Tapped in Agawam

[softmaple]

120 out and no taps to spare. now ready and waiting.

[PrimitiveOperation]

Hi there,

We just tapped in Feeding Hills and managed a short boil today.If I can get a few more buckets I may throw a dozen more taps out.

If we get a spare minute we should tour each others set ups.(Just promise you won't laugh too hard )

[softmaple]

that sounds good. we were up in feeding hill today. i have some taps up there at my cousins house. we were actually looking for your place when driving by PAC. its not a matter of how it looks but how much fun your having doing it.

[mapleman3]

Mike you taking any time off to boil during the week(day)? if you are I'd stop by when I'm passing by!

[softmaple]

as of right now i dont have plans on boiling during the weekday. if i do i wont know till that week. it depends on how much time i work during the opening of the week.

[softmaple]

for as snowy as it was today the sap was flowing. i had a few 4gal buckets that were about to overflow. if its like this the whole week we will have several gallons of syrup this weekend

[softmaple]

well today i collected 80 gallons of sap, i'm going to have a real long weekend ahead of me this weekend.

[softmaple]

made 5 gallons this weekend. she sure was roaring. adding a small blower fan to the front realy brought up the boil rate were were getting 15 or more gph from it, but more coals though. our fire box was 1100 degrees. is that too much for solderded pans?

[cropseyvillemark]

GO MIKE! Don't worry,she can take it.Hang that pre-heater,you'll really have it roaring. I know it looks crude,but it works. good luck!

[mapleman3]

Mike, Great start to the season!! Sounds like you'll make a bunch this year. the website looks fantastic, I wish I was more webpage savy to redoo mine.

[maplehound]

Don't worry about that soldered pan being able to take the heat. As long as there is sap or syrup in the pans the solder won't melt. But if you do let them go dry WATCH OUT the amount of fire under the pan won't matter it will be in the pan and all your solder will melt out. SPEAKING FORM EXPERIENCE

[softmaple]

boiled for 30 hours this weekend and made around 10 gallons of syrup dont know what grade yet looks pretty dark. its looks to be about done for us. were going to leave the buckets out for 2 more weeks though to see what happens. any syrup is better then no syrup A through C i dont care. at this point were at about 19 gallons for the season better then last year of around 15 or so, with twice as many taps though.

[mapleman3]

Yeah Mike the weather doesn't look good coming up... if I dont get sap today I will chase the syrup out with water to get whatever grade A out before the B and C hits.

[softmaple]

accu weather for us next week look ok for sap flow. the heat this week and the budding will sure make syrup darker

[MaplePancakeMan]

i'm just gonna pull the buckets and wash them then set them back out first week in april and see what grade i make if its bad i just stop, but it can't hurt to leave the taps out for awhile longer. just one good run in april could make 15 gallons of syrup for me so i would love to wait. I'm just washing the buckets because they grow mold quickly when they sit in the sun for awhile, so i'll wash and pull them to avoid this.

[softmaple]

well did the last boil today with a season total of 21.5 gallons 5 more then last year. cleaning now begins

[Aaron Stack]

There's a hill on South Westfield Street near the end of Shoemaker lane with tubing. Is the owner on here? I pass by every day during the season.