2007 Off and running

[royalmaple]

Well not really running, but dripping anyway.

Drilled 40 at the house today on one branch of the vacuum and she is pulling some sap. All the trees I drilled except maybe 3 were wet. Sap is dancing in the sap ladder. I got one big smile.

Now I got to get more of these suckers online.

Vacuum pump is just a pumping, buuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrr, what a nice sound. Come on baby flow!!!

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Go for the Gusto !!!!

[TapME]

It's that time of year and every one is antzy? I know my boy is and Im having troble holding him back.
Hey royalmaple I use to drive through Groveville to go to work when I lived in Saco. How's that pinemaple doing? Are you thining it with nippin?
I here that sat is going to be 40 plus.

[royalmaple]

Jeremy-

Your back.... I still got to get up your way to check you out. Stop by sometime if you are down my way.

I know the weather is gonna be crap, but I just wanted to do a little testing anyway. The trees around my house are pretty much rats, I just wanted to see the sap ladders and vacuum pumps running. I had a big smile all day.

I am not too far from groveville at all, about 3 miles from the 4a/202 intersection.

[royalmaple]

I got about 150 total tapped and all on vacuum at the house now. Pretty neat to watch the three sap ladders working. Even though it was nice today, sap was just weeping. What a difference that vacuum makes.

Most of the trees out back were still quite cold and dry, but the ones up front in the sun were leaking a bit. Just about ready to go shut the pump off. At least I got pretty much what I want done around here, now I can focus on the real set up down the road.

[TapME]

sounds like you are adicted to sugaring as i am. If I get a chance we will try to check tour system out. New info is always good to have. last fall we started on Rusty's sugar house, maybe we can get some done while we are boing. Sat and Sun look tobe good. hope Sam got her fill of sap, I know Rusty can't get enough.

[royalmaple]

Got the vacuum pump running, hopefully that sun stays out just a little longer.

Went down the road and tapped 50 buckets, all nice sugars and south side holes were running pretty good. It will be interesting to see the sugar content.

Hope to get 50 or so more hung today and catch this teaser run before the big freeze next week.

[gmcooper]

Started tapping today on the vacuum system.
Who ordered all this wet crap in the woods. Snow was knee deep and wet, wet, wet. Didn't even get 100 tapped this afternoon. Most holes were wet but none were running great. I thought it would be really running today. These were in the thickest part of the woods.
Hope things freeze up enough to walk on snow tomorrow!
Kept scareing the crap out of a partridge today (or vice versa).
Mark

[MaineMapleDave]

Who ordered all this wet crap in the woods.

I hear you. I don't tap too many trees, but man oh man I just HATE slogging through the snow with the gathering pails pulling my arms out of their sockets!!

It's always a question: tough it out and slog, or do it on snowshoes. Either way's a drag, but it's all part of this obsession!!

My "good" roadside trees have run a bit, but I'm going to finish the in-woods tapping and tubing this afternoon, I think.


Good luck everyone!!!

[TapME]

Sure was pretty on sat morning in the woods with all the new snow. It did make it more difficult to walk. haven't set all my buckets out yet, think I will wait for the end of this week. Sill have a few things to do before the real drip begins. My boy is getting real anxious as I am.

[royalmaple]

Glad I put those buckets out yesterday. tapped right around 50 and collected 60 gallons today from them. Sweet sap too, sugar was 2.6. Trees were still running at 4pm when I collected.

My reds at the house are kicking in a little better too, sap was around 1.4 last couple of days and was 1.7 today.

Got a big week this week, gonna get some serious numbers tapped during this cold snap and be ready for the flood next weekend.

Sometimes I second guess all the **** tubing etc when you see what you get from some of those giant roadside sugars with little thought and money put into tapping them. But lugging those five gallon buckets back and forth does get old fast.

The liners have been working great in the buckets.

[TapME]

I was going to set 30 more buckets on sat but the temp never got up. Started the morning with thick fog at noon no sun still and 35 later some sun but rain at 3:30. today was nice but a slow start just the same. Glad you are getting some what of a run Matt hope it keeps up. Cann't wait to see your setup, especially those sap ladders.

[Revi]

We tapped a hundred or so. We have around 30 gallons, but we need 50 to crank up the evaporator. We'll see what happens, but it doesn't look like we'll be boiling before next weekend. I hope the sap doesn't freeze too hard in the tank. We've started the season anyway. We have a bunch of Colby students coming tomorrow to check out our little sugarhouse. I hope they dress warmly!

[Revi]

We are tapping a few more today. Yes, I know it's only going to get to ten degrees. We have some Colby students who want to see the maple syrup operation. It should be fun. I hope they dress warmly. We stomped out all the bucket trails, and the drills are charged up. I'll talk to them about maple syruping, and John can tell them about sugarbush management. He's a forester, so he can get into all sorts of silvicultural stuff.

We'll pop in and out of the sugarhouse to warm up. I just started the woodstove up, so they should be warm enough in there. The evaporator will have to wait until we have enough to crank it up. We have about 40 gallons of frozen sap now. We'll just have to wait for this weekend to boil that sapcicle!

[royalmaple]

Revi-

When you get them all trained, send them down. I got 500+ to finish getting ready, then can take a bus tour down.

[TapME]

one the way they can come and help me gather

[royalmaple]

Your only gonna be gathering nose sap this week by the looks of it, at least till the weekend.

[Russell Lampron]

TapMe,

What are you gathering? Ice blocks?

Russ

[TapME]

need to get sap ice blocks to put in the sap when the temp gets to 90 this weekend. right!!!!!!!!!!.?????????????

[Revi]

It's too cold! We have a sapcicle of about 50 gallons now in the tank, and have almost everything tapped. We caught a little bit of the last run, and will have to unfrost it before we start boiling. It may take a day or two to do that. I guess it will keep the liquid sap nice and cold for a while. Like a giant ice cube. Maybe this weekend we'll get some sap. We'll see...

We've been having a great time with the Colby College students who showed up the last two days. They were psyched to get out in the woods and we tapped all the buckets with them. They are in a science class for non-science majors. Yesterday was bitterly cold so they kept running back into the heated shack. We had a woodstove going so they could warm up. Today seemed balmy by comparison, even though it was only around 10 degrees!

It's stuff like that that keeps us going even if it hasn't warmed up yet.

[TapME]

get that next generation started It's a great idea. Keep it up Revi

[royalmaple]

I worked out in the woods today, all day. Pretty darn cold. Wind was still fairly strong and didn't make things any better. I got all the laterals run in the new woods. Counted them and da da da.....97 laterals. With most 5-7 taps some more very few have less.

I still left out one whole section that will more than likely be next seasons addition. Enough for this one man band to get ready for this season at this point. Started cutting in manifolds, been making drops at night while watching tv.

We may not have 4 feet of snow on the ground but the top layer is about 1/2 inch of ice, then knee deep snow. So makes for some miserable trudging.

Gotta get ready for the sap flood coming this weekend & next week. I got about 150 gallon sapsicle in one bulk tank.

[TapME]

sounds like you had a long day, talked to my son this evening and we are going to put the rest of the taps in on sat hoping to catch the run. Changed my mind about keeping my sap cubes to keep the sap cool, instead going to use it for the beer. hope to do our first boil sunday late or monday. looks to be abusy week for all.

[Revi]

I was just reading about Connecticut. A guy down there has made 8 gallons of syrup already! We are hoping to fire up some time soon, but it will have to be after this cold lets up. We have around 200 tapped and waiting. We tapped a few buckets with Colby College students yesterday. Fun! The cold let up a little and it changes your outlook on life. Our solar hot water heater got the water up to 100 degrees in our house yesterday. We only heat it another 20 degrees, so that's practically free hot water. This is some powerful sun, even if it's still beastly cold outside. It will move sap if the temps get up there. We got a little run before the freeze up and have about 50 gallons of ice. Maybe next week it'll run. Gotta have faith!

[royalmaple]

I just checked the weather and starting saturday out as far as the 10 day forcast goes it is perfect weather every day. Should be pretty busy, hopefully.

1/2 thinking about going back out today but suppose to be extremely cold and dangerous windchills today so kinda thinking wait and have a huge day tomorrow.

[sap extractor]

40 taps last weekend, then the BIG FREEZE...ready to scramble this weekend

[royalmaple]

Going to be hitting it hard this weekend. I got the vacuum pump down in the bush yesterday, now just have to plumb it to the releaser and the stock tank. Run a quick dry line out, cut in some manifolds and cut in my drops as I go and drill, drill, drill.

Hope to hear the releaser dump while I am out there today. Just might happen if they thaw out before the end of the day.

Got a fluke call from a buddy that wanted to know if I needed a hand today, yup meet you there at 8, won't refuse help this time of year, or anytime for that matter. Should be swamped in sap here soon enough.

FYI: Anyone hooking up an electric releaser, I did several trial and errors and finally got a pump that works well, and tested up to 19". It is a 1hp stainless steel housing pump from lowes, not a bad price either at 147.00. I'll have to take some pictures of the vacuum at the sugarhouse to show how I did some customizing to the plumbing. At least anything here ends up in the bulk tanks on its own. No Matt involved.

Good luck to everyone this upcoming week. Hopefully we don't have time to pop in, but only for a minute.

[Revi]

Got everything hooked up again, and we're waiting to see what happens. We had a nice run today. Every tree we tapped was running. Now if we can just melt that giant ice cube, maybe we can start boiling. I'm thinking it'll take a couple of days just to melt it. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, but it doesn't seem to be too much below freezing right now. I wonder if it'll run?

[royalmaple]

Had a good work day yesterday. I got the vacuum pump tied into the releaser, set up the tank, connected the mainline to the releaser and got everything ready to run the dry line. Tapped right around 125 right at the pump. Started drilling them at 2, and tapped all the laterals that were already connected to manifolds. Then drilled out about 25-30 more manifolds to connect today and get more taps in.

I was cutting in the drops and tapping and I was averaging about 50/hr.

Snow is packing down. It is about knee deep and that crust was gone so thank god.

I had a couple that I drilled and I thought they were sugars, drip, drip, drip drip. ......drip , drip , drip

They will be getting some nice warm sun today, it was pretty much overcast all day yesterday with just spotty sun.

I may shoot a small video clip of the set up incase anyone is interested and you can watch it on your computer. I think it will be neat to see the sap coming in and dumping. At least for the guys that have not seen vacuum

[markcasper]

50 an hour? The trees must be new trees with no prior tap marks to look out for

[royalmaple]

I have to cut in the drops as I go and find the reducer in my bag and put it on the premade drops. All new trees, completely new set up. Should be alot faster next year.

