The 2009 Maplecreek Experiance

[Parker]

Well,,,that sun is getting stronger everyday,,thawing out my inner sugarmaker,,I have not been in any of my woods since august,,I am sure there is alot to do to get ready,,looks like Steve will be back helping this year which will make a world of diffrance,,,Got my head tanks and sugarhouse plowed out monday,,need to build covers for my head tanks and crib them up-connect them to the truck dumping line and the sugarhouse,,the airtight front is almost done-need to change over to the BIG blower,only have about 24 cords in the shed but about 30 outside in the snow, thinking I might be able to burn the frozen wet stuff with the new airtight front-blower set up? gotta reset the tank in Hill (which floated down the brook a littel),a whole lot to do,,,looking forward to it , gonna get going on the tanks on sat. then its off to the woods for repairs,,,add some in Hill hopefully,,,,,Good luck to everyone

[Mark-NH]

Parker,

Great to see you are back at it. I love reading your posts, probably because you run under the gun like me. Too much other crap going on to get everything ready and sit back and wait for the season to start.

Should be a perfect weekend to get a bunch of loose ends tied up. Get the snowshoes out.

[Uncle Tucker]

Parker,
Sounds like you are hitting the ground running, only about three weeks until we pull out the drills. Glad to hear the airtight front is almost finished. Did you ever get power at the sap house? If not prices of copper have come way down. I got a bobby releaser for the bb4 and it is all hooked up,,,, just weighting,,,,. I hope the timing of our baby won’t shorten my season to much (due April 12). The extra syrup $ will help.

[markcasper]

Uncle Tucker, Is a bb4 the same as a sp-22?

[Parker]

Tucker- No power to the sugarhouse this year-still the welder and generator,definatly lloking for some wire to run 220 down there ,I think your pump is a BB-2 ? and the one I have in Hill is a BB-4? But I could be wrong on that,,
Mark-got the snow shoes out last night,gonna try them out later today,,,

[PATheron]

Parker-

It's matt in disguise. Hey how far is your sh from the house? I got some #4 Triplex that would work. I think I have about 190 feet strands.

[Parker]

I would have to measure,,,I would guess around 150 feet,,how is it running in P.A.?

[Parker]

Made arangments to get all my tanks plowed out yesterday (way ahead of last year),,broke trail to the last booster in Hill (on snowshoes) snow is about 3 feet deep up there,,hopefully it wont be so deep everywhere ealse,some minor repairs to do up there from what I have seen,,weather radio says we might get a couple of days the end of this week,,,if I hear of 4 good days in a row I am tapping in my south facing orchards.............I think I could have that done and be ready to boil in 3 days,,,well,,,this is sugaring,,,so useing the "Parkers equation" (How long you think it will take X 2 = how long it will really take),,,,,,, 3X2=6 days or so,,,,,do want to get all the lines up befor it rains and freezes,,,we have no crust here,,,,,,

[TapME]

sounds like you are well on the way to making sugar Parker. You have done a lot in the sugar house and it should pay off you know that 80 gallon day that you wanted. keep on trucking.

[Parker]

TapMe-it would take a whole lot more taps and that air tight front to REALLY make a big diffrance for me to make 80 gal. a day,(41 is my best so far),,but next year,, if I make the right moves, it think it is possibel,,the taps are around,,,would need an R.O. and a winning megabucks ticket though,,tubing is so expensive now,,,\
Steve came over and we got the tank crib built above the sugarhouse,,,,I dump my sap into these tanks (3 600 gallons and a 1000 gallon) tanks are on the crib ready to have covers built,,then plumb them all together,,,with the headtank in the sugarhouse I have 3400 gallons of storage here,,1500 gallons on the trucks,,,3300 gallons in the woods,,,Unlike in the past I will need to hold some sap when I am wacthing the littel sugarmakers (got diviorced this fall-a good thing),,,,,I do have another 1500 gal. in tanks that I was going to sell,,but after thinking about it today,,think Ill keep them just in case.
Need to start working up some more wood- got the splitter plowed out and the big yard crane is sitting next to the wood pile,,,we will get it!!!
Hit 38 here today,,,for about 1 hour,,felt good though,,,

[Parker]

I have to see the extended forcast,,BUT,,If I tapped my southern bushes,,,Hattens=250, Hoit road=450, Putney Hill=250 and put out 100 buckets,,that would be 1050,,,could put the Hill pump and releaser and the Rte.11 vac. pump at Putney hill for now,,,,might give me enough to boil,,,,,I found yesterday that the ground is not frozen under this snow (unlike last year),,,,,,,,Just gonna have to wacth the forcast,,,,,,the air tight front should be done tommrow,,,,
Matt, I have to work a deal for that wire,Ill be up after it this week,,My neighbor says he can run the line to the sugarhouse,,,the BIG blower has a 1.5 HP elec. moter on it and there is no way the welder will run that and everything ealse.....

[Parker]

Well,,,,,after looking at the extended forcast, tapping my maple in the yard with a bucket,and balancing my check book,,,,I am going to hold off on tapping,,,was surprised to see the 1/2" of sap in the bucket from my yard tree yesterday evening (that will fill a backet on a good day, and yesterday felt like a real good day)........am still going ahead with plowing out tanks-repairing lines,,,but looks like just 3 days of running at the end of the week,,,then cold till the end of the month,,,better to wait for some volume,,have the front finished, blower and power all set up,,,,SSOOOOO,,,going form BIG SAP ALERT level ORANGE down to level BLUE here for now.....

[tuckermtn]

Parker-

I came to the same conculsion...as much as I WANT IT...it'll have to wait...

-tuckermtn

[Amber Gold]

I put some serious thought into tapping this weekend as well, especially when I saw the extended forecast of 40's this week. My sugarbush is on a south facing slope so it should warm up nicely. Not quite ready for it yet though. I hope it gets cold again. I don't want the season to start this early.

[Parker]

Just came in from checking my bucket on my yard tree,,,yesterday was sunny-40's last might rain and high 30's,,,still just enough sap in the bucket to cover the bottom,,,most of the snow around here will be gone after this rain,,,I am going to just keep getting ready to tap and boil,,,forcast calls for colder temps for the next 2 weeks,,,,,

[Mark-NH]

Parker,

After this snow eating fog today we should have ideal conditions in the woods this weekend. Great opportunity to check the lines, make any adjustments and additions and be ready to tap the following weekend.

[Mac_Muz]

I had to go out down to Dover today, and am just back. On the Tamworth ossippe line just off Rt 25 I tripped over someone gear set up. There is 3 woodlots rigged for plastic line. I stopped and got out, to walk over to the collection barrel, and noted no trees were tapped, just all ready to be.

I am not familar with that type of set up, but the lines feed into a bigger black line. Each tap has a ring, which I assume you drill inside of and then drive the tap and it somehow seals. He has some sort of ratchet come along to pull the large black line which ever way he needs..

I don't know who he is, and so don't know if he happens to post here. I didn't see a sugar shack, or anyone around, and was there only seconds of time.

So atleast i am not behind.

Time to get my stuff cleaned up, and make it ready, and get in more wood..

[Parker]

Muz- dont know who that is,,I dont get over that too often,,

MAN- the weather sure feel like the season is upon us,,,but the test bucket in my yard has yet to really run, still only about 1/4", and the bucket I hung in my landing has yet to drip,,,,I did go thru the woods at Hattens in Salisbury heights,,damage minimal there,,basicaly just tap in,,hope to get to walk each of my woods by next monday,,
I have been doing cut split and delivered wood this week (no hardwood pulp market) and everything I am splitting is frozen solid. think that might have something to do with the lack of sap,,,but it just around the corner.
Will see the welder in the A.M. about the airtight front and the huge blower install,,,got to get to Royalmaple for some wire,,,would really like to have the front on the evaporator and the blower hooked up (mabey a test boil under my belt) befor I start to tap,,,,,,I have got it so bad this year I am even thinking about putting out some of those &*#^%$ buckets,,,,,,,,,,,GOOD LUCK TO ALL
Who is tapping this weekend?

[royalmaple]

parker kick it up a notch.

[maplecrest]

parker as of last night i have 2900 holes drilled.4100 to go

[Mac_Muz]

Parker, I study you and thouse to my south as best I can guess they are to my south.

I have been gathering dead standing white pine as well. So far 1.5 cords of it to run my little rig, and .5 cords to extend my landlords shop, as he allows himself to burn the stuff for heat. he is a mid west guy, and it seems isn't spoiled as to what he heats with yet, but I have been working on it.

There is very little hardwoods on this property since it once was a horse race track/fairgrounds. This place was abandoned in the 30's sometime and grew up in nothing but white pine pretty much since then. Very tall and very over crowded. I am working currently to get the dead away from the raod, because we want to allow the sun in to help melt the ice in the road and stop getting delayed going places when one and more dead trees fall at random.

