Morningstar Farm 2017

[morningstarfarm]

Well, I guess it's time to kick off the new season...actually I guess the last season never really ended...
we have had a very busy year here..had microbursts come through Plaistow this summer which wiped out one of my sugarbushes..1200 taps gone...GRRR...ok fine, started an new sugarbush on the Farm..worked all summer on it and have 1500 new taps there sorta done..lol..also added 3 new lines to my other bush there...another 1500 taps..have that one pretty much done...
Took a week off and started tapping thursday...have about 750 in so far..now dont freak on me here..it's going to take me several weeks to get all 7000 in and ready to turn on...the sap was running today in about 20% of the trees I tapped...This is the first year I beat the kids to my drill...
I 'll try to keep up with this a bit better than last year..but, it gets pretty wild around here as the season kicks off...

good luck everyone
Chris

[BAP]

Sorry to hear about your loss of the sugar bush. Those micro bursts can be devistating. Glad you had trees available to replace them with.

[NHTREEGUY]

Any update on sap flow? This weather is getting me itchy. Trying to hold out though.

[morningstarfarm]

not much in the way of flow yet....tried to get out to tap this afternoon but the snow on the trunks is like a layer of cement..cant see old hoiles or anything..grrr..oh well, spent the afternoon plumbing in the new pump for my electric releaser and connecting the holding tanks...
turned on the pumps while i was working and pulled about 20 gals of slime..lol..had enough to test the releaser pump onto the ground...hoping tomorrow is kinder..

[morningstarfarm]

hey, while i'm thinking about it...anhyone have a 1550 gal poly tank they want to get rid of? need a second for the new bush.--
thx, chris

[Maple Man 85]

Sorry to hear about your loss of the sugar bush. Those micro bursts can be devistating. Glad you had trees available to replace them with.

What are micro bursts???

[BAP]

They are storms that have winds that are almost like a tornado. They can be quite destructive but are just a hair under what a tornado is and tend to only hit a relatively small area before losing strength.

[BAP]

hey, while i'm thinking about it...anhyone have a 1550 gal poly tank they want to get rid of? need a second for the new bush.--
thx, chris
Morningstar Farm, Maplechaser08 from Alstead has a 1000 gallon tank for sale in the classifieds.

[morningstarfarm]

Thx, but 1000 is too small..

[Dill]

hey, while i'm thinking about it...anhyone have a 1550 gal poly tank they want to get rid of? need a second for the new bush.--
thx, chris
Call the Runnings store over in Claremont. They have a large selection of poly tanks and much cheaper than I have ever seen them around here.

[BAP]

Bascom's usually has the 1500 in stock unless they are sold out.

[Ridgeland Farm]

Tractor supply usually carries them. That's where I got both of mine. Hopefully I can get rid of mine next year. I hate them!

[morningstarfarm]

Spent the day tapping...thanks to some help we got about 750 in today...turned her on and got about 300 gals in a couple hours...unfortunately the electric releaser control is acting up..need to figure out how to fix it..electric is so not my specialty..back at it tomorrow...then the pats game

[morningstarfarm]

another great day in the woods tapping...also fixed a cracked bulkhead fitting in the main tank..finally figured out the releaser issues..turns out we fried the electric float switches..ordered from grainger for pickup in the morning..should be up and running by noonish..then back to the sugarhouse to do a double wash on the RO and rinse well..hoping to get pans cleaned tomorrow night and be ready to boil weds night if the sap cooperates..so far have about 2000 in and ready..Tomorrow looks to be pretty much of a loss with this rainy noreaster ..weather says 2-3 in of rain for my area..might need waders weds...will keep this updated for any interested in seeing Sapzilla roar to start the new year..all are invited for the first boil

[morningstarfarm]

Hey all...no tapping today...we ended up with 3" of cement on the trees..had to let it melt to see old holes etc..fixed the releaser and am ready for tomorrow...more to tap and temps here in the high 40's...it will also be the cleaning boil for the evap..provided the oil guy delivers..then hopefully i might have enough to boil between weds and thurs..again, open invite to anyone that needs steam when we fire up...good luck all..

[morningstarfarm]

Bact to tapping today..got another 350 or so in...turned on the vac for the day and ended up with just over 800 gals and its still running...got the oil delivery so tonight is the cleaning boil...then clean everything out to boil tomorrow night....hoping for another 800 tomorrow as sapzilla holds about 300 gals just to fill her...time will tell, but it looks pretty good...

