The 2010 Woodchuck's Blog...

[wdchuck]

Not tapping yet, but I'm ready for it...Got 1000 new check valve spouts installed, so I'll be a guinea pig for all the doubters out there. Adding on a new line through "the swamp" , so I should have 100 more by the end of the week...Not much snow in the woods- I'm still using my ATV and havent been stuck yet!

[vtsnowedin]

I'm not quite ready but this week should do it. About a foot of old grainy snow here at 1700 feet. 4 to 6" coming tomorrow I hear. I've used up all the pipe I bought at Bascoms and I am going down to Welch's in So. Royalton tomorrow as they said their shipment from Leader was due in. I need about four rolls more of semirigid 5/16 to get to 300 taps. I'm begininng to watch the weather like a hawk over a mouse trying to decide weather to tap before or after town meeting.

[PARKER MAPLE]

im more southern then you, i put out 50-55 test taps on saturday, belive it or not it ran sunday and monday just a little not much, these are my test taps, so when the run gets better i will plug the rest of them in, hopping that thursday and fridays warm up will kick us off.

good luck and keep your fingures crossed for a good season.
m/r

[vtsnowedin]

im more southern then you, i put out 50-55 test taps on saturday, belive it or not it ran sunday and monday just a little not much, these are my test taps, so when the run gets better i will plug the rest of them in, hopping that thursday and fridays warm up will kick us off.

good luck and keep your fingures crossed for a good season.
m/r
If I jump on it this weekend I'll most likely be making the usual rookie mistake. The old timers around here haven't stirred themselves a mite and won't until after town meeting. Something about the budget that gets passed and the tax bill that it means really focuses the mind of a real dyed in the wool Vermonter.

[PARKER MAPLE]

i guess there is something with that day i had my grandfarther all excited that i was going to do his tapping this year, then on saturday after i put out my test taps he said maybe we will wait until the fallowing weekend. wich would be one weekend before town meeting day in andover. then he says, the way all these old timers do "you know, i allways wait till town meeting day to tap, maybe we should just wait". i said well while your waiting, i will be making syrup:mrgreen: , man that got him fired up. so long story short were tapping this weekend. l.o.l.:lol:

maple rookie

[wdchuck]

Added some more mainline onto the maple empire today- should be able to pick up another 100 taps. Tapping starts soon- the lack of snow and the increased mobility that comes with that has got me psyched to see if I can get done in record time- 4 days, 2300+ taps! My thighs will be absolute toast! I think I better call the Barclay brothers- 2 good high school kids with enthusiasm and strong, young legs....

[wdchuck]

No hurry to tap up here- temps for the next 10 days no better than 34 for Burlington, and we're a long ways from Burlington weatherwise. I'll have the new swamp line done tomorrow, maybe tap next week, and possibly enough time to hang more mainline and tubing.

[PARKER MAPLE]

just finished up tapping on all of my tubing, 115. now im going to wait for a little bit to hang the buckets. i got a total of 65 buckets. should be a good year for me im hoping to return some of my money maybe make a little or just break even.
anyways when i picked up where i left off tapping today it was running preety good, temps in the 40s in the sun and no wind. when i finished it was dark and wind had picked up. im sure the temp dropped also.

hoping to have enoough sap to sweeten the pans up the weekend.

good luck
m/r

[wdchuck]

After a 2 day break to pay attention to my hobby of vintage snowmobile racing (the northeast's fastest growing winter sport, I might add...), I'll be back in the woods ASAP probably Monday morning. Tomorrow is family day. Got to cut in about 75 more drops, hook up the new main to the existing system, and i 'll be 100% ready for tapping, which I might start on tuesday, if this next bit of stormyand colder weather isnt too extreme. I'd really like to make an all out assault on tapping next weekend because i've got available help- 2 young guys who know what they're doing and can really cover some ground in the woods...

[farmall h]

- 2 young guys who know what they're doing and can really cover some ground in the woods...

wdchuck...you don't look that aged. :)

[802maple]

Where is the Vintage race and what do you run

Jerry

[wdchuck]

Cut in the last 75 drops,then hooked up the mainline to the rest of the system- that makes 110 new taps through a swamp that generates no income whatsoever up until now! My father came into the woods to help- he put in a few taps then I took over to finish out the day. NO WET SPOUTS! It's school vacation week, so I called in the Fabulous Flying Barclay Brothers to help with tapping. I've got both of them tomorrow, then one for 2 days and then both available on Friday- Might as well get done all I can before this alleged snow piles up!