Some are so weak at the base they just fall in a mild breeze and others just fall because they are too weak to stand.

Some of the larger ones seem to have hard spots.. That would be ice.

I feel as if maybe I am missing a little sap, but with my crude set up with metal taps and a bucket i think if i tap right now the tap holes will just dry up overly soon, so I haven't tapped 1 tree yet.

After this snow is cleaned up I might drill a test tap then, so I can maybe monitor, as you have done.

How many days has your test tree been tapped now?

With a tapered metal spout, is it possible to re-fresh the drill hole, if it dries up?

[Parker]

Muz- my test tree here at the house has been in for 2 weeks,,still almost nothing in the bucket,,,,I, also dont want to miss the "meat" of the season,,its been awfully tempting to go and get everything tapped,,,but my latest boil was april 27,,,figure a taphole will run for 6-8 weeks,,,I will be tapping soon,,,,if I had 5,000 taps and no help I would be out there now,,,but looks like the Robilard Bros. and young Ray will be helping tapping,,,also kinda have to wait on tapping till I think I will have enough to fire up Marvin (300 gal to flood the pans and around 300 GPH),,,,and I have not seen that kind of weather in the long term forcast,,,BUT SOON!

[Mac_Muz]

Parker I can't even imagine 2,000 taps +....

My little rig is far to small for much more than the 23 taps I have now if the run is any good. I think I recall having 22 taps once and making 11 gallons with just that many one time. A very good year with very good trees, in a very special and nce place. That was right next to a clear mountain stream and in full sun all day long, when ever there was any sun, and that year there was.

Those trees were prime trees all virgins. Some days they would fill a joint compound bucket full to over flowing, and i would then gather sap and have to gather again the same day. Maybe if I recall that was winter 96/97, but I can't be sure.

I am trying to match the fire wood to the sap which isn't easy when you have no idea what the run might be.

Last year in Tamworth I wasn't alone in lacking sap. I added taps from 15 to this 23 in hiopes i can gather more sap faster and maybe end up with 5 gallons of syrup. To me it is just a matter of personal home use and maybe a little bit for gifts, to those willing to eat out of the common steel pan.

[Mark-NH]

Parker,

Planning to tap at least one bush on Saturday. If it is decent out I would like to tap the other one Sunday and be done with the bulk of the work. This would give me time to tweak the vacuum systems and repair damage before it lets loose.

I won't hang the buckets yet though. I'll hang them when the weather looks to be breaking.

[maplecrest]

parker the new stubbies and adapters that cdl has out now i really like. i have been drilling 750 holes a day myself putting them on and place in tree. the old lockers i was lucky if i could do 400 very slow.tapping weather has been perfect.

[Parker]

Time to light a fire under the fabricators a&&, MARVIN NEEDS A FRONT!!!,,,going to Goodrichs tommrow afternoon for adaptors+connectors+ceramic blanket, stop on the way home for bits at NHMAPLE48's, Wake it and shake it REAL EARLY to Royalmaple's sat.AM and pick up HIGHVOLTAGE wire to run the sugarhouse, then be in the sugarwoods the rest of the day,,,gonna put holes in trees even if its wrong,,,weather still looks cold but better get started.......

[Mac_Muz]

Parker, Too bad I am not closer, as i exceed in doing things wrong! :D

[mtcrumpit]

Time to light a fire under the fabricators a&&, MARVIN NEEDS A FRONT!!!,,,going to Goodrichs tommrow afternoon for adaptors+connectors+ceramic blanket, stop on the way home for bits at NHMAPLE48's, Wake it and shake it REAL EARLY to Royalmaple's sat.AM and pick up HIGHVOLTAGE wire to run the sugarhouse, then be in the sugarwoods the rest of the day,,,gonna put holes in trees even if its wrong,,,weather still looks cold but better get started.......

parker, if you want to save on the ceramic blanket go to McMaster-Carr 24' x 25' roll of 6lb material is 38.50 pn 93315k42. this is the same material used for pan gasket.(mcmaster.com) good luck

[maplecrest]

parker feels like n.h. weather here today. like mt. washington. thermo might say 18 but with the blasting wind it is 10 below wind chill. no holes today. gave up,can not thaw my fingers out to type even this.

[Mac_Muz]

LOL, yeah the Thermo says 22, but the wind is plain nasty. I just took the dogs for a mile walk, and wasn't really dressed enough.

[Parker]

Crumpit- thanks for the lead on the blanket,,but got what Glenn had,,

Muz-I think, after looking at the long rang forcast, it would be wrong to start tommrow,,,,I need to keep a lid on it just yet,one day over 40 in the next 15,,,
After a long voyage am happy to say I think I have everything I need to tap in and boil (I am sure I just cursed myself by saying that),,,,got a truckload os stuff,,head to Matts in AM for wire,,,
Mill called yesterday-no more pulp market,,,logs are in the dumper,,,doing cut and split and pickerloads now,,,,,COME ON 40's,,,I want to go sugaring,,,,

[Mac_Muz]

Parker, Does this mean you can't get wood, as you are accustomed too?
"Mill called yesterday-no more pulp market,,,logs are in the dumper"


I luck out and can scavange dead standing, which for sure isn't the best wood, much of it is 1/2 rotten, some trees 30 feet tall are not much bigger around than my knee, and I can simply push them over with no saw.

They need to be gone for the betterment of the woods over all, so I get them as I need them. Sometimes i just take them down for nearly no use, but there is so many...

Sunday here looks grim, a blizzard i guess maybe less the winds in a real blizzard, but to me when the weather says 12+ inches that means blizzard wind or no wind.

The garden is 4 feet deep out back now with just natural snow fall. So if this storm is what the weather says, I will be close to as much snow heightwise as last year. last year I didn't know it really but that snow there was 6 ft 6 inches. I thought that was more like 5 feet, untill the snow melted. The fencing told the rest of the story, and I had been standing on 12+" of packed snow.

I am King of broken.. I know that by heart. Oh well....

[Parker]

Muz- I log and when the mill call and says "dont send us any more wood" it means I have to find something ealse to do..Sugaring would be my first choice, but,,,gotta have the weather,,
Got the cable at Matts in the A.M. (thanks) and a lesson on the power of the R.O.,,,intersting,,,
Was gonna work up firewood today when I got back from Maine, but the sugarwoods were calling,,,got pretty much all 2000 ready to tap,,still need to get some plowing done to depoly vacuum pumps and gather,,,but looking ALOT better than last year,,
On my way home I was thinking about THHEEbigbelleyRROONN and his "POWER OF THE BUCKETS" and a talk I had with Tuckermtn about that SWEEEEEET sap from those road trees and got to thinking,,I do have 300 buckets in my barn,,and acess to another 600,,and I bet I could find a place for most of them,,,started knocking on doors on the way home,,,not sure how many Ill put out,,BUT,,defianitaly some,,,would be cool to have an honest 2800 taps this year...(always good to aim high)
Made another 100 drops tonight,,still might be enough time to add 200 in Hill befor the season all the supplies are up there to do it,,brush cut for the mainline,,,
Just gotta get a filter press,,,,DETAILS!

[Russell Lampron]

Go for it Parker. Glad to hear that you are going to have power in the sugarhouse this year. Hang as many of those buckets as you can. It will give Ray something to do.

Is Marvin's new front done yet? It is getting close. I want to see you have a good and somewhat easier season for a change. You and Matt have been killing yourselves for a while now with little return for your efforts. I was with Matt when you called about the SP 22. Glad I got it first. That is a sweet pump.

[Mac_Muz]

Parker, When you are logging, do you ever get into shag bark hickory? There is none as far nawth as i am, but I could use a 4 foot log with an axe handle hidding inside it.

If not I have selected a dead standing white ash. As a winter "something to do", I bought a store bought hand for another axe, a Collins, and in the doing found a 'Bangor Maine" similar axe in my stuff I didn't know I had. I re-worked it into a Ft Meigs axe, much bigger than the same a a belt axe.

yeah I know off topic again...

As to this weather, I don't understand what the channel 9 weatherman means today. They are talking 10 to 17 inches I think, but then they are seemingly talking 25 to 35 at the same time. i wonder if there is a storm back to back or something?? duh..

[Mark-NH]

Parker, where are you? You must be out tapping the bejesus out of those poor maples. Do you think we'll have a good run with the rain coming in on Friday?

[Mac_Muz]

As a test I hung 3 buckets this morning. One east, another south, and the last west. Not one drop of sap to be seen. These are true in the woods trees, but in sun.

I'll sing out when they do anything.

