... although those who already have the RO's already know... I love that thing!!!

[red maples]

Woke up to 27* Hoping for a good day. although what I boiled yesterday was 1.5% (before it was squeezed) what I got yesterday is back up just shy of 2% hoping since we got a good freeze here the sugar will even better today. Season best was 2.25%. If we can get the buckets and gravity tubes to run good and get a gallon per tap there combing with close to 1 GPT on my Vac reds and get back to good sugar we'll be VERY happy!!

[red maples]

Had my best day yesterday. finally got close to 1 gpt (approx. .9 or so) best run of the year. even the buckets were very full!!! and made about 8-9 gallons of syrup. just making grade B. (tastes like DA though) I won't have any syrup for contests this year as its all grade B but I am just happy to be making syrup we are close to 60 gallons for the year. I have 250 gallons of sap in the tank to start the day which is what I got after I squeezed everything out at 1:30 PM yesterday.

[Russell Lampron]

It has been running pretty good here too. I got about .7gpt from the vacuum yesterday and 1gpt from the buckets after 2 days of runs. If you've got 250 gallons of concentrate you need to squeeze it more. I started with 475 last night which was turned into about 60 gallons of concentrate. I've got 600 to squeeze for tonight.

[red maples]

no that was 250 gallons of raw sap that was new from when I was done.

Although difficult to get sap I have been waiting for about 375 gallons raw sap min. and taking to about 12% give or take and left with about 50 gallons if the membranes are nice and clean after a wash I can go lower, but once I hit right around 12% for now I am happy going to 12% it boils really nice at 12% I haven't pushed the machine that hard not sure if I ever will. Once I get to 12% it drop to less than <2gph of perm at 190PSI. Josh I do have a 1/2 hp recirc pump on this model the 100's and 200's don't that's why I went with the bigger model.

[Russell Lampron]

With this being your first year with it it is a good idea to take it a little easy to get used to it. I like boiling 12% too but 18% is even more fun. I normally have 400 or more gallons of sap at start up and with my small machine it is a challenge to get it sweet enough by the time it's time to boil. In the future you will be even more happy that you bought the bigger machine.

[red maples]

Well it got down to 30* degrees for a few hrs this morning. ended up getting about 250+ gallons of sap combined with over night Friday looks to about 400gallons to process today. Finally will be able to be open this afternoon!!!

I shut the pump off last night at 11:00 went out to check on things and there was barely a dribble coming in. Electric bill vs a little sap loss I chose the electric bill!!! Anyhow looks to be a little freeze tonight then that's pretty much it. maybe one on Wednesday. Night temps look like 40's and most day temps are in the 60's we'll try to keep things going as long as possible. Buds are brighter red but still tight there is still some snow in the woods but 60's next week those buds are gonna start swelling and will star to open next weekend. Reds are always first!!!

Just happy I am still making syrup!!! I should break 70 gallons easy today!!! which is 1/2 of what I was expecting this year thank good ness I added in those extra taps this year. or I would have been at 40ish gallons... blah. I talked to Old maples (from here he's Deerfield's Anderson's mini maples) he was at bacom's the other day and last year they finished the year at 27,000 gallons of syrup so far this year they are at 12-13,000. they said they are pretty much gonna be at 1/2 a crop and don't see much more coming out of the season. That's Pretty much where I am now. the sugar has really dropped off since Friday from 2+ to 1.5 last night. It might come up a little today but probably fall back down tonight.

Wanted to add one more thing. I still have to see the actual amount of wood I burned so far this year. but calculating a few things out last night subtracting out maple weekend where I simmered 300 gallons of raw sap for 10 hrs. I boiled for a grand total of 16 hrs so far for this season. That's amazing. If were boiling raw sap it would have been more like 140hrs. And sweetening the pans and my first few boils were at 8% now that I am taking it to 12% its even less. crazy.....

The season aint over yet folks!!!

[red maples]

Well with sugar at 1.5% have to squeeze it a little more to get it where it needs to be. Thought I would have made a little more yesterday but only managed 6 gallons (smoothest 6 gallons I ever made really getting use it now too bad the seasons almost over.) I could have taken a little more but didn't want the pans to be too low for the cool down better safe than sorry, and that was on on 400 gallons of sap (I really need to get a flow meter and graduate my new tank) so everything this year is an estimate. So thinking I would be at 70 gallons I am just shy. I really wanted to hit the 100 gallon club but this year I am afraid it aint gonna happen with out a miracle. for this year I will be happy with 85 gallons fingers crossed. which will be 5 gallons more than I made last year with 350 taps. I have 200 gallons which is all could muster yesterday and what ever I get today and hopefully tomorrow I think we'll get pretty close... low pressure coming in tonight hopefully it keeps going and maybe a little frost on wed.