[farmall h]

Gonna run another 400ft of 3/4 main...throw up as many drops left over and should be just a waiting game. Where is this big hunk of snow at?

[wdchuck]

Got in about 900 taps today- all CV's, none of them were dripping.

[wdchuck]

Cancelled tapping today due to about 14" of snow,and counting- I just cant stand having it all end up down the back of my neck!

[PARKER MAPLE]

Yeah I Hear Ya Wdchuck, I Got Over 30in Down Here In Andover And I Cant Even See The Sugar House Due To Snow Banks. I Have No Idea How Im Going To Get To All My Tanks In The Woods. Its Just To Deep. I Like Snow But This Is Way Too Much, Hoping The Rain Will Nock It Down.
Maple Rookiegood Luck

[wdchuck]

Had one guy helping today and we drilled for about 5 hours. 2 helpers tomorrow with 8-900 to go, so we should be good to go. Got one releaser hooked up today after tapping and let it run for a while. Sap ran OK, not great. Still got a couple air leaks up there somewhere...

[wdchuck]

Tapping Done as of yesterday afternoon! It sure was easier to hire some of that out for a change......Had some wind damage from the storm Thursday night- naturally the only tree in the woods that came down landed right on top of an intersection of 3 mainlines, so I spent all morning repairing that. Let the vacuum run on the north side system for a while, enough to find out that I have enough of an air leak in the releaser's purge pump that 1 out of 10 times it doesnt prime and wont empty the releaser. So rather than wait 4 days for new shaft seals, I bit the bullet and got a brand new pump from Goodrich's. Tomorrow I'll get that installed and then hook up the vac system on the south side of the woods....I hope....

[wdchuck]

New pump installed- works like a charm.....just in time too- things sort of busted loose on that side of the woods and I'm looking at 1000 gals of sap!....On the south side, we got the releaser hooked up and vac running. Found some major damage- a hung up treetop finally came down, and of course it landed on the most inconvenient thing to fix in the whole woods. Gotta deal with that tomorrow as well as getting my father started hauling sap, clean some holding tanks, hook up the RO, blah blah blah...

[wdchuck]

RO'd 1600 gallons- it'll keep overnight, plenty cold. Fixed the major damage on the south side, but it looks like there's still a lot of minor problems I need to find. Tomorrow we'll get the smokesatck up, clean up the sugarhouse, and boil for the first time.

[wdchuck]

Brought home another 1100 gallons today and it's still running. Another night of going out late and shutting off vacuum pumps. Boiled today for the first time and made very light fancy- too bad my markets all go for the darker stuff.....Tomorrow is leak chasing day- maybe bring a .22 and make it rodent elimination day as well.....

[wdchuck]

Froze again last night, so we should get a run again today for the afternoon. Our neighbor who lets us run the north side pipeline down the hill onto his property was out scouting for lumber adjacent to our sugarwoods and said he could hear a leak- even told me the exact place to find it! That'll make my job a little easier today.

[wdchuck]

Got the north side all squared away- 4000 feet from the pump and I'm only losing 1/2" of vacuum....The south end is a slightly different story. I ran out of time and I've got to get into one section of 300 taps where there's a good leak somewhere.....Kinda cool today, but there's 1000 gallons of sap to truck home...

[wdchuck]

Brought home 2000 gallons of sap and RO'd it, but there"s still 1000 gallons left in the tanks! For a cool day, we sure got a good run. Boiling tomorrow, maybe early, and then hauling and RO'ng late....I dunno, we sort of got out of our usual schedule...............Delivered syrup this morning- money is a good thing!...and I found my leaks on the south side of the woods- pulling 22" with an SP22...

[wdchuck]

Brought home yesterdays 1000 gallons and there's still 1000 gallons in the tanks....Where's all this sap coming from? I hate to think how buried we'll be if it ever warms up.....