Went slower today, I only got in about 150, doing the same thing. And making up manifolds. But this morning I went ahead and made up the manifolds first then got the pump running and then started cutting in drops. Almost all trees were dry when I drilled them today, but after about 3 seconds with the tap in and the vacuum at the tap I would see a drip and the vacuum did a little convincing today. I was surprised but probably got about 50-60 gallons there today and started the day with about 125 in, and got about 150 more in today while the pump was running.

Had some family stop over to check it out so that took a couple of hours and also gave them a tour of the sugar house. But a nice break, gotta hit it hard couple more days to get those buggers all done.

Would have been better with a bit more sun today.
All but two taps yesterday were dry when I drilled them, but the vacuum sure did fight the tree and sure enough the drips came in shortly thereafter.

[hambone]

Yesterday we put out 81 taps along the ridge. They started to flow immediately. I guess the season is now official!

[Oakes' Sugar House]

Started tapping at noon yesterday. The sap was running. Got 250 taps in. Hoping to get 400 more in this week.

Sugar content was very low.

[TapME]

Matt, how was your sap flow today monday, mine was slow again.
Got maybe a quart out of some trees and nothing out the ones 6 feet away.
Not alot of sun here in McFalls, but Plenty in Dixfeild and 50's
How about yoou Maine Maple Dave

[royalmaple]

I was going to keep better count by the number of reducers that I was using to keep track of how many taps are in there, but wow those trees all look alike and it just doesn't seem like I was getting anywhere. But just about made it up one side and have I don't know 200 more for tomorrow, maybe slightly under.

I put in I think almost 200 today, I'd say only about 10 were bleeding. NO SUN. It was warm and they appear to be thawing out but need some sun. Without vacuum I bet on those now I think I got 450 tapped, but still need to cut in the manifolds for the 200 today, so based on 250 that are hooked up and vacuum on them I got around 100 gallons today from them. It would have been much more but I started cutting in the manifolds and just too much vacuum loss when I had to frig around cutting them in, so I just kept tapping and tapping, and I'll cut in the manifolds for the rest of the mainline I think there is like 40-50 more manifolds to go and then tap the rest.

I'd say all day on those 250 I had about a pencil size stream coming in, so maybe 1/4 pipe on a 3/4 mainline. Maybe a bit less than 1/4 pipe. I'll tell you what those trees are going to pump some sap out. Or I should say that vacuum pump is going to get me some sap. Anyone thinking about setting up vacuum, don't think, do it. Unreal. If I were on gravity in that woods, I bet I would not have had 15-20 gallons today, guarentee it. Most of them online now are hidden in among some pines.

I think scott(powerdub) had an old post about waiting to set up vacuum and him saying don't wait. It is true, don't walk, run to get yourself set up.

Should have sun tomorrow, or so they say and with the extra 200 taps cut in, should be pretty interesting. Giddee UP.

Tapme- are you tapping in dixfield too? I buddy of mine is helping or has helped an outfit in weld, but I guess they have a sugarbush in dixfield or wilton area.
Is that you he is helping?

[TapME]

No not taping in Dixfeild, just a complete house remodel. It keeps getting the way of sugar making though.
Your freind must be helping Rodney Hall in East Dixfeild, they have real nice setup with a new RO. They are on route 2 on the Wilton line.
Dick Hall his dad helps a person above Moose Head lake that has 80,000 taps, can't even imagine that amount.

[Oakes' Sugar House]

Tapped another 250 today. The sun was strong all day. Sap was running collecting 150 gal with a gravity system. Getting ready to start the evaporator soon.

[Revi]

The sap was running nicely today. We boiled a bit on Sunday and the tank filled itself up again today! We'll boil it off tomorrow and maybe that will be enough. Especially if we get started early tomorrow. It was pouring in at around 2:30 when I checked after work. You could tell if the sun was out by the sound of the pour. We still have a huge ice cube in the tank, but it's melting and keeping the rest of the sap nice and cold. We've only just sweetened the pan, but maybe we'll pour off something tomorrow.

[royalmaple]

Tapme-

Nope I know rodney. He is helping someone in Weld, but taps a sugarbush in Dixfield or wilton and they truck the sap.

Funny I just found out that two good friends from High School are into sugaring and have been doing it for a few years. Just lost touch with them to have learned sooner. They are up in Jay / Livermore area where my family is.

Sun, sun sun. Should be fun today. Cleaned the evaporator last night, and gonna shoot for the real deal tonight. Got sap, should be getting pleanty more today.

I forgot to mention I am now one of the victoms of a broken bit. Snapped one off in a tree yesterday. Tried like a mother to get it out, but just not enough to grab with pliers. That was a 19/64 tapping bit. Glad I have a back up 5/16.

[Revi]

We boiled again today, and we'll be ready to do a big boil this weekend. We boiled every drop off, so it'll have to run some to fill the tank over the next few days. It's supposed to get cold at the end of the week, so I figure we're probably going to have the perfect amount of sap for Saturday and Sunday, when we have the time to boil it off. We still haven't poured off, but we have lots in the evaporator almost ready now. The pan is very sweet now.

[gmcooper]

Nearly finished tapping. Slowest tapping year ever. Not as much help and to **** much wet snow. Only have about 40 more to tap. Just finally got the vacuum pump rebuilt tonight. Been working on it for 3 weeks off and on. Lost a bearing, oil seal and wore a shaft the last day of last season. Thought it would be a quick fix. No such luck! It is working tonight. Have toset it back in place tomorrow.

[Oakes' Sugar House]

Another decent run today. Started the evaporator and sweetened the pans. This is a bonus 3 day run since the season doesn't normally start in Northern Maine before April 1st. I had to tap fast not to miss out. Still have 100 taps to go.

Sugar concentration remains weak but climbed up to 2% this afternoon.

[royalmaple]

Heck of a day yesterday & today, mostly all snafoo's and what not. Went down off rt 22 in the new set up and that 300 gallon tank was to the rim. Sap was flowing pretty good, pump was cranking. Then tried to figure out how the heck I was going to get the sap to my snowmachine. Strung up a mainline and started pumping sap to the tank on the sled, which was not the way to go. Started out of the woods to my van and voila... buried in the wet snow. Got that out, went to the road and transfered the sap to my van. Headed back in for trip #2, and battery was dead so bilge pump wasn't pumping, got only about 1/2 full. Headed out with the tank just few inches from the top.

Sweetened up the pans last night on the new rig. Boiled till just about 3am. boiled about 200 gallons.

Got up this morning at 8 and went to go check on that tank, this time brought my 4wd 4 wheeler. On the way there the rachet strap broke and the wheeler jumped forward and was on the tongue of the trailer and 1/2 still on the trailer. Loaded that back on again, did it again once more before I got there. Started shuttling out sap and took one trip home with about 150 gallons. Sap was running pretty well, 4 wheeler was certainly much easier than the sled. snow was just deep enough so the wheeler could make it without getting buried on the trail.

Dumped the 1st load at the house, and went back for the second trip. Wheeler wasn't running correct. So called the local honda dealer and told them what is happening and they said sounds like the brain for the transmission was gone. And that was 1-2 days for parts and 1 day to get it done. Just when I needed it. Oh well just part of the gig I guess. Gonna cool off in a couple of days so I'll just limp through it.

Got 400 gallons here in one bulk tank, got about 100 gallons down the road in buckets, and still have 200 gallons in the stock tank in the woods. So got pleanty to boil again.

Sugar % is down in those reds, this is the first official collection from the new set up and it was testing 1.4. I haven't checked the sugars up the road but I will tomorrow when I gather that.

[Revi]

I went out to check the tank, and found almost no sap yesterday. We had boiled down every drop the day before, so I went up to see the Libbys in Cornville. Quite the operation. They turn out 2 gallons an hour with their rig and it was putting out lots of steam. Today is not going to be much of a run, but maybe after this cold spell we'll get some sap. We'll see... Maybe Saturday and Sunday. We'll have to have some serious runs before Maple Sunday if we are going to have enough to sell.

[danno]

Royalmaple -

Are we having fun yet:)

Just so you know you're not alone, broke the hitch off the sap wagon the other night. Now I have one of my 300 gallon sap tanks sitting in the bed of my pick up. At least I was able to cook it all down last night so I don't have 300 gallons of sap sitting in my office parking lot, just the tank:)

Remeber, if were not breaking things, the sap's not running!


Heck of a day yesterday & today, mostly all snafoo's and what not. Went down off rt 22 in the new set up and that 300 gallon tank was to the rim. Sap was flowing pretty good, pump was cranking. Then tried to figure out how the heck I was going to get the sap to my snowmachine. Strung up a mainline and started pumping sap to the tank on the sled, which was not the way to go. Started out of the woods to my van and voila... buried in the wet snow. Got that out, went to the road and transfered the sap to my van. Headed back in for trip #2, and battery was dead so bilge pump wasn't pumping, got only about 1/2 full. Headed out with the tank just few inches from the top.

Sweetened up the pans last night on the new rig. Boiled till just about 3am. boiled about 200 gallons.

Got up this morning at 8 and went to go check on that tank, this time brought my 4wd 4 wheeler. On the way there the rachet strap broke and the wheeler jumped forward and was on the tongue of the trailer and 1/2 still on the trailer. Loaded that back on again, did it again once more before I got there. Started shuttling out sap and took one trip home with about 150 gallons. Sap was running pretty well, 4 wheeler was certainly much easier than the sled. snow was just deep enough so the wheeler could make it without getting buried on the trail.

Dumped the 1st load at the house, and went back for the second trip. Wheeler wasn't running correct. So called the local honda dealer and told them what is happening and they said sounds like the brain for the transmission was gone. And that was 1-2 days for parts and 1 day to get it done. Just when I needed it. Oh well just part of the gig I guess. Gonna cool off in a couple of days so I'll just limp through it.

Got 400 gallons here in one bulk tank, got about 100 gallons down the road in buckets, and still have 200 gallons in the stock tank in the woods. So got pleanty to boil again.

Sugar % is down in those reds, this is the first official collection from the new set up and it was testing 1.4. I haven't checked the sugars up the road but I will tomorrow when I gather that.

[royalmaple]

Brought the wheeler down to the shop today and they went over it and called me a little bit ago, its ready. Wow that was quick. Only 300 bucks, some arm was worn out in the transmission that tells the brain what gear it is in, so it was in a limp mode. They fixed it and she is back up and running again. Good cause got about 250 gallons in the woods to pump out tomorrow. Not getting much sap today, vacuum is helping. IT didn't freeze last night and rain today. Gonna get cold tonight, then may not break for a couple of days. Give me a chance to catch up on boiling and get stuff ready.

