Tapping Michigan

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Going to tap tomorrow Feb 20, 2007. temps in the hi 30s all week.

RICH OGDEN
CAPAC MI

[rschoo]

Hey rich my family is from Capac where abouts are you?

[firetech]

I'm planning to set 30 buckets tonite when I get home. weather looks promising this week. RSCHOO where your home town. I hang out near Perry.

[rschoo]

I live near Mount Pleasant.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I Live 1/2 Mile West Of Town On M21. Whats Your Last Name??

Rich

[802maple]

I have been to Mount Pleasant before I think. Isn't there a casino there about mid state?

[rschoo]

My last name is Schook. My family homestead is about a mile from you on Kettlehut Rd. The road was named after my great great grandparents. It should be spelled Ketelhut but the folks at Ellis Island spelled it wrong. My aunt and uncle still live on the centennial farm (it went centennial 40 years ago) and my grandmother lives across the road. I have a picture of the old sugar house that was built about a hundred years ago.


802 > yeah, big one. My oldest friend is a Chippewa or Anishnabe as they should be called. His tribe owns the casino which I believe is the second most profitable Native owned. Anishnabe means "River People". They have the most incredible native historic center in the country. His people were making maple sugar around here hundred of years ago.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Hey Rschoo

Is Vi Schook Family To You?
I Worked With Her At The School Years Ago. She Was A Secretary. I Was The Bus Supervisor.

Rich

[rschoo]

Vi is my grandmother's sister-in-law. My grandmother Joyce was the secretary at the school. My dad says he knew some Ogdens on Petz rd.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Yesterday got the plowing done another 3". Then sweetened the pans and got all the kinks worked out of everything so hopefully this weekend things should happen.

RICH

[Greenthumb]

Fri
Feb 29 Snow
35°/20° 100%

Sat Mar 1
Flurries
31°/20° 30%
Sun
Mar 2
Light Wintry Mix
39°/32° 30%
Mon
Mar 3
Rain / Snow Showers
38°/24° 40%
Tue
Mar 4
Few Snow Showers
32°/21° 30%
Wed
Mar 5
Partly Cloudy
32°/21° 10%

Thu
Mar 6
AM Clouds / PM Sun
31°/21° 10%

Fri
Mar 7
Cloudy
32°/22° 10%

Sat
Mar 8
Partly Cloudy
33°/24° 20%

[rschoo]

Greenthumb where abouts are you? I'm close to Mount Pleasant. You had any sap at all yet Rich? I don't know if I'm going to tap in the next few days or not. It doesn't look real promising as Greenthumb pointed out.

[Greenthumb]

east of Lansing. I have not even tapped either. It has crossed my mind of taking a year off this year with what I am seeing. I think we are in for one of those cold winters that by passes the 40/20 temps

[rschoo]

I just watched the weather and I might tap Sunday. Close to 40 on both days and the night in between only supposed to get down to 32.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

RSCHOO

I got about 80 gals. on sunday i had 30 myself and a fried by imlay city had 50 and it wasnt enough for him to fire i he gave it to me. i was able to sweeten the pans

Rich

[royalmaple]

Rich hows the top secret releaser going?

[firetech]

Greenthumb how far East of Lansing are ya? I'm just north of Perry. It's hard to get geeked about tapping with the weather forecast so chilly.

[Greenthumb]

North of Howell. I am having a hard time trying to convince myself to get off my duff and tap as well. I keep looking at the long range weather and I see more winter 4-5 inches of snow today does not help. I almost put a few taps in back around December can't remember the dates but there was a about a week of 40/20's just to see what would happen. It seems like we keep having ideal temps around Christmas as of the last few years instead of March.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

MATT

the releaser works pretty good. wish i had made it bigger thou

RICH

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

GRRENTHUMB

today is the day. start the drills

RICH

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Had a decent run yesterday that wasnt supposed to happen, got everything boiled down today, ended with a total of 8 gals. so far this year. nothing looks good untill tuesday

RICH

[Rick_Seebeck]

I tapped today. I thought it would be too cold to run but all my taps on the south side of the trees are running like a facuet.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

No sun at all today hi temp +21 and nothing running

RICH

[firetech]

We set 26 tappes Thurs all the holes were wet and ran really good until sun set. This afternoon we set 80 tappes all the holes were dry but we're gearing up for next week. Thurs nite the guy down the road calls up and asked me to tap his trees another 70 tappes I did'nt plan on but they are across the the road from another 40 tap run so I'm aready there might just as well collect them. Keep posting your progress guys

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

sunny temp+38 from noon till freeze up at 7pm. very small run on vac and nothing on buckets:{

RICH

[Rick_Seebeck]

Of the 20 or so taps I drilled, 3 on south sides are running about 1/2 gallon each day. The other 17 have not dripped a cup. I did notice that two are leaking a very little bit. I was very careful to not split the tree and may have not tapped them in enough. Should I give the leaking 3 a little tap?

