Captain says...Full Steam Ahead

[royalmaple]

Russ that's cause you are dropping the ball. You really need to start taking this a little more seriously and get that grade up to where is should be in the Mersh.

Might have enough for a drum tonight.

[Russell Lampron]

Captain fill them drums. Bruce needs the mersh and I can't seem to make him any. The sap that I hauled home from my parents woods Saturday looked like, well was all yellow and cloudy. My dad said that it would make B for sure. Checked it with my Lovibond and sure enough, it was A Dark with plenty to spare.

[TapME]

Matt, tell me it not so, mersh.
Went and did the collection tonight and we got 60 gallons from the sugar bush trees, still have to collect the ones in the woods, but that should be another 50 for sure. Was disappointed in one of the trees it had yellow sap and I said no thanks to a gallon and half. Will boil in the AM and try to draw 2 more gallons(fingers crossed). hope you improve on your grade Matt.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Last night i think the Judge's were sleeping as they scored round 2 as follows= Maple hill scores the whombat 8 to the bunny's 1. Red roof maple 8-1 and PaTheron 9-0. The whombat had him against the ropes puttin' the fur to him pretty bad/but he should recover as he was saved by the bell(maybe that was telephone call?). The bunnys trainer had to salve up the big gash the bunny had above his right eye-he should recover fine for round 3.

The bunny is now entering the ring taunting the whombat=say you want a piece of my fur? cum and get it!!!

Tonight in round 3 it's the exact opposite the bunny is working the whombat over with the new energizers he just got installed. Time is drawing near as the bell will sound in 30 seconds. Will the bunny put the whombat on the canvas? time will tell... The bunny says he's ready to go all 10 rounds if that is what it takes??

[Revi]

I checked yesterday, and we had at least 100 gallons. We'll see what it's like. We are going to have a big boil tonight. We may be there until the cows come home. It's going to get warm today, so we need to get it boiled off. Up on the hill I don't think it went much above 48 degrees yesterday, but today they are predicting almost 60. It should be interesting. We won't be freezing, anyway.

[royalmaple]

Vicious upper cut to the wombat and he's down for the count. I guess he didnt waaaaaaannnnnttt it as bad as I did.

Made some great stuff last night, drum I was working on is nutted and working on the next.

Held grade perfectly last night, might have actually screwed up and went up slightly like 1/2 grade not sure but I hope not. Screw up my averages.

I got one arm raised over the wombat, ref is reaching for my other to claim victory. Yo Adrian......

[TapME]

Went a collected and ended up with 140 gallons so it was light up the evaporator and off to the races. Yellow sap cleared after the cold came and the clear sap tasted fine. Some of the reds are showing big buds but the sap is fine for now. must have made 2 1/2 gallons of product and color is staying steady. 31 right now so tomorrow will run like gang busters. Hope everyone is making steam.

[Revi]

We made some syrup tonight. It was quite the scene up at the sugarhouse. We are like the men's club when it gets going. It's the scene. We talked about everything and I showed another guy the woodlot. The snow is turning to mashed potatoes, and it is hard to stay on the trail.

We're going to push on.

Sugaring is really fun again.

[gmcooper]

Kind of been on a sabatical for a few days. Too much other stuff to get done. We have had 4 foals born since friday night. Turned on Vac pump at noon today. Tank is full now. Other tanks are getting close full. Looking like a long day tomorrow. Gonna try to get almost a full nights sleep for a change.

Matt be carefull all that permeate from Romona doesn't get away and wash out the road or something!

[gmcooper]

Picked up 400 gallons this morning. 200 more in Vacuum tank and it is running decent on vac. I am quite sure sap I just brought home will be making commercial. Looks little cloudy and I had been making dark before that. Buckets and gravity are not doing much at all and we did get down to 26 last night.

[TapME]

Just went and picked up the road side trees and got 60 gallons from 44 taps. Sap is still clear as water and no signs of buddy sap or smell. All the trees were running very well, and will want collecting again today. Woods trees will have as much and maybe a little more. Hope everyone is making steam.