[Parker]

Gonna be tapping tommrow,,start on the south facing bushes,,,today got the old blower ripped off Marvin,,new front in place,,figuring out how to set up new blower,,,ran the HIGHVOLTAGE wire down from the house,,should have power down there in the A.M.,,,looking forward to a decent season

[KenWP]

Do you guys name your evaporators or am I missing something.

[royalmaple]

"bay-course" Don't you have names for your favorite things.

Parker-

I was way off on the guess on that log check, LMFAO. Lets just say I'll be giving sugaring a shot for a while. All I can do is laugh. I never thought I would be in the United Way or Community Outreach program.

I guess we all have to donate some time here and there.

[Mac_Muz]

LOL Ken, I don't but if I did I'ld call her Red... because it is red.... well not right now she's dirty blone rust, but all fired up it red..

[Parker]

I call my evaporator "Massive Marvin",,,,I got hoit road tapped (350) trickeling a littel,,gonna keep after it,,fab master dident seem to get too much done in the sugarhouse,,gonna use my clamest voice,,,and try to communicate with him that I WILL be boiling by tuesday (I think),,,weather looks good

[Dave Y]

Parker,
How many buckets do you have out ? If none you better get with it!

[Cardigan99]

Parker, how much wood did you tell me you used in a days worth of boiling on that monster?

Todd

[tuckermtn]

got a peek at Marvin the other morning...face lift looks great- now Marvin is really going to produce...perhaps a bit like marvin went to the same guy Barry Bonds went to...

[Parker]

Cardigan-most days when I boil Ill burn 2 cords,,I have burnt 3 in a boil befor,,,hopeing the front reduces that a littel,,,more complete combustion and all,,,
BACK AT IT!!!
No buckets till the tubing is all tapped and the vacuum is set,,,and hopefully the snowbanks settel alot,,most of the banks where I will be putting the buckets are 3-5 feet tall

[Parker]

DDDRRRRAGGGGIIINNN' it tonight,,,super steve showed up, we did Hattans (145) lots of repair,,,Tom (Welder) is making it happen in the sugarhouse,,this PM I got most of RTE.11 put back together was there till 6pm,welded 0n a buddies skidder blade from 7pm till 10pm,,,give it hell in the AM,,,,Rte.11-Putney, then Hill,,,,see a bunch of taps to add,,,,snow on RTE.11 up to crotch.....will be deeper in Hill,,,,best time of the year

[Parker]

Had to do wood in the AM,,then steve and I got in 156 on putney hill,,,those are some big old trees,,,will be tapping rte.11 tommrow,,,over 600 in now,,weather looks like it will turn cold this next week,,,really was looking forward to some sap,,,,,,power on in the sugarhouse,,,that really makes me happy

[TapME]

Parker, that's going to really help you to have power in the sugar house. Sounds like mighty Marvin is about ready to start his season can't wait to see him in action again.

On another note the tubing that i picked up at your place is now standing in the woods waiting for our return form vacation on the 11th. There was enough to put up 120 taps to 4 different 55's in the woods. Hope taping goes without any issues for you.

[Parker]

TapME- thats cool that you are useing that stuff, I hopes it runs well for you!
Added more taps on Rte. 11 then finished repairs,,,,then tapped got another 255 in,,,,slow going with this deep snow,,everyonce in a while over on rte.11 you would take a step with the snowshoe and you could hear-wacth all the snow around you collapse-settel a littel,,,only happens once a year my friends about 850 in now,,,will be back at it after skateing with the girls tommrow morning,,,,,,,,,,,,want to get that woods finished tommrow,,then off to Hill

[Russell Lampron]

Parker the crust on top of the snow made it a little difficult to get around on snow shoes here yesterday too. It was impossible without them though. I had a little bit of a sap run here even though it never got above freezing. The 30 gallons of sap that I got will pay for the electricity to run the vacuum pump though.

[Parker]

Got Rte.11 finished yesterday, total of 655 taps,snow was much eaiser to to walk on yesterday,,If I can ever work out the issues with the landowner at rte.11 someday there will be 1500 taps there,,,,might work in Hill today or might stay here and work in the sugarhouse
Supposed to get around a foot of snow here today,,,
I think my tap total at the oment is 1256,,,I could add a bunch at all the places I have tapped,,,just want to get everything up and running first!

[tuckermtn]

Parker- you forgot to mention that you harrassed a fellow sugarmaker as you drove when he was getting gas by b/c he wasn't in the woods tapping...

[Parker]

A DRIVEBY! :), I have to harrass the TUCKERMOUNTIAN POSSE when I can, Couldent help it,,,as my girls pointed out, I wasent in the woods either,,,

[3% Solution]

Parker,
I guess you decided to stay home today!!
That might not be a bad idea, could be kinda nasty in the woods today.
I expect to see steam from Marvin over here in a few weeks!!
It should look like Three Mile Island!!!!

Dave

[Parker]

After the welder showed up and we moved the BIGBLOWER into place I went up to hill, Snow not nearly as bad as last year (mabey 3.5 +/-feet deep) ,Still have to move the tank back into place (floated down the brook a ways),,was surprised at the minimal repairs needed,,got everything ready to tap but the lateral lines to the right of the mainline,Red is supposed to show up tommrow and do some plowing,more line supplies left over from last year in the sugarhouse up there than I remember, thats going to come in handy,,tonight I see the fabmaster has finished the front and started on the blower-duct work,,,really need some sap here!!! wanna see what Marvin will do.............

[Parker]

Had to go logging today-felow wants 4 pickerloads,,think I can do that in the next 2 days,,gonna be hard to stay out of the sugarwoods though,,I see a warming trend for the end of the week.......still lots to do
Red called and said Hill is all plowed out,,will make it alot eaiser,,,,,,

[Mark-NH]

Priorities Parker. The logging can wait. Looks like all hell is going to break lose this weekend.

[Parker]

I know,,But, I think I can get it, I have a lot of tank room,,,,was in the sugarhouse this evening tideying up,,,a littel overwhelming thinking I am going to be boiling by wens.,,place is a mess,,,well get it,,get pumps-releasers out by sat,,tap Hill,,tanks on trucks,,,tanks plumbed,,evaporator put back together,,blower built-hooked up,,,and another 2 loads

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Parker,
Better borrow one of those headlamps from the Pa sap baron and quit sleepin'. Oh wait, you have the juice to the sugar house now. You can do the stuff in there nights and the other stuff days.

[Mark-NH]

Parker,

Is "Big Sexy" up and running yet or is she on the list too?

[Parker]

I have to bring Bid Sexy home from the woodlot-take sides off and put tanks on,,,usually it dosent run hard for the first 2 weeks of the season,,,but I have a feeling about this season,,,got the stainless studs on the inside of the front on Marvin,,put the ceramic blanket on,,double bricked the sides while the pan was off
Ray came over-we got the pump and releaser hooked up to Rte.11-pulling 9.5"!!!! (WACTH OUT THERRRRON),,gonna need some work-BUT, CAN GAURENTEE, will have 22" there tommrow night 5 P.M,,its all about isolating the leakes,,
BIG RUSS is building the new head tank stand-outside-
Stevo is gonna be here at 7AM to go to Hill and tap that 5-600,,move tank into place,,get pullin' 22"
Nice temps this comming week,,,GOOD LUCK

[Parker]

Well- you cant blame a guy for being optomistic,,,got 433 tapped in Hill, Still have to move tank back into place and get vac. running,,,snow was really tough today,,BIGRUSS built a cool head tank stand,,should have the tank on it tommrow-mabey have it plumbed,,Tom got the blower wired in and the duct work done,,put the syrup pan on and all seems like it works well,,,tell you more when we try to boil,,,seems like alot of air comming into the firebox,,,guess that what you want,,,did not even get over to Rte.11 to do anything today,,,,,the small trees in the sun were running well today,,200 or so more in Hill tommrow and will be all tapped out,,will start on getting all vacuum in proper order,,then hang some buckets...happy with how things are going so far,,,but tired!

[Parker]

Lots of warm rain last night and no freeze=no run today,,got the head tank on the stand,,moved the tank home from Foultons-gonna use it at Putney Hill I think,,BIGRUSS finished the headtank stand-STEVO started to plumb it up, Peter and I went up to Hill to finish tapping,,snow was the worst I have ever seen it-so wet every step you went in up to your knees with snowshoes on,,,and its a LONG way to where the tapping that is left to do is,,got the tank back into place-releaser on it-vacuum running-managed to get the vac. up to 12" (some not even tapped yet),,,,,,still lots to do

[Parker]

Got the nasty ice out of the tank on Hoit road-that vacuum pump is back together and ready to be deployed, fixed the pump on rte.11-bad plug- cleaned the tank in Hill,,warmed a littel above freezing by 3pm fired up the pump on rte.11 and checked for leaks,,found 3,,2 missed taps and a T leaking where you plug the spile into it???,,,much of the system was still frozen so difficult to check for leaks,,,but got what was running up to 16",,,snow is still really bad-sinking above my knees with the snowshoes,,,big wet mess-snow is still 3 feet deep everywhere,,,mabey it will run tommrow?? Ordered new belts for the pumps (A-56),,all from last year slipping-junk, will be in at 8AM
Plan to get the pump-releaser to Hoit rd tommrow-get that running,,hopefully Steve finishes plumbing the tanks above the sugarhouse,,tap the rest of Hill and check for leaks,,,have only been able to work till 5PM,,,gotta pick up the littelones fron the sitters by then sat-wens. its an adjustment,,but they are my priority.......THINK BIGSAP AND FULL TANKS!!