Might boil later on tonight, I got 400 gallons here and gotta go up the road and dump some buckets, should have at least 75 gallons up there. So I got enough.

I was in a tail spin when I left the honda dealer, I forgot to put the pin in the snowmobile trailer to keep it from breaking, luckily the spring loaded pin held and I had the ratchet strap around the tongue to the wheeler, holy.... wouldn't that have been cute, go down the road with a fixed 4 wheeler only to bale the whole mess in the woods. Wow, I am a mess.

[Parker]

Steady Man!!! Straighten Up And Fly Right!!!!! Its A Marathon Not A Sprint!!!!,,, Focus!!!!

[Pete33Vt]

Like Parker said stand back and take a breath, you will burn out fast. I know I have to do that time to time. Especially if things are going wrong.This is supposed to be fun not a stress fest.Things will straighten out.

[royalmaple]

Oh Yeah, I know. I really wasn't too pumped up. Just had to almost chuckle at all the crap happening at once. But I am sure that most any of us could write down a book of things each season. I just found it kinda funny with all the stuff happening.

Not a big deal but yesterday I figured out the hard way I didn't have the drain plug in on my pump for the electric releaser here at the house. Tank was full and switch was on, and im looking at it and up and up and up the sap goes, holy....ball gets sucked up to the vacuum line, look around the releaser and sap is blazing out of the bottom drain plug of the pump. Red alert, red alert. Shut the ^(&( pump off, install the plug ok now she is pumping. But wait, I thought the 400 gallon tank was full. Oh it is, ok switch to the 300 gallon tank, pump pump pump. SH&T, the drain valve on the tank is leaking. Great. So had to empty that into five gallon buckets.

Anyone know where I can get a new valve for these dairy tanks? This is a steinhorst. Actually I just thought I might be able to take the cap off the other end and just cap off the tank. That would work.

Got a few hundred gallons to go collect today before the storm of '62 hits.

Made a few gallons last night, I didn't grade it yet but looks strong medium or dark. Ton of sugar sand. I ended up buying some new prefilters this year and I don't know the brand but they are working night and day better than what I used last year. You can actually take one out and the next one in line is just wet with syrup, so they are working and trapping the garbage.

Gonna boil it down during the cold spell, and get ready for next week.

Crows woke me up, they are just hammering the dump site of squirrels out back. Good less for me to pick up. Looks like an A bomb went off with the snow melting and all the carcases.

[TapME]

Sounds like you have had a testing time the last couple a days, need to stop and ask the captain for some direction. Other than the issues are you ready for the begining of the season (all to date has been a tease for us so far). I and my sap hauler have only made 3 quarts so far from 30 gallons of sap. Have had two runs of about 1 qt. per tap(only have 60 so far, waiting to tap 13 large trees at a neighbors which will make 90 total). I can't beleive that the season is anywhere nere started yet alone done. Has been different than last year, we were starting to pull taps at the end of March. If you have the Maple Syrup Book by the Nerrings their are referances about 10 different years and the weather and quanity of syrup that was made during them in it. Hope today was better than the last two Matt, and the rest of the season will go well. Hope to go and visit on a trip to Saco in the near future,(grandsons first birthdaynext weekend). Will let you know a day in advance.

[Revi]

It froze up hard here, and the trees stopped. I collected everything yesterday. It looks like we'll get from 21-16 inches of new snow to whiten everything up again. That's ok by me. The season starts in earnest next week. It's supposed to be below freezing at night and around 40 every day until Wednesday. That will get the sap flowing. We'll be doing some boiling next week for sure. Maine Maple Sunday is only about a week away!

[TapME]

Revi, your weather must be about the same as mine here in McFalls. Have your runs been good or bad for the begining of the season? I expected a larger amount of sap with more taps and a larger pan this year than last, but has been slow to start. Still want to get over your way but don't go to Augusta much and my grandsons birthday party is set for the 24th. At least the sap is not getting warm. Can't wait to realy push the new pan.

[Revi]

Well we finally got that sap cube melted and started to boil. We have a fully sweetened pan now, but are still waiting for some more sap to flow in so we can boil and pour off. Maybe on Sunday it'll warm up enough to do some boiling. I have a feeling that it will all start to pour in at once. Then we'll be boiling for real. I was reading that the folks down in West Virginia got a super run at the end of their season. We may have it happen here too. I'm catching up on my sleep so we're ready if it does start to really run.

[royalmaple]

Nothing too eventful yesterday. Tried to get in and pump the 300 gallon tank in the woods out. I only got about 125 gallons out, of the 250 I'd say that was in there. So there is some more waiting.

I went in and checked on the evaporator from the night before and I forgot to mention, I got my "wings" the other night. Really still only an honorary member of the burnt pan club. Nothing serious as the name implies but while I was waiting for my first draw off, everything was cranking and I just got a very faint wiff of something just not quite maple, and hit the valve to draw off, it was close enough. Then yesterday morning I looked and sure enough, I had a small black spot right near the draw off. It was very small, only maybe 3/4 inch wide and 2 inches long, but non the less it was burnt.

I noticed that I had a ton of nitre in the pans which I think wasn't helping anything. So I drained the front pan yesterday and added water and vinegar and started scrubbing with a sponge, with a little more scrubbing side. Just kept working it lightly, seems to be lifting it. I let it soak all day and will finish it up later today. Not a big deal, but just a learning experience I guess.

I also noticed that I got some little spots, like freckles on the bottom of the syrup pan, not burnt, but still there anyway. Gonna see if they lift off too. But should be back boiling tonight.

[MaineMapleDave]

How about yoou Maine Maple Dave

Been absent for a couple of days--sorry for no reply.

All tapped out, the storage tank is about half full, so I'll be able to boil for a few hours tomorrow. Got scared last week with the balmy nights an even balmier days, but hopefully this snow and cold stretch will even things out a bit.

The updated dump tank and pump worked a charm, the sap is circulating through the UV unit, so everything seems to be copacetic.

Remind me of that when something dire happens!!!!

[Revi]

Finally got the sugarhouse plowed out and we're ready to go if we get some more sap. Too cold this weekend! It's supposed to go down to 13 tonight, and only up to 35 tomorrow. I hope it warms up this week. A friend made some maple sap bagels and we tried them out today. Delicious! We may have them on Maine Maple Sunday. We have a wood fired oven that will be set up next to the sugarhouse, so it should be fun.

[royalmaple]

I went out today around lunch time and kicked on the vacuum pump here and sap was coming in, it was barely 32 out but the sun was strong. I went over to the post office to mail some shipments and decided to brake trail into that pump. Little rough going in there but made it and started the pump. POOOF here comes the sap. I was really surprised to see it running as well as it was, really got cloudy this afternoon and only 35 degrees was the high. I would say it was running as good as any of the days in the past. That really isin't saying much, but heck I'll take whatever the trees want to give, or should I say the pump will "encourage" them to give. Filled it up with gas and left it for the night, should die out little after the hard freeze tonight.

[TapME]

Got a small run here also. Not dripping hard but dripping. Thinking of taping a few of the large trees this week. Goign to TJ's pizza on sat for both grandsons birthdays one 6 and one 1.
Get ready for wed and on,looks to be the one.

[royalmaple]

Tapme-

I'll be here all weekend, stop by if you got time. Should be boiling. Or hauling sap to boil. She's gonna pop this week, sound like a broken record, but this might be it after this or just the kick off. I like to think of it as just getting going good. I'll gladly make syrup well into april if that is what it ends up being.

I stuck it out late last year and still managed to get some runs in early to mid april.

[Revi]

I went out to the sugarhouse at around 8 pm and found the sap dripping in still! It never even got above 33 degrees, but the sap wants to run. I think it'll really get going this week. Tonight it's supposed to be really cold again, but the rest of the week it'll start to run. We have Maine Maple Sunday this weekend, so we need it. Maybe we'll even pour off some syrup this week!

We're boiling on Wednesday, so we'll have something to sell.

[Gary in NH]

I emptied buckets last night around 6:00 and they were still running. This morning most are 1/3 to 1/2 full at 7:30. Looks like it's going to be a good run today. I've got my RO up and running. When I have time I'll post details.

[royalmaple]

She's running today. When I started up the pump out in the woods this morning, I had near a full pipe coming in. Then at least steady 1/3 pipe once everything came in and cleaned the lines out a bit.

Talk about dedication, Russ is gonna head over tonight after he is done boiling and finish boiling with me. I might have to give him some sort of merit badge for the dual state marathon boiling award.

He'll be junk for sure tomorrow.. :-)

Good thing you are on vacation russ. And that you have an RO.

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

If you got that much sap and he's coming up, have him load up and bring that RO!!! LOL

[Revi]

Even though the temp never got out of the 30's today, and it was around 30 degrees in the afternoon, the sap ran today! Tomorrow it'll be running for sure. It's supposed to be a little warmer and the sun will be out. We are going to boil off what we got today, and whatever we get tomorrow. We'll need it for Maple Sunday, that's for sure. It's supposed to be in the 40's by Friday. Perfect for a sap run. We'll see what happens. It could be good!

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

How many taps do you have there in Buxton?? I am just curious I grew up in Gorham.. Didn't realize there where any sugarmakers of any size in Buxton..

Andy

[royalmaple]

Ryan-

Funny you mentioned that, Russ and I spoke of that last night, if it wasn't too much work to set up and wiring was ready to fly, he was going to bring the RO. It would have been great.


Vally View, Currently I have just about 800 taps, might be 750. Mostly all red maple. Since that is what seems to be about the only wild maple predominately in the area. But have roadside buckets on sugars, just about 100 of them.

Going back out to boil the 300 gallons that is in the bulk tank right now. Then get ready for the sap due for the end of the week. Lets see what happens.

[TapME]

Matt, how much of a run are you geting on the road side maples?

[gmcooper]

We finally had a decent run yesterday.Sugar was a good 2.3 including that from the reds. Both with the vacuum and those with out ran. With the wind we had, usually I get zero sap but something must go right once in a while. Had a little runnin today but it started cooling down by 3 pm.
Booster tank froze up last night so it took most of the afternoon to thaw. Guess the dry line was wet today! Rest of the week looking better.

Valley View you must be the one who found Ralph and Tim their evaporator?

Not to many people that grew up in Gorham and make syrup in VT now.

