Twitchell's Maple Syrup

[twitch]

Got 160 gallons today started a fire and got all in the evap. After flooding the pan I walked to the house to get the blower from my daughters bouncy house ,that works great by the way, when i got back to the sugar house I saw something small going in. I was very surprised to find out that it was a musk rat he went in and went under the cook stove. I decided i would mess with him after i was up and running. So when i got ready I got him pushed out and out the door and he went under my truck. I figured if i left him alone he would wonder off and be gone. Back to boiling for about a half hour and turn around and here comes this musk rat back to the door that was open. Hi was trying to get by me as i was pushing him with a stick. Needless to say he will not be back. But just really strange I wonder if the sound of the sap going into the pan got his attention maybe he was thinking it was water he could get in things were a little exciting for few minutes fighting of a muskrat while boiling sap. I bet i never do that again.

[happy thoughts]

If you were nibbling on bacon or chewing on cheese, it might be muskrat love :o

[twitch]

Put another 40 in on gravity today. Tapped some big old trees that my wife's great grand father and grand father used to tap was they have not been tapped for about 60 years. I also learned about the limited liability act for agritourism. I got some signs coming any one open to the public on maple sunday should really know about this. takes some of the liability of the owners of any agricultural activity you are supposed to have a sign up that they sell at the farm bureau in Augusta. I called my district representative and he is going to pick some up for me. i guess you can make your own but the wording needs to be correct. You can read about it on the Maine gov. site. RUN SAP RUN !!!!

[abbott]

A couple of the places I visited last year had the agrotourism signs up - definitely a good idea. I don't have many visitors and haven't bothered. I'm really hoping that I'll have my act together next year and advertise that I'm open that day. Really need to add on to the sap house so there's more room to move.

I've looked into liability insurance in general - if you have a homeowner's policy it usually isn't too expensive to add some coverage for the home business.

[twitch]

Checked gravity today is running better then it has for me all year. Looks like tomorrow will be the same if not better. And yesterday it not run at all I guess it did not freeze there the night before my buckets ran at another location guess it was just barley freezing just not at my gravity lines today it looks much better.

[Aaron Roy]

Same thing happened to me in Lyman. I'm ready for a run. This stuff is driving me crazy. Never mind that the woods have turned into a slushy mess. Walking is tough.