[Parker]

Well-cant say I have ever seen it run that hard this early,,got most of Hill still tapped,,just 100 or so lacking (porqupine hollow-isolated on its own booster) Tapped with vacuum running, man, that works great,,surprised myself and got the vac. up to 20",,on way out of woods stopped and looked in tank-releaser,,,,WOW,,,HAMMERING,,,,ran to Rte.11 where I had started pump at 9AM (20deg) on way to hill,,,,,,,,,,,OMG,,,,POURING into releaser,,,got that from 10" to 18" then had to leave to pick up the littelones,we went back and got 300 gallons out of each tank,,I think Hill had about 600 gallons total and Rte.11 had 700,,not huge #'s BUT it did not start running till noon and we were collecting at 6-7 pm,,and its early,,,,I did not check any of the gravity lines or get the pump-releaser out on Hoit,,,raining now and l let the pumps runn all night,,,,Ray and steve will wacth over things today as I will be with my girls who are getting their tonsels out,,will boil tommrow,,,Should have enough tank room to hol it all (no vac. at Hoit road)

[Parker]

Forgot to mention-on way home I saw some young fellows with a 2 juice drums in the back of their pick up oogeling big maples on my road,,,really need to get my buckets out befor someone ealse taps the trees,,,dont know who it is but someone has pretty much all the yard trees tapped in town...stiff compitition :)

[Russell Lampron]

Par(sapscomingoutmyears)ker it was running like that here too. My releaser was dumping every 2 minutes. Get those trees tapped and buckets hung. This could be the year.

[NH Maplemaker]

I think it was that storm that was coming in! Years back that happened to us. Sap was running and a storm moved in. We had so much sap we could not keep up. Every thing was full !! Evan the wife's pots and pans !! Called the local big guy. He came and hauled off 500 gal and then we could keep up! Everything is full up here now and still running some. Not calling local big guy this time ! Going to work Thur it.Will be a ver~~~~~y long night!! Russ need and RO road trip visit !!!LOL

Jim L.

[Mac]

I collected 50 gallons from 86 taps yesterday, is that an avearge run? A little over a 1/2 gallon per tap. My taps in the mountains have still not run yet just some weeping.

[maplecrest]

parker got the big sap yesterday. it started at noon and went to 3 am then froze for two hours. running again now but nothing like yesterday all releasers were tripping at one minute marks. made 300 gallons last nite. was boiling as r/o was puuting it in steamaway

[Parker]

Glad to say the kids surgeury went great-Steve and Ray made stuff happen while I was with the littelones,(tanks would have run over without them),Quite a run-we wound up with around 2300 gallons,made 21? Gallons,,,(1.5 sugar) + my average never works out,started at 4 pm done at 11:30,burned around 1-1.5 cords (an improvement),gonna try to work in the woods tommrow in the AM-taken advantage of the crust 3 hours of sleep last night,,might sleep in........

[TapME]

good to see the little ones are fine Parker.

Finished the second of 4 tubing lines and they were running at a good clip here with the temps only in the 32 range. Must be the sun. Thanks again Parker for the line and class on how to put it together. Have fun.

[Parker]

Lou- glad the tubing worked out for you.

Working on adding 200 in Hill, not sure how far we will get, but we are going to keep after it while we can stand on top of this snow.
Looks like great temps for the next few days..

The air tight front and big blower are working on Marvin, the rig is going faster,,I dont think we are anywhere near as fast as we could be,,,but the components-and tools- in place for increased GPH,,,,I am going to have to find a flowmeter to see what we are doing,,,,,the other night when I was boiling after a few hours,,after I fired the foam would overflow the first 3 dividers,,then stay way up there for a while,,,first time I have thought "That might be a littel too hot" ,,,
Definaly need to find a big gas finisher,I slod mine aat the end of last season,,,and have never gotten the hang of drawing off into a filterpress....
Got a filterpress,,littel more than what I needed,,but it was what they had,,full bank 10",,,might not have to change papers all season :)
Good luck to all

[powerdub]

Hey Parker, check out knee deep farm. The man that had the mighty marvin is now on the trader. Hope all is going well for you.

[tuckermtn]

Parker- whats been happening over your way? Got your swimmies on?

-eric

[Parker]

holly BIGSAP,,its been running here,,,vacuum really surprising me for production #, especially this early in the season,,,have got over 2500 gallons of sap each of the last 2 days,,,I have not been able to get boling early to keep up because of things breaking-tubing issues-ect.,,,last night I boiled fron 5pm to 5 AM,,tonight fron 3PM till 11PM, gonna hit the hay early tonight,,,make up for the 10 hours of sleep last 3 nights (i am getting older you know)
Right now I have about 2300 gallons to boil,,,really need to tweeeeeekkk Marvin and get the GPH up where it ought to be,,,I was boiling around 300GPH tonight and am not happy with that,,,,,I have made 85 gallons,,,I also would like to know why my 40-1 ration never works out,,,,,
Buckets are pretty cool (lots of fun-need to post some pics) been averging 4% on buckets, 2% tubing...........WOW IM TIRED

[Parker]

Started a 12Pm,,done at 1:45 AM,,FILLED Matts barrel,( how many gal. is that?)l+5 gal jug+15 gal,,think thats the best ever,,put 8 feet more stac on the arch+ dug out rear ramp+ran shawlorr in the fue pan, think that with some instruction, I could gain another 100+ GPH

[tuckermtn]

rock on parker...glad to hear marvin is appreciating his facelift and a little bit of botox to staighten out his wrikles...catch up with ya soon...

[Parker]

I boiled all the sap I had on hand last night so I got to wash the tanks this A.M.,,they were pretty bad,,not a big run today,Ray and Steve were done trucking by 3,brought in 1800? gallons ,I worked on the duct work for the rig quite a bit,,defiatly need more air forced into the firebox,(was making some serious black smoke at times yesterday),I have removed grate air duct (one 4" duct out of blower into 2, 4" duct into arch) and am replacing it with one 6" pipe with a plenham on the blower end into the 2 ducts that go into the firebox and adding another grate air duct for a total of 3, 4" ducts,,,the boil in the front of the syrup pan has been less intense than that in the back so the new 4" duct goes all the way to the front of the firebox,Know I have blower enough-its just a matter of harnessing all that power :),,,hopefully Ill get this all together befor I run out of tank room,,will be a long one tommrow-my goal is a 60 gallon day,,,Talked to Royalmaple today-he says those barrels I filled last night was 31 gallons,,so 51 gallons yesterday,,I like that,,,Good luck to all

[Parker]

Well the duct work made a big diffrance(in the boil and my woodpile)almost no black smoke-sometime I plan on adding more air,,but for the moment I have BIGSAP to boil- still around 1200 gallons in the tanks above the evaporator,,they just kept trucking in loads today,,made around 53? gallons from noon till midnight- just shy of my goal of 2 barrels,,but I was starting to drag-dont want to get sick,,weather looks good ahead,,,wood is definatly going to be a problem-told Ray today he was responsibal for working up enough wood for the rest of the season-and in charge of maitaining HIGHVAC.,,,he will be busy..........

[Parker]

Yesterday we got the Hood 24000 (big yard crane) set up between woodpile and woodshed-put the convayor under the roof of the shed (so wood drops near front of evaporator) and put the 4 foot splitter on neighbors tractor,,swing wood with hood onto bunks-cut up-stak on deck next to splitter with crane- pull onto splitter-up into shed,,,got 3 cords worked up today-,,,,mixed green wood in to day,,could not break 200 gph,,,SSSLLLOOOWWW going (comparitivly) made 40? gallons from 12pm-12:30am lots of family and friends helping today-lots of fun.........still almost no black smoke out of stack,,but I gotta go faster,,,,

[Parker]

What a diffrance dry wood and clean flues makes- boiled from 4 till 12:30 and made 42 gal.,,,Got a line on some dry hawood slabs,gonna put the cordwood saw on the tractor and convayor them into the woodshed,,up to 298 gals,,I am happy but tired,,found a fellow that wants to be the BUCKETMASTER- gonna try to hang another 200,,,Continued blessings to all

[Russell Lampron]

Go Parrrr(thewoodshedsempty)keeeeer. It sounds like you are having a much needed good season for a change.