[Revi]

I thought it was going to run today, but there wasn't much actually. We ended up making a few gallons from what we had in the tank, though. Sounds like we may get a run tomorrow. Never can tell! It is cold right now, so I'm hoping that will work as a freeze up, and tomorrow gets over 40 degrees. That chould get the sap a runnin'. We'll see.

[Russell Lampron]

I had fun as always going to help Matt boil. I felt like one of those NASCAR drivers that does the Indy 500 and then follows that up with the Coca Cola 600. It was a long day and night for sure.

Matt you've got to get some dry wood to make that evaporator fly. I never saw the D&G rig you had last year but it sounds like you are much happier with the new Lapierre. It actually does what it is supposed to do.

Some day when you are caught up you will have to come over when I am boiling so that you can see how badly you need an RO machine. Maybe you can borrow the Governors, he isn't using it.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Tapme-

The roadsides are really cranking, but I would say getting about 1/2 gallon from them per day. On average. Most all the sap I am getting is in the woods on vacuum.

Russ, burned pallet wood last night and big difference, big difference.

Tried to hook up a blower I had too, and all I got was Sh*& out of the doors, ash pit door, vermiculite all over the place it was like a hurricane of crap all over the place, so I put an end to that little experiment until it is a bit more fine tuned.

[Revi]

It has to be running today! It is over 40 degrees and it was definitely below freezing last night! Well, the sap is running, and I have to go catch it!

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

I am the one that found them their evaporator.. Where abouts are you ?? in the gorham area??? I just tried calling them to see if they fired that old girl off yet, hopefully thats what they are doing seems there was no answer and its past Ralph's bedtime.. :)

[TapME]

got 30 more gallons today and 25 yesterday so started the block arch up and made one and half galons of syrup with what we had. Gathered sap while we were boing and still have 25 gal. left. will do it again tommorow except I will start in the morning and hopefully end with light out. Hope to make a lot more syrup this week end, temps lookgood next few days.

[mooseman]

Got 37 gallons today from 26 taps. Started boiling this afternoon and will add to it tomorrow.

[TapME]

Made another gallon and a quart with what was left from yesterday and what we collected today. Got the pan just jumping and almost boiled over a couple of times. I'm well on my way to my 5 gallons that I make for home use, may make a little more if the wood holds out. After that my 14 year old sap hauler will sell the sap to another local sugarer,(a little money that I don't have to shell out). Hope everyones sap has run like ours has. May think of building an arch to put the pan on next year, and a house to put it in. We will see what the man upstairs has in mind for us this year, last one was long and difficult with all that happened.

[gmcooper]

Valley Veiw, I am in South Windham on Chute road. For about 20 years I was the leader of the 4-H Baby Beef club.
Mark

[royalmaple]

Collected almost 250 gallons today, pumps ran all night. I had an internal bet going with myself and I was betting if the gas engine in the woods, stalled, ran out of gas, or if it ran all night and the 300 gallon tank was running over. Got to finish pumping it out tomorrow but at least it is at a safe level for starters.

Well, pump was still running when I went there after noon, had about 1 gallon of gas still in the bucket, and tank was crowning, two more dumps from the releaser and it would have run over. So my other self won the bet I guess.

She is freezing up now, so might get some decent runs tomorrow. Gotta make some more for Sunday.

Went from making extra dark to what will probably end up being medium when done or might just go over and be dark.

[Oakes' Sugar House]

It was a slow run yesterday due to the cool temps, but we were still able to give our visitors a chance to see the evaporator at work late in the afternoon. The slow run allowed time to made a batch of maple butter and a batch of maple taffy for the kids (or kids at heart).

Finished tapping the remaining 100 taps with plenty of help. Now we are ready for the the season to start in full swing. Looks like a great year for us with the snow pack and the fact the we already made 12 gallons of syrup before our normal season.

Sap sugar level is still low but climb up to 2.5%.

[MaineMapleDave]

Things are FINALLY happening!!!! I was able to boil a bit last weekend, but not enough to finish anything. Gathered enough sap yesterday to half fill the tank and fire up the evaporator and have enough to start finishing some syrup off.

Now I face the annual conundrum on Maine Maple Sunday--do I stay home and boil, or do I visit as many sugarhouses as possible............

MaineMapleSamantha mentioned something about the Maple Cotton Candy at Grandpa Joe's, so I think we're off for a tour.

[royalmaple]

Had a good day today, made some steam for the visitors, got a few draws off today as well. Kinda babied it today with all the Q/A. First time of having an open house so that was neat. Just kinda PO'd that I paid to be in the paper and never made the listing. I'm sure that didn't help anything, I know down the road they were packed, so people were out. But honestly I don't know how many more people I could have handled not nowing what to expect. Syrup sales we good too for the day. So over all very happy and no mishaps.

Sap didn't run quite as well as I expected yesterday. Not sure what happened today, pumps still running.

[Revi]

Maine Maple Sunday was really fun! We haven't made much syrup so far, but we had a heck of a day anyway. I suppose that's all you can ask for. Snow, sun, sap. We got two out of three anyway! We must have had a thousand people in and out and all around. We expanded the scene by putting the wood fired pizza oven at the logyard. It was quite a day.

[gmcooper]

Glad Sunday is over with. Still trying to get caught up on everything. We were swamped with people till 3 pm, then it finally started to slow down. Still had people show up at 5:15 even though we closed at 5. Sold everything but the trees! I hope they didn't sell them but you never know! Severed well over 500 breakfasts. Now to get more sap to make more syrup to fill the orders we have.
Mark

[Revi]

Not much sap today, but we'll boil tomorrow to get some of the stuff we steamed down on Maple Sunday. We didn't draw off on Sunday to cut down on the pandemonium, so we may make 5 gallons or so tomorrow. We'll see. We need to get some sap soon, or this will be a short season. I have a feeling that it will pour out this week and next and that will be it. We'll see.

[royalmaple]

Been hitting it hard every day and night. Pretty much taking most of the day or at least the afternoon to get sap collected, then boiling every night from supper time till 1:30 the earliest to 4:30am the latest. Going to take tonight off. Feel Like I am playing hookey.

I don't think I could put 1/2 oz more in the 300 gallon tank, it is right to the lip, 400 gallon tank is still about 1/2 full from collecting today.

Having a pretty hard time keeping up with the sap, felt cold as heck today but still got couple hundred gallons of sap. Sugar content has been way down. The wind was nuts.

Kevin took a road trip up here for the day / night Monday. Glad he brought he shiney new evaporator calibration tool. Took a while but we got it. I still think it was worth every penny. But he won't share where he got it.

We almost needed to get behind a wall or blast sheild from the sap shooting out of the flue pan. Boy does that rig like the wood. She is hungry, hungry, hungry.

[Revi]

We boiled every last drop on Wednesday, and the tank filled itself up again today. We may get a freeze tonight, so they should run again tomorrow. We may do a bit of boiling tomorrow, and then on Saturday for sure. It looks like the season is actually starting now!

[TapME]

Very busy here, doing work and sap make for long days. To this point we have made about 5 gallons (not sure because it gets eaten fast this time of the year) will boil one more time before we start to sell sap. Hope to make some cash for the 14 yr old sap hauler to save tobuy a 4wheeler that he will use to collect sap next yr.Hope the weather stays good for all us syrup makers.

[royalmaple]

Put some miles on yesterday. Did a mini marathon, got the pumps going for my stuff and then headed over to russ's sugarhouse. Boiled with him and did a meet and greet with some guests over there at his sugar house and showed them how syrup is made. Then heard the roar coming down the road Kevin showed up with his son Dakota and we milled around russ's for a while and eyed up his future expansions. Russ you got pleanty more trees to tap, we got some work weekends planned this summer.

Then after the boiling session russ followed me to my place to boil. Had 700 gallons to process. This time we brought a little helper with us. Heavy sucker but worth its weight in gold. RO, RO, its off to boiling we go........

Holy moly, I gotta have one. WOW, poof, instantly vaporized the sap into concentrate. Sap was pretty sweet last night, over 6%, those trees must really be kicking in now, oh wait that was concentrate. I am still in awe. I told russ it would be too much hassle to lug that home he can just leave it here.

Gathered 450 gallons today, and still have 100 down the road waiting in buckets & bags. Now I got to do it the old fashioned way. But I guess you could sap the pans are sweetened now, I guess the heck.

Not too bad when you process 700 gallons in 3hours including start up and shut down. We just got it hot and ran out of sap!

Pretty beat tonight after gathering. Russ you got to sleep past 6am when you are here next time, especially if we are up boiling till 3am. That isn't much down time.

Bit the bullet and finally bought a 4stroke gas transfer pump. Got one at lowes, I think $350 ish, honda engine 1" ports. Seems to work very well and lightweight. Much faster than the bilge pump. Now I can get some sap moved.

[TapME]

royalmaple , how much syrup have you made so far this season?

Collected and made another gallon today. Not bad so far. We're up to 5 for the season and this week looks good. may sell or finish depends on the time we have.

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

Matt-

They say once you've boiled concentrate, you'll never go back!!! LOL

[Russell Lampron]

RO Pirate, (Matt) now you can say that you boiled sap in 2 states on the same day. In a little over 24 hours I boiled at my house then at your house and then mine again.

I know how bad you wanted me to leave it there but I wasn't leaving without the RO. It sure made a difference that night. With that low sugar content sap it struggled to make 6% but when I got it home and hooked back up it made a happy 10% once it got that Maine sap out of it's throat and was sipping Loudon NH sap again.

I would like to set up about 200 more taps to start with when you come over to do my woods. I think that would give me more sap than I could handle on a good run.

Good luck to you guys in Maine that are still going. I am pretty much done here in NH.

Russ

[802maple]

Russ -
If you get too big for your R.O you could give that one to Matt and you could buy a new one, Matter of fact you better watch out now that he has used a R.O. the Captain and Matt might set sail to Loudon and Kidnap it LOL

[Russell Lampron]

Jerry-

My RO is actually too small for Matts evaporator. He could add another membrane though. Maybe I should lock it up tighter just in case. I know he really took a liking to it.

Russ

[802maple]

Oh yeah he likes it, that is for sure.

[royalmaple]

Russ good thing we are buddies. That way when you go out there and see a note hanging on the door saying be right back. THat is me telling you the ro is temporarily out for service work in maine and I am just checking things over for you.

