July journal

[maple flats]

Wow, it looks like post season really dropped off in activity, I noticed a lot fewer posts but never noticed we missed the June Journal until right now, nobody ever even started a June Journal post all month.
Well, here goes July. Getting ready for the 4th. We finally opened our pool last week, and I just got my ATV back. I had to change a front drive shaft on my 2004.5 Polaris and because I had put very agressive tires on the atv I'd had to add spacers on the front. That made it necessary to get longer wheel studs which I did, but then when I test drove it and the carb was screwed up and I don't do carbs, so I took it to a shop. $190 later it runs as it should. I still need to check out the winch relay, maybe need a new relay and I need to re-attach the rear rack.
In maple, online sales were slightly slower for the first time all year, but they continued good at my only retail outlet as well as from my house. My next batch of bourbon barrel aged syrup will be ready in about 2 more months. It still remains my best seller by far, not in gal sold, but in dollar sales.
I've lagged on finishing my firewood for 2020. The logs are stacked and have been for 3 years, but not all I'll need for next season is bucked, split to wrist size and stacked yet. I'm still deciding if I will change to oil or keep with wood another year. I have more than enough wood, but the advantages of oil for an evaporator do appeal to me. I need to make that decision soon.
I will likely do wood 1 more year then change to oil. I'll then start selling some wood to homeowners, but no delivery unless I do 1/2 cord lots. I can borrow my brother's small dump trailer which can only carry 1/2 face cord of 16" wood in a load. That trailer is only built on an old boat trailer and then he added the hydraulics off an old slide it truck dump box. It works great but is limited to 1500# max payload. I'm not sure I want to do any deliveries.
Plans for 2020 remain unchanged. I only plan at this point to tap the trees around my sugarhouse. That will put me to between 400-450 taps, with all sap going right to the sugarhouse. No more hauling sap. I will continue to buy sap from a few local producers and to meet my sales needs will likely buy some local bulk.

[ddociam]

I’m from Minnesota. I have been tapping for four years. All buckets and bags. I plan to do some tubing this year. All my trees are in small groves 20 to 100 trees per grove. It’s flat here.
Last season my wife went into the hospital with an infection in her back so a few friends did the gathering for me. It was hit and miss with a lot of mud and swampy groves. I finished with 23 gallons of grade A dark.
I built a 4x 40 RO unit last year and removed about half the water. Which saved a ton of boiling time and wood. I have a 2x4 Smoky lake hybrid evaporator. It works great.
So after clean up this year I upgraded my RO pump and motor and and put the whole thing together more securely. This month I’m making a second one to streamline processing. It will have another 4x40 membrane but the pump is 330 gal/ hr and the motor is going to be a 2hp. I may add a membrane to this unit if I need to.
I got permission to tap another grove within a mile of my house so I’m hoping to put it on tubing. It should come in at 300 taps which will double my number of taps.
July will also commence the farmers market season. I expect to sell it all at the market this year. So now that you all know me. I could use some help
With tubing and vacuum pumps for small groves with 20 to 100 trees


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[n8hutch]

Well I had a busy June, it's only been less than 3 months,( I think my last boil was around April 18th) and I have already sold over half of my syrup. Seems like there is a shortage of Dark syrup in N.H. from what I hear in sugaring circles. I've got almost all of my sugaring wood done for next season and I am working on my house wood"kinda sucks in july" but hey I was burning ash last season that was probably still on the stump in January.

The Wife and I got a Camper In May, it's a 25' ultralight bumper pull with a Single slide. We have put some new Furniture in it and gave it a real good cleaning, it's a 2013 model year but the mice made a mess of it. New batteries, new microwave, new Television, but its pretty much ready to use. Now I just need some free time and a weekend w/o a Birthday party or a graduation party or a wedding. Lol life sure does get busy at times. I told my wife not to blink because it will be time to change the clocks again before long.

Got a quote on some mainline that I'm going to need to shorten up the laterals and expand my woods, I think that I am going to go to a true wet/dry setup and run all 1" tubing.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

[Tweegs]

Crazy wet June here. Never went more than a day or two without rain.