[Daveg]

Bact to tapping today..got another 350 or so in...turned on the vac for the day and ended up with just over 800 gals and its still running...got the oil delivery so tonight is the cleaning boil...then clean everything out to boil tomorrow night....hoping for another 800 tomorrow as sapzilla holds about 300 gals just to fill her...time will tell, but it looks pretty good...
Thanks, Chris, for using that term "cleaning boil"! I'm a backyarder and the 45 gallons I boiled from my first collection had vapor that just did NOT have that wonderful maple aroma. And on top of that, my 30 year old Leader 2x6 drop flue developed a hot spot in a middle channel in the syrup pan and blackened the syrup as it was hitting 217° :cry:

[morningstarfarm]

Well, we had our first boil last night...ended up with about 1800 gals of 1.6%... Ran it through the ro and ended up with enough to fill the pans and then had about 175 gals to actually boil...everything went well for a change and after 45 mins of hard boiling we were at 64 brix..then..**** we were out of sap..shut her down...soo close...well, at least next run we will be making syrup..looks to be a light end of amber..at nhmpa meeting today then back in the woods tomorrow to keep tapping..good luck all

[morningstarfarm]

Its been a busy couple of days...went to the nhmpa meeting sat for the carlisle award finals..suprised me to end up third..woohoo..then back into the woods to tap some more..today turned everything on and chased leaks while the kids tapped..vac is back up to 27"..found a couple missed drops and a squirrel chew..all fixed..ended up with about 600 gals tonight..sugar still a little low..around 1.6...figured the forecast looks a little cold for much run for the next week so i boiled it..ended up making about 10 gals of syrup..looks to be a nice amber..but like last year, lots of nitre in it...will finish and filter in the next couple days..tomorrow, back to tapping...

[red maples]

Sounds like things are moving along well over there. I still need to stop in and pick up my hobby released so I can get that set up with a tank. Good luck this season.

[morningstarfarm]

Been a busy few days here..half the second bush is tapped in..then we get a foot of snow...now we are supposd to get another foot to foot and a half tonight..ugh..yes, iknowits still early, its just hard to get all geared up then come to a full stop for a few weeks..well, at least now i can use the snowmobiles to get into the woods...and i guess its time to dust off the snowshoes..

Brad, your releaser is sitting here waiting for you..

[red maples]

Sweet. I'll get there some time this week. Congrats.on the 3rd place for the Carlisle.

[morningstarfarm]

well, it's been a busy week here...have the second bush about half tapped in..had 1700 gals to boil yesterday..somehow ended up with a bulkhead fitting snapping with the tank half full..dropped 800 gals on the ground..I just wanted to cry..lol
Today got the tank fixed and the front half of the farm bush on and running..ended up with about 1100 gals tonight to boil..took about 45 mins and made about 20 gals..sugar content is still a little low, but a good freeze tonight should recharge everything...
Good luck all..time to get the headlamp on and back out to tap some more...

[backyard sugaring]

Chris, Barry ordered a diaphragm pump going to experiment with it this week. By the way you lost more sap in one tank than we will collect all year.lol keep us in the loop when you are boiling. Good luck

[backyard sugaring]

Good afternoon Chris, are you still alive? You Haven't posted in awhile. Hope your season is going well. Lee

[morningstarfarm]

Hey all..its been ara season of extremes for sure...each time we get going we hit a hard freeze up and lose another week...ugh!...havent had anything to boil since last thurs..thanks to this years drout we have not seen sugar above 1.3 this year...we have processed over 10,000 gals of sap so far and only made about 175 galsof dark and very dark syrup...hopefully, we get a long window to kick it into gear and make a bunch before it ends

[red maples]

I hope so but I don;t think we can take many super warm days the reds are swelling. at least there is snow pack...again I hope that slows things!!!

[backyard sugaring]

I feel like it is a new season. It has been so long since we had sap. Hope we can knock it out of the park this week. Lee

[red maples]

well I don't too much about this week monday and tuesday look good but then we freeze up again for wed. thursday.

[morningstarfarm]

Very sad night here..pulled the plug and had my last boil of the 2017 season...its been a very challenging year here...plenty of sap but very little sugar in it...best run of the year was 1.1% with most around .7 ... Thang god for the ro it sure paid for itself this year!..boiling out the flu pan sunday and then i will finalize the year for everyone...time to get ready for show season...the horses are calling