[TapME]

glad to see that you have some sap Parker. Get the bugs worked out and let's see a 64 gallon day. Go get um.

[Parker]

Gonna go for the 2 barrell day today-had a talk to MARVIN and he is into it,, a lot of sap in the woods from yesterday,,hauled 1200 gallons here yesterday to get started with this A.M.(way too tired to boil yesterday)--(really could use a steamaway or an R.O.-boil every run inteads of waiting till I am rested up enough) got the tanks here washed out,,hauled a big load of dry oak slabs here yesterday,,split 2 cords into the sugarhouse,,will saw the slabs as we are going I think,,Steve is starting the smoker at 9AM,,,venison and MAPLERIBS for lunch (that Steve can cook!),,,MAY THE SUGARING GODS CONTINUE TO SMILE DOWN UPON US!

[maplecrest]

going to have a big day today 1400 gallons 10% con to start and sap running. figure if all goes well will be a 300 gallon boil. keep up the good work parker!!!

[danno]

Steve is starting the smoker at 9AM,,,venison and MAPLERIBS for lunch (that Steve can cook!),,,

Now - that's what what I'm talkin' about. I'll bring the boiling sodas! Boy, does that sound good right about now.

[Parker]

Well, fell just shy of my 2 barrel goal,,was chasing grade so I was filling 5 gal containers,,then 1 barrell,,made 61 gal. by 4AM (started around noon) big fun yesterday,,got a lot done,,food was supurb,,endless ribs,,,,,,,,:),,,,pretty tired when I got going at 8 this AM,Then I thought "WHAT WOULD TTHHEEERRR(NOTGONNAQUITTILLAUGUST)OOONNN do? BUCK UP AND DO IT FELLAH,,,SNAP INTO IT!!!,,started boiling today around 1,,made 36 gal. by mignight,,pretty dark syrup,,need to find more drywood,,,,guess its nit supossed to freeze for a while?,,,,,,,,Anyone know a local radio station carrying the Redsox games? cant seem to find one,,,Jeasues loves his sugarmakers

[maplecrest]

you live that close to boston and no red sox? parker wild 48 again made 557 in two days and figure another 200 today. no freeze in sight all systems at 26 inches. and major releaser problems. something every day. hit the 2000 mark. will be at 1/3 of a gallon per tap today

[Parker]

Got a bunch of wood worked up,,slabs trucked home (with more to come) got about 1200 gal of sap- got the place organized a littel-gonna start boiling soon.get the apple juice looking sap into barrels...Jeff-MAKING IT HAPPEN!!!! COME ON DEEP FREEZE!!!

[tuckermtn]

Parker- Red sox opening day is April 6th. Try 107.7 out of concord or NTK from New London...left the vacuum pump on tonight...feels better saying that...

[wally]

yup. sox are on 107.7 and 99.7.

[Russell Lampron]

Eric the night that you turned your vacuum pump OFF I left mine on and got 450 gallons of sap overnight.

[tuckermtn]

the night I turned the pump off I did so because I didn't have any place to put the sap...We got 850 gal on Wednesday night and 720+ on Thursday. We boiled all 15 hrs straight on Wednesday night- and a good chunk of Thursday to finish up- then with 725 we couldn't put it anywhere...so Parker generously offered to take 400 gal off our hands on Friday...

need more tanks for next season- and hopefully an RO...

[Parker]

Eric- There is always a open tank for you over here :)...,,,started at 8 done at 3,,another barrell filled,,we need some cold!!

[maple sapper]

I am saddened to read how much sap you have. I have not enough to boil and make it worth the effort. Im so ready but have none. Very disappointed with the action thus far. Im really hoping this is not the end of the season. I keep watching the weather and its just warm night after night. So if there is to much sap anywhere and not enough time I will come and pick it up. Thanks maple sapper.

[royalmaple]

This is what a real sugaring operation looks like:

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/x1.jpg

[maple sapper]

how many minutes will that load of wood last. LOL

[Uncle Tucker]

The way Parker gose through it, maybe 10.

p.s. Parker if you have any slabs left over, I would love them for sugar wood….

[Parker]

I am not sure how long that will last,,Figure I burn 2-4 cords a boil,,spent all day in the rain repairing vacuum pumps,,,FUNDAMENTALS!!! no vac. = no sap,,will have some sap to boil tommrow,,,wasent going to keep the vac. going as this morning it was not running,,then talked to nhmaple48 said better check them,,,went and looked and a littel run happening,,,might be a littel in the AM to work with,,,time to sleep!!! need a cold snap here,,,,littel nervous,,saw a great blue herring flying today!!! Still no peepers or BIGBLUESNOW.........rolling the dice from here on out

[maplecrest]

parker, hoping for freeze. been a week. super sappy aka great foamy and nh trader dill came to visit yesterday. had to see 50 gallons an hour in action. sap still comming going to boil today

[Parker]

Keep The Dream Alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!cant Quit Till There Are Leaves On The Trees!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Parker]

Made 20 gal. tonight ,,pumps running,,had a littel slack time and some help showed up so I hung another 100 buckets,,,2050 taps now,,,,will put up more tubing in Hill tommrow on vac.),,,YOU GOTTTA BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At 437 now,,record is 447,,,,,,,,going for 650...............no freze in sight...........but I know the MAPLEGODS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN..........

[maplecrest]

got a freeze last nite. first in a week. hit what i made last year yesterday. i am well over 1/3 a gallon per tap. headed for 1/2 but as you say parker got to beleive

[Parker]

Jeff- I like it-how is that new woods proforming for you? Ill bet it is running to beat the band,,,
Put up another 100 on vac. in Hill yesterday,,,made 15 gal last night befor I was too tired to contunue,,,a littel sap left in the headtank,,,slight freeze last night,,,,Rte.11 ran 980 gals of sap yesterday??,,hill 400,,,Hoit=pump died=no sap,,,gravity+buckets=nothing,,,,mabey today,,,we are going to try to concentrate on wood today,,,457 total gal.....now 2150 taps,,,gotta hit 2200.......NEVERGIVEUP!!!!!!!!!

[maple sapper]

Parker,
Thanks again for hooking me up. I made some not to bad tasting but dark. It probably was the most lemonade looking sap ive ever boiled. It actually allowed me to make some positive adjustments and got really good gradiant as well as bubbles I have not seen all season. Thanks again. Gregg aka maple sapper. It may be time to start the daunting task of cleaning. But, like you, Im optimist.

[maplecrest]

froze again last nite. 2600 plus made running great today. hard to filter. got to go

[PATheron]

Jeff- Git the half! Theeeron:)

[markcasper]

Ok you guys.....what convincing chatter on here lately! You are tapping more, so I guess I will too. I figured whats the use....too later for more, but the next 7 days look nice around here.

[Parker]

Maplesapper- there is no such thing as "Questionable Sap" BOILITALL!! come up here in a week and Ill show you some neat stuff,,,
Slight freeze last night, Got all those slabs cut up and in the shed, Ray tapped and plugged into the releaser the new taps in hill ,,buckets-gravity not doing much at all,thought it would run harder than it did today,Hoit road is really slowing down (south face),,Had to take a nap this afternoon,,pretty tired,,better now,,back from checking the pumps,,have 1000 gallons that I am going to boil now,,1000 in the woods now, will boil that and whatever runs tonight tommrow,,TIME TO MAKE IT STICKY!!!

[maple sapper]

Im moving north. You got all the action. The only action we got down here is cleaning now

[maple sapper]

Parker I edited my prior post about the look of the sap. Check it out.

[Parker]

I like that,,applejuice is next,,then vinigar,,,
did another barrellbetween yesterday and today,,time to sleep fast...

[PATheron]

Parrrrr(sap goin nasty and actually happy about it)keeer- Go get um brother! Gotta get the totalls higher. Fill those barrells! Theee(goin back to bed for a few more z's)rooooon

[Parker]

Littel run today-up at 8AM, got sap in Hill,,boiling at 11,,done at 9PM,,1.3 sugar,,24 gallons,,,,,LONGHAUL,,,Funny how it runs on days like today with HIGHVAC on north slopes,,will sell syrup and boil tommrow,,,,,got 2 more loads of nice slabs today,,,,was awfully warm today...The futcher is uncertian and the end is always near...........SLEEPFASTTIME,,,

[Uncle Tucker]

Parker I was on rt 11 today at about 10:00am and I stoped at your tanks. Not bad 1/2 full and still runing. It did't freez last night so this is a gift from the maple gods.

Thank You!



Your Welcome!