I measured yesterday and I went exactly 2 cords of wood. so 70 gallons on 2 cords I expected to use 4-5 for the season so at 1/2 a crop I guess I was spot on. I think I used close to a full cord just on maple weekend alone. this year was a bit of a scramble for me and I haven't kept good records at all except batch number and coding for finished syrup. daily log sheets etc. non-existant this year. I have sat down to write a little bit out about the season but that's about it.

[Amber Gold]

Brad, I'm in the same boat. Record keeping is a mess this year. Keeping track of everything coming in, and what we've produced, but no idea how we stand gpt of sap or gallons of syrup produced. Pretty sure we're somewhere between 3-400 taps. My goal, considering we have more taps coming in, is 600 gal produced in an average year. Not sure if we'll hit it.

[Russell Lampron]

Ahh Yes..... Record keeping!!! I never seem to have the time to write everything down for future reference. I keep tabs on how much sap we gather and how many gallons of syrup we produce but that's about it. In my sap log I write down the date we tapped and the date we collected and how many gallons. I keep the totals for the buckets and tubing separated and see every year that the buckets bring down my gallons of syrup per tap ratio. I also write on a calender how many gallons of syrup we produced for the day and what grade it was. I also put a sample bottle on the window with the date so I know what is in the bulk containers when I jug them up. Other than that no records.

[red maples]

I am usually pretty good about. but like I said it seems to be a thrashing year. Hoping next year is smoother. Should be not much will be added on just hoping for things to make life easier. Like a filterpress and probably a 500 gallon plastic Perm. tank. and If I can start adding on taps on my neighbor's land maybe pick up an additional 100 taps or so to my exsisting set up. might need to increase the sap mainline size from 3/4 inch to 1 inch but we'll deal with that when it comes. Right now I have 1 inch dry and 3/4" wet with 500 so 600 should still be fine. Also need to start changing out new drops as well.

Things are REALLY slowing down here. took 2 days to get 375 gallons of sap and that's with 60 gallons of sap from buckets which was getting pretty buggy. reduced that down to 40 gallons this morning. going out to cook that down in a few. Thank goodness for vacuum!!! although sugar is getting lower its still coming in. barely anything at night so I have been shutting it down and only have maybe 25 gallons since 7:00 am. but we keep chugging along. hoping for a freeze for wed.

I haven't heard any peeper yet!!!

[red maples]

talked to my Dad today (he's in north western NJ) he had his 7 taps. I sent him down some stuff to get him going. He said a funny thing... "You know this making maple syrup collecting, boiling it down and finishing it off is really addicting." I said yeah no kidding that's why I am at 600 taps now!!! Mom is pretty sick (stage 4 cancer) so they can't get up here to visit I would love to have him up during the season to show him everything and show him the difference in making syrup from 7 taps and making a pint to getting 10 gallons at a wack. He made about a gallon or 2 guess. he wants to tap more trees for next year. another one gets bit by the bug... I will send him stuff for his b-day and Christmas this year. Even my brother in law is making syrup too. he has about 8-9 taps and made a bit. I said wait until we have a good year he said the sap ran the same for him as it did for us this year.

Sap is very cloudy. made another 7 gallons today pretty dark stuff but still tasted good. lots of defoamer, had difficulty keeping up with the foam. Although pretty common this time of year. So that puts me at about 73 gallons for the season so far.

got another 225 gallons today. still coming in, but pretty slowly that's still almost 1/2 gpt it will be by the time I hit the sack. nights have been pretty bad for sap not getting much of anything. at this point I will break 80 gallons that's a tough 80 gallons. Thank goodness for CV's and vacuum I saw a lot of bucket disappear from trees this past weekend. everyone called it quits I guess. but I am still going!!! I am just glad I have my tanks in the sap shed no bugs in there. tons of moths and flys and the little tiny flys around.

[red maples]

Wow buds have really swelled in the last 2 days. kinda got a seas of red out there. syrup still tastes OK but getting close. Guessing this will be pretty close to wrapping up this weekend. One more freeze tonight will be a good finish fingers crossed.

