Tapped in Belchertown

[mapleman3]

Well I got out about half today, 150ish... will tap some more on the way home from work tomorrow, and take tues of and do the woods and get the Vacuum running.

hoping to top out at 350 I don't think I could do anymore than that on my 2x6 with boiing everynight after work.
if I had vacuum ALL right to the sugarhouse maybe I would do 400 + but the collection time takes too long right now to go more.

[mapleman3]

well everything is tapped and should be sugaring the pans tonight, I imagine from the past few days I should have at least 300+ gallons, so maybe get to drawoff some syrup too!! cant wait to see the preheater do it's thing!!

[powerdub]

I can't wait either. Keep us posted.

[mapleman3]

Posted my woes in the evaporator section(my hood is done) well it's not done now.. back to the drawing board. :(

[hard maple]

JIm
Did you get those pics I sent????

[mapleman3]

Actually I don't think I did.. what was the email address you sent from... oh wait I'll check your profile.

[softmaple]

hey jim hows the boiling going. how many gallons are you up to?

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

mapleman3- the sap bag filter disc made it! The United Parcel Service pulled through.
Thanks,
The Governor

[mapleman3]

geeze finally... although as I wanted to go through the postal service I ended up having it done at work where they took their time getting it out .

if you don't use that size inlet just make the hole bigger for another fitting size... thats what I had made up for an extra....

[mapleman3]

Mike as far as gallons... just over 8... I have not boiled since Sat. only 1 boil day so far.. my buckets are all half full of frozen solid sap... grrrrr

I'm hoping to bust loose on Sunday and give it hell all week.... I'm itchin and twitchin as Syrupmaker would say!!!

[Al]

Well your doing better then Pumpkin Village.Looks like nothing untill next week.
Looks like it may be time to upsize your rig!
Take care

[mapleman3]

Hi Al... just sitting here making maple covered peanuts and walnuts... getting ready to have our 4th annual cub scout pancake breakfast on Saturday, I dont have any sap at the moment.. nothing ran today and maybe not for a couple more days.. cold and snow coming tomorrow... going from hat to cold.. DANG. but have 25 gals made so far... some candy and I'll be making lollipops tonight also. I hope to have at least a couple hours boiling for the breakfast... more boiling means more $$$$ folks love to see where it comes from!!

you'll be boiling soon.. tough with all that snow though.. we got diddly squat this year... it will be interesting to see what we get tomorrow night... FRESH SNOW FOR SUGAR ON SNOW FINALLY !!! all the kids will be happy!!

Does anyone do that and do you charge for it or give it free???

[maplehound]

Anyone who comes to my sugar house gets a free taste of syrup. Sometimes it is in the form of molded sugar other times it is syrup on snow or just straight syrup. The more they try the more they buy!

[mapleman3]

we do usually have free samples available too!!

[mapleman3]

Saturdays pancake breakfast went great, had about 60+ people, sold a good amount also, 7+" of snow made for a good Sugar on snow party.. it was cool, the kids and adults loved it.

Today we ... I mean My wife and kids... collected close to 240gals.. along with 100+ fromt the woods(vacuum) so it looks like I'll be out here boiling well past midnight. I started at 6pm

I haven't checked the % but I bet its good after the cold spell we had.

I should stay warm as I hooked up my old mini potbelli stove, it's throwing off a good amount of heat and glowing at the bottom!! need to saty warm with no heat off the oil rig.

I think it will be a good week(praying)!!

[hard maple]

Jim
Hey good luck. I collected 260 gal today, the sugar content was 2.5%
I just finished up, made about another 7 gal medium.

[mapleman3]

Boiled till 2:15am last night.. whew but boiled it all... finished 7.5 gals... tonight I had a meeting so didnt get going untill 8:45 so it's 10:20pm now and I'm boiling, just finished canning last nights.... sitting here and wife made me some venison steaks and some perogis... **** it dont get much better than this, got about 250 gals today. but I will only go until midnight... getting tired.

Hard Maple.. keep it going man!! we'll get a season out of this yet!!

[mapleman3]

Last night I was going until midnight but got too tired, still had close to 100 gals left, today I have that plus another 260+ to do so we'll see how long I last, started around 7pm..... I do believe the sap ran through the night, so I am probably shy of my figures... maybe more sap in the tanks than what I think... anyway it will be a long night,.. looks like medium right now.

I'll can it up tomorrow and probably scrub the front pan while the canner is heating up... going to save the sap till Sat.. maybe freeze a few buckets of sap for the holding tank if I dont boil it all tonight.

BRING IT ON !!!

[mapleman3]

last night another 240+ gals, boiled 6:15 - almost 12:30am..... again tonight , starting just after 7pm.. probably till 1 am.... have over 58 so far should be 62-63+ after tonight.... cold Corona in hand and boiling away!! getting tired at work during the day though.. Gee I wonder why :) I'll take it as long as it keeps coming, we had 65+degs today and 50s tomorrow... no freeze tonight.... it will end soon... but not till the fat lady sings!!!

[mapleman3]

Hey Jeremy long time !! Yeah I think I may squeak out a pretty good season for what its worth... all depends on this week for sure... but I'm over the hump so if it ends tomorrow I'll still be happy.

[mapleman3]

Well today we did a trip to a few sugarhouses, enjoyed BSing with some other sugarers... then came home and boiled for 3 hours, squeaked out another 3 gallons, actually a lighter grade A dark today.. that with sap that was pretty cloudy and a tinge yellow... I will go out in the morning and collect what may be my last time.. who knows, the rest of the week doesnt look too bad maybe we will still get something, the only thing is the buckets are starting to look pretty spent, but to go out and clean them all would be quite the chore.

in the meantime I'm making candy and some more lollipops... YUMMY

[mapleman3]

Managed to get another 3hours of boilin in today, actually had ice in the buckets this morning, so I'll see tomorrow how todays run was. hopefully I can get still a few more boils in.. made 6 gallons of B in the past 2 days.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Go Jim Go!!!

[mapleman3]

I'm tryin Bud !! I'm right around 68 gals... hoping to get above 70.... still shy of about 12 gals from last year....

trying hard not to give up at this point... ;)