[PerryW]

I JUST picked up about 175 gallons of sap that ran in the last 24 hours. Not bad for no freeze since last tuesday night.

Still making high-end Dark Amber. Up to 82 gallons so far. Still hoping for 100 gals. The ice is going in the small ponds but no peepers yet.

[Uncle Tucker]

Parker’ by the way your pump isn’t broken. I saw sap was running good without it so I shut it off!!!!!
I figured I would save you gas,,,,, Your welcome!!!





Just kidding!!!!
Looks nice over there.

[chipa]

Not nice Uncle Tucker!

[maplecrest]

parker, to answer your question days later. the new woods are running great. just picked up 500 gallons from over nite, got 3500 gallons of sap over nite last nite. it just keeps comming. hoping for a freeze. matt told me that you want him to make you a bubbler. he loves his had a chat on the phone still snow there and 34 degrees. i am 400 gallons from 1/2 per tap. i think i might make it

[Russell Lampron]

Parker it is a sad day in maple world when some low life scum steals a hard working mans double releaser. It will probably never be found but I will be on the look out for one that looks like a name was scratched off of the side. Good luck in the hunt.

[Parker]

As Russ says-friday night some scumbag took a saw a cut the lines comming into the Giles Bernard double manual releaser from Rte.11,,,that kinda burns a littel,,,it is 5 years old,,a littel faded in coler and has ROWE scrached in the side,,,keep your eyes out,,,
Ray spent all day taking the single releaser from Hoit road and setting it up at Rte.11 and chaining it down (still pretty vunrabel) and Tuckermnt was nice enough to lend his releaser and Ray put that on Hoit road,,,,,,,Police said they have a report of a viechel parked at the tank at 11:30pm which coralates with how much gas was left in the 5 gallon jug from when they shut the pump down,,I know whos rig it was,,,and they are on the trader,,,,,bring it back today and leave it by the tank and I wont cut your fingers off with my tubing cutter,,,,,
Making some pretty dark stuff,,I would like to try to build a bubbeler,,might have some time in the next day or 2,,,we shut down the pumps yesterday just no more sap comming in 4? days after a freeze,,made 78 gallons since the freeze,,mainley due to vacuum,,buckets and gravity have done nothing for a while,,,Bob called up and said its gonna be perfect sugaring weather for a week straight starting tues. so we are going to get our wood in order clean the tanks and rig and get ready to FILL MORE BARRELS...........RELOAD...........and agine THANK YOU ERIC!!!

[3% Solution]

Parker,
That pretty much stinks (and other words that I can't us on here)!!!
I would make sure it is a dull pair of tubing cutters!!!!!!
A fellow sugarmaker, now that is LOW!!!
If you find out for sure, let me know the screen name and I for one will NEVER have anything to do with that person on here or any place!!!
Keep me posted if your going to boil Monday,Tuesday or Thursday this week I'd like to come over and see the Mighty Marv in action!!
So let me know!!

Dave

[Cardigan99]

Parker, that's pretty low. Unfortunately there's at least one in every crowd. Even worse when it's someone you know.

[hard maple]

Parker
I had some tubing stolen this year, they took the tap out of tree and took a latteral line. kinda strange.
that's to bad about your releaser, hope you get it back.

[TapME]

I agree with Russ. Let me know if I can help in any way Parker. Lou

[maple flats]

When i set up vacuum I have been wondering how i might be able to hide it from view. It seems like us honest hard working people keep having to do more and more to keep what we paid hard earned money to get.
I had something similar in my u-pick blueberry operation over the years. I sell on the honor system. First i had a small military ammo can bolted to the table, someone smashed it and emptied it for me. The next year I got a larger ammo box, bolted with sleeves to prevent hack sawing the bolts and both ends padlocked and a bar welded across the wire bails that hold the lid, someone stolt the entire table. Several more attempts failed and I now have homemade cash boxes, anchored to concrete posts in sono tubes and down 4' in the ground with a big flare at the bottom. The cans are made from 1/2" wall stiil pipe, 10" diameter and the top and bottoms are old disc blades. The bottom is welded and the top is padlocked with a guard to prevent sawing or forcing the lock. I believe if someone tries to pull this out of the ground they will at least leave their bumper or tow hitch behind. It would take a good size bulldozer to yank it out. I just hate thieven thugs who often times will do more work to steal something than they would have had to to earn it. My next move will be to train some killer bees to only go after people who try to steal something rather than put money in the cash box.

[Parker]

I shut the pumps off for the first time yesterday,,,just nothing comming,,slight frost here this AM,,will try to pull some sap today,,main project is to get the rest of the slabs sawed up and under the roof befor the rain,,more slight freezes in the forcast but not sure if it will be enough to get em running?? Time will tell...........

[Uncle Tucker]

Parker That Sucks!!! I was there at 10:00 in the morning and it was there. My JOKE about shutting off your pump (I would never shut a pump off, not even my own) isn’t very funny. If you are wondering, my alibi is strong. My wife went in labor at 8:00 Friday night and she would never let me take the long way through Andover to Concord Hospital.

Saturday at 2:09pm Kessa Jeannotte was born!

[royalmaple]

Here's the pictures parker. **** shame.

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/sugaring0941341.JPG

http://www.diecastwarehouse.com/sugaring0940340.JPG

[maple sapper]

All I can say is WOW. when you thought you saw it all, think again.

[maple sapper]

I just could not help wanting to look at those pics again. Not sure if it would be to much to ask about prints. Most criminals are not that smart. may have used bare hands.

[wally]

As Russ says-friday night some scumbag took a saw a cut the lines comming into the Giles Bernard double manual releaser from Rte.11,,,that kinda burns a littel,,,it is 5 years old,,a littel faded in coler and has ROWE scrached in the side,,,keep your eyes out,,,
Ray spent all day taking the single releaser from Hoit road and setting it up at Rte.11 and chaining it down (still pretty vunrabel) and Tuckermnt was nice enough to lend his releaser and Ray put that on Hoit road,,,,,,,Police said they have a report of a viechel parked at the tank at 11:30pm which coralates with how much gas was left in the 5 gallon jug from when they shut the pump down,,I know whos rig it was,,,and they are on the trader,,,,,bring it back today and leave it by the tank and I wont cut your fingers off with my tubing cutter,,,,,


that sucks, parker.

is "ray" hollins?

hope you get your releaser back.

wally

[Amber Gold]

At least criminals aren't very smart. They should have cut on the other side of the valves and taken those too. There's how much money in valves?

[3% Solution]

Parker,
I'd say battery operated saws all no doubt!!
Any tracks in the mud??

[Parker]

Andover 5-0 called this afternoon,,they got a search warrent and RECOVERED the releaser,,I never would have guessed I would be getting it back!!! They say it will be 2-6 months befor they are done with it as evadence,,I put up a sine at the tank saying "equipment stolen, ect." surprised at the # of people that saw a rig there,,,,
Not any real run here today,,and what did run looks a littel like Sam Adams dark,,,,but Ill bet I can make something sticky out of it,,still not a drop from buckets or gravity tubing,,,,,was up in Hill,,I have always run that pump at about 20-22",,,looked at that vacuum regulator and saw there was a lot of adjustment left in it and thought "That is just not right,,What would TTHHHEEsomemanyfullbarrelsheisaffectingtheorbitoft heplanetRRROONN do? And I reached over and slid that weight all the way to the end of the rail. Then I took a walk with my vac. gauge,,,,26" at my last tap..30" on Erics releaser (think that gauge might be off a littel?.Cant seem to break 22" on Rte.11....Will boil on opening day and the MIGHTY SAP GODS WILL SMILE!!!!

[wally]

that's good news, parker.

probably better that five-oh found it, instead of you. ;)

[maple sapper]

So my question is, Is it who you thought it was or are they not disclosing who it is? Great to hear it was located. If it was done that quickly, they 5-0knew who it was not doubt.

[3% Solution]

I am sure Parker can't say alot right now as it is under investigation.
I bet that wasn't the only thing that was found!!!
Glad to hear it was recovered, sometime good things do happen.
So Parker, when will you boil next?
Want to check out Marv.

Dave

[Parker]

I cant say who it was just yet, but, yes it was who we thought it was.....I think I will boil today,,need to get to the woods to see how much sap I got overnight......

[3% Solution]

Parker,
Have any idea what time?

[PATheron]

Parr(so much syrup my stuff wont be worth nuthin) That dirty, thievin, good for nothin, piece of dog %@$#. He'll get his some day. God isnt going to like that business one bit! Hard enough to make this stuff with out that kind of monkey business. Theee(all pooped out from the BIGSAP)ROOON.

[peacemaker]

heres some pics

[Parker]

Made 21 gallons today-got the woods tanks washed out,,supposed to be cold for a few nights,,got 14 cords in the shed and I am all rested up,,,:) GOTIME!