[tessiersfarm]

Another 75 gallons tuesday and 65 more today. shaping up to be a hum-dinger of a week. Still looks clear too me. As tired as I am, I am looking forward to seeing how the week ends. Will be my best week yet as far as quantity, hope to get some dark out of it, but I will be happy with what I get.

[Revi]

We collected on Tuesday evening, so I could see what showed up yesterday. Almost nothing. I am sure glad that we boiled off everything we got up to Tuesday. I would be surprised if there is anything up there today.

I think that the season is almost over. I hope we get a few more runs next week, and then we'll pull the taps.

[TapME]

Revi; we got a frost this morning and the taps were running till about noon and they slowed. Had a high school class over to help with boiling and collecting as a field trip and that was very successful. Students and faculty had a great time. Drew off 2 gallons while they were here. Will go and collect later tonight and see what I get. Put a total of 120 gallons through the rig. Sap is still clear but sweetness is not their.
Royalmaple, are you still making syrup?

[royalmaple]

Can't you see the cloud heading your way. That's steam and smoke from my place.

Oh, yeah still going, no quit in me yet. Slow and steady. Been getting average runs like 1/2 gallon per tap. When you are able to hold grade like I have been why quit. Bruce is going to love to see me pull up to the loading dock.

Two days ago, 500, yesterday 400, today 400. They all add up. Couple of nights ago the flow was a little weird on the evaporator, syrup compartment seemed to just empty and nothing was filling it up, even though the float was hammering in new sap. All the more reason to have the inlet on from the flue pan on the bottom of the pan, instead of higher up on the pan. I don't like the design on my pans. I run my flue pan very shallow and there's less head pressure to come into the syrup pan.

Governor made an appearance today, we went up in the bush looking for leaks. Found many little ones, tightened up some loose spiles mostly. Nothing major as far as leaks but alot of little ones. Gov shot some footage on his camcorder. I think the title of the movie is going to be something like, "what not to do in your sugarbush" Or "these are some common mistakes to avoid"

I've seen alot of pulled taps in the area but I'm still shooting for may. Sap is still clear, not super sweet but it never is. The Ramona is doing a good job getting rid of some unwanted water. Then Willy is going to take over.

[Revi]

We didn't quite frost last night, so that may be the difference. It was almost 60 degrees here today, and near that yesterday. We are just about done, but it may get a bit colder this weekend and start the pump up again. I think we'll get just enough by Saturday to squeeze a bit more syrup out and then we'll boil off what we have left.

We only have about 10 gallons in the tank. I would like to have at least 30, so that we can get the evap going a little before we draw off.

We'll see what happens.

[gmcooper]

I think our buckets and gravity tubing is toast. Not much the past week from them. Vacuum is still chugging along. Running quite well this am. Have been having trouble with the releaser sticking. Ran 400 gallons thru Rich's RO last night to try. Sugar content has dropped the last few days. Only 1.6 last night. Going to boil some 7% in a few minutes. Might get addicted to that stuff! Close to a record year but not there yet. With out the screwups this year I would have long since been in the bonus catagory.
Mark

[Revi]

We are getting 2 1/2%, but only tiny amounts the past few days. Tuesday was a big day, but we boiled, so there wasn't anything left after that.

Down by the coast may be cooler, and so is up north. You might still have a bit of a season left, but I think ours is practically done around here.

It's a little cooler today, and the sun is out, so maybe we'll get some sap today.

[Revi]

Over at the Proctor Maple Research Center they have a monitor of sapflow. It didn't do much yesterday and the day before, but today is looking promising. I think the pressure is up and it should flow a bit. I could be wrong. It only got to around 31 degrees in town, which means it may have gotten to 28 up on the hill:

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/?Page=treemet1.html&SM=cammenu.html

[Revi]

Even less today than Weds and Thurs. We decided to call it a season. I pulled 68 taps, and noticed a lot of trees that could be tapped next year!

