news from Rusty's Sugar Shack

[TapME]

March 14; Started the day with plastic buckets and tubing spiders to feed them to the count of 39. Spent the rest of the morn and part of the after noon putting them in place around town. We had the pleasure to meet the landowners went placing the buckets. All are anxious to get maple syrup for there sap. One of the last trees that we tapped was a monster, it had to be 5 feet in diameter. Most of the trees are 3 taps some 2's and a couple of 4's. After we were done the count is 102. I may have missed a few buckets in there. At home the count is up to 65 on 2 55 gallon drums in different spots. They were flowing OK today and tomorrow will be better I'm sure. Still have 30+ taps on buckets to do as soon as we get more supplies and 60+ more here at home. This should happen on Sunday. ConcreteO is going to get a small make over and more stack. More to come.

[TapME]

15th, picked up 120 gallons of sap from the 160+ taps today and did some work on the evap. running at a good clip here after noon time. Will start to boil in the PM tomorrow. More taps to add in the next couple of days. Sap is sweet and clear as water.

[TapME]

16th, got more done today but not the evaporator, that's tomorrows task. Wired the bilge pump to an old cell phone charger and a switch and that works fine for dumping buckets and filling the tank. I have my doubts about filling the head tank with it. Spent 2 hours gathering sap with my son and a classmate. All but 12 of the buckets were not running over. total was 150+ of the sweetest sap I have ever tasted. Thats from 160 taps. To date we have sold 250+ gallons.

[Revi]

How does the cell phone charger work?

[KenWP]

Bilge pump is most likely 12 volt so if you use the battery charger cord it will run the bilge pump. I run a winch the same way just use a old charger cord wit the end cut off to supply the 12 volts I need.

[Revi]

Cool. I like it. Yankee ingenuity at work.

[TapME]

Revi; the cord works OK but it seems to lack the ability to push more than 2 feet of head. I will just wire it to the battery with a fuse in line and that should do the trick. It's suppose to push 6 feet of head.

Worked all day on the evap and got most of it done. New base for it to sit on with adjustable legs (bolts) welded on to keep it level over the season. Pans are clean and 8 more feet of stack for more draft. A new front panel and door if the season permits. Well, saphauler and I went and got buckets and we had 120 gallons in the tank when we were done and still have to get sap from around the house which could be another 50 gallons. Going to boil tomorrow, should be fun.

[TapME]

finished the evap today and and started her up. Put 120 gallons from yesterday through in about 5 hours including start up and cool down. The pans are sweet and should be able to make some syrup in the AM with the 150 gallons that we got today. Temps don't look good for a slow down till Friday. It's been a good run so far. We are averaging 3/4 of a gallon per tap right now. The new additions to the evap are proving to help the evap rate, will have to do a test as soon as the first draws are through to see what the % of sugar is. It should also give a good sense as to the evap rate. I'm not as young as I once was and the lifting of the buckets is proving that. May the sap run clear and HARD FOR YOU ALL.

[TapME]

3/19; had a 150 gallons through the evap today. Finished sweeten the pans and made 5 gallons of syrup. Decided to push the new setup and see what it would do. 6 hours later I was done. Had The sap jumping out of the flue pan.

3/20; son #2 came to visit and run the evap today and check out the new operation and improvements. Had a slow day for sap flow the day before and only collected 80 gallons from the trees.The air was crisp and the evap did an assume job boiling the flooded pans down to the 1.25'' that i boil at. The steam cloud that followed was impressive to see. At the end of the day we made another 4 gallons of syrup an again the sap was a jumping. Before the end of the day the collection was only 50 gallons but the weather is better for Saturday. I Will save sap for Maine Maple Sunday as we have family coming and 4 generations of sugarmakers will be here. The last generation are the grandchildren and 3 will be here and one is boiling. Hope you have a the sap you want.

[TapME]

3/21 Did not boil today it was a small run only 75 gallons. Had a small accident with the sap tank. I was putting in a bucket in the back of the truck and it opened the valve just a little bit and I didn't catch it until 25 gallons of sap was gone. Oh well we all make mistakes I think. On the bright side 4 generations will be here tomorrow to help boil, and we did pick up another 150 gallons of sap so in the AM we will have 200 gallons.

[TapME]

3/22 did boil today and got the evap rolling into a boil. Processed the sap in record time. I think I'm getting the hang of the new upgrades. My sap must be sweeter than I thought or at least it seem to be. Pulled off 7+ gallons on 3 draws which is a first also to have 3 draws on the same boil. Wood is holding up good but going fast. After family left we went and collected and got 120 gallons on this cool windy day (wind was from the west). The m=next few days look good for making syrup and we will. Hope you are all doing as well as us.

[TapME]

3/23 Took a total of what has been made and we are at 13 gallons here and some given away. Holding sap today as it is very cold (24) today. High school is coming on Weds. for class on maple. Trees still giving clear and sweet sap.

[TapME]

3/24 went around and collected the sap that we had, totaled 150 gallons with what was held over.

