Ridgeland Farm 2017

[Ridgeland Farm]

Well, im going to try and stay more ontop of updating here this year! It gets difficult when the season gets going full swing but we will try! The plan was to start tapping yesterday. But the temps have dropped a little for this week. I have a very cold orchard so with only a couple days around 40 this week I don't think my trees will do much. Worked out well though. Was able to walk my entire bush and fixed all my downed lines and all the squirrel chews I could find! I have 2 mainline breaks to fix today and my woods repairs will be done. Have a new releaser coming today. I had a tree come down a pull my releaser off the tank at the end of the season last year. Broke the manifold right off! I am switching to an electric releaser next year but unfortunately I could not get my tank house built this year so I had to get a mechanical releaser. I bought the atlas copco vacuum pump last year from MES. The pump is amazing. I averaged 1" more vacuum than with my water cooled pump. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a new vacuum. Going to hang some new mainline this week and then the plan is to start tapping Saturday. Hopefully we can make it to the end of February before the sap starts to flow! Good luck to on their season preparations!

[eustis22]

>fixed.......and all the squirrel chews

how? I've been mulling replacing the tubing between tees only, rather than running all new tubing.

[Ridgeland Farm]

I replace the tubing. If it's the drop in will replace the whOle thing including the t. If it's between 2 drops I will replace the line between the 2 drops and both drops. Durring the season I'll use electrical tape if it's not to big of a chew.

[Ridgeland Farm]

Well we officially started tapping yesterday. Hoping to finish today or tomorrow. Picked up my new releaser on Wednesday. Ill hook it up tomorrow and fire up the vacuum. Still need to build another moisture trap for the pump. Trees were running just a little yesterday. Hopefully the next few days will be enough to clean my lines out and then hopefully it will freeze up for a few more weeks!

[Ridgeland Farm]

Well we are about 95% tapped. Decided to stop early on sunday and check for leaks on what we had tapped already. A couple missed taps and a had full of squirrel chews and we had the vacuum up to 27" Don't think Ill really get much wed and Thursday but we'll see. Its nice to be pretty much ready to go just incase we get a warm spell in feb. Hopefully after Thursday we get a good long cold spell! Really hoping for somewhat of a normal season. Anyone else all ready to go yet?

[Ridgeland Farm]

Well its been a busy week! We are all tapped out. Had a decent little run over the past few days. collected 2000 gallons of 1.9 sap. Unfortunately my feed pump on my RO is down and the new one is not in yet. So I sold my sap to a friend up the road! Looks like some cold weather for a while and its welcome to stay for a bit! A couple days to get the sugar house in order and back in the woods to do some maintenance and add some new lines. It was nice to atleast have my woods up and ready for that early run that seems to be the new norm. We will be in full swing before we know it!

[morningstarfarm]

Congrats on tap in...good luck

[Russell Lampron]

Good luck with the new season. I started my 2017 thread tonight. I'm going to start tapping tomorrow and will finish next weekend. We'll see what happens after that,, I'm thinking it's going to be a good season.

[Ridgeland Farm]

Well as usual I get into maple season and forget to update! Its been a very strange year so far. I have a colder orchard so I get 70-75 percent of my crop in the last half of the season. With all the warm weather in early February it really pushed the buds more than usual. It looks like a good 7 days or more. Hoping for 2 more weeks. We are at about half a crop right now. Sugar content has held up pretty well considering the drought last summer. Hope everyone else is having an ok season