everybody ready????

[boondocker]

so who is ready and who is scramblin? im no where ready for sure, got the sugar house pretty much done, but still have a long ways to go. im just hoping im not the only one! ha:D

[The Birdman]

About 50 buckets to wash, head tank to hook up and 150 leeds to make. Just about there.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Got 10 weeks 'til sugarin' and 15 weeks work to do. I'm right on schedule:lol:
Doug

[KenWP]

Got many days worth of work left to do around here. I ended up with a cold and so am house bound for the weekend. I am no where near finished rebuilding the evaporator and or course theres a milliom other jobs to do also.
Never seems to end. We don't see sap here untill Mar 10 to 15 anyways so will get it all done.

[maplemat1]

nowhere even close still have to set up burner on new arch ,finish air injector for front pan ,plumb ro lines,rewire sugarhouse and still have tubing to get up so don't feel bad .only24 hrs in a day with 48 hrs.good luck on gettin all your work done

[Low budget maple]

Just started trusses today soooooo I am far from prepaired.

[3rdgen.maple]

Man oh man guys lets get going huh. NO excuses dive in and get that stuff done. I am all set and ready to tap. Well atleast I think I am when I get the drills out I will remember I had to do something.

[Gerryfamily5]

I'm certainly scrambling.Got 1500' of main up but have 2000'more to hang.I got severely delayed by the fire wood harvest:( . I figure I have just enough time but man is it going to be close!:o But Like Theron I need BIGGGSAP,sold out of syrup again and had to buy more,and sold all that.Will work alot this week,so hopefully can start laterals next week.

[gator330]

I have to build a pre heater (going with the copper around the stack) no big deal. Check the line wash every thing clean every thing and could always use more wood. Order jugs some pre filters and maybe look into a canner. the sugar house could use electric but I mad it throught last year with a extension cord run from the house. Shure it will be the same this year. I'm kown for my last minute prep on just about every thing. Learn what you need to when you need it, and do it when it needs to be done. I also only have 100 plus a few buckets. Not doing buckets this year. Going to run short runs of tube to a barrel and pick it up with a 12 volt pump. Can set that up the day I tap. I don't know how some of you bigger guys that work alone get it done. Part of the reason I'm keeping it small for now. Maybe when my help is older then 3, 6, and 9 I will be better off. Allthough the 14 and 16 year old help isn't much help at all??? Some how by the time I tap it will be ready.

[jrthe3]

I all ready other then a quick wash on the pans and put the evaporator back togather witch i normal do the night after i tap
but now gary r has me thinking about air over one part of me saying go for it and the other part saying wait till next year but it can say this nothing getting done till after the first of the year
then for some reason my dad is saying we will have a late spring he thinks we won't tap till late march

[michelle32]

Mains are done. New 1100 gallon tank is in place. Half the laterals are run. All the fire wood cut and covered. Need to buy 1 1/2 inch pipe to tie in vac pump to releaser and buy gas pump to pump it to sugar house. Wife keeps hounding me to get going. But we've come to that point where money is a issue. She says don't worry about the money till after everything is done. I think she maybe infected with the maple flu. Keith

[tessiersfarm]

I'm still getting ready for the first snow. I did get the new sugar shack mostly enclosed, Long way to go and a short time to get there, I got a good attitude though and that helps.

[red maples]

I am pretty much set I just want to give the gathering containers 1 more rinse before I set them out and a couple of fittings on some tubing near the sugar house going up to the feed tank. and want to check the lines 1 more time had a few dead braches fall on main line but nothing broke!!!! thank goodness. all that work during the summer paid off no numb fingers for me except when I am drilling holes and settin taps.

[caseyssugarshack93]

Still have alot of work to do, hope to get most of it done over my x mas vacation 12 days off, should get quite a bit done still need to add like 300 more taps and add the lifter line on the 400 tap bush that will be 400 if i got time,Still have to add the saddles and that bush is done then heading to the 750 tap bush and sadding 2-300 taps there and a little adding more taps on some small bushes i have and that will be it for this year

[Maple Ridge]

I still have things to get ready. Looking at running some tubing to save on buckets. Looking at botteling and selling some this year. I hope it works out. I would like to build a sugar house next summer. That would sure help.

[boondocker]

well then its good to see im not the only one behind the eight ball:D i am so far behind its not funny, i wanted to be completly ready to go by october but the last week of october came and i was just putting the roof on my sugar house. i was stacking firewood in my woodshed in a snow storm and i still havent started to build my evap. or got my taps and lines yet. im screwed :lol:

[Revi]

I think we're almost ready. Lots of clean up to do, and we'll need a new stove for finishing. I'm waiting on that until closer to the season because dufuses have shot up our shack before and I want to wait until the last possible minute to get anything that might get ruined.

I put 1/4" plate steel on the door, so it may ricochet back and hit them instead.

God willing and the creek don't rise (and even if it does) We're almost ready.

