Abbott's Family Farm 2014

[abbott]

A bunch of the sugaring operations in NH, VT, etc. post regular updates on their state's forum. I've often wished some of the Maine guys would do the same so I figured I'd get the ball rolling this year. No promises that I'll remember to post updates when things get busy, but I'll try.

This will be my third year with the 40"x10' raised flue wood fired evaporator and my second with the oil flood vacuum pulling about 24" Hg. Looks like about 750 CV taps on the vacuum line and I'll probably tap the 80+ on gravity at some point. The Sap House is down in the woods with no electricity, running water, or bathroom (until I haul the outhouse down.) But at least I don't have to haul all that sap up the hill during mud season!

Still a few things to get ready, but right now it's looking like early next week is tapping time.

[maineboiler]

Sounds like you have good set up. I plan to tap this weekend and hope to have a run by the end of the week Different than last year. I am going to do some gravity tubing and pails this year----Paul

[West Sumner Sugar]

We are gonna be popping in about 100 taps in Auburn this morning. Hoping to get some flow this week with the warmer weather. Gonna be boiling before we know it! Cant wait!

Anxious to see when you start getting some flow in Sumner. We'll use that to judge our taps this year. Hopefully we get some time to go see your operation up there.

[abbott]

We are gonna be popping in about 100 taps in Auburn this morning. Hoping to get some flow this week with the warmer weather. Gonna be boiling before we know it! Cant wait!

Anxious to see when you start getting some flow in Sumner. We'll use that to judge our taps this year. Hopefully we get some time to go see your operation up there.

Seems like the forecasters have backed off a little bit on the warm-up this week. Still shooting to get the taps in - hopefully there will be enough flow to at least check for vacuum leaks and get the lines flushed. Maybe make some syrup, but I'm not getting my hopes too high yet.

You're certainly welcome to come by any time!

[abbott]

Sure was cold out there this morning. It was a slow start, but I managed to get over 500 taps in today. Real happy with my Makita drill. Lithium Ion batteries are good for 250-300 taps - one battery for the morning and one for the afternoon.

[maineboiler]

I got 24 taps in on Sunday but it was cold. A lot of the wood was still frozen so I held off on any more tapping. Still cold today but I hope to get my taps all in by the end of the weekend. Should be a run towards the end of this week, I think. The evaporator is freshly cleaned and I've boiled my spouts. Looking forward to some warmer weather and a good sugaring season

[MainelyMaple]

Good to hear you're getting the ball rolling Steve, hopefully I can get up and check out your operation this year. I guess we'll see what the season brings.
I think I'm going to hold off on tapping for now. If I had C/Vs I'd get them in but it's looking like cold again next week so ill wait and watch the weather.

I like the idea of these update pages, I may start one myself...

[abbott]

Went to town for supplies yesterday AM, then finished tapping the main orchard. 746 is the "official" count, but my numbers for a couple of branch lines didn't agree with last year, so who knows. Think I'll hold off on the gravity line for a while longer. I still need to plow a road down there to set the tank, fix leaks, etc.

Never really looked like it would warm up enough today for sap, so I finished hooking up the new releaser and tank, then gave the evaporator a rinse and wipe-down. Should be all ready to run the vacuum and check for leaks tomorrow if it warms up.

[abbott]

Well, it ran enough to check for leaks. A few loose saddles, a few squirrel chews, and one big coyote (I think) bite in a mainline. The real excitement was the mouse hung up where two pieces of mainline were joined with a coupling. Never had that happen before. I cut open the tubing and as soon as it was apart, the mouse went zipping down the line into the releaser. I just put that mainline up in the fall, so I'm guessing it was already in the tube when I put it up? I need to go back with the fencing come along and pull the mainline back together better, but I did manage to get just enough by hand to get the hose clamp on.

Once a bunch more sap had gone through the line and I rinsed out the tank I shut the valve and started keeping the sap - but that wasn't until 4:30, so it won't amount to much. I'm estimating that maybe 150 gallons ran on the ground while I was fixing leaks, so over 200 total on the day, give or take.