It might be a bit too small, but no one said I can't have it running ahead of time.

tapme, you asked about production. I did some rough math last night and I am just a wisker under 50 gallons to date. Russ I was off when you asked me, I had to really think about it last night. I still have about 350 gallons left to boil that was collected yesterday, might be a bit more. But my sugar content has been very very weak. Like mostly 1.3 - 1.4. Roadside buckets were mostly 2 all season long. So lots of sap and little product. One thing is I do not have a shortage on sap, just need to boil longer for the same result.
I have had some sort of a run, every single day since I drilled the holes early march. I think it was the first couple of days. Only time they shut off was when we had that bitter cold spell, otherwise, rain shine or cloudy windy days. Sap has been coming in. Now that is also with vacuum. Gravity and I'd be in the same boat as many other guys. But I also know a few people that won't put a tap in a red maple and also will dump sap if it is less than 2% sugar, so if I followed that route, I'd maybe sweetened my pans to date.


So although I am not lying with my collection amounts the sugar is just not there to support more finished product. I have a water meter but never got it hooked up from my feed tank then I could keep track of some better numbers. Which would be interesting.

[royalmaple]

Just checked and the forecast still shows good weather for the next 10 days here.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

Did you keep a record of how many gallons of sap you collected? It would be interesting to see the sap to syrup ratio. I kept a record of what I collected at both places but haven't done the math yet. I do know that I got more than an 800 gallon spread from the vacuum over the non vacuum taps this year.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Russ-

I didn't, I know it is way up there now I'm guessing 3500-4000 currently.

[royalmaple]

I took some mini video clips yesterday of sap ladders working and also some of my other set up. Take a look if you are interested. Not cinemax worthy but still interesting to watch.

Thanks to hanginaround to remind me about the youtube.com website.

I just checked and the videos are up and live so you can go to:

http://www.youtube.com/royalmaple

the various ones I uploaded last night are there. you don't need anything special to view the files just click them.

Enjoy. Now I got this figured out, I'll have to post more and more. Pretty fun stuff.

[802maple]

Now after watching your videos I have discovered how you got so much sap. Your dog going around and watering your trees must help.

You did a good job Matt as the way your sap is coming into your releaser tells the story, no surging so it is a very tight system and straight system

[royalmaple]

Jerry-

Thanks, that is the woods that kevin and russ all put some time into helping me with. That system is tight, very tight, I can get that up to say 19 inches, turn the engine off, change the oil in the pump, add new oil, change the oil in the engine and add new oil, and still be at about 10 inches and fire it back up and not miss a beat.

Glad you enjoyed it. That was the only video of the new setup I uploaded, others are from around the house, with much more ratty trees, but you can see the sap in the ladders still running.

Sorry about the **** phone ringing in one of them. I just left that part in there.

Yup, noah helps out a lot. Maybe that is the extra fertilizer I need.

[mountainvan]

Nice video. You sound like the guys from Hiram and Fryburg that I worked with in the lumber yaard in North Conway, NH.

[HanginAround]

I watched them all, good job!

I spent quite a bit of time in Maine and NH, and all I can say is your Maine accent is pretty weak. Almost sounded like there was an "R" on the end of ladder LOL. My guess is you're not from there.

[royalmaple]

I think I was trying to use my TV voice, so people could understand what the heck I was saying. Otherwise I can turn up the accent pretty hard and it would sound like I was talking chinese or something.

Maybe next video you'll get the full effect.

I am uploading a few more now. Might take a little while for them to be ready.

100% mainer (main-a)

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

Just watched your videos. Nice job, I see that Noah is adding some sap flow of his own. After you and Kevin come ovah the sap should flow into my releasah like that too.

Russ

[royalmaple]

aYUHH, FLOW WICKED HAAARD

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

There would be an i aftah the k in wicked (wickid) in NH. Sort of like chickin.

Russ

[TapME]

Well got 14 inches here and just stoped. Wet sticky snow that is hard to shovel. Broke my snow blower half way through. Thank goddness I moved the truck last night so only had to do 200ft of drive instead of 400. And snow shoes again, Oh well its for maple. Hope everyone else is diging out OK. Should make the sap run like crazy today when the sun comes out.

[markcasper]

Great videos royalmaple!

[royalmaple]

Thanks, I got to take some longer ones but not really too much of a polished tv personality yet. So they are a bit rough but gives people the idea anyway. It is pretty fun.

WOW, got solid 10-12 inches of snow yesterday and last night(also lost power in the night, just came back on at 4:30pm). Temp was only 32 around 11, went into portland and the sun was peaking out. Came back towards home and decided to go out and start the pump in the woods. Funny thing was on the way home I see all these sugar's that were tapped by others and they were all soaking wet but no more buckets on them. So anyway headed down over into the woods and started up the pump and poof, sap was pounding in, unreal. I'd almost have to say 2nd best run of the year. But vac guage was only at 15 so went walking up the main line. I had 7 taps popped out. 3 small trees snapped off from the snow and pulling some lines down. But got that all straightened out and right back up to 19inches solid. And sap was just cranking. Took 1 load out with my van and came back here then realized I needed the power to get the sap out of my van and into the bulk tanks. Luckily power just came back on so got that empty and have the 300 gallon bulk tank right nutted, about 1/4 inch from the very top lip. 400 gallon is filling up now. I could still run back and get 200 gallons in the woods but I am going to wait and get it tomorrow and try to boil all the sap I got here tonight.

Tapme, stopped by but I wasn't here. Left me a note and I called him, might swing back over later on.

I'm not throwing in the towel or even a napkin yet, hammer on. I was making up some drops a min ago, I am just sick. Still might tap some more tomorrow.

[802maple]

You are a sick sick man, It is going to be a long long summer, fall and winter for you until next season, I can see that coming.

[TapME]

Called royalmaple and was able to visit for a while, Man a tank and ahalf of sap and still pouring in while we were their. The sap ladders he has are magic in gaining elevation to bring sap to his sugar house. quite a setup he has, wish I and 14 yr old sap hauler could have stayed to hepl boil but sap hauler needs sleep for school tomorow.


Thanks for the tour royalmaple.

[HanginAround]

Sounds like you guys had a good visit.

We got your leftover weather here today, but not the snow that you guys got... drizzle, rain, a bit a sleet, and a bit of snow, but just a dusting of wet stuff on the grass and a thin film of slush on side roads part of the day.

[Revi]

I put the snowshoes back on and collected buckets. This was as much snow as we had all winter! Hard to find the trail. I had the dog tied to me as well. The sap was running, though! We'll have a big boil this weekend. This may be the run we were waiting for. It's just coming at the end of the season. We need some to catch up to last year.

[royalmaple]

Jerry-

It is going to be tough in another month when I quit for good(ha ha). I have already been eye'ing up some other spots, still all reds but won't be long before I am in the few thousand mark. Gonna give mike a run for the most taps on a 2.5x8. I think he is the current champ.

Started boiling last night and took a few videos of boiling. I'll see how they come out and upload them later on. Then after a couple of hours and couple of draws later....flicker....flicker, poof lights out. Power went out again. We were without power for about 18 hours yesterday, then at around 11PM pitch black. And I looked and looked but I could not find the shut off button on my evaporator. That was interesting, evaporator was on crank and no way to feed it with fresh sap. Just at the point I had a draw off ready, scrambled for a flashlight, held that in one hand checked with a hydrometer, then got the draw. Head tank was nearly empty, but no power to fill it up with the float switch. Did some quick maneuvering and got everything to settle down a bit. Stinks since I wanted to pound through the sap I had here. Looks like a long night tonight.

Not 1 cloud in the sky, and temps froze hard last night, should run like crazy today. Glad I didn't go by what everyone else around me was doing and pulling taps.

Tapme- Nice to meet you lou and your family. Your sap hauler wore out Noah playing yesterday, he won't even get out of bed today. Hope you had a nice visit. Keep in touch.

[TapME]

Thanks doocat for advice on reaming holes. Did mine this morn and could not believe the differance. Could be the best run for me this year today. Most were driping better than one a second and some in long drips.

royalmaple, sap hauler was worn out also. What a snow squal we went through on the way back home, coouln't see 50 ft in front of the truck. Had a great visit with you, can't wait to help you boil with that fine evap.

Revi; here it comes hope your ready. It has to run, look at all the poor mans manure we got.

My sap turned clear in all my buckets today after a few went cloudy maybe the syrup will turn lighter too. We can hope.

[Sugarmaker]

Royal,
Nice clips! Enjoyed them all. Very nice set up. Sap ladders look like the way to go to move sap with Vacuum on flatter land or from low areas.

Sugarmaker

[royalmaple]

I posted a couple more videos yesterday. Was out collecting till 7pm, and fooling around with my 4 wheeler, after a quick run to the dealer, they tell me it could be the transmittion or the oil pump acting up. Great. I told them I just really need it for one more month to finish the season.(anyone catch that?)

Sap was pounding again yesterday. But the day before I'd dare say the sap ran as good as anyday this year. But still was running pretty hard yesterday. I am up early, feel like I got russ here to wake me up, but I looked outside and no RO or Russ, so R^2 is not here. Got 700 gallons here now to pound through today and stock tank in the woods is checker box full with another 300 gallons but need to make some room before I can think about going to get that. Pump was running very good last two days I have not bothered to shut it off. So hopefully there is enough gas and room in the stock tank for a few more dumps before I can get there this morning.

Gave a taste test to the heating oil delivery guy and ended up selling two quarts yesterday. Going out now to get everything cranking.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt the RO is all cleaned up and waiting for the sap that I am going to gather and boil today. I have to work this morning, I hate the way it cuts into my sugaring time, so I can't go out and ream my tap holes until this afternoon.

Go baby go! Get that sap boiled in there is more on the way. Are you getting a buddy taste yet?

You must be catching what I have got. I have never seen you on here at 6 am before.

How is the wood supply holding out? I have enough left for another whole season. It is hard to believe that I have only used a cord to make 60 gallons so far.

Russ

[Russell Lampron]

Matt I did catch that "one more month". I am assuming that is including pulling taps and washing tubing. HaHa What is R^2?

Russ

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

I think that is the sign that he is trying to Pirate a "Goverment" contract for the use of an RO for the rest of the season??

[royalmaple]

Sap was just pounding in today. Unreal. Last couple of days have been the best runs of the season. Just unreal. I started boiling this morning here and had some visitors to the sugar house around noon, after they left. I ran out to check on the pump in the woods. I could tell from the way the sap was running on my ratty trees here, that it must be hammering in the woods. I guess the heck. Pump wasn't running when I got there, but it actually seems to hammer later in the day anyway. But I started the pump at 2:30, nearly 3/4 - full pipe steady.