There's always next year, isn't there!

This was one of the smallest amounts we have made, but it was fun doing it.

That's the real harvest in sugaring, for us.

[PATheron]

Mark- When your releaser sticks does it not empty from the primary stage? Last of my sap was 1% when I hung it up. Theron

[royalmaple]

Still going, slow and steady. Solid 300 gallons last night. Sap was still flowing last night when we collected around 10pm. Still pleanty of fight left in me. Got enough wood ready for another season like this already in the wood shed.

Andy-vally view sugarhouse stopped in last night for some sodas and steam. Call it the SS combo, supersized.

I don't know what andy was doing or saying to willy but he was blushing pretty hard when I looked around the front. Must have been pretty embarassed or something. Ended up with another 8 gallons or so in the drum. She's filling up. THe more I put in that drum the closer it gets to the top, funny how that works.

[maplecrest]

sap running good here today. nice clear,no snot. yesterday was snotty and hard to filter. today filters easy. put 3000 gallons thru the r/o in 2 and 1/2 hours and going to run again in an hour to start boiling. hope to fill a couple drums tonight. at .4 per tap today shooting for .5 dont know if i will make it. dont look good after wed.

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

Matt, It was great to actually make steam instead of sitting around waiting for sap... Willy does seem to blush a little here and there, (secret, if you wiggle his wood around a little) .. Thanks for giving me that boiling boost I needed, Maybe my trees will smell some of yours and get scared of the replacement, and give it up...

Andy

[Revi]

We packed it in. The official count of taps is 206 plus 30 buckets. We still have a bit to boil off some time next week, but the season is officially over at Chez Lonndorf. It was great, but it's time to move on.

We'll have to see how much we make out of what's left in the evap, but it will be down from last year, that's for sure.

Since we didn't do Maine Maple Sunday we have some for ourselves at least.

[gmcooper]

I called it a season last night. Buckets and gravity were done and vacuum pump delivered a couple hundred gallons of dark amber sap. I have never gotten brownish sap before. Sugar content dropped very quickly. LAst syrup made yesterday was very dark even after ROing sap. Just about even with our best year. Definately less than I hoped for. Heard unoffical reports from nearby sugar makers that some had great years and some just a good year at best. I really think the lack of frost in the ground hurt production especially at the end of season. Syrup has been selling very well and the artical in todays paper about Quebec not making syrup did perk up sales today.

Revi, can't really believe you are done in Skowhegan. Normally you would be nearly 2 weeks later than us. One year wifes cousins in Farmington ended a week before us but that had to be rare for sure.
Anyone hear how things are going on the Golden Road yet?
Mark

Edited: Just realized that the spring peepers are really peeping tonight. This is the first night I have heard them this year. Usually I boil 1 or 2 more times after they come out. Not this year!

[tessiersfarm]

Over here, we are finishing the last of it this morning. 19 Gallons of syrup off of 75 taps. Last of it was commercial grade but it tasted great. Sold enogh to pay the bills so I'm happy. Great season, can't wait til the next one.

[royalmaple]

Got 300 gallons yesterday. I'll pick that up today with what ever else comes in today. Suppose to get freezes most everynight this week. No sign of a peeper yet. I was going well into the peeps last year. Gotta make the mersh. If they come out before I'm ready to call it, I'll take my BB gun out and knock a few over to help quiet them down.

[TapME]

Just back from a rush trip to so. NH. Will go and check taps today. It does not look good for any more sap flow unless the freezes at night are deeper than in the past few days. We are at 14 gallons with 80 taps so far. Need to finish the sweet in the evap to get a final count. For sure it was way better than last year where we had only 7 gallons on the same taps. It seems to look like a sudden stop to the season this year.
Royalmaple; keep the flow going.

[Revi]

Maybe we could have kept going, but we got nothing after Tuesday last week, and it really is getting to be time to pack it in.

I've been boiling off the stuff from the bottom of the evaporator in a kettle. It's fun. Like how they did it in the old days. Then I filter it and finish it on the stove.