We'll see what tomorrow brings, but I don't expect to boil even if the sap does run. Hopefully Saturday.

[maineboiler]

Collected 30 gallons of sap today from the run on Sunday. Total of 44 taps so far. Spouts are froze up now. I hope to collect enough to do a boil later this week, but it is not looking good

[abbott]

Collected 30 gallons of sap today from the run on Sunday. Total of 44 taps so far. Spouts are froze up now. I hope to collect enough to do a boil later this week, but it is not looking good

No - not looking like we'll see sap again for at least a week. Depending on your set-up I'd either just let the sap freeze solid until it warms up again, or you could cook it down awhile, then drain the flue pan and store the stuff in buckets for a while.

[abbott]

So - in total from my 740-750 taps I collected about 1150 gallons of sap. Finished boiling it off today - 13.5 gallons of syrup so far. What was left in the evap. I drained and filtered and put in 5 gallon jugs, then tractored them up to the house. After they partly freeze overnight i'll put them in the basement (its below 40 down there. That way I don't have to worry about the flue pan freezing and breaking. The sugar content has only averaged 1.7, but I'm hoping it'll go right up when the season really gets started.

Well, if nothing else, I did work out a few kinks. The fitting on my feed tank was leaking everywhere, the plug for the flue pan float box had gotten knocked on the floor and buried in snow, the vacuum pump belt broke, and I discovered that my new wet line isn't tight and steep enough to prevent sagging and collecting sap. I still have to work on that one. Maybe I'll really be ready to go next time around!

[West Sumner Sugar]

Wow thats good start! 13.5 gallons already! I wish we had more time to focus on it more.

[maineboiler]

Thanks Steve. Sounds like good advice. I'll keep the sap as cold as I can and we'll see how it goes----Paul

[abbott]

Tapped 85 on gravity a few days ago. Most of those have check valves now, so no sense in waiting any longer. Built a brand new outhouse yesterday. Just need a seat and hinges and a latch. Some sort of window to let a little light in might be nice, too.

We'll see what today brings. I'm hopeful that it might run a little, setting us up for a solid run tomorrow.

[abbott]

Well, there's good news and bad news. Most of you know the bad news already. Not much for sap today. About 100 gallons here. The good news is that the sugar was up to 2.3 Brix.

Now I'm not sure if I should leave the sap in the tank to freeze or put the concentrate back in the evaporator and boil it off tomorrow. I've got about 150 gallons total. I'm tempted to just leave it.

[West Sumner Sugar]

I agree, not much sap today. We were hoping for a big run. We are stock piling to hopefully get a boil going next weekend.

[maineboiler]

Disappointing day for sap. Yesterday was a bust too. Maybe this week...

[maineboiler]

First decent day for sap. Collected 65 gallons from about 150 taps. Maybe a boil tomorrow ? Will need another run before the storm. Nothing like last year

[abbott]

Just finished boiling off the 380 gallons I've collected since Friday. So over 1500 total gallons of sap (10% of the way there!) and 22 gallons of syrup produced.

Believe it or not, I'm pretty optimistic that it will be a good season. The fact that the sap doesn't run much when we get a warm day means that there's a lot of cold in the ground and trees. It's hard to imagine spring coming too fast when it does come. I am getting impatient, though.


First decent day for sap. Collected 65 gallons from about 150 taps. Maybe a boil tomorrow ? Will need another run before the storm. Nothing like last year

A lot better than I did yesterday! I was hoping for a half gallon a tap or more, but no such luck.

[abbott]

So, I might be the only Trader who tilled my garden on Thursday as the storm was winding down.
9188
I built this "high tunnel" last fall with the help of an NRCS grant to grow vegetables in for market. The ground was frozen by the time I got the cover on, but its thawed now, so I spread a load of compost and tilled it in. The goal is to plant half of it with cold-hardy crops around April 1st. The other half will be tomatoes/peppers/cukes/etc. As you can see, it was warm and steamy even on Thursday with no added heat!