Pumped out 140 gallons from what was in there from yesterday, which was about 1 inch from the lip on the stock tank. Came home, pumped the sap out, and by the time I got back down there, the tank was completely full. I'd say 1 hour maybe 1 hour 20 min tops, and about 150 gallons of sap. I'd say that is pretty much hammering for the amount of trees I got tapped down there. I was pretty amazed. Sap was really clear.

Russ - R^2 is (russ / RO, or R squared)

Well someone saw my beacon I had shooting out into the sky. Seems I have an RO being delivered on Monday. Best kind, the one that comes with an operator and you don't have to buy it.

my wood pile looks like a charlie brown christmas tree. But if I have to I have like 12-15 cords cut down at the foot of my driveway, just has not been under cover.

Tanks here are within 1/8 inch from the top and still have pleanty in the woods. Pretty funny when you look around at all the taps being pulled.

Jeremy I was in your neck of the woods last night. A little further than I would like to go routinely to get sap but I got a call from a buddy of mine on hanscomb school road he tapped some trees the other day and had 80 gallons of sap for me. Some were still dripping at 9pm last night.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

I thought that was what you meant by R^2. My RO still has work to do for me before this crazy season is over. I hear that "The Governor" is going to provide some disaster relief.


Russ

[danno]

Hey Matt -

How high have your temps been getting the last couple of days? Do you warm up more cause you are close to the coast? We've been locked in with highs in the 20's and low 30's last couple of days in central NY.
Waiting for the warm up and hoping the sap clears like yours did.

Did your syrup lighten as well?

[danno]

"How is the wood supply holding out? I have enough left for another whole season. It is hard to believe that I have only used a cord to make 60 gallons so far."

D--n, if that isn't a good advertisement for an RO. I'm like getting 4 gallons of syrup per face cord. Certainly glad the wood is free!

[royalmaple]

We had to hold a special session at the selectmans office, but the governor decided that this actually qualifies as disaster relief. He has also allocated a special budget for shelter, food, and drink.

Glad he is on vacation next week.

by the time he gets here, I'll have everything I own full and probably most of the bowls in the cubbord as well as my coffee cups.

I really haven't gotten into the new sap, and honestly I have had to mix it in with some from the past couple of days. So I can't say for sure if it has lightned up the syrup. I am either Extra dark or commercial currently. Hopefully get back into a better A grade. RO can't hurt.

Wife is feeling like crap today so gives me the day to keep the tanks from overflowing. We were planning to head up north to visit family.

Temps yesterday were low 40's. We had full sun till about 2 in the afternoon, then clouds moved in. Looks like the same today, full sun now and had a good hard freeze last night. Another few hundred gallons today?

[gmcooper]

Looks like we are done. Boiled during the week and had to stop. Nasty smell of buddy sap in the pans. Sugar content dropped from 2.0 to 1.5. Going to check some this am. Yesterday sap ran really well with out vacuum on but think it will not be any good as way to many reds are budding out. Even the sugars in Gray were way down in % content. Driving last night before dark you could see buds on roadside tres well before you got to the tree. Not a good sign if you need to make syrup.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Glad to hear some are still sapping. I however have decided that after tasting some sap and almost pukeing that i will pull my taps. THE SAP was CLEAR but tasted bad so its not worth the time for me to boil it. Best of luck!

[royalmaple]

Mark-

Before you dump the sap let me know how much you got. I'll come get it before you dump on the ground. I'll make commercial with it.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Does bud syrup count as commercial?

[Revi]

We're getting the run of the year over here. Still not buddy, but this has to be one of the last runs, as I've noticed buds on the reds. Our Patrick Phaneuf 2x6 has been working overtime. We made about 5 gallons of syrup this weekend, and have about 5 more to do some time next week. I think it'll make up for what was otherwise a slow year. We've caught up and passed last year anyway. We're boiling for our home consumption now, so this is the bonus run!

[Russell Lampron]

MaplePancakeMan

Yes buddy syrup counts as commercial. With the price they are paying for it now it is worth making. I got $175 for 10 gallons of it last summer when it was $1.50/lb. It is bringing $1.60 now.

Russ

[TapME]

I have a question. Can buddy sap be clear?

[802maple]

It sure can,

[markcasper]

I'll second that. I want to get a few new taps up at the end here. Hopefully get some nice light, buddy syrup for the wife to try. I plan on doing this on the stove. Shes never knew what buddy is.

[gmcooper]

Sorry Matt the sap is gone. Let loose about 400 gal. One tank with 200+ was testing 1.1-1.2% yellow and slightly cloudy. That was from mostly reds.
Picked up 200 gal decent sap tonight but that is it. Taps are coming out.

Mark

[TapME]

Thanks, Knew something was up when the syrup was as light as ginger ale. Different smell when boiling. Another question, It's sweet and no afther taste is it still good for making candy?

[royalmaple]

Zapped up the sap that was in everything from a bulk tank to dixie cups. Got that stuff up to 21% and started up old Willie. Got most of the old remnants out during the first draw. Graded about Triple X Commercial. Then pounded the concentrate. He was huffin and puffin, weezing and choking on some wood. Had his mouth 1/2 to 3/4 full to feed the beast.

Then looked in the front pan and syrup was lighter big time. Serious difference, went from road tar to Grade A Dark Amber - in 2.2 seconds on 2-3 day old sap. Now those pans are about as sweet as you can get and ready for the next push tomorrow. Giving willy the rest of the night off. Medium is right around the corner, can almost smell it with few hundred gallons of new sap going to run through it tomorrow.

Who said and RO isn't worth the money?

We are still calculating and collaborating our research on reaming. Have a serious spreadsheet going and can't keep the governor away from the verneer calipers and micrometer. Refractometer was in heavy use today.

cutting in some new drops tomorrow and adding phase 1 of the mid season expansion to the main line. You guys are quitting way too early, trees are just starting to pump it out heavy now.

Good luck to all and keep at it until the fat lady sings. Got the drill dr. out to sharpen up the tapping bits, should get 200 in tomorrow. Double or nothing.
Big plans tomorrow and morning is on its way. Time to hit the hay, can't hold the million dollar operation any longer. May start out before sunrise with head lamps.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

We got about 140 new taps in this morning already-shooting for 200. Had a hard time getting the Captain up this morning/Had to do a game of Rock/Scissors/Paper-shoot to get him up and rolling at 530am. Gotta get cracking and stop chattin as the captain is barking commands to lets get hammering in some more taps.

We'll get a picture posted sometime soon of the difference in the syrup samples made early this morning.

[Russell Lampron]

Ro Pirate and The Governor,

Hammer on guys, hammer on.

Russ

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Governor,

Are you not making syrup yourself this year??

[Parker]

Gentelmen- Keep up the excellant work!!!

[royalmaple]

Willy is taking his last few breaths for the night as we speak.

4th and 3, set up for the quarterback sneak, but got fooled by a blitz of optimum sugaring temperatures. Thought we were headed for medium or high dark, but ended up at mid B. Cleaned out the woods tank, scientific experiments still underway. Sap was pounding again today, woods tank is probably full after the way that releaser was popping every 3 mins. Had to leave that one full. Only so much two guys can do in a day. Too much R&D.

Bascoms will have to wait for the stuff I make in a couple of weeks. Still gonna hammer the grade A for a while longer. Still have 8 inches of snow in a lot of spots and pleanty of water for them to take a good drink. Gave the lines a Jamaican Flush, and it was crystal clear sap coming in.

No sure sign of spring in sight, the large lady has gone back to her dressing room.

Good hard freeze now, so she'll be pounding again tomorrow.

Still planning on May 1st for end of season drink. Found a few more bushes today, couple 500 and one possible 1500 tap bush. Felt good to have the bit hit the wood.

Gotta go, won't see me early tomorrow.

[Revi]

We don't have an RO, but we're getting some sap now, and are boiling it up for the home consumption. Still tastes wicked good, and the buds aren't growing up on the hill yet. I have seen some silver maples in town budding, though. We'll boil until this weekend, and then even if it wants to keep going, we'll pull taps. This bonus run has really made the difference, though. We would have made the same as last year without it. Last year was pathetic. Every year is so different.

[TapME]

Haven't posted in the last two days but been busy boiling with all the sap and a flat pan to boil with. Ran a 100gallon through I think and made two and half gallons of syrup. It lighten a grade but not sure as I have no test kit. Looks like a moosehead larger. Up to 7 1/2 gallons total maybe a little more.

Matt keep on hammering.

Revi, may your sap flow before the storm like Matts.

[HanginAround]

LOL, I don't think you're supposed to be using your beer to grade your syrup! ROFL! Maybe the breweries could capitalize on this niche in the market....

[TapME]

I thought that you might catch that comment Hangingaround I know that it is darker than miller high life, haven't check against the larger yet.

[HanginAround]

I don't like the lager... "Moose Green" we call it, we save that for export, I think it's the stuff they squeegee off the bottling room floor at the end of the day LOL. Nah... just an acquired taste I guess. I bought some in Ohio to show some foreign friends a "local" (to me) beer, and we all curled our noses up at it LOL. Any of the other 9 Moose brands are better. I drink Moose Dry, but Alpine is their most popular brand. The brewery is in Saint John, NB.

Okay, sorry, back to the regularly scheduled topic!

[Revi]

We've been boiling until 8pm for 2 nights, and going to work. It's all boiled off now and we're ready for the storm. We need another foot of snow. The old stuff is looking bad and needs a new white covering. That's what I tell myself, anyway.

[royalmaple]

Sap was really pounding yesterday. Took 150 gallons out of the woods tank and at 4:30 I went back to check on the pump and see how things were going. Well they were going on the ground. Tank was over flowing. Took another 150 gallons. It was slowing down by 6:00. Very weak, only 1.1 - 1.2

Suppose to get another 4-8" today and tonight. Still shooting for May 1st.

I sally'd out last night and stayed inside w/ mrs. roy. Have to actually do some work today and then boil tonight.

Next 10 days still look pretty good.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Matt- If the calibration tool comes out of whack because you don't have it "nutted" you'll have to look on like page 3 or 4 of the instructions that i wrote up for you to tell you how to get it back to reading right.

Definitely need an overflow tank added onto the original one in the woods. Spending all day just jockeying sap just so it won't overflow is time consuming.

[royalmaple]

Yeah, from fooling around with it. Seems you got to have it dead nuts in order for it to work properly. Oh well still got 2-3 more weeks of sugaring to get it 100%.

Overflow tank is on the list of many needs/ wants for upcoming season. Or might need to do it for the 2nd have of 2007.