[Squaredeal]

Hey Chuck, we've not even gotten a run yet. A little weeping when tapping, but it's been too cold to really let loose. Shows what effect a little elevation can have.
I think it's gonna get crazy this week though. Have fun and good luck!

[wdchuck]

Your time will come, I'm sure, and it'll last later in the year than mine- but that elevation sure does seem to be the difference. We boiled 1600 gals today and 800 left in the tanks when I shut things down.

[wdchuck]

And it just doesnt want to let up! 1600 Gals hauled home and RO'ing as I write this-probably going to be at least 1000 gals more in the tanks by the time it stops tonight. We'll start boiling before noon tomorrow, haul some of tomorrow's home, and get in a heck of a day. The weather looks perfect for the next week, maybe beyond that........I'm gonna be dragging.....

[farmall h]

wdchuck...heck of a run today. Ice let loose at about 10:30 am and the sap was coming in hard and fast. Didn't start boiling 'till noon. 1000 gals in the sugarhse...Father & Uncle will be at it tomorrow 1st thing in the am. Sat. was a great run as well..1st boil..had some watery/nasty in one 300 gal. tank. Took along time to roll that through. 30 gal. syrup so far. Need an R/O ...someday. Need another storage tank too...had 900 taps last year-1400 this year.

[wdchuck]

Busy yesterday!....Ended up putting 3600 gallons through the sugarhouse- the most ever....maybe we shouldnt have skipped a day boiling. The sapflow slowed up a bit, but we can use a rest today......All fancy so far..........

[wdchuck]

After yesterdays flood, we took a day off from boiling to catch up on a few things like returning other folks' barrels. Found 2 laterals that were pulled apart and that took care of the bulk of the air coming thru the lines. 1200 gallons trucked home/600 left at the tanks. The sap ran really well, but it never seemed to warm up- I felt chilly all day long. Another good day tomorrow as long as a few mechanical issues dont catch up with us....

[wdchuck]

50 gallons of syrup today-800 gals of sap still at the tanks. Things are froze pretty hard. The latest mechanical issues were held at bay (again), but there's still an outside chance that pulley is gonna come loose again. The RedSox were on the radio for the first time this year- how can it get any better?!

[steve J]

Onlything better then that is if them there sox are plaing the Yankees and the Yankees winnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!

[wdchuck]

Been busy- having a heck of a year so far- hope I dont jinx myself by actually saying it. Iffy forecast for a freeze tonight, but sap's still running, although not gushing like it has been...Looks like good temps for next week...Absolutely no equipment aggravations for what, 2 days now?...

[farmall h]

Had only a frost this am...sap still ran nice though. Pretty windy this evening. Been making med. amber last two days. Looks good, tastes good and that's what matters anyway. Scorched pan @ 5pm today, Bulk tank ran out of sap and didn't notice 'till smelled it. Stupid, stupid ....Had plenty of sap on hand...just had to turn valve on....cleaned best I could, switched draw-off sides. We'll see tomorrow.

[hammer460]

hey farmall where are you located at???

[wdchuck]

Another day, another barrell full of syrup.

[farmall h]

Cranked out 16 gal. today...dark amber...thanks to the scorched pan, Drum it! Windy, drizzle rain and cloudy. No sun. Looks like a couple days before things freeze up. Was able to get 300 gallons sap w/vac. Just wasn't running like Thursday & Friday. All tanks are clean and waiting for round two.:)
hammer460...just before Max's dance hall and after the folks dairy farm..on that wonderful stretch of "dirt & pot holes". And you?

[wdchuck]

Froze last night and got another gusher run today. Having a really good year.....

[Squaredeal]

Hey Chuck, Nice pic on the Gazette.

[wdchuck]

OK, so last night was the 3rd in a row where we had a good freeze and I expect today will bring us another gusher of a run. ......I'm the type that needs good conclusive evidence to believe in a cause/effect relationship, but I'm about to become a believer in those check valve spouts.........I know I'm always bitching about about how busy we are, but for the past week we've been boiling an extra 1400 taps........This is easily going to be our best year ever (for the 2nd year in a row!) We've already made as much as last year on just our own sap. Anybody got some loaner barrells?..............Hey Squaredeal, has it finally thawed out up there above the arctic circle?

