Sugarhouse at Morningstar Farm 2016

[morningstarfarm]

well guys, it's time to get this ball rolling I guess..it's been a crazy off season so far this year...i've expanded to right around 6000 taps...spent a few weeks rerunning downed mains in another bush..had 16 trees down in that one...ugh...
waiting for Leader to deliver my new arch..she is a 4x12 reverse fired oil arch with max flu pans and a steam away..she is supposed to boil around 500 gph on low and 600 gph on high... I can't wait!!!...also got a new 450 gal head tank to feed the new beast....we might even look like we actually know what we are doing when someone walks in now...lol
now i just have to keep praying the oil prices stay this low..she is rated to burn 20 gph of oil...ouch!

In the woods, i've rerun pretty much every main we had in and double wired everything...it's amazing how much more solid the lines are now...not much of a sag anywhere...had a 12" birch come down on them in this last storm and it just bounced off..gotta love that!..it was a huge pain in the butt to redo everything, but well worth it in the end...
in my main bush we got rid of the reverse slope releaser and decided to pump the sap out instead..I hope this turns out to be the right move...as that whole bush is now running on a generator in the woods 1200' from the sugarhouse..it was several thousand dollars just for the wire to run power out there to run everything and like everyone of us now..I am suffering from EWS...(empty wallet syndrome)...

Still have a couple months worth of work left to get done in a few weeks..but that is normal every year..
still have a couple hundred saddles to cut in and the old 5x12 evap to remove this weekend..and..oh the list goes on and on...

On the positive side the season must be getting close...my drill appeared in the refrigerator this morning...darn kids must be trying to tell me something..like maybe i'm starting to act like a bear...I need to tap something!...even the palm trees were starting to look good in the D.R....LOL..that had to be the longest vaca trip I have ever had...came back with a few more gray hairs from worrying about the to do list...

well, back at it...peace all and happy new year...

[unc23win]

Sounds like some pretty good progress for you Chris. I have thought about double wire supports before, but have never tried them yet thanks for the insights. Congratulations on the new evaporator sounds like some pretty good numbers.

[morningstarfarm]

Spent the afternoon in the woods hanging the sap pump out line and was thrilled when I got to a maple I had to cut a branch off the other day and it was raining sap!...sat there for a few minutes and just enjoyed the drip drip drip...Got it all over my face trying to catch some in my mouth...lol...felt like a little kid.

[morningstarfarm]

WOOHOO!!!...got the drills all charged up....gonna start poking holes in the morning...with any luck I should have the first bush done and turned on by weds...wish me luck

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I may pop 40 or so on Wednesday myself and see what happens, temps look good!

[Wingo87]

Anyone think it would be bad to tap this early? The temps look great for the next 2 weeks in my area, and their isn't much snow pack.

[morningstarfarm]

For only 60 taps I would half tap to get started...then tap the other half in later

[optionguru]

Don't do it. As soon as you guys down South start tapping I start getting an itchy trigger finger. Then every day when I log on I wonder how much sap I missed.

[morningstarfarm]

Sorry bud....too late...but it will take me a couple weeks to get them all in and ready to turn on...at least now I can start to flush lines...

[BlueberryHill]

I got 100 in today. Got to get the other 30 on the same line drilled tomorrow morning so I can plug in the pump. Ran out of daylight today.

[Dill]

Are you the one looking for taps in the Chester/Raymond/Candia area on facebook?

[BlueberryHill]

No, I don't do fakebook. But I did finish up all the taps on my line this morning and the Shurflo is running. 123 taps on the line. Excited to see what the trees have given me once I get home tonight.

[NHTREEGUY]

Hey Dill, That is me looking for trees! I am on 102 in Raymond (through the woods from blueberryhill) I am looking to reach 500 taps. That is ambitious but a good goal. If you know of a good bush let me know or even single trees. I have tried to get in touch with a women in Deerfield who has a bush set up from a guy a bought a finisher off of. He and his brother dont sugar anymore and said I was welcome to it. It was a different landowner while they were there. I have reached out to her with no response. Do you know where this may be?

[Wingo87]

Looks like their is a few of us in the Raymond 102 area. Well I pulled the trigger today and put in 20 taps, most were running decent, i will put in a few more tomorrow. This is the earliest I have tapped by about 2 weeks.

[chestersugar]

I also live on 102 but in Chester and put out a couple of buckets today, it was flowing pretty good around 4pm.

[morningstarfarm]

Have been tapping for a couple days now...about 800 in so far...about 5200 to go...lol...sap was spotty but running..all in all a beautiful couple of days...back at it in the morning...

[NHTREEGUY]

Gonna have to have a Rt 102 sugaring party! Didnt realize there were that many people sugaring this way. Do you guys know of any properties that dont tap that have a decent number of sugar maples?

[chestersugar]

It would be interesting having a sugar meeting, I need to learn lots about making maple I am sure most of what I do would give a veteran a laugh.