We’re all clay, don’t perk, standing water everywhere. On the bright side, I believe I could make the Guinness book for the world’s healthiest mosquito population.

Yesterday concluded a 4 day rainless stretch, storms hit late afternoon.
‘Twas a long enough dry period that the pot holes in the driveway dried up and I could grade it out.
Good thing, too. The drive was starting to look a little Lunar and Mable, the mail lady, was getting cross.
Nobody likes Mable when she’s cross.

We keep about 3 acres groomed up around the house and along the drive.
Normally, I can get everything cut by the first week of June. This year, I still have areas too wet for the tractor, let alone the mower.
The weeds are shoulder high to a Sasquatch, true story.
I know what you’re thinking, but really, there isn’t any such thing as grass around here.



On the syrup side…
Everything has long been cleaned up and put away. Tweaking some software, but no major changes for next year.

Short on wood, as always, but I’m not cutting this time of year.
My place more closely resembles a poison ivy farm than a wood lot so I have to be covered head to toe when cutting, then toss in the PPE?
Hard pass in the heat of summer.

Market is going well. Sales are up 8% over this time last year, which is great considering we’ve had 3 market days shortened due to rain.
Vinegar sales are moderate to strong. We’ve also made another concoction of maple and cane sugar plus cinnamon that’s getting quite a bit of interest (4:1 cane vs maple and a pinch of cinnamon).
Folks seem to be buying larger quantities of syrup and doing so more frequently.
I’ll take that as a good sign.

With flooded woods, muddy pot holes, grapefruit size mosquitoes, rained out markets, and Sasquatch lurking in the weeds, it’s shaping up to be a fabulous year.

At least sales are up.
I’d be out there in my boxers yelling at clouds otherwise.

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Tweegs just about summed up my situation. I'm dealing with flooding at my pump house because the town road crew put a culvert in a foot higher than the old one. Other than that the Christmas trees are growing and looking great. Happy 4th of July everyone!

[ennismaple]

We continue to steadily make our way through the drums in the basement - sales have been strong. Got a bit of wood cut up last week when it wasn't too hot but didn't touch the 8 chord in the pile beside the sugar camp. That pile can wait until September, as can the rest of the to-do list!

[maple flats]

It has been far too hot to get much work done. I did help my daughter and son-in -law who are handling the blueberry fields this year. Thanks to no late frost and more than ample rain earlier this year it looks like this may well be the best year since I planted them in the 1980's, the bushes are loaded.
Too hot to buck and split firewood, the logs are still piled and awaiting cooler temps. They were cut 2-5 years ago and are piled off the ground.
Syrup sales remain good, I just hope it cools before I need to pack more, working over a 185 degree bottler in hot muggy temps is not my idea of fun.
My building project may be put off until 2020. I was going to add a lean-to addition on the side of my shop for farm equipment storage. When things cool later this summer or fall, I will likely saw the necessary lumber and then decide if it will be erected this year or next.

[Maplewalnut]

Wow, it looks like post season really dropped off in activity, I noticed a lot fewer posts but never noticed we missed the June Journal until right now, nobody ever even started a June Journal post all month.

Not really sure why so many have left. Noticed it last year and thought they would be back this maple season but it never happened. I know a few frequent posters were turned off by a few bad apples but that is life. i have learned a lot on this site over the years and figure I will give back some knowledge as I can.

Mike

[tcross]

i've been enjoying some non maple activities... gardening, fishing, golfing, preparing food plots and setting up game cameras. However i am getting a new Thor 2.5x8' raised flue the first weekend of August, so i have a few things to get done this weekend so the sugar house is ready for it. i poured a 4" thick slab, 12'x13' in my sugar house (which will be my boiling room). framed up some new walls to separate the sap storage, wood storage, and vacuum pump room all from the boiling area. i have a lot more work to do in there, but i'm basically set for the arch to be put in and i'll putter over the winter on finishing up. i have a wood stove in there now, so that will help take the chill off in the middle of winter. did all my wood in the spring, and last winter. just need to move it into the sugar house now. hopefully summer hangs on a little longer than it did last year. we had 6" of snow up here from the first of October till the middle of May.