It's fun tending the fire and watching the pots.

[royalmaple]

She froze last night, see what happens today. Picked up 500 gallons down there yesterday afternoon, it was still running somewhat. 200 was from yesterday, 300 previous day. Hope the mother load shows up today in the tanks. Suppose to freeze most nights this week.

Put on my skirt last night and increased the depth in the syrup pan. That mersh doesn't like to cooperate as much as I'd like it to and I hate to burn anything up. So little deeper from now till mid May when I call it quits. So took a while to resweeten up to the new level but got some at the end of the night. Had to get rid of the weak stuff that was in there from when Andy came over, sucks not having concentrate built up enough to keep up with the rig.

If I can get some shipping cleaned up today, I'm going after some brush around the house. Hope to tap 150-200 more around the house that didn't get hammered this year yet. I need my R&D trees close to my research facility. Got some contraptions that need testing before they go into full launch. Could be close to a 1.5 million dollar operation next season and can't risk installing items that are not 150% up to snuff.

[gmcooper]

Matt keep up the good work. Now 1.5 million $ operation next year??? What are you planning to downsize or what????? LOL Don't forget to filter out the frogs before the filter press!
Mark

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

We didn't hurt willy any fri night did we?? I know we mite of hurt his feelings but I hope that is all... You need to pipe your head tank in so that feeds the RO and you can have all your sap in that doing the recirc before I come over again.. then we would have plenty of sap and it would just get sweeter as the night went on...

[TapME]

Just went out to check the sap in the buckets and low and behold they are running. Looks like the 2nd season has started. have to go cut wood to boil tomorrow. This could be another 10 gallons..............well.
Matt; you could stop holing grade if the freezes are deep enough. Just think fancy in May....................

[royalmaple]

Andy has she cut loose up there yet? I'm planning on taking a road trip when you see some action.

I got couple more orders to ship then might get the drill out and give some pay back to some brush out back.

Mark-, I guess I should have been more clear, 1.5M in improvements. So small upgrades here and there.

Held grade very well last night, might have even lost it a little. Thought I was in a chocolate factory last night, smelled like it and I guess if you want to get technical product resembled it also.

[gmcooper]

Finished picking up everything. Not much ran at all after last Thursday. Even some of the more shaded North slopes did not run. Still trying to clean the gunk out of the evaporator after that last 2 boils. Still have Vac system to clean. Ticks are out now, could it get any better?

Matt have you progressed into making blacktop sealer yet? You kmow they sell that for good money still.
Mark

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

Word has it that the Cluster bunny had entered the ring last night for Round 10 with his bright Pink tights on/Took off his swimmies and the Wombat gave him what he was looking for? Put him right on the canvas for lights out=Season over in short order-Couldn't quite hold on for the extra rounds that could have lead into May...

He'll get him next time for Pay $$$$$ Back.

[royalmaple]

I had a few calls from some Asphault companies. They wanted to know what I was charging for sealer. I didn't have the quantity they were looking for.

Last week I collected on Wed. I had 1000 gallons of sap. Boiled that in. Then didn't collect on Thursday but did Friday. I had 250. Boiled that friday night. Got the flue pan empty and in buckets and going to work that into the front pan and get it all. I stretched it out as long as I could. I wanted May boiling pretty bad but now I have pleanty of other loose ends to catch up on that I have been neglecting while I was hittin it rich on syrup'in.

So season ended officially on the 18th, no more freezes and it's now 65-70 each day. Might boil in the rest of the concentrate today, maybe not. It isn't going anywhere.

Very very poor season. I did make more syrup than last year, but more taps too. Lot of factors I guess mostly too cold and too much snow. Theres still a decent amount of snow in the woods. At least collecting was easier, sap came to the road. Electric supply for my pump and much better ring pump on the taps. Didn't have to boil day and night for nothing. RO helped alot. So how can I complain. Better luck next year. I'm guessing at this point somewhere around 135-150 gallons this year.