[Squaredeal]

Oh Yeah Chuck. Running hard up here too. We still have quite a bit of snow, but it has thawed some what. I still believe that the ground is frozen under the snow. The ground never freezes up here, but we went through most of the winter with barely any snow.
Gotta love vacuum, we ran 24/7 for the three nights it didn't freeze and collected 3600 gal each day. Low sugar content, but I'm just putting the wood to it.

[wdchuck]

Went through almost 5000 gallons of sap the past 2 days. Sugar content has dropped like a rock, but that's what an RO machine is for. My membrane is getting old and tired, so I put it on an all night rinse by re-circulating through the permeate tank. It may not help, but it sure wont hurt- I'll find out tomorrow.......No freeze for us tonight, so the vacuum stays on...Saturday looks like our next freeze and then not again until Monday night and then a cooler week. How long can this go on?........

[wdchuck]

Things froze a bit last night, but it's just too cool and cloudy to get things thawed out for much of a sap run. I'll give the vacuum a try tomorrow- looks like this is the stage of the season where conditions are going to have to be a little closer to optimum for a run, rather than just running for any old reason like it has been. Looks like the biggest problem will be holding onto enough sap to boil next Saturday for the Maple Open House Weekend. Supposed to be COLD by then........

[Squaredeal]

Bite your tongue young man. I cleaned everything up this am while it was snowing, turned on the pump and went in for a quick nap. Woke up to our biggest gusher run yet -600 gal in about two hours.

[wdchuck]

Dang, you're right. Waited 2 hours, it warmed up , turned on the vacuum pumps and saps gushing AGAIN! So much for my sugaring intuition....

[wdchuck]

Somewhat of a freeze on Sunday night and sap ran pretty well. Yesterday, my Father had a checkup, so no help around the sugarhouse.....Spent the day hauling sap, getting ready for boiling today and RO'ing. I did the re-circulating thing and took 2400 gallons down to 400. We'll haul at least 1200 home and and boil today. It'll be interesting to see what happens after this weekends freeze-up. Can it possibly get better? More sap? Higher sugar content? At this point, it's all gravy..............

[Squaredeal]

Chuck, We ended up having our biggest run of the year in sunday night-monday. Two thousand in the tank when I started boiling and Fifteen hundred when I went to bed last night after boiling twelve hours. Sap ran all night, I hate to see what's in there now. Sugar dropped to 1.8, but still made quite a bit of syrup yesterday. I too am wondering what's going to happen after the wknd. Sure is an interesting year.

[wdchuck]

Kind of a day off- cleaning up sap from the tanks and with what runs tomorrow, we'll RO and hold untill Saturday for Open House Weekend. Not much of a day off- mostly catching up on chores.

[wdchuck]

23 degrees last night, 50 today!...Sounds like a formula for success! We'll gather it all up and RO it tonight- save it up for open house weekend. As cold as it's supposed to get, I dont think it'll rot too much. With the ice that should form in the tank, it ought to be a bout 14%!.............

[wdchuck]

All went according to the plan- RO'd 2300 gallons of really low testing sap into 400 gallons. There's probably 1400 left in the tanks to come home......It's all gonna freeze and I'll get it on Sunday....The concentrate can sit in these temps no problem......

[wdchuck]

My Gawd was it ever cold today....just as well, as I could use a little rest and I was due to deliver some syrup to a few of my stores. Looking forward to Open House tomorrow- lots of friends and family, and an occassionnal tourist.

[farmall h]

It's still cold...15 degrees right now. Gotta love it. This will fake the trees out big time. Back to the roots! Looks like a warm up on late Sunday night. Maybe -5 by morning.:o

[wdchuck]

Had a great open house- probably a hundred or so people. Sold some syrup, which isnt our main focus, and gave away over a gallon's worth of sugar-on-snow. ...Pretty cool temps- one system started to drip a bit by 5 PM, but I didnt bother with the vac at all- enough to do at the sugarhouse with all those people around. Tomorrow's another story- gonna run that vacuum for as long as the end of the line has some liquid running out of it! Also have to play catch-up and get that leftover 1400 gals of sap home and RO it with the new stuff.