[super sappy]

Here are some pics of Parkers bush, collection area... I hope it sends a message to some...

[Parker]

You guys were in the hood and did not stop by??? Stop at the sugarhouse next time!!
Gonna be working up wood in the shed today and hopefully get a littel run..

[maplekid]

that pics with the(smile your on candid camera) is funny. i cant beleive that someone would stoop so low as to steal equipment from another sugarmaker.its pitiful.

[maplecrest]

well parker 27 degrees here at 1 pm. no sap today. tanks washed no room in sugar house for more barrels. deal with that today. ready for more big sap. i am 65 gallons from a 1/2 gallon per tap. finished yesterday making dark amber

[Parker]

Jeff- thats impressive- sorry to hear about your barrell problem, wishing I had that problem here,,funny the buckets were dripping today 200 gal),,but nothing at the gravity-or Hoit or Rte.11,,,Hill ran 600 gal (elevation-colder there last night?) supposed to be a run of sugaring weather right around the corner,,,we have 15 cords of decent wood in the shed SPLITFINE,,vacuum at 22+",,a cleaner evaporator(was full of MAPLEMUD),,EMPTY TANKS and A WILL TO BOIL,,,I really want to make another 10BARRELS.............ALL YOU WILL EVER WANT IS A LITTEL MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER HAVE, but I am gointg to TRYYYYY

[maple sapper]

"ALL YOU WILL EVER WANT IS A LITTEL MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER HAVE, but I am gointg to TRYYYYYALL" I second that. Your persistance is paying off with those new buckets it sounds. I am glad you at least got your releaser located (as of now) and back at later date.
I think I need to go see a shrink and talk about my depression from this past season. LOL. I must be in denial. trees budding and all taps still in. Havnt gotten a drop of sap in weeks but was hoping for cold to come and it never came. It crept up on me and now I have moved on with work and dont have time to pull them. But there is always the weekend.
I am still in the hunt for one last boil to test some last minute adjustments on rig. iI someone has some or knows of someone with low sugar sap or decent too, they want to unload or sell please let me know.

[Parker]

Gave Hoit road and Rte.11 an attitude adjustment with the dewalt,,they came right into it,,running well,,Hill still chugging along,,buckets were even doing something,,,,,have 2000 gallons between the woods and the sugarhouse tanks,,brushed the flues in the evaporator-pans alot cleaner than they were,,,gonna rest up tonight and boil hard tommrow,,,see if I can fill 2 barrels,,,dont know anyone in my area still going,,,,,,,

[Russell Lampron]

I got the drill out today too. Most have thrown in the towel around here but I want to make some mersh. My vacuum pump is still running.

[NH Maplemaker]

Between late yesterday and today got 500 gal, will boil in the am. On our last boil was still making a nice B ! Sugar has drop off quite a bit with this run. Jim L.

[Parker]

I was surprised to see 1.5 to 2% in the tanks last night,,probably dropped a littel overnight ,,but will still make something,,,left the coffemaker in the sugarhouse so I gotta get down there now (for once a plan that is working)


GOOD LUCK TO ALL STILL IN THE GAME!!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Parker,
Keep up the good work! Just got the drill out, Some of the taps on the old bush are getting lazy and it looks like a couple more good days are coming. Gonna hit the 1000 gallons or BUST!

[maplecrest]

got to love those stuubies and adapters. no drilling needed. big sap lighter syrup. 155 gallons in drums in 8 hours of sap run start. r/o very slow 990 per hour yesterday.makes for long night waiting

[tuckermtn]

Jeff- you must be over .5 gal per tap by now? sounds like a good season for ya...

[maplecrest]

it .5 last night. see what happens from here.

[Parker]

I have been useing the leader adaptors and wont agine,,cant see where the make any diffrance at all-the trees we redrilled just gushed sap,,,,
The moter on the pump in Hill (wingdong) blewup, Ray had to put the spare on,,,, started boiling at 10am done at 4am,,,greener wood is slow going but you have to work with what you have!! 3150 gals of sap,(real nice run yesterday-250 gal off the buckets!) started with empty pans,,so had to sweeten them,,,filled a barrell and a half,,Ray and Steve have hauled in 1000 today,,try to boil it a littel later on tonight,,nedd a litttel more sleep befor I hit that...
Supposed to be real cold the next 2 nights!!! Had the salamander on the sugarhouse floor at 5AM (sure sine for me the end is not too far off-happens every year-big fellow this year) STAY AFTER IT

[maplecrest]

sap has slowed down today getting 100 gallons per hour at each station instead of 300 plus average. made 103 gallons today light b. hit 3700 mark three more boiling days would put me at 4000. got to believe it will happen

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Parker,

I agree with you on the spout adapters and extensions. I used on the same bush side by side. The bush has about 45% of all my taps and it is split in the center with a fence and about 70% of the trees on one side of the fence had the spout adapters and the other side did not and they both quit running about the same time. I did freshen the holes and it seemed the ones that had the spout adapters in them ran better after freshing the holes, but as far as sap quality and production, I couldn't see enough difference to bother with the aggrevation and the cost.

[Russell Lampron]

The section of my woods that has all new taps and extensions has continued to run without being reamed. The other section with old taps and no extensions quit over a week ago. Reaming them got them running again but I've got to wonder how much sap I left in the woods because of the old taps.

[Parker]

Russ-are you useing the Leader extensions or the Lapeire stubbies? Cold now, should get a run today...

[Russell Lampron]

I am using the Lapierre Stubbies and adapters. The adapters stay in the tree good, I didn't have to tunk them in mid season and the stubbies fit nice and tight into the adapters. Matt tried a different brand 2 years ago and I don't remember if they were the Leader spouts or CDL but he didn't like them and changed over to the Lapierre which he does like. The ones he had tried in the past were the ones that had locking tabs on them where you put the spout into the adapter and twisted it to lock it.

[Russell Lampron]

Brandon with a gravity system the 2 piece spouts aren't as necessary as they are with vacuum. With vacuum there is usually enough vacuum in the tree to pull the sap that is in the spout, with microorganisms that make the hole dry up, back into the tree. With gravity the sap drains far enough down the drop so that that doesn't happen.

[maplecrest]

i started with lappierre adapters. went too cdl lockers, those leaked. cdl changed the design. those are great. BUTTT there was a problem with the mold and there were pin holes in the side of more then 50 of 7000 that i have found so far. i found one yesterday. will be taking those to open house. made it very trying to walk over every tap to find them. but i feel the return has been worth it.wont make .6 but will end up at .57 gallons per tap

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Russ,

Thanks for clarifying that up. I had read what you were saying before on vaccum, but thought they would make some difference on gravity, but that wasn't the case.

I wanted them to help but I hated dealing with them, so it was bittersweet for me when I found out they didn't work. Either way, good experience and 250 of them only cost $ 37.50 and they probably produced at least 3 extra quarts of syrup which paid for at least the cost of them.

[maple sapper]

Parker,
Did you atleast give the salamander a spoon taste of syrup. He may have been looking for a little sweet shot to get his season started. You probably woke him up at that hr. Hope all is running well up your way. I got freezing temps here right now and may try reaming my sugars that have no buds yet, believe it or not. This will more than likely be my last opportunity for the season. I have been waiting 3 wks or more for this cold. Persistance is what I am going on, like you.

[Parker]

Made another barrell tonight, Eric I REALLY appricate you letting me use your releaser for a week,,lost the pump on Hoit road-Laperrie hobby releaser is not a Giles-Bernard,,,gaged up and sent sap into the SP-22,,,my fault for not having a ball in line to shut the vacuum down when it dosent dump,,Think It will still pull,,will find something tommrow,,weather looking too good to be true,,,gotto sleep fast so I can BOILHARD........600INSALISBURY,,,,,,,,,,

[tuckermtn]

Parker- hope your pump can come back to life...we actually have 2 moisture traps on our set-up b/c of the unreliable "releasing"... hope I can get the hobby to get me through this week...

....no buds, freezing nights, 23" of HG...just rolling the dice here...

[Parker]

Eric- you shouldent have to put up with that,,I am gonna call Matt Willams and give him an earfull,,,,,went to Goodrichs today,,sold som COMM. and got a bigger Lappier releaser,,These are supposed to work better than the littel ones,,Brian and Ray hammered out a bunch of SPLITFINE wood,,,got back around 3 and Ray and I had the sp-22 going in about 1 hour,(lots of flushing),,did not think it would be possibel for that thing to run agine,,,but,,,seems to be doing its thing,,,one tough pump,,,looks like Steve hauled 900 or so gal. today,,about 600 on Rte.11,,will start tommrow after littel ones are on bus,,,,,,LIVING ON BORROWED TIME!!!

