August Journal

[Maple Man 85]

Didn't see an August Journal so here we go!

Got the evaporator polished up and looking brand new again and spent last week building finished inventory for expected sales. Heading out of state for the next week to find new markets. Fingers crossed we'll have more contracts in hand...

[spud]

I just started gutting my shop/sugar house last week. I'm framing in a pump room that will hold two vacuum pumps and a new electric releaser. Another section will be used for selling apples. This section is 20x20 and my sugar house is 20x40. I plan to take down my sugar house and replace it with a new 30x60 building that will be used for maple and apples. If I ever sell my farm I want the sugar house to be large enough for someone to boil sap and have enough room for other equipment. I plan to have a one bedroom apartment upstairs for all my Alaska friends that visit. Maybe one of my kids will need a place to stay also.

Spud

[unc23win]

We went to the open house weekend this past April and special ordered this Piggy Back from Lapierre (along with a few other things I’m waiting for). It was delivered Thursday. Now we just have to get installed. Can’t wait to try it out! We’ve made quite a few improvements so far maple wise with quite a few more to come before next season. Needless to say we are pretty excited for the 2019 season!
18726

[Chicopee Sap Shack]

Fixed a couple lateral lines the other day that were down due to firewood logging and a big tree that came down. 6yards of stone around the home woods tank so I don’t have to stand in water while pumping the tank and giving tours. More insulation up in the sugar house so the pine boards can go up. Walking all the lines tomorrow to check for damage and make a list. Have to run wire for the new wet line and reroute a wet/dry and main around a large pine that is going to come down at some point. And refinish the hard wood in the house next week.


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[mainebackswoodssyrup]

My buddy has been revamping the sugar shack at his house. Old evaporator is out, wiring rerouted, lights added and the ceiling is up. Almost ready to put the new evaporator in. Not much else maple this summer. We've had a couple big orders for weddings/special occasions but sales have been a little slower than years past overall for us.

[maple flats]

Split and stacked more wood last week. The wood was felled 10-36 months ago and the logs were stacked. Still needs more drying. Most of what I split was sugar maple, where I had to remove an old failing tree that was about 36" DBH before it could fall onto my shop. The rest was free wood 2 friends gave me from a logging job they had done, ends and pieces from 3 years ago. I still need to clean up a real bad cherry tree I had to drop back when I took that maple down. Some will be strictly firewood, but I might get a couple of logs up at least 16+ feet that I can saw into lumber and sell. On that one it was about 32" DBH and it had a big hollow area in the lower 12'. It was an adventure to drop it. It had a slight lean and with the condition of the trunk I was not going to try to fall it any other direction. The trunk was like a big letter C with the open side about 20" wide facing at right angles to the direction of fall. With only about 6-7" thickness to work with I only cut the notch about 1-1.5" deep. Then I used my small excavator to put pressure on the tree about 11-12' up. I then did a plunge cut to define the hinge and then cut back towards to back of the cut. As I got near the back side I put slightly more pressure on with the excavator, then I finished the cut. Talk about a barber chair! The tree split up about 8-9' and the back side flipped up so it stood resting on the top of the barber chair. On the excavator it's a good thing I had the blade down and on the end away from the tree because the trunk lifted the excavator about 3' off the ground on the tracks facing the tree and it was resting on the tree trunk 8-9' up buy the bucket and on the blade on the other end with the tracks fully off the ground (the low end was maybe 10" up). Without getting on the machine in case I had to run, I slowly raised the bucket to lower that end of the excavator. As I did, the trunk started to move towards the excavator. Then I very slowly moved the excavator back and lifted the bucket more. After about moving 4' I was able to get the bucket off the trunk. I then got on the excavator, drove around to the side and pushed the trunk off the barber chair. It landed, no people or equipment were hurt. That is where that tree still sets. Part of the top was cut to open a woods roadway that leads to a bunch of the tapped trees to the north.
I won't split it all, but I still have 2 stacks of logs that are about 12-14' high and range from 10-18' long, plus the Cherry and the rest of the sugar maple. All I hauled out of the sugar maple so far is the butt log where most of the rot was, the next log was bucked off at 11' or so and it's still a little punky there, but looked solid where that log was cut off. The rest is not likely to make any lumber, way too many limbs. But based on what I processed so far, it makes very good looking firewood.

[maple flats]

OH, and I had my best July ever for retail sales, in fact it was my best month by far ever except last December, that was not in my best ever Maple Weekend. Bourbon barrel aged syrup continues to dominate my sales, while regular syrup sales have climbed too.

[Maplewalnut]

Finally have sugar wood all but done and under cover. Now starting a sugarhouse remodel of sorts. Want all my bulk tanks inside, I am done shoveling them out after every snowstorm. Permeate tank will have to remain outside for now but that's less of an issue since it doesn't get cleaned as much during the season as sap tanks do. Havent been in the woods in a few weeks, holding off a little while til this crazy rain in Pa stops and temperatures drop a little. Have about 800 drops to change this year and clean up storm damage.

[Parker]

I have been working alot on my maple food trailer. I have been to 5 events, most recently the Wildwoods music festival. My goal is to show folks the flexibelity of maple in many foods and hopefuly introduce some new folks to the taste of maple. At wildwoods i was able to give a bunch of folks from all over the country and 3 from sweeden their first taste..
Been spending too much time working on a soft serve ice cream machine which i think i finally have working correctly...
I currently have maple donuts,,maple bacon grilled cheese, maple icecream, maple coffe, maple candy, sugar, cream on board,,,,,the comdinations availabel are endless...
Heading into state fair season here in n.h.,,,,should be busy
Lots to do