[wdchuck]

Cool temps yesterday- sap was running slowly bymid afternoon. The temps warmed up overnight and I just let things go, so I have no idea how much is waiting for us at this point. 1200 gals of ungodly low testing stuff came home yesterday and I'll RO that as soon as I drop the young'un off at daycare.More sap coming so I'll just keep everything on re-circulate mode and we'll boil as soon as I flip the valve to send it to the feed tank......This week looks like the end for us- slight freeze tonight if we're lucky and that's it. 70 predicted for Friday.....

[farmall h]

wdchuck...been sucking sap since 10am this morning. Will have 900 gal. by midnight. Running like crazy...vac will be on all night. Coming in clear and clean...maybe be running on the ground if not boiling early in the am. Yup...maybe the grand finish.:)

[wdchuck]

Vacuum ran all last night, they're running all night tonight, and I'm not shutting them off until the sap stops! Boiled another 2300 gallons today- 1200 in the tanks at 10 pm. I cant boil tomorrow night so looks like Wednesday is gonna be a long one! The check valve side of the woods is still going pretty well and the woods I'm buying sap from at a slightly higher altitude is running really well......

[wdchuck]

2000 gallons through the RO and up into a nicely scrubbed out tank- should have scrubbed much sooner- it was pretty ugly lookin. Sap should run overnight and we'll put up the rest tomorrow, then a potential freeze for Wed night . If all the forecasts hold true, that ought to do it. 70 degrees on Friday!.....

[wdchuck]

ANother 2400 gallons RO'd and into the feed tank- Boiled it all down yesterday with the previous days 2000 and made probably 70 gallons. Obviously the content isnt very good. Sap's still running, but the vac pumps have had a heck of a workout- havent turned anything off since Sunday. It's not running a lot, but it's still running. I'll quit when the trees quit.........

[wdchuck]

...........fer cryin out loud!....sap ran yesterday. Not much, but it ran. South side is pretty slow, but paying for the gas to run it. Northside (with all the check valves!) is running double that per tap. The rental woods at a higher elevation is still running strong- almost 1000 gallons from 1400 taps yesterday and had 500 and running strong at the releaser at 6 pm. Looks like we're boiling again today. Made a drum (30 GALS) of nice dark amber. ..... sugar content of 1.4% is our best

[wdchuck]

.....and we're still at it......Made just short of 30 gallons of Dark amber today, but it was not a lot of fun. Pretty toasty in the sugarhouse.......We'll probably boil again tomorrow- 400 gallons of our own sap, 400 from the rental plus what runs up there overnight- hopefully enough to make 15 gallons and top off that last barrell. ...................................Sunday is a day off and then on Monday we'll gather up a few gallons of sap and chase all the concentrate out of the evaporator and then let that rot to get the pans clean(er). Next week is clean-up week and ease back into my other job.

[wdchuck]

Done!.........Done, done, done done, done! It did get down to 29 last night, and i was tempted to turn on the vacuum this morning, but my father threatened to walk and leave me with all the cleanup to do alone. He wins.........A hell of a year- short, but it was our best ever.

[wdchuck]

Cleanup week- found some stuff in one tank that was easily the most vile substance I've ever seen as a result of making syrup- looked like translucent cottage cheese..............

[wdchuck]

Re-worked some manifolds yesterday to get ready for tubing washing and the **** mainlines were still running sap! Too late to get all paranoid over whether I pulled the plug too soon. Check valves are still wet too, others are dry.....I believe!!

[chipa]

Keith Burtt just made 47 gallons

[DrTimPerkins]

Keith Burtt just made 47 gallons

He's in a somewhat colder spot as I recall. What's he using for spouts?

[farmall h]

wdchuck, easy now...mine have been dribbling as well but it is a "tad-bit" nasty. I don't wash my lines anymore..just turn on the vac and start at the furthest tap and pullem and pluggem. I don't have any nasty at start-up next spring. Neighbor up the road from me stopped washing his 6000 taps and he has a tubing washer...I figure if his lines are clean..so are mine. Less hassle and effort. Just how I do it!