[KenWP]

As long as they only use a 22 your good with 1/4 steel. Anything else your going to get holes in it. We have problems with the targets not getting holes in them unless we restrict what guns they shoot at them. We used grader blades for the back stop and they all got broken. and they had sand in front of them.

[baconfarm]

we are ready to go, just tap the trees and put the r/o and evaporators together and we are ready. We are just getting ready for the maple school in february but other then that things are ready. finished a few projects this year, propane piped in for h2o heater and canners and piped for heater in retail room. Teh guys added about 500 more taps this year, so all we have to do is walk and tap and fix as we go along. Lets hope mother nature is kind to us sugarmakers this year!!!!!:) Happy Tappin'

[JohnsSugarShack]

Ready, no wheres near ready. Still waiting on my new evaporator to get here. Need to get some sort of feed tank set up. And still need more fire wood. If I'm not bald by spring it'll be a miracle. But I will be ready.:lol:

[Low budget maple]

Built the walls and installed them on the new shed yesterday. Little by little. Hope to get the trusses buillt and up today.

[Dave Y]

you better get busy Chucky, time is a wasting!

[Russell Lampron]

Hell No! All of the rainy weekends have put a damper on the work in the woods. Now it's the cold and snow. Realistically 2 good days in the woods and I could be ready to tap without adding any new taps. I need to add more to satisfy the growing demand for my product though.

[3% Solution]

Are we ready????
Yup sure are!! :D
Need to drill little holes in big trees!!!!
Just a waiting game now!!!!
How's the Russ doing?

[red maples]

man I can't wait I have a few little tinking things to do but otherwise I am all set!!! I think I was dreaming about taping holes last night!!!!

[Low budget maple]

Finaly !!! The weather broke a bit and the roof is on. Now get my new rig ( new to me that is) in and bricked.

[3rdgen.maple]

What the heck kinda off question is this anyways? Everybody ready? come on we are sugarmakers we will never be ready, just when you think you are, upgrade to this, change that, tap more of those, clean that some more, need more tanks, darn i forgot to order jugs, crap dropped my hydrometer, man i really don't think I cut enough wood, why the heck is the floor wet, oh ^&%$ I forgot the dang pipe on the holding tank, man the darn propane tank is empty for the finisher, where the heck did I put the prefilters, I know I ordered defoamer. It just never ever ends. My daughter asked me this weekend " Dad does everyone who makes maple syrup have OCD or just you" " Honey we all do ". "Dad no wonder where I get it from":D

[gmcooper]

Spent the day working in the woods. Repaired some lines and cleared branches and a few blowdowns out. Started clearing for a new section of mainlines to get to a few more taps. Lots more to do. Should be ready by July at latest.
Mark

forgot to mention way more snow in the woods than I expected. Some shady areas well over 2 feet.

[maple flats]

I also spent the day on the mountain (really just a steep hill but at my age it feels like a mountain (this is my last location to do, but my biggest). I have all of the mainline re-tied from limbs and trees on it, Just got started doing the laterals this afternoon. Lots of brances down in this woods but I rent it and can't trim dead wood out. Boy those climbs get old with a hard crust that breaks thru and I sink in about a foot or so. I still don't like using snow shoes if I can avoid it on these steep climbs. I've got likely about 10-12 hrs more to repair and tighten laterals and then clean tanks and evaporator and sugarhouse. If I finish all of that I have another 1000 ft of 3/4" branch line I want to add to split part of my system and make it a better design but I can run without it if I need to.

[gator330]

I'm ready just one last wash/rinse and set the tanks, tape and boil. One other thing to order, Jugs. Really just a waiting game right now. I may not be able to wait around four more weeks. So if I get the urge I may run some more main line for next years expansion then there is the never ending job of cutting wood be good to be ahead of that.

[farmall h]

No..not ready. I can still tap...but my goal is to have 1200. Still a work in progress. If I didn't have to go to my dang job everyday I could get it done. Ran some new 3/4 main today (600ft) and set out 2 rolls of 5/16" lateral. No spouts yet, an hour will have that done. I'm a drop hange'n fool once I get in the groove.:lol: Next weekend I will run another line and a weekend after that 1 more and that should do it. Years ago, when I was youngerrrrrrrr it was all set up. At least it will all be new!

[gmcooper]

Cleared out to run more mainline and add maybe 75+ taps. Going to have to put in sap ladder to make that section work. Still planning to change over to CV spouts for all the vacuum stuff.
Mark

[heus]

Almost ready for my first season. Everything is set up for a test boil. Still waiting on a thermometer from Patrick but will probably get one locally. About 60% of my taps will be on gravity and the rest will be 5 gal buckets. I had planned to do 150 taps but I think I will start at 100 and see how that goes. My biggest source of anxiety (besides using the evaporator) is figuring out how to efficiently clean everything through the season when I don't have running water at my shack. A couple of syrup makers around here say they will tap around Valentines Day.