[abbott]

Believe it or not, the sap ran a bit today. I'm sure it was just a few of the sunny taps and it didn't amount to much, but its a good sign for tomorrow. I don't expect any big runs this week, but I think we'll all have sap for the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, we'll be open 10-4 on Saturday - we always have our "Sumner Sap Saturday" the day before Maine Maple Sunday. All are welcome, just go to the end of Bradeen Rd in Sumner and look for a sign pointing the way. We don't really advertise - just not ready to have a crowd yet. Assuming the trees don't let loose between now and then, I'll visit some other operations on Sunday.

[West Sumner Sugar]

Went by your road tonight trying to find a way to bypass Rt 140. Had to run up to Sumner to pick up some barrels. We might swing by Saturday since you will be there.

[maineboiler]

The struggles continue -- frozen sap in the holding tank caused the PVC pipe to disjoint, water pump broken, collecting tanks frozen solid so I can't collect even if there was some sap running....tough season. I have yet to fire up the evaporator. My mother in law reminds me that her father (this goes way back) used to do a most of his sugaring in April. Maybe this will be a throw back to those days.

[abbott]

The struggles continue -- frozen sap in the holding tank caused the PVC pipe to disjoint, water pump broken, collecting tanks frozen solid so I can't collect even if there was some sap running....tough season. I have yet to fire up the evaporator. My mother in law reminds me that her father (this goes way back) used to do a most of his sugaring in April. Maybe this will be a throw back to those days.

I hear ya! Although I have made 25 gallons, I think it is the hardest 25 gallons I've ever made.

Right now my biggest fight is with the mainlines getting buried in snow. Some winters there are a few low points, but last storm I had to shovel/pack down a couple thousand feet in all to clear the lines. I'm afraid of what I'll find when I go out there to do that next. Probably over a mile in all this time. But if I want to have sap, they have to be clear or any sap that runs will freeze and block the lines.

Though it's been a rough one so far, its hard to believe that the season will be over any time soon. I don't understand the folks who think that time is running out and we'll be done in three weeks. Just look outside!

So, right now I've got about 60 gallons of ice in my tank. I'd like at least 300 gallons for Saturday - starting to look pretty iffy there.

[abbott]

Went by your road tonight trying to find a way to bypass Rt 140. Had to run up to Sumner to pick up some barrels. We might swing by Saturday since you will be there.

Hope you make it up. You guys going to be open for visitors Sunday?

[West Sumner Sugar]

Hope you make it up. You guys going to be open for visitors Sunday?

Yes we are. 10-4. We want to come look at your vacuum setup. We have been talking about it but are in the dark when it comes to it.

[abbott]

Well, I've got 240 gallons of sap in the tank. Enough for three hours full boil, but I'll start slow and milk it for four or so. Probably won't be too many visitors tomorrow as I've been pretty lax about inviting folks. But that's fine with me.

I spent most of Thursday and all morning today getting the lines up out of the snow. That last storm was the final straw there - I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I've had enough snow now, though I'm generally hoping for a good, snowy winter. Not many things are more frustrating than knowing the sap is running and you're missing out. Realistically, though, the amount of sap that I could have had if my lines were thawed wouldn't amount to much in the grand scheme.

[maineboiler]

Collected 30 gallons of crystal clear sap today. Better than nothing. Looking forward to the first boil tomorrow. Long time coming. I think next weekend will be the best

[abbott]

Added a few more taps yesterday. Stuff that was not quite big enough a few years ago or was a little far from the mainline, so it looks like the official count on vacuum is 764. I've run the numbers and I think that an average season with this year's tap count would be about 320 gallons of syrup. 10% of the way there so far.

My last boil the sap checked out at 2.6%, but there was some ice left behind. Still, I think the sugar content will be really good when the sap comes. We got a trickle today - but how many times have I said that?

[maineboiler]

I like the attitude. I checked my buckets today hoping for a decent run. Once I found them (many had blown from their trees) it was clear there was no run. Keep a stiff upper lip and let's look forward to a productive weekend. Forecast is looking good for next week too

[Aaron Roy]

Some of my trees ran a little today, first time this week

[abbott]

Just finished walking the lines - one stubby pulled off the adapter, two tiny holes in drops, a hose clamp leaking by, and four spouts sucking air through the trees. Just hit bad spots I guess. I pulled three of them and left the fourth because it seemed to be running ok anyway. I think my lines are tighter than they've ever been now. Until this year I still had some tubing up that I installed with tubing stretcher pliers before I went to vacuum and there were a lot of little leaks at the fittings.