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

If they are leaking tap them in a little more

RICH

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

hi temp came today at 5 pm + 34 lated about an hour. i did manage to vac about 70 gals today. next 5 days look like mid 40s and mid 20s. should be a good week. lets hope

RICH

[firetech]

Well we picked up sap last nite for the 1st time this year.(150gal). Buckets were set last Thur,Sat,and Sun. We lost two days as a great man from our famliy passed, my grand father (87) . Well were are back on track and will be full steam ahead. We will have enough sap to fire up by Sat

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

sorry to here about your grandad firetech. i know he will be missed

RICH

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

morning did not start good +34 about noon turned on the vac and nothing at the 1st ladder. 1 hr later got the ice out of the mainline and had vac. hi temp 43 not a great run but it is getting better each day. probably shut down around 10 pm tonight

RICH

[Rick_Seebeck]

I am starting to worry that I am missing something. This is my first year sugar'in and I am only getting sap from a few of my taps that are in the sun. Will the others ever start running? I tapped last weekend and have only collected about 15 gallons of sap from 20 taps. Should I worry?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

It's normal to be slow to start with. Trees have been frozen for a long time and it takes time to get things thawed out. Seldom get a big run right off the bat, it takes time and gradually things pick up!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

dont fretRICK snow needs to melt and frost comes out things will happen

RICH

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

temp dropped to about 30 at 6:30 tonite. everything is boiled down except 60 gals. of sap finish that tomorrow. so far this year 13 gals of syrup

RICH

[firetech]

Well the 1st boil of the year is out of the way went thru 400gals of sap sweetend the pans and drew off 6 gals of med syrup. Boy does this new rig go thru the sap, The feed tank is 110gal and that diappears in about an 1 1/2hrs. The wife went out last nite and picked up 150 more gals of sap thats on the truck we are going to can some syrup to fill some orders, pick sap this afternoon and boil off tonite. We are not getting enough sap to boil everyday but its taking us 2hrs to pick up 108 five gal bucket(216 roadside tappes), I don't think we can spend any more time to pick up both of us work off the farm too. keep on boil'n We are still learning our way thru this new system.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

had a good run today hi temp+36 all day heavy overcast with drizzle.vac worked great 150 gals of sap on 133 taps on vac
going back out check the pump and then bedtime
RICH

[firetech]

Picked up tonite only 250 gals but thats enough both the wife and I are fighting the flue bug. I'll have to boil Sat well or not no more storage room. Looking forward to more snow this weekend ya spring.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

very little sap late this afternoon, got everything boiled down and the pans cleaned for next week. feels good to be in the house early for a change. now i am worrying about running out of fire wood. always something

RICH

[firetech]

Boiled 600gals this weekend from the weeks pick ups. 20 gals of med syrup on the kitchen counter. The kids went and picked up tonite and brought home 325 gals was the truck squatting. They missed 14 bucket on the south run I'll go get them tommorrow. Looks like some mid-week boiling is coming. The weather looks great for the next 2 weeks. Good luck to all

[Greenthumb]

weather does look great. I ended up tapping early last week. I only put a third of our taps we have been doing 75-80 taps this year I am down to 26. Between the weather not turning so late and our house under a re-model project I didn't think I would have time until I got home home from work last Monday and felt empty inside so I got the drill out and a few taps did a few trees in the yard and woods and they flowed like rivers.(my wife thinks I am insane) I also went down the road to a house that has some big old sugar maples and got enough nerve to ask the owner if I could tap. To my surprise he said go ahead so I have 14 new road side taps. We made just over 2 gallons of med to dark amber. I bet I missed the light stuff. Sap is coming in at just over 3% I think from those old maples I added. We used to be at about 2% with our trees. Next year I may get some nerve up to ask some more road side tree owners if I can tap. I have been thinking about that for about 4 years just never could get the nerve up to ask if I could drill holes in their trees. I have vacation this week so things worked out to get a little syrup this year and help with my sticky addiction

[firetech]

Greenthumb the worst they can say is no , just thank them for thier time. I have 6 different property owners that I tap their roadsides trees (216 taps)and only three owners have have ever said no. Don't take it personal. Just move on to the next run of trees.

[firetech]

Rotten kids they should never get days off from school. (all the school districts had Mon off for Easter) We picked up last nite went back to pick up today,12 tap harnesses busted up 5 missing and 5 buckets gone. Called the cops not much they could do but listen to me whinn. Man I hate when they pee in my Wheaties. So get your roadsides near the house they are perfect. Another local sugermaker had a bunch of his buckets messed with Fri nite. If I could get a hold of those knuckle heads they would be looking at splitting and stacking some of the nasty twisted elm we have around here. Smile Herbie and be happy.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

We have had 2 good runs in the last 3 days boiling starts at 7 am and ends around 8pm. vac is working good

RICH

[firetech]

We didn't pick up yesterday due to the wind,no fun chasing buckets. Picked today 450 gals. The 12volt tranfer punp went on strike (died) can't move any sap anywhere. I've got to get another pump. boiled today made 12 gals med got rid of some of the sap in the bulk tank. We may be all full by tomorrow nite. Boil till the cows come home this weekend.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

TODAY another very good run. but lost 2 grades looks like dark amber and the sugar sand is awlful

RICH

[firetech]

Well the cows came home. We made 25gals of syrup this weekend,all dark amber,anybody need some sand? Did this run filter hard!!! Thought I was done till tommorow but the wife went and picked up another 325gals of sap. I'm out of wood so off to the saw mill for a load of slab hardwood. Sales have been going well. One lady bought 2 gals yesterday and came back for 3 more today. Well its off to can the last 5gals then to bed I need to go to work so I can rest.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

HUGE sap run today running out of storage space almost out of wood and plastic jugs wont make it to the end. damm i love it

RICH

[firetech]

I heard the peeper frogs this morning. We are winding it down now.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

the season ended today about 3:30 sap was still running but sugar was about 1.1% boiled it for a while and made some pretty dark syrup. havent got everything canned yet but looks like 60 gallons on 231 taps and a leader 2x5 drop flue. best season i have ever had

RICH

[firetech]

Had a funky boil yesterday and burned some syrup. Looks like 10gals of B and 3 gals of dark amber. We are pulling the buckets tommorow and starting to clean up. We are out of wood again,the wife is getting sick of seeing syrup buckets on the counter 40 gals to can. Its time to call it a season 85 gals on 216 taps. The walleye are calling,catch me, catch me.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

About 3 Weeks Till Fishing On The Big River

Rich