[Russell Lampron]

Matt,

Is an RO machine on that list?

Russ

[TapME]

Matt, I heard there is a person in Jay that has been doing some cloning. JUst a thought that this time of year another person might come in handy to help.

[royalmaple]

Jay??

THat is where my family is. Or perhaps you are thinking of another type of cloning that is rampant this time of year in preperation of the "green" season.

I can use about 3 of me right now.

Going to boil now, got pleanty of sap and no RO, I was looking all over for it, but nowhere to be found. Oh well I bet I can find one later on.

Russ, Ro is about at the top of the list when I make some $$. Gonna crank the vacuum up a couple more inches to squeeze the back in and keep making lighter syrup. Gonna need all the bulk I can make, just to be a drop in the bucket.

Signing off, till later with full update on the events of the night, hopefully it will only be lower wood supply and higher syrup produced.

[Revi]

We boiled until 8 pm the last 2 nights, so tonight I'm getting a breather. Despite the snow this can't go on too much longer. Got some sap today, though. We have a few reds on buckets that have quit already, but the tubing has 97% sugars and is still going strong. I think this will be the last hurrah. It's snowing like mad out there now. We're supposed to get a foot.

[HanginAround]

Sap still running great here, and snow for tonight/tomorrow too.

[royalmaple]

I quit before the snow, I thought I'd last longer but had enough for the night. Snow is still coming down pretty hard. Ended up making 7-8 gallons of mersh, had a little bite to it.

Might have to scoop out some of the dirty laundry in the flue pan, Must have a couple lobster bait bags in there. Visitors would think I am boiling the football teams jock straps if they came over. I guess that might be a little overstatement.

Wood shed is looking more like the pile infront of someone's mantle.

Definately a difference boiling once the concentrate left the pans.

[TapME]

Hey Matt, What is mersh? Must be a Livermore term.

[Revi]

Well, we pulled all the taps on reds today, as they were giving only 1% sap, and the sugars are still running around 2%. Plus you can see large buds forming even up on the hill where we sugar. All the reds are on buckets, so that makes collecting a little easier, anyway. Here in town I think I detect a little fattening even in the sugar maple buds, but not up on cold mountain yet. Maybe we'll squeak out a couple more boils, but I think we're going to pull the taps pretty soon anyway. It's been a great season.

[gmcooper]

Matt,
Drove over the saco river today, the water level is awfully low, you wouldn't know where it went would you???
Just kidding. Good luck with your syrup making. Kind of wondering what flavor syrup you make when the flowers are out on the reds (some in the sunny locations are just flowering) I'm thinking maybe honey flavored???
Boiling 1% sap is dedication!
Mark

[royalmaple]

Collected 250 gallons from the woods today, tank was still 1/2 full after that. It was running over at 4pm today.

I still got pleanty to boil here and more to collect tomorrow. Those trees just don't want to give up.

Mark- Might have something to do with the low sugar content, maybe one of you jokers went over into the woods and took a tap out and stuck it in the brook. I'll have to check the lines tomorrow.... :-)

Commercial= Mersh

I didn't check the sugar content today, but Probably for the best since it would have been dissapointing for sure. Last time kevin and I checked the other day it was 1.1, so what's that 78.1:1 Yeah that is some boiling/dedication.

Just made some more asphault tonight 5-6 gallons, much stronger kick to it tonight. Must be the buds, but honestly most of the reds I have tapped are in the woods enough and haven't been showing signs like the roadside reds I have seen around.

Waterloo Willy and I were talking pretty seriously about RamOna and he thinks it is a good idea. He's been looking to settle down and share some time with someone special. Fed him nothing but pallet wood tonight and the little pep talk must have worked, pounded some wood but gph was like 75-80 tonight, unreal. He must like the idea of a new girlfriend.

Would have been nice to have decent sap to see some results, but made a ton of steam.

[royalmaple]

4th down and 14 to go for the blitz, wait I mean 4th part of the season and 14 hours to go before the blizzard. Collected another 265 gallons today. Gonna put on my chef apron after dinner.

Chinese for dinner. Got willy's dinner ready too, he's on a fiber diet.

[danno]

Matt - just amazes me that you guys can get 80 gph out of your 2.5x8. I push mine for all she's worth and can't do better than 50. I've tried all the "go fast" tricks and just can't pick up any more gph's. I raised the stack, made arch air tight, 50' preheater copper, forced air. Got to work on better wood for next year.

Although maybe I should'nt be going any faster. I was burning real good wood today and almost melted my pans. I had just added wood and turned the fan back up to high and had a real long syrup draw. Next thing I realize, my syrup pan was down to about 1/2 inch and no sap was entering the float box. I check the sap pan - youza - sap was an inch below the top of the flues. I was able to bring the sap back up and all is fine.

Sap was up to 1.75% for me, highest since mid/late March! Still making pretty tasty mersh (I like that). Another 300 gallons to cook down tomorrow in the blizzard. Love cooking in the snow!

[Fred Henderson]

danno: Did you figure out why there was no flow to the float? I made 10 gals today with mine and I had no problems . I will say that if I had to boil, clean filters and do the firing I could not keep up. The wife is a very big help. My syrup pan does at times go a little shallow (in my mine) but I just give the float a few pokes and it is Ok.

[Sugarmaker]

Wow! 85 gph on a 2 x 6??? That is humpin! I can just get a little more than that on the old 3 x 10 rig, and its rolling right along. Low sap level would move it through faster I guess, but I couldn't risk it. Heck, I burned the pan last night when I thought everything was running normal!

Chris

[Breezy Lane Sugarworks]

Not EVERY time, but when I am using the right wood in my forced air arch(intenso-fire style), I can nearly reach or meet the 100gph mark. I run my flue pan 0"to.5" above the flues and the syrup pan an 1 1/4" or so. seems to work well.

[royalmaple]

Dan-

Finished what I had for pallet boards tonight, I'd say very close to the same evaporation rate as last night. The boards varied but many were full boards so roughly 40 inches long and I didn't cut them just tossed the whole piece in and it would go up the ramp a bit and I think that helped the flue pan since there was more wood in the firebox and further down towards the flue pan.

Willy had rosey red cheeks last two nights, I had one door entirely glowing except the outer edge which is much thicker. Ryan I still got to drill the doors and put in the blanket you sent me. Front of the arch is so hot I have to almost fire from standing around the sides.

That is with no preheater, no hood, no forced draft either. Just about as stock as you can get. My flue pan erupts constantly over the side while boiling. I have been making syrup on the rails. I need some splash guards as kevin said to me.

Funny thing happened tonight, I was making more asphault and then right at the very end front pan was about totally white foam bubbles and the syrup partition was just a light golden brown. I got one draw of this lighter stuff. I set it aside to check tomorrow but looked a lot lighter. Still probably got an off flavor with the buds, but weird how it switched and I had just started pumping out of a new tank, only maybe 50 gallons of sap.

[Revi]

We've pulled some of the taps, and are going to see how much longer we keep boiling. I think it's almost over. I noticed that the snow is melting all night too now. We still have a couple of feet in places, but it hasn't gone below freezing for a couple of nights now, and it seems like it's turning to a warmer pattern now. (Until tonight when we get another foot of wet snow)

We boiled for a couple of hours yesterday, and will probably do one more boil and call it a season.

It's going to be funny pulling the taps on snowshoes!

[danno]

Fred, between the draw and the re-firing and good wood, I think I was just out steaming the sap in-flow (if that makes sense). I am using a 50' coil of 3/4 copper for a preheater, and occasionally get partial vapor lock and think that was going on as well. I actually removed the float from the float box for a few minutes to allow the sap to come in full speed. Did not have to resort to the hose which was sitting close by - but it got close!

Fred, did you wind up putting the vapor release on your pre-heater? I've got it b ut have not put in on as with thr cruddy wood I have been burning, preheater would get hot but not luck up very much. When it did, I would just poke the float and that worked.

Still taking me about 6 hours to cook 300 gallons on the 2.5x8.

[New Hope Mapleman]

I guess I don't have the work force some of you guys do. My dad collects and keeps the pumps fueled. This year I did all the boiling, filtering, etc., and we both worked on checking lines. I miss having my sister around to help out in the sugarhouse. When things were slower we used to tag team boil. She's not been back to work since she met the guy she married March 10th.

Oh well, guess I'm just glad dad helps!

Still made decent Medium colored syrup last night. It seems to taste like dark to me, but not a bad flavor-so far. If I'm waiting for the fat lady to sing I think she got one of our soft maple buds lodged in the vocals of something. It white here again! Now we just need enough to shovel the line one more time!NOT!

[royalmaple]

Danno-

I think I figured out your problem, you are cooking. You need to boil sap to make syrup. You cook in the kitchen. Ha ha.

Dan-

I wish I had another person to help, me myself and I are the only three people that show up daily to do everything. But there are alot of one man bands in this industry. One extra set of eyes and hands sure does make it much easier.

[Parker]

Try it with 2000 taps and an evaporator that eats 2-3 cords a boil,,,,,,,,,just not enough money to have help,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Russell Lampron]

2 or 3 cords a boil! I haven't used 2 cords yet and I think it sucks because I have gotten to the part of the pile where I have to split most of it before it goes into the evaporator.

Glad I have the RO and smaller number of taps.

Russ

[Fred Henderson]

Fred, between the draw and the re-firing and good wood, I think I was just out steaming the sap in-flow (if that makes sense). I am using a 50' coil of 3/4 copper for a preheater, and occasionally get partial vapor lock and think that was going on as well. I actually removed the float from the float box for a few minutes to allow the sap to come in full speed. Did not have to resort to the hose which was sitting close by - but it got close!

Fred, did you wind up putting the vapor release on your pre-heater? I've got it b ut have not put in on as with thr cruddy wood I have been burning, preheater would get hot but not luck up very much. When it did, I would just poke the float and that worked.

Still taking me about 6 hours to cook 300 gallons on the 2.5x8.

Danno, Yes I did put the vapor vent on my preheater. No more vapor locking. I have been boiling on the side that has the float so I could watch it. Sap dribbles in all the time amd occaisional poke of the float is good insurance.

I went thru 400 gals of 2.5% yesterday in 5 hours. I pulled all my taps today and we are cleaning up. If you guys get another good run I am glad for you. I have had about as much fun as I can stand for a while.

[royalmaple]

Just got back from fixing up the woods. Had about 12 trees down that all needed to be cut up, and about 2 dozen taps pulled out. Got it all back up and running. Still raining here and I was soaked.