[Russell Lampron]

Brad I just remembered seeing in one of your recent posts that you are thinking of buying a 500 gallon plastic permeate storage tank. What I did is buy 2 275 gallon cage tanks. I connected them together at the valves so that they will both drain and fill at equal levels. If I want to save some permeate for cleaning I can shut off one tank and drain the other and still have a tank full on hand. That gives me 550 gallons of storage and there was only one time this season when that wasn't enough. The guy in Loudon that sells them on craigslist gets $165 for one or $150 each if you buy 2 or more.

[red maples]

I like that idea russ Especially whe you set it forget it then you don't have to worry about using up everything in one shot!!!

Having trouble keeping stuff slime free. Due to warm weather cloudy sap, and low sap flows. Wiped the Releaser again and said a little prayer to the sap gods to keep the sap/syrup TANG free and steady flowing for one more good run.

Woke up to 27* this morning freeze up was at around 12:00 so good freeze cleaned the releaser have roughly only 300 gallons over the last 2 days that's going through the RO now although it won't much with 1.25 % sugar but I need to get it processed since its already very cloudy and I think we are still gonna hit 60* today.

Good luck to everyone still plugged in!!!

[Russell Lampron]

The cage tanks hooked together is really working out good for me. When we do a rinse we turn off one tank, that way we don't accidentally pump all of the permeate down the drain if we get sidetracked and don't get back to the RO quick enough.

I came from work today to find the vacuum was way down. Went down to the releaser to figure out where the leak was and saw only 150 gallons of sap in the tank. I figured out which mainline to check and tracked down the leak. One of the mainlines had come apart. I got it back together opened the vacuum valves back up and in an hour and a half doubled what was in the tank. I think I missed a good chink of a good run today. I don't know how long the mainline had been apart before I found it but with the amount of sap that was in the tank and how much more came in after the repair I think it was fairly early in the day.

[red maples]

Didn't do to bad yesterday would have liked more but ended up with 250 gallons less than 1/2 gpt. and pretty close to nothing on the overnight. my trees don't run at night anymore they haven't for the past week. sap is very cloudy but syrup still tastes OK. I will let things go today and boil everything out Saturday afternoon. buds are pretty big open on one tree I unplugged it just in case.

Sorry Russ... My Vacuum is down by 1 full point this morning its been running at 26.5 to 27 all season. so I have to go out and see if I can find it. 1" guessing its a bad squirrel chew or 2 maybe??? we'll see. Expecting to be done VERY soon probably by Sunday. but don't wanna give an inch.... Ha.

[red maples]

Calling it a season here!!! Long cold tough 2014 season with lots of poor sap weather it will be one for the all time lows in the record book. Can't really compare it to any other season since I added on so many taps from prior years. I have to say the 80 plus gallons of syrup I made was more than I have ever made and was EASY using less than about a 1/4 of the wood(less than 3 cords) that I expected to use this season thanks to the New RO. Anyone looking to get an RO I can't say enough about the ease and use of the H2O innovation hobby style RO's. (Except I think I used more electricity keeping it warm than I did using it this year)

Stinky rough last boil yesterday I think I used more defoamer yesterday than I have all season trying to get through the sap. It was hot in the sugarhouse about 85* good thing it was a short boil. and everything was Merch not terrible tasting just had a hint of tang/metabolism at the finish perfect for sugar. So I will have about 7 to 10 gallons just for sugar.

RO washed and broken down and membranes are in preservative. Today I will be finishing out the evap and get that soaking in Vinegar. Then tomorrow I start pulling taps and finish washing tanks etc hopefully I will have just about everthing wrapped up by Tuesday. Then I can start to get ready for Chicks and bees!!!

[Russell Lampron]

2014 was by far the strangest maple season since I have been doing this. I called it a season last night too. My season total was 3rd in the last 6 seasons with the same number of taps. Not a bad season but not quite good enough to make a qt per tap which is what I set as a goal.

My last boil went smoothly but like you the foam was bad and the sap smelled nasty. The color was medium but the taste was definitely mersh. I had to boil it some in my finisher to get it to density and any time that I have to do that I get a strong bitter taste in the syrup. I'm not sure what's going on there but it would be nice if it didn't happen.

[red maples]

yeah the sap is a little weird this year as well. I have only 1 or 2 trees that budded others have swelled but no popped yet. and the sap was VERY cloudy almost milky which I have never seen it that bad in the 5 years I have been making syrup. chaulking it up to the opposite side off the spectrum where we went from too cold and not enough good day temps to too warm and not enough good night temps.

but like a true red sox fan.... there is always next year.