[maple sapper]

The maple God is being "good to his child"

[Parker]

AMEN BROTHER,,,if you want to boil agine you can have 150 gal. of this sap,,,BUT BE FORWARNED,,it is nowhere near as nice as the last stuff you got,,,this stuff is very diffrent,,definatly late season stuff that you have to be VERY CARFUL boiling.....easy to wreck stuff with it...GOOD LUCK TO ALL

[maple sapper]

Thank you for the generosity. I have to decline due to having started the depressing part, Clean up. I came to terms with the fact that its over and the season far less then stellar. Seems like the cleaning takes way longer than any thing else. So I may even try some small testing with just water in the pan and measure so much and time it. I realize we are talking different boiling temps and behaviors but if I see a huge difference I will sleep good this summer. Thanks again. I will be watching to see when your throwin in the towel.

[Parker]

Sapper- I will never throw in the towell!!!! My trees will stop running,,,,Awfully warm here yesterday,,,60's I think,,,was 28 or so overnight,,not much of a run at all,,,we collected 800 gallons from everything,(about 70 gal from 200 buckets),,Brian and I took the indean pump, some consensate water and a brush, and really cleaned the tanks on Hoit-Rte.11 and Hill (where it is still running a littel),,,pretty diffrent stuff in the bottom of those tanks,,like jelly almost,,,might make a neat scince project,or a new maple product (organic maple jelly?),,,will be interested to see what they look like this afternoon,,,froze here a littel last night,,but supposed to get pretty warm agine here today,,,Planned on boiling yestyerday afternoon -BUT- I went in the house for some lunch at 5pm when the crew went homw,,had a bit, sat on the couch, next thing I knew I woke up at 2AM,,,will get after it today,,,
Think we will bring the buckets home today,,the crew are all talking about logging jobs and woodpiles to cut and split,,so I better bring the buckts home and wash them while I have some help,,,,I think the season MIGHT be winding down here,,,,,,
I boiled Monday, had 2450 gallons,,made 25 gallons of syrup,,burned 3+ cords of wood

[maplecrest]

parker is it worth it 98 to one ??? i am thinking that today might be it for me. 78 gallons short of 4000. looking to make 78 more

[Mark-NH]

Parker,

I've been following your posts and can't believe you are still boiling 2 weeks after we packed it in over here in Sunapee. Our 2 bushes are south facing so they dry up quickly.

You always run a couple weeks past me. We made just about what we did last year with the same amount of taps. The old sp-11 and releaser ran trouble free again this year. Plan to add 120 taps to get us to an even 700 for next year.

If you come across a stainless round btm holding tank between 500-800 gallons in your travels let me know.

Smiled when I read you were back on the bucket brigade. One of my favorite things to do is fire up the tractor and go collect buckets. Of course it is fun when you have lines that supply most of the sap and you can collect the buckets on your terms.

Looking forward to hearing your year end totals. Keep on Keein on.

Mark

[Parker]

Mark- reaming the holes is key,,,I did not ream Hill and that thru in the towell yesterday,,just as the releaser on Rte.11 died,,,put Hill releaser there,,,Is it worth it at 98-1??? Getting harder to justify,,dont I ever burn some wood!!!,,had some pretty neat sap yesterday,,,kinda blue-green,,,Littel bit tacky consistancy,,,,I had about 150 gallons left in the head tank and kenw there was slime on the bottom I did not want getting into the evaporator,,so we drained the head tank into the pickup tank (thru a filter) and put the portion that was liquid into the tanks on the hill (that run into the head tank),,,there was about 2 inches of maple jelly at the bottom of the head tank that I had to shovel out (would not reliquify with water),,,cleaned well and refilled the headtank and started to boil,,,noticed the sap comming from the flue pan into the syrup pan was layering over the sap already in syrup pan,,looked closely at sap in flue pan and it was almost jelly (would cling to my scoop like snott),,,after some frantic phone calls decided to try to push it thru,,,got it thru with a low fire going,,,,BUT THE STINK!!!,,,,still about 85-1 last night,,,Hate to be a pessimist and a quitter,,,but think today might be it,,,brought buckets home yesterday,,,, will see what today brings,,,continued blessings from the MIGHTY MAPLE GODS to all,,,TIREDPARKER

[PerryW]

Last boil today up in the Littleton area for me.

Parker,

Funny thing is I just sold a quart of syrup to a woman from Salisibury. Are you the guys that sells eggs? Guess she didn't know you guys sold syrup or maybe she wanted the good stuff from up north. ;)

[maplecrest]

parker still getting sap today. but finished my last boil yesterday.made 60 gallons of good tasting low grade B. going to pull the membranes out as soon as rinse cycle is done. and wash tubing. leaving pumps on till tubing is washed do under vac. good luck today but i found late yesterday i was starting to loose money instead of make it with the cost of electric, oil,. filter papers and d.e

[Parker]

Perry- I dont sell eggs,,I do sell syrup at the salisbury store,,but,,I dont advertise at all,,gonna try that next year,,,,,Jeff, congrats on another great year,,my girls want to visit your place,,I told them about the mountiansides of rockmaple and they want to see it,,
Done in Salisbury,,nothing running in Hill or on Hoit road,,,rte.11 had a littel of the blue-green sap in the tank yesterday,,BROKE MY SITCK OFF for 2009,,,,,,made 641 gallons,,very happy with that,,previous best was 447,,went to Bascomes with the last of it (ROPEY) befor the price went any lower,,,,on heck of a fun year. thinking about improvements for next year allready...time to get ready for 2010,,,,,AND FILL THAT WOODSHED!!!

[Parker]

Totals:
-1518 vacuum taps ran 29670 gallons of sap or 19.3 gallons per tap and made 570 gallons of syrup ,, .37gallons per tap

-270 gravity taps ran 2340 gallons of sap or 9 gallons per tap,,making 46.7 gallons of syrup,, .17gallons per tap

-200 buckets ran 1235 gallons of sap or 6.17 gallons of sap per tap making 23.7 gallons of syrup,,, .118 gallons per tap


This averages the sugar content which was ALOT higher in the buckets,,and the buckets were only up a short period of time,,,pluse buckets are the only way to tap those particular trees...
-Note sure why I thought I had 2250 taps when I had 1988 taps???
640 gallons on 1988 taps= .32 gallons per tap avg.
GUESSING I burned around 50 cords-improvements on MARVIN made a BIG diffrance!!!
CONCLUSION: NO MORE GRAVITY LINES,,,I am building a CHEEP vacuum system for bushes under 400 taps,,Anyone interested?

[hard maple]

Parker
sounds like you did pretty well this year, better than most around here.
Is anybody interested in what??? cheap vacuum systems?
I'm thinking of doing vacuum on a 200 tap bush I have. I know the payback would take longer...

[Russell Lampron]

Define cheap. My system consists of an SP 22 vacuum pump, Bernard single releaser and 550 gallon poly tank. The most expensive part was the releaser which I paid $600 for when it was new. I have this on 461 taps now. The 550 gallon tank was around $360 and the vacuum pump was $300. For less than $1300 I have a reliable vacuum system that will maintain 23" of vacuum and get 19.2 gallons of sap per tap on mostly red maples.

[Parker]

Hard maple-I am going to mess around with building a vacuum pump much like the "Sappuller" (no releaser) and try to make them for around $900 (with gas moter)????? BUT that is a real guess,,I am guessing it would double the flow of a gravity tubing system....will have to pull 19" for me to be happy
RUSS- I regularly see Giles Bernard singles for $900+,,and SP-22 (just the head) for $500,,,plus a $200 gas moter +pulleys- belts-stand -moisture trap ect,,,I bet if you had to replace what you had it would be around $1800 rady to plug into your mainline (without the sap tank),,,
BUT I might be all talk and it will never get done,,,,,we will see......I have a lot of firewood orders to fill.......

[PerryW]

I am interested in a cheap vacuum system for my 650 tap bush. I was ready to bite the bullet 3 or 4 tears ago but I believe it was going to cost $ 5,000-$6,000 .

[Haynes Forest Products]

650 tap bush for $5000-$6000 Im intrested what color do you want it to be. that includes dilivery and set up.

[cropseyvillemark]

OK Parker, what's going on up there? It's been way too long since we've heard anything. You need to understand that if we don't here about the superhuman exploits of guys like you and Mountainvan, then small time late starters like me start to feel pretty good about ourselves. Then I just slack a little more and its just a viscous cycle. So how 'bout an update?

[Dill]

I really want to swing over and see Mighty Marvin in action.
Do I need a cord of wood to get through the door?

[wally]

I really want to swing over and see Mighty Marvin in action.
Do I need a cord of wood to get through the door?

nah. just drop by my place, i'll show you the way. :D