Once I got all the lines fixed and the vacuum up where it should be sap was coming in. Small run but still more sap. Tank in the woods was pretty much full, doesn't look like too much rain got in around the tarp.

Looks like someone touched off an A bomb around here with all the trees down in the roads, and washed out roads as well. Wife and I took a ride down to the ocean yesterday and it was amazing. Some of you guys may have seen it on the news but in person it was pretty amazing.

Jeremy you don't have any gear in now do you? I am sure it was pretty expensive for some of the offshore guys. Hopefully they can drag and pick up the trawls.

[Revi]

We pulled the taps and emptied the evaporator of syrup, then filled it with vinegar and water. That's it! My friend's house flooded, and the driveway to the sugarhouse washed out so we decided that the maple syrup season is now over. We packed it in. We had a good season, all things considered. Better late than never. We made more than last year, anyway, and we had a lot of fun.

[brookledge]

I western mass. we had some towns that had flooding and roads wash out.
Not fun to wake up and find out you can't get out of your driveway. My neighbor had that problem. The culvert that crosses his driveway washed out leaving him stranded until a contractor showed up to make repairs.
Keith

[HanginAround]

We got rain, but not tons of it... a bit breezy, but not bad, so I guess you guys sucked the life out of it before it got here. Good luck to the guys shovelling out, pumping out, and fixing damage.

It seems every major system this winter/spring fizzled before it got here.

[MaplePancakeMan]

that storm was one of the worst i've seen, i was here in 1999 when floyd came through and this was worse, we got over 7" rain and everything flooded, i live on a hill about 200' higher than the town and the town was flooded, our pond spilled over into our electric box completely frying it out, we had a crew here for 5hrs working on the transformers. Only other time we had worse rain was october 2005 where we had 15" rain but we were in such a drought before didn't make that big of a problem. Basically anywhere that got the flooding will flood anytime we get .5" or more of rain in the next week or so.

[WF MASON]

A bad storm to say the least, if it didn't flood and wash downstream , the winds uprooted it and blowed it over.All towns lost some roads,many without power, Thank God it wasn't snow, I seen enough for a while.

[802maple]

It is time for this weather to come to a end. We got over a foot of snow then it rained for another 24 hours causing trees to uproot,lost electricity, and then half the mountain came down and ended up in the lawn, This is gooing to be a year that sugaring ends with snow on the ground around here as we still have 2 feet of snow in the woods and the fields are also covered.

[Russell Lampron]

It just didn't seem right last weekend to be pulling taps with snow on the ground. There is still some frost in the ground too but the trees have given up and we haven't had a freeze here since last Friday.

Russ

[royalmaple]

Only got down to 34 last night here and probably did freeze down the road since it is a few degrees colder in there all the time. Sap ran pretty good down there today. I was pretty surprised. They were calling for a freeze tonight and tomorrow night so might get couple more 1/2 decent runs. THen I think that is it. No more freezing in sight.

Jerry(802maple) is going to make the trek over tomorrow. Got pleanty of sap to boil, had to go out and get some pallets this evening to have some good dry wood to boil with.

Even though he is not bringing an RO with him, he is still welcome to come over and pound some wood to willy.

[royalmaple]

Went out and checked the tank in the woods yesterday with Jerry(802maple). It was flowing over and it was bone dry when I left it the night before. Seems sap ran all night. We collected and boiled last night 5pm till 3am. Long boiling and very very little syrup. I don't think we made 8 gallons.

It got down to 29 here last night, and already 56 so might do something today then no more freezing in sight and I'm pretty much over it anyway by now. Running out of wood daily. Sap was not crystal clear but certainly not milky or horrible.

Man is sucks boiling raw sap now. Seems like I am getting no where, and that is about the extent of it too, getting nowhere. Made some steam so it might be raining today for you Hanginaround.

Nice to have Jerry stop over and BS with me and feed the fire. Jerry you left just as I was getting up at 9. I figured you'd at least stay for breakfast. I appreciate the help and pointers. Hope you have a safe trip home and I'll see you again soon.

Looks like this weekend will be it for me.

[HanginAround]

Matt, 59 and clear blue skys today, so couldn't have been much steam :D Supposed to be warm all weekend and 73 by Tuesday.

[802maple]

Matt- I think you need to have Kevin look at the calibration tool after it fell off the table last night. I think the Z bar is bent and not allowing the high end adjuster to go to the proper adjustment. I think you need to get more than a negative 34.5 degrees for everything to be right. Kevin made it so he certainly could tell if I am wrong with that theory. I really don't think it was calibrated right last night and that could of been our problem.

[royalmaple]

Yeah, Kevin will have to take a look at it when he comes over next time. Really handy to have and I hate to see it not useable.

I got more sap today, only took 1 tank full out of the woods today, sap was trickling in, nothing super. But I'd say there was about 175 gallons in the tank and about 125 of it was from today.

She's about had it I'd say. And so has this cat.

I forgot to mention that yesterday I made the comment to Jerry about not hearing any peepers yet. Then in the afternoon while collecting they started in. Then late in the night while we were boiling little lenny the leopard frog was hopping right in the sugarhouse towards jerry. I was just pointing to jerry and I think he though the rig was burning up and I was speechless, but I want him to see the frog coming towards him. I guess that is a sign. Well I can't say I missed a run this year.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Don't add too much Mystique to the calibration tool/I'll have everyone wanting me to make them one then.

[royalmaple]

It should keep you busy this summer.

[gmcooper]

Matt,

Glad to hear your still having fun!

That frog that came in the sugar house, He was looking to see where the swamp went to! LOL

Mark

[royalmaple]

Mark-

See you didn't make the SMMSA meeting saturday, next one is going to be at my place so you'll have to stop over.

I got to do a final tally but got pleanty for bruce that is for sure. Sap is out of the flue pan and almost got it all in the front pan last night for the last bit of mersh for bruce. That stuff had a very sour smell to it while boiling. This last stuff is going to be super dark. Might even be xxxxx"C".

It must just be us producers that really pick up on the smell. My wife came in a couple of times yesterday to either bring me lunch or just visit and I said what do you think of that smell. She was ok, smells ok. I was amazed. To me it was very sour smelling.

I am sick of trying to find wood to boil with. But at least cleaning up the yard.

[gmcooper]

Matt,
I knid of forgot about the meeting, but by the time I got everything done that night I would have missed most of the meeting. Looking forward to next months.
Are you trading all that "mersh" in towards that new RO?
Mark

[royalmaple]

My wife is a keeper, she has to be to let me do what I want and to put up with my crap. My mind never stops and she is the only person around for me to bounce stuff off. Most of the time just nodds her head and agrees.

Mark-

That mersh is going to go towards the RO. I've also started my summer construction work as of monday. I think I am more tired working 10-12 hours vs 20 hours sugaring but does feel good to be done alot earlier in the day.

I got a little over 500lbs of mersh for bruce. So it will be a start but not going to buy too much. I made over 50 gallons, probably closer to 60, mostly due to color not due to flavor. Only the last 15 or so gallons were off flavor, buddy.

I got to post my totals as well once I know the total taps for sure. But I did meet a goal I had, I wanted to make 100 gallons this year and I squeezed every drop out of those trees and boiled every drop. I got to do a final count but I should be around 100+gallons not much more but right there.

[Revi]

It's good to have spring here in earnest. I even noticed the buds swelling a lot on the sugar maple in our back yard. It looks like the trees are catching up fast. I noticed some red maples are already flowering. We'll have leaves by early May. Now that the season is over, it's time for those trees to put their solar collectors back out! Start saving up some more energy for next season!

[royalmaple]

Got the tubing all washed between last night and today. The Gov stopped by, I guess he was jonesin for some chinese. Didn't take as much water or as long as I thought. We got that all hammered out pretty good.

Now just need to get the doo-dads out of the woods and put a bow on the season.

Tapped a few birch trees around the house, little guys but they were running pretty well. I might start up the 3rd season soon, but on a recreational scale. If I get work caught up. I got pleanty of firewood that I need to get out of the woods. Not because willy will need it all, just to do some thinning.

Can't wait for the pilgrimage to bascoms next week. Van will be dead-x("nutted" for you non high tech guys) on the way over. There's another one for you Gov.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Wait a minute now!! Matt was fixing all the leakers he never knew he had while the Governor was washing tubing- Well maybe 50/50 but we went through about 500+ taps in about an hour+ with 2 of us washing after matt got the compressor water pump and tubing washer all set up while i cut in the end drops on some lateral lines.

Not bad i left my sisters house in York, Maine this morning and took the scenic route 1hr and 20 min up to see the "pirate"/Matt's wife hollared the Gov is here you better get up.He's getting a little rusty but i got him into 2nd gear and got the stuff loaded up for washing.(8:30 am)

Chop chop next time.

Oh almost forgot i did get the calibration tool re-calibrated so he should be all set to RUMBLE next year?? Was only off a by about .047/not bad after getting the bejezus knocked out of it. Jerry and matt had it some close=i'll have to give them credit for doing as good as they did with it off that much.

Chow,
The Governor

[royalmaple]

You wouldn't think .047 would make that much difference but it does. I noticed it, Jerry never saw it running like we first set it up so he didn't have much to compare to but I could notice the difference in the boil and when I pointed it out he agreed that something was seriously wrong.

Glad we got that fixed, so my birch sap doesn't have to sit much.

[MaplePancakeMan]

Matt, how much birch syrup do you make? or its just a transitioning thing while you ease out of mapling? If you had some you wanted to get rid of i'd love to try some just let me know how much. i've always wanted to try it made correctly so i know if the little i made this year was good or not.

[royalmaple]

I don't normally tap them, this is the first time I try. Most of the birch on my property are very small, I just found a couple that I could care less about and I tapped a few. I tapped one where my garden will be expanding into next year and it is only maybe 5-6inch dia, plus a few others close by. No tubing no vacuum, nothing hi-tech. But in the last couple of days there has got to be 1/2 bucket in most all of them. I want to go check the sugar % with my new refractometer.

If I make anything worth eating, I'll send you some. It is just a test. I don't know any secrets to make it correctly. I'll see how it comes out and I might make enough to fill a sample jar with the sap/syrup ratio I am going to need to boil.

[802maple]

That calibration tool of yours Kevin I believe in 5 years or maybe less will be the standard of the industry. I wish I had thought of it. Was the z bar bent it seemed to be to me, I think I could have adjusted it back but I had no baseline to compare to.

[TapME]

I haven't fallin off the face of the earth, just that work has been busy. Hope everyone is having a good off season. looking to increase taps with some rentals.