[NHTREEGUY]

you are more then welcome to stop by during the season. My sugarhouse (reclaimed building on property) is a constant work in progress but its 26x24 so there is plenty of room for people. I am always learning and thats one of the things I like about it, you can always learn something new from others. Ill PM my address.

[morningstarfarm]

Tap...tap...tap...been at it all week and now have about 1000 in...lots of branches down in this section slowing me down to a crawl...on a positive note.. I finally got a delivery date on my new evap which was due in nov!...hoping it will be here mon...was getting a little nervous looking at an empty sugarless house...weather is looking interesting here...no freeze at all next week and highs in the 50's...WHAT?!?!?!...

[Dill]

I feel your pain on the empty sugarhouse. Who knew the season was going to start this early?

[red maples]

gonna start getting taps in this weekend.

[morningstarfarm]

First bush is all tapped and the vac is on...had it up to 23...now it's down to chasing leaks then getting the 3 new lines tapped...will flush lines tomorrow then turn on the new lines...still praying the new rig arrives tomorrow...

[morningstarfarm]

woohoo!!!! The newrig arrived today and not a moment too soon! T her in place and now I am spending the night unwrapping bling...need to pick up a 4inpan gasket in the morning so we can hopefully set the pans and level her tomorrow...then wire and oil lines and we can fire her up with water to clean her and be ready to boil Thurs...its go time people!

[Chicopee Sap Shack]

Pictures please we all like stainless ya know


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unc23win]

Congratulations and I agree show us some pics once you get it ready!

[morningstarfarm]

The new rig...now called sapzilla by the kids...is all put together...just need to prime the guns and fire her up...hopefully tonight...the first bush is almost ready to turn on..repairs done and leaks chased...just need to finish hanging the pump out line today and we're off and running...still have 3 other bushes to tap but, hey it's a start...

[morningstarfarm]

well, it was here..now its gone...for a little while anyways...looks like the weather is going to turn around for us next week...its all good though it gives me time to tap...Sapzilla has been fired up and wow does she ever live up to her name..I can't wait until i have sap to put into her...the first bush is all tapped and ready to turn on..now on to the big bush this weekend...3000 in this bush and i have to put in 6 sap ladders...going to make for a long weekend and then some...hoping to be sweetening next week...i guess we'll see how it goes..

[BlueberryHill]

Good luck out there! Don't forget your mittens.

[BlueberryHill]

I got my 3/16 bush all sorted out and tapped today. Only about 150 over there. How did you fare, Chris? I was properly dressed so it was not too bad out there today. But once the sun started to tuck away, the wind picked up, and things turned for the worse real fast. I had to call it quits and high tail it to my wood stove to thaw out my fingers and toes. It said -12 for the "real feel" temp and that sounded about right to me. It was nuts. I plan to stay indoors all day tomorrow, but Monday I should be able to get all the rest of my taps in!

[morningstarfarm]

Lol got about 450-500 in sat before it got so cold I couldn't feel my fingers and my drill died...wanted to tap sun but I had to give in to nature...just too **** cold!...spent today finishing up around the sugar house so I can turn everything back on tomorrow...prob not much of a run but something is going to be better than nothing...the rest of the week looks pretty good...still hoping to sweeten by this weekend...

[syrupbythesea]

Hope to see you next week hicks! Can't wait to see sapzilla in action.

[morningstarfarm]

Will give you a call when it's time to boil...

[morningstarfarm]

Had 750 gals in the tank and after seeing the weather tonight I decided to pull the trigger so I wouldn't have any frozen pipes from the tanks...WOOHOO!!!...I made steam!!! Felt soo good to sweeten the pans finally...only about 2/3 to syrup but it is brown and sweet and the sugar house actually smells like a sugar house...now if I can just get the rest tapped this weekend...all in all a good day...

[morningstarfarm]

Another challenging day at the sugar house...first the electric releaser pump died...on to plan B....pull out a mechanical releaser, clean it up...oops dropped one of the tops and go figure it shatters...Huge Thank you to Chris at the Maple Guys for helping me out of a huge jam....got it back..put it together and wallah vacuum in the big bush...then back to tapping...got a bunch done and then home to find 800 gals in the tank...started the RO and finished sweetening ...found it takes about 1500 gals and 2 hours of tough boiling...ended up with about 2.5 gals of light...after we got done I had 400 more gals in the tanks already!!..had a very nice visit from Lee and his son...the first visitors to see Sapzilla scream! Any others who may want to join us it looks like we will most likely boil tomorrow night...just give me a call...all in all a pretty good day

[morningstarfarm]

It's been a busy few days here...good to have a sap tsunami again...hopefully it is starting again tonight...had over 3500 gals the last time...

[morningstarfarm]

Nothing happening here today...temp held right at 33...maybe 25 gals in the tank..getting ready for the final tapping push tomorrow...about 750 left for the season then on to cruise mode ...

[backyard sugaring]

Hope all is well with you guys you haven't kept us informed on Sapzilla. Must be busy with all the new taps. I' ll call you this week and come down and see the monster in action. What a great machine. Good luck Lee