The list of improvements is growing.

Mark had a F'n tick on me the other day, just on my pants. I figured they'd wait till the snow was gone but I guess they are hungry too. Pulled one off the dog last night.

[gmcooper]

Went to Maple meeting last night. Seemed like most did better than last year but fell short of what they were looking for. I really think the lack of frost really did hurt total production. From what I have been hearing up on the Golden road is not going well and Quebec was only just over 1 lb per tap so far. Heard that bulk buyers were paying same right across the board with out even checking the drums. That is how tight supply is. Of course all that is subject to change.
Matt, no one can say you didn't make the effort to go till May but I really think if we had some frost you just might have made it.

[TapME]

Did our last boil on Thursday and made 3 gallons of cooking grade syrup. It was black but had no after taste at all. Our final total was 18 gallons of syrup on 80 taps and we ended up selling 150+ gallons of sap. Not bad and a lot better than last year when we did 7gallons on the same amount of taps. The bigger evaporator made everything a lot easier. Looking to make some improvements for the next season. Did have a big disappointment this week as the lot that we were looking to tap and had spoke to the owner about it has logged out the wood lot taking all the maples (2 tappers) and left all the oak and pine and other trees. I was disappointed to say the least. Oh it was a south west facing hill with over 3-4 thousand taps easy and 1/2 mile from the house. We will just keep on looking. Hope everyone enjoyed this season.

[royalmaple]

Mark-

I totally forgot about the meeting. Who won the ribbons, or do I need to even ask?

Busy day here doing yard work getting the beautification going around the house.

We went from antartic to summer in about 3 days.

[gmcooper]

Matt I might be wrong but I think Sweet Williams won light, Jillsons won med.
Earl Mitchall won Dark and Jilson extra Dark. Jillsons also won best of show. Think I got them right. Eric and Kathy said quality was very good and toughest contest yet. I forgot to send any up for contest and I think there were many others in the same boat.

[Revi]

Well we made our last 2 quarts on Thursday. We were way down this season, but we had some misfortunes, so I guess it was ok overall. It's always fun to make maple syrup anyway.

The evaporator is cleaned up and the last two quarts was from stuff we poured off a couple of weeks ago.

All in all it was an ok season.

[royalmaple]

Made some good headway today. As parker would say, I deployed the 75cfm monster to its new residence. Got that all plumbed up, moved the 1550 gallon tank to the releaser location for this year. Hope for less freeze ups. That was a trick, it was stuck in about 3 feet of snow. Had to dig it out then lift the mf'er up and on it's side without blowing a left'y. At least I could roll it down the trail to the releaser. Of course all hemlocks in there so all the sagging branches were getting hit by the tank as it rolled by and covered me with snow. NICE.

Cleaned and fixed my releaser, got that down there, and made a new enclosure for the releaser.

Tomorrow is some plumbing and starting to tie things together. Might bring a few bits with me if all goes well. Wishful thinking towards the end of the week for a couple of days, then seems to be froze up for a while. Tree's are still loaded with snow and there's pleanty in the woods.

Jeremy you have maybe another couple of days of sap flowing then when I turn that pump on you may see the buckets actually dripping backwards into the tap holes and into the roots.



This should be fun for a bit: CFM/Tap Ratio.

75/0 at 28"

[tessiersfarm]

when we start to feel the suction we are going to hook a garden hose up to some of our southern taps and give you all you can take 1/2%. LOL Good luck on the freeze ups and let us know when it starts flowing there I still got another week.

[royalmaple]

If I'm ready or if I have anything tapped I think I can do some business these next couple of days then I really doubt it for a stretch, but at least they'll be online and the pump will be spinning.

Send all the water you want. The RO is going to be turned on here pretty shortly and not being shut off for a few months anyway.

[Maplewalnut]

Good luck Matt, should be a banner year for you.

[Revi]

We're tapping this weekend, God willing and the creek don't rise (or even if it does). I hope it doesn't flood the road on Friday if it rains.