[n8hutch]

I've been moving some syrup, did some trading with a local producer for some amber syrup because I was about out. I now think that I have enough syrup to get me through October anyway. I've got to get the Battens on my sugarhouse this Fall but I need to buy a new table saw to RIP them out of some 1" stock that I have. I'm really struggling with this Table Saw purchase I have a 1500.00$ dollar appetite but I only want to spend 500$ , all the 500 dollar saws look like junk.

[n8hutch]

i've been enjoying some non maple activities... gardening, fishing, golfing, preparing food plots and setting up game cameras. However i am getting a new Thor 2.5x8' raised flue the first weekend of August, so i have a few things to get done this weekend so the sugar house is ready for it. i poured a 4" thick slab, 12'x13' in my sugar house (which will be my boiling room). framed up some new walls to separate the sap storage, wood storage, and vacuum pump room all from the boiling area. i have a lot more work to do in there, but i'm basically set for the arch to be put in and i'll putter over the winter on finishing up. i have a wood stove in there now, so that will help take the chill off in the middle of winter. did all my wood in the spring, and last winter. just need to move it into the sugar house now. hopefully summer hangs on a little longer than it did last year. we had 6" of snow up here from the first of October till the middle of May.

A new Thor Evaporator sounds pretty awesome. What were you boiling on?

[maple flats]

Not really sure why so many have left. Noticed it last year and thought they would be back this maple season but it never happened. I know a few frequent posters were turned off by a few bad apples but that is life. i have learned a lot on this site over the years and figure I will give back some knowledge as I can.

Mike
Nate, this slow down happens every year after the season maple ends. Activity will pick up as producers ramp up for the 2020 season.

[n8hutch]

Nate, this slow down happens every year after the season maple ends. Activity will pick up as producers ramp up for the 2020 season.

Your Starting to Show your Age Dave.lol

[maple flats]

At my age I'm not afraid to show it, many of those my age are no longer with us.

[tcross]

A new Thor Evaporator sounds pretty awesome. What were you boiling on?

I was boiling on a home made rig I had made. Welded up a 4'x4' arch (insulated and bricked) and threw a 4'x4' syrup pan on top of it. i built a hood for it, homemade float, pre heater, auf and air injector. on good days i'd get 32 gph out of it, but probably averaged 27-28gph. probably throw it on craigs list and see what i can get for it. the upgrade to a 2.5x8 will be quite a learning curve! but it'll be great not spending 12-15 hours a day in front of it when things really pick up.

[BAP]

Cut up a bunch of wood last week and made a pile of it by my wood splitter to work on splitting. Haven’t got as much done this summer as I had hoped. My father and my mother in-law have cancer, so my wife and I have been busy going to medical appointments and doing things to help them.

[Russell Lampron]

I've been lurking but not posting. Syrup has been selling well and I'm glad that I made some dark this year. I've got an order for 300, 50ml gallone jugs to fill this weekend. I hope that it isn't as hot as it was last weekend! I've sold some of my equipment that has been sitting around and I sold my hand pump filter press last weekend. I sold enough stuff to pay for my new filter press when it comes in. I still need to cut and split some wood to fill the woodshed back up but won't be doing that until it cools down some.

[Pdiamond]

Hey all
We started off with tons of rain then it went right into the hot humid weather. I had half a big beech tree come down which was mostly dead anyway. We got blocks cut and split in the woods then rains came. Once the cooler weather shows up we'll start hauling and stacking. Planning on getting the interior of the sugar house completed early fall. Then it will be time to order more taps and bag holders. Planning on 100 taps for 2020. That should keep my little 2x4 raised flue evaporator busy.

[Russell Lampron]

n8hutch and his family stopped by for a visit yesterday afternoon. It was nice to see Nate again and to show off my sugar house. His son really liked my tractors. I have a wheel off of the doodlebug so I couldn't give them a ride but he still had fun looking. I always enjoy talking maple and showing other sugarmakers my setup.