I've got over 500 gallons in the tank now, including some ice that had been left from before this run and its coming in at about 25 gph, so by nightfall I'll likely have around a gallon a tap for this two day run. Then lets hope for a freeze. I think ideally we'd start off with a bit of sleet/snow overnight then warm up enough to go over to rain tomorrow, but we'll see.

[abbott]

All the trees up here at the top of the hill have about 1/4-1/2" of ice coating the branches with icicles hanging off besides. Down at the sap house - no ice. The trees, at varying levels in between, have some ice but not too much.95139514

The sap was really sweet on Friday - averaged out at 2.7, better than I've ever seen from that woods. By Saturday evening it was 2.3, but still not bad! I managed to make 16.5 gallons of syrup from 550 gallons of sap - but to be fair, I think the pans started sweet from lighting fires to keep the pans from freezing solid. Hopefully the sap is back up for the next run.

[West Sumner Sugar]

Boy we really need some vacuum...we managed about 40 gallons from Sumner and about 90 from L/A. Boiled off about 2.75 gallons of syrup today. Road is getting pretty soupy getting into the Sugar shack. Ice dam on the river...should be fun next weekend!

[maineboiler]

Collected 80 gallons of sap Friday and Sat. Had a good boil on Sunday for 2 gallons of good looking syrup, probably light amber....Finally !
Looking forward to this week, forecast looks ideal. I may have to re tap some of the trees where they are sealing off or were blown out by the winds. Nothing easy this year...

[abbott]

Things are looking up around here. Starting with Saturday's boil the syrup got lighter (a very light medium) and starting filtering easily (2 draw-offs = 3-4 gallons per paper on my 12x20 canner.) Sugar has been great - I've been boiling 2.5% sap or better on average. I decided not to boil yesterday and I'm glad I waited - good day for it today.

So the syrup count is at 64 gallons - 20% of the way there and there's more sap in the tank to start tomorrow off right!

Along about 4pm I climbed up to get a bit of sap out of the inside tank to test the sugar and it seemed unusually hot and steamy up there. Duh! Cupola was still shut. I'd been boiling for hours and hadn't even noticed. Guess my sap house has good ventilation!

[abbott]

I picked up the sap from my gravity line last night - since Thursday I've gotten about 2 gallons of sap/tap for a season total of 2.5 gallons per tap. I have no idea what came in which days. For comparison, the vacuum line has given up 3.25 gallons of sap per tap since Thursday. I would expect 8-10 gallons sap/tap on the gravity line for the season, so 2 in less than a week is good progress. The obvious problem is that we don't likely have 3 weeks left.

[abbott]

Each of the last 5 nights the low here has been colder than the last. Still no deep freeze, as 26 was the low last night. The sap has run well, on the order of 2/3 gallon per tap, but certainly not what the trees are capable of at their best. At least the sugar content is still up. Between that and the dry wood i'm into now, i'm producing about 2.5 gallons of syrup an hour. Two gallons an hour is the norm.

Syrup count: 127 gallons - 40% of the way there. Not giving up on a full crop yet! I'm curious what percent of the way to "average" others are?

I'm wondering if the 2-3 feet of snow still on the ground is holding the trees back some. I'd like to see a couple of 1000 gallon runs before we're done.

[maineboiler]

At long last the sap is running. Collected 75 gallons both yesterday and today Boiled 4 gallons of near syrup last that I will finish tomorrow Sap is crystal clear and 2.5 -3 %. For my size operation that's not too shabby Happy days are here We'll see how long it lasts

[West Sumner Sugar]

We should be able to boil off 12 plus gallons this weekend putting us around 20 gallons for the season. So that is about 40% of the norm...about where you stand. Had out best runs of the season in L/A late this week and the trees in Sumner finally gave a decent dump.