Happy sapping!

[TapME]

Well captain is it there she blows? Need to have an update on the evap and tap situation. I want to see Theron get worried. Hope things are going together as planed.

[royalmaple]

Lou-

Starting to happen. Got a little sap this weekend. I'm in NH now helping the governor get set up. Then heading back. I had 850 gallons in the tank when I left. Should run a bit tomorrow. Still pretty cold in my woods but snow is going down.

[TapME]

Hey Captain you have your life preserver on, or is it warm down in your neck of the woods and you got your swimmies on? Hope your doing well and making a bunch of syrup.

[Revi]

38 for a high here in Skowhegan. I wonder if it will run today. I suspect so, if it is above 35 up on the hill. We'll see...

We run late anyway, but it seems to run every sunny day lately. It even dripped a little yesterday, even though it was never above freezing.

[royalmaple]

Still going, trees kinda kicked in about 1 week ago. Been too busy for jibber jabbering. Its all lies anyway. Ro has been either washing, rinsing or concentrating since Early march. I don't think it has been off more than 8 hours this month.

Sap is running a whopping 1.5% steady. Lots of water, little product but still hammering. Dark syrup. Lightest I got was dark amber, and darkest is on the NH Fancy / VT Super duper Fancy / Canada AAAAAA++++. Gotta love the Mersh!!

I have no idea on tap count, but should be near alot.
I have no idea on the sap hauled but it is staggering. Blue thunder loves the new cage tank.
I have no idea on syrup produced but I can round to the nearest 100 gallons at this point, 100 - 500 gallons somewhere in the middle.

See you clowns in June when I'm done. When you give up bring me your sap.

[TapME]

i need to borrow Parker's logging machines to cut more wood for me. Lots of fog here and rain but no cold so everything is shut down. Looking at wednesday to start things up again.

Royalmaple; I need to come and visit and help make some of Maine's finest. Need to get a container to put all this syrup in too.

[gmcooper]

I have never had the vacuum run as well as this year. Still 21-24" at the booster. Sugar content is lower than I like but at least I'm getting sap.
When you get vac level around 26" you need to be sure to have a good root filter to keep the releaser from getting plugged up!
Matt you must have seen a bit of a boost in sap production when I shut off the vacuum today?
Mark

[Russell Lampron]

Matt how does your extended forecast look? It looks pretty bad here. Too much clouds and rain and not enough clear and cold. I may be done but hesitate to turn off the SP 22. With what I have in the woods tank I should be just about 8000 gallons of sap for the year and I am close to .25 gallons per tap even with the low sugar content at the start of the season.

Mark that may be why I got some sap over here too. My 23" couldn't keep up with your 26".

[royalmaple]

Freeze or not trees still running. I'm guessing the 25-26" is helping. Boy thank god for that guy that sells Atlantic Fluid Vacuum Pump systems.

Froze last night and I got 1000 gallons today and was still running at 6pm when I went down.

Froze up here now.
Just finished up a 3 hour marathon boil, and made 29-30 gallons. All super nice Dark Amber.

There is going to be a new product on the list of services offered next year. Say good bye to the Mersh.

I still got 1 foot of snow or more in spots.

[royalmaple]

Next 15 days look good, I just looked.

Most are close to freezing, which doesn't get me too worked up. The spot I'm in is always 5-10 degrees colder than what they say for my town.

I need 50's and 30's to get the right swing in there. So bring it on.

Leeeeeeetttttttsssss Geeeetttttttttt Readyyyyy To Rumbbbble.

I'm averaging 1 wheel barrow full of wood per 10 gallons of syrup.

[PATheron]

Captain- Should be able to help the wood consuption by the weekend. Youll probly have another R.O. by then. No freezes in sight. Thee(sap so stinky got to wear a gas mask to boil it)rooon.