3/25 started the evap today at 8AM and started in on the 150 gallons and made quick works of it, done at 2:30. Had a friend watch the evap while we went out to gather sap, holy cow only 3 of the buckets were not running over. The total was another 150 gallons. I worked on that while saphauler rested (he has the bug). Did not make much of a dent in the sap. I forgot to check the barrels here at the farm and what a mistake they were running over too. So don't fell bad Russ I don't know how much was lost. So that was the reason for the tank to still have 100 gallons in it. Tomorrow is another day.

[KenWP]

For the first time this year I actually had a bucket full of sap. Now if I can get more then one tree to do that I have it made.

[TapME]

3/26 started the day with leveling the pans in the arch had a tough time to do the last draw the nite before and wanted to see if this could help the situation. After that made the decision to collect sap and was glad we did. Picked up 150 gallons from the run at 9 AM. Came back and fired up. Hour and half later the first draw started and what a large draw it was 4 gallons. Guess leveling the pans did the trick.Had 200 in the tank when I started and 50 left when I finished at 6PM. There was 50 in the tank from the day before. We had a nice supper and wen to collect again. Came back with 200 in the tank. So 300 gallons from 200 taps. So I'm beat. We'll see what the AM will bring. Hope you all have the same sap that I have had this week.

[Russell Lampron]

Lou get off of your computer and boil that sap. It is worth more as syrup than it is as moisture in the ground from overflowing buckets and barrels. 200 gallons is kid stuff here.

[TapME]

Your right Russ, I haven't spilled a drop yet. The head tank that I wanted for this year became a 5 gallon bucket brigade at the end of my arms. I can't even think of what is in the buckets today if they ran all night. Thanks for the pick me up Russ.

[MapleME]

Lou, are you planning on boiling all weekend? I may head up your way if I get through my sap tomorrow.

[TapME]

Josh, I will be in and out this weekend just give me a call to see if I'm around.

Russ; went through another 150 gallons after your post, wood is on the slim side, maybe another 1 or 2 boils. Seems to be in the range of 2.5 to 3% sugar in what I'm boiling. Pulled 5 gallons on 150 in the evap is how I came to that figure. Looks like none or a little sap the next few days. No freeze again last night. Hope everyone is having fun.

[royalmaple]

Lou hurry up and run out of wood so you can bring me that sap.

[TapME]

Matt; I'm doing my best to run out for it means 50 gallons of syrup for me.

Have not boiled after 3/28 just no sap. It did get to 30 degrees last night here and we will see if that makes them flow again. Another 150 gallons would put me at 40 for the season and that would be twice as much as last year. All the syrup has a wonderful taste this year no matter what the color. Hope you are all busy with all things maple.

royalmaple; keep on chugging

[Revi]

I don't think it froze here last night, but maybe up on the hill it did. We are going to pull the buckets and plink the other taps pretty soon.

I think it will run tomorrow, but that's it for the rest of the week according to the forecast. It looks like the season is winding down around here.

I could be wrong.

[TapME]

Hopes are high but that may be the only thing around here. Still waiting for it to run. Need some cold followed by some sun. Middle of next week and I'm done if no run.

[MapleME]

I pulled 20 gallons of not-so-clear sap from all 25 buckets last night which has been soaking since saturday. It still smelled ok, maybe some of it was rainwater.

Either way, not much moving around here.

[TapME]

Went to go and see what was in the buckets and wow, picked up 120+ gallons of sap. Some of it was a little cloudy but sure beats using water to push the sweet through. Going to boil in the AM and see if I can get another 4 gallons out of this. Looks to run for another day at least. Going to scrounge around for wood but I'll find some. Come on sap keep coming, Royalmaple's not getting this run through his vacuum.

[TapME]

Well got ahead of the rain and started boiling and looks like 3 to 4 gallons of great tasting dark syrup. Not bad for stuff left in the pans for a week. This was to finish r=the sap we collected yesterday and have not been out to get what is in the buckets now. That will be for tomorrow. Looks to be on the downward side of the season now.

Matt, I had to scrap and scrounge around for the wood for this boil and will do the same for the AM. Not looking good in the wood shed. Next year 8 cords of dry whatever I can find for syruping,and a roof over my head.

[tessiersfarm]

I just pulled most of my taps, collected another 100 gallons of slightly cloudy sap but its going through the evaporator tomorrow, it still smelled good.

[TapME]

Well, yesterday was the last boil for us here. trees have pretty much stopped running. Boiled all we had and drew the sweet from the pans to finish on a turkey cooker. We had a good year here when the taps ran. Made over 40+ gallons of syrup and it all taste great. Collected over 2000 gallons of sap and sold some to boot, around 350 gallons and then some to the Auburn group too. ConcreteO did very well to make that amount of syrup, just can't imagine doing 100 gallons on i the way it is. Tubing this year was great and preformed above my expectations. Will do more for next year for sure. That's all for now. I will have to check to see if all of the totals are correct.