[abbott]

The deep snow pack combined with good vacuum have kept the trees flowing, though sugar content is dropping rapidly. Obviously, tonight's freeze is huge. As long as it happens, I should get a couple thousand more gallons of sap (over a few days) and be in the neighborhood of a normal "poor" year.

I'm still optimistic that there is time left on the season. Long range forecast doesn't look good, but if we can make it into next week and get a couple of frosts we'll be in good shape! No reason to give up until the buds break!

[abbott]

Pushed the syrup total to 192 gallons today... 60% normal crop. Sugar is now at 2.1%, but considering how long since we got a frost here that's pretty good! Making Extra Dark, but awful close to C.

Gotta get that freeze tonight, but here on the hill those frosts can be elusive. Sounds like a sure bet, but its hard to get my hopes too high.

If you pick the right forecast, there's still hope for another frost or two after this. We'll see.

[western mainer]

We won't give in till the end! we have used up all the wood we had put up, a little more that last year but started cutting up some more 2 year dry wood. We were dark but it has lighten up a little. now you forks that are given in. Remember the weather hasn't been right yet, go with the flow!
Brian

[Aaron Roy]

I'm going until the buds come out. At the very least it gives me an excuse to walk inthe woods

[abbott]

How many taps are you up to this year, Brian? Sounds like you're having a good season.
Steve


We won't give in till the end! we have used up all the wood we had put up, a little more that last year but started cutting up some more 2 year dry wood. We were dark but it has lighten up a little. now you forks that are given in. Remember the weather hasn't been right yet, go with the flow!
Brian

[abbott]

Ah, the joys of having sugaring be just a hobby! How much snow you got left in the woods?


I'm going until the buds come out. At the very least it gives me an excuse to walk inthe woods

[maineboiler]

I am done for the season. Had a good run on Thursday and boiled Friday night. You know it is the end of season when you boil in the evening and it's still warm. No " peeper" run this year though Made 5 1/2 gallons of dark amber for a season total of 13 gallons. This is a about 1/2 of last year Goals for next year will be to consolidate some taps into main lines (maybe) and cut down on some sap collecting time
Now it's clean up and get the fly rod out. Spring is finally here

[abbott]

Only a few days until the next potential freeze. I've seen no signs of buds opening, but I will look closer today/tomorrow and probably pull the few taps I have in reds just in case. In a season like this, I see absolutely no reason to pull taps until I'm certain we're done. Besides, I believe I predicted that we would get sap after April 15, so I have to hold on!

Boiled after dark for the first time last night. No electricity and my lighting isn't great, so I usually prefer to get to bed and just start early the next day. In this case, it was probably worth it to get through all of the sap as promptly as possible. Syrup total now sitting at 240 gallons or so - about 75% of "normal" and about 70% of last year (but with a few more taps.) Just got to Commercial grade at the end of the night - another reason to hold on a bit longer, since I'll have market for 50-70 gallons of C, no problem.

[West Sumner Sugar]

We certainly saw a drop in sugar content this weekend to around 2%. We are pulling out L/A taps this week and pulling Sumner next weekend. Looks like maybe some runs late week which would be good. Sitting just shy of 30 gallons right now which is about 10 gallons short of last year. If we get some sap this week we should be able to boil out a few more gallons to finish off the year. Not a banner year but at the same time, not a bad one either.

[abbott]

Up over 260 gallons of syrup now. Commercial grade, but certainly not the darkest C I have made. I'm taste testing a lot these days. Not the tastiest in my opinion, but I have customers that really like the late season stuff. I suspect they will love it.

Usually, even with vacuum, I'll get three days of sap without a freeze. For some reason, it just keeps coming this year - probably the deep frost? I let the pump die last night. I wasn't going to run it today, but changed my mind after I finished boiling at 1 pm. Started the pump, went out and pulled 12 taps out of red maples, drained and wiped the junk out of the tank and started collecting. It's still a poor year - might as well get what I can.