[TapME]

Keep it going Matt. Froze here to and will see if it's what the doctor ordered for it to run. If not I'm going to pull the taps.

show me the way captain

[royalmaple]

Lou-

I know you are not so good in the snow, but dig your heels in. Its only the second 1/2 of the season. I'm shooting for May again this year. High vacuum and lots of water, could be the recipe.

[TapME]

Yeah, last year was hard with the foot being bad, but this year is much better and the snow has been better for me. I haven't pulled the taps yet and their is snow still on the ground so the chance of them running again is good. Still want that 50 mark. That's quite a feat on my rig. The sun has to shine here after a chill and it will be a 400 gallon day, I think.
Keep on pluging at it, and we will do what we can here.

PS. turn that vac down to 22'' and I may stand a better chance. :)

[royalmaple]

Busier than a 1 arm paper hanger with crabs.

Trucked sap till 2am this morning then started in at 9am and trucked till 4pm. I went and bought another 1550 gallon tank to put in the barn that works so much easier.

Got about 40 gallons to make tonight.

[TapME]

you go King of Merch

[royalmaple]

Ah ah ah, no way jose.

No mersh here. Thanks to my new invention.

[TapME]

I'm going to go and steel it in the night when your asleep.:)

[royalmaple]

Lou-

I dont sleep.

[ackerman75]

What is mersh ?

[maplecrest]

commercial grade syrup

[royalmaple]

I've been boiling every day, not much sap lately. I think today is it. I was trying to go to the end. I might have missed a couple of weeks, if I stop today but that might not be true.

When did you stop over? You should have called. I went up to valley view's place Wednesday and thursday to see his new rig boil and see how real sugarmakers do it. We had a Tri-state round table with representatives from NH, VT, and ME. The NH representative didn't want to be in any pictures since he is very high up in the legislature, and was suppose to be in meetings all day.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

How much syrup have you made this year with all those added taps??

[royalmaple]

Brandon, sorry I'm not ignoring you. Just super busy. I haven't been on the trader in a month it seems, just popping in to respond to some messages basically.

Well I don't keep nearly the records that 99.876543333 % of the maple traders do on here. Partly due to what I am going through day to day etc. It would be nice. Unlike most guys I'll round down to keep things honest.

Best guess is crowding 400 gallons of syrup, could be slightly one way or the other. I was selling it all season long and still canning each night now to stay ahead on orders. So it is hard to put my hands on all my crop and add up. I sold a bunch bulk at 2.89/lb recently.

I trucked right around 30,000 gallons of sap. 225 gallons at a time day and night. Ro'd it to hopefully 10% - 14% then hit the evap. Sometimes I didn't have the tank storage, time, or sap so I boiled less sweet sap.

Evaporator kicked some serious butt, I was doing 120 gph routinely, and did hit 150gph on a few occasions.

My sugar was at best 1.5% and ended up at 1%. I just finished boiling last Friday night.

Definately need to upgrade the RO, It just couldn't keep up with the sap I was getting.

As for taps, I would guess that the season was mostly on 1400-1500 taps. I'm going to count when I pull them soon. I was still tapping up to the end. I never got all the taps in. I would say that I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 1700 drilled now, 100 of them were about 1 week ago. I still have components to finish tapping in the tubing I ran but it will have to wait till next year.

Pretty fair season, I'm happy. I don't have the best numbers out there but when you factor in basically 100% red maple(I think 4 sugars are tapped), low sugar and I typically get 1/2 gallon sap per tap runs as a norm with 1.5% sugar it takes alot to get anywhere. I think my best run would have been about 3/4 gallon sap per tap.
1/2 gallon seems to be the norm, but consistantly every single day. I boiled everyday this season, maybe skipped a couple during the season. Trees just quit or I'd still be boiling.

Processed almost 6 cords of firewood, cut split and stacked (solo) this weekend. Just so I can feel like I'm not a worthless P.O.S. Gotta get the wood ready for next winters dry firewood orders.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

Sounds like a good year all in all. Wondered what had happened to you and if you had dropped off the end of the earth! LOL!

Now we know, that was a good problem to have to keep you off the trader.