I'm convinced that the red maples have slightly swelled buds, and I'm pretty sure that some of the sugars have started to swell, too. I'm not sure when the sap changes, but I plan on collecting after the freeze and seeing how it goes. I'm not optimistic that we'll get a frost tonight, probably have to wait until tomorrow night.

[maineboiler]

Nice work. Impressive yield for this season. Sounds like you have built a good system What is your ratio of reds to sugars ?

[abbott]

Nice work. Impressive yield for this season. Sounds like you have built a good system What is your ratio of reds to sugars ?

Just 12 reds in 760 taps on vacuum. None in the gravity line. I'm a bit of a rock maple only snob :lol:

[maineboiler]

I don't blame you if you have the sugars flaunt them

[abbott]

Getting a vacuum induced run today, but the gravity line isn't doing much. I'm convinced that the reds' buds are about to open and the sugars' buds are swelling. Sap tastes ok - certainly not sweet, though. I expect to boil my last boil tomorrow and call it a season.

[western mainer]

We are getting a good run today, taste good boiled some in a small pan on the stove and still good.
Brian

[abbott]

We are getting a good run today, taste good boiled some in a small pan on the stove and still good.
Brian

I'm still making C and I'm not thrilled with the taste, but it will certainly pass as cooking syrup no problem.

At about 2pm yesterday I pumped the sap in the releaser tank up into the feed tank and rinsed the yeast and bacteria out of the releaser tank. The sap that came in after that was much clearer and tested at 1.85 Brix. It had gotten down to 1.6 before that. Now add that to the fact that we hit 29* last night even though the forecasters all agreed on 31-32* and we're rarely lower than the forecast here and now I'm wondering how done we really are. I have to at least boil the sap from yesterday, then we'll see...

[West Sumner Sugar]

Your sugar content is about spot on with ours though we did pull out yesterday. We just need to finish boil the 20 gallons from the evaporator. Should close the season out with about 33 gallons total.

[abbott]

Yup I'm done. Boiled yesterday until I caught up with the sap coming in, then shut the vacuum pump off. Could have pushed for a few more gallons of C, but just not worth it. Will finish off what's in the evap tomorrow. Then its juggling the cleanup process with the garden planting. Usually they don't run together quite so much. Final syrup tally will be over 290 gallons.

[eagle lake sugar]

We've had the best runs of the season this weekend up here. We got 1800 gallons Friday, 750 Saturday, and at least 1500 today, it's still coming in at 150 gallons an hour. We didn't get our first boil until April 6th, that makes for a short season. We were hoping for 500 to 600 gallons of syrup this year, but will probably end up around 400.

[abbott]

We've had the best runs of the season this weekend up here. We got 1800 gallons Friday, 750 Saturday, and at least 1500 today, it's still coming in at 150 gallons an hour. We didn't get our first boil until April 6th, that makes for a short season. We were hoping for 500 to 600 gallons of syrup this year, but will probably end up around 400.

How many taps? Vacuum?

Yeah, the temperatures have been great the last few days here, but the buds are too far along now. Hopefully you can hold on for the rest of the week!

[abbott]

Final tally 291 gallons plus or minus two gallons. Won't know for sure until it all gets into retail containers. I'd call that 90%+ of an average crop.

Five gallons sap/tap on gravity (7-8 is normal) and about 16.5 gal/tap on vacuum. I think the overall sap/syrup ratio was in the neighborhood of 43:1. I was dragging it down by holding on at the end. Don't anybody check those numbers against each other because they probably don't add up. I did sell a bit of sap and I didn't finish off what was in the back pan - would have been 4 more gallons of syrup or so there, but it just didn't seem worth it.

It was a hard year.

[eagle lake sugar]

Sorry Abbott, I haven't been on the trader for a couple days. I have around 2000 taps on 23+_ hg of vacuum, wet/dry system etc. It's still running here, no buds yet, I'm hoping for a few more days.

[abbott]

Sorry Abbott, I haven't been on the trader for a couple days. I have around 2000 taps on 23+_ hg of vacuum, wet/dry system etc. It's still running here, no buds yet, I'm hoping for a few more days.

Sounds like a nice setup - good luck!