[Squaredeal]

Our CST spouts are still running hard too. Had the vacuum on for cleaning and could not believe how much sap was making it to the releaser. Still, I wouldn't want to sell anything that I could make out of that nastyness.
Regular health spouts are not running at all.

[TapHappy]

wdchuck, easy now...mine have been dribbling as well but it is a "tad-bit" nasty. I don't wash my lines anymore..just turn on the vac and start at the furthest tap and pullem and pluggem. I don't have any nasty at start-up next spring. Neighbor up the road from me stopped washing his 6000 taps and he has a tubing washer...I figure if his lines are clean..so are mine. Less hassle and effort. Just how I do it!

Why even pull the taps then? Lot of guys around here don't. Just drill another hole next spring, and saves an extra trip around the woods;)

[wdchuck]

Cant speak for the rest of the guys, but by waiting till tapping to pull the spout, I think that would slow down the healing process- typically, I see health spouts healed over in 2 years.

[chipa]

He's in a somewhat colder spot as I recall. What's he using for spouts?

He is using check valves.

[DrTimPerkins]

Why even pull the taps then? Lot of guys around here don't. Just drill another hole next spring, and saves an extra trip around the woods;)

In some very large sugarbushes, this apparently is done (or was a few yrs ago anyhow). Dr. Gary Graham (Ohio State University) and UVM PMRC started a study looking at this a few years ago. We tapped several small trees with 5/16" and 7/16" trees, and pulled some spouts and left some spouts in until the next year. Did it for two seasons. We haven't cut the trees yet, but plan to this summer.

Dr. Graham is expanding this line of work with a North American Maple Syrup Council grant to determine the optimum time to pull spouts.

[Revi]

We don't have that many taps, but I like to pull them so the trees can start to heal up asap. With the 5/16ths taps they heal up in a year.

The big guys can't afford the time to pull them all, but for us little guys I think it's a good idea.

[Squaredeal]

I've been to few 50,000+ tap sugarbushes. They were all quite fastidious about cleaning their pipeline.

[farmall h]

This will be the first year I do not flush the tubing. So we will see how things look come next spring.

[stephen wheeler]

I was reading what was being said about pulling taps or not. My father in law mentioned to me that some people will use small pieces of hardwood dowel to fill in the tap hole to prevent bugs and disease from getting into the tree. I have not read of anyone mentioning this. I wonder if anyone would care to comment on this practice.
Also is the sugar sand sludge left over from the filtering process good for anything - i.e. cooking or is it not actually healthy to use. I will appreciate any thoughts.

[DrTimPerkins]

...will use small pieces of hardwood dowel to fill in the tap hole to prevent bugs and disease from getting into the tree. I have not read of anyone mentioning this. I wonder if anyone would care to comment on this practice.

Do not put anything into the taphole when you pull spouts. Leave them alone and they'll be just fine. Dowels will soak up and hold moisture in the taphole.


Also is the sugar sand sludge left over from the filtering process good for anything - i.e. cooking or is it not actually healthy to use. I will appreciate any thoughts.

I don't think anyone has been terribly successful in finding a use for it, although many have pondered it.

[farmall h]

TapHappy, trust me...I pull the spouts. I'm just not going to wash the lines this year.

[wdchuck]

Seeing as my thread got hijacked, I'll chime in here.................I finished washing the pipeline yesterday, with help from my father and 3 young sets of legs on high school vacation. (Thanks guys!!) We've always washed our pipeline- I just cant imagine not doing it after seeing some of the vile ooze that comes out of there. To each his own..........

[stagecoach maples]

dont do that farmall wash your lines if u dont you will regret it we didnt wash our lines this past year and we did not make any light syrup because of it !
our season was done as soon as it got warm in march because the bacteria was already in the lines from not washing last year we got done and tore the old junk down and are putting a brand new vacuum system in for next year because we were so dissapointed with the numbers for this past year and decided it was time for an increase in production but bet your bottom dollar with that kind of investment it will never go a season without be all washed EVER if all gos well we should have 1350 on vac for next year any thoughts on what kind of production numbers we should get(i.e.gallons made)

[farmall h]

Stagecoach, I pulled all my spouts with the vacuum on and segregated all my main lines so I was able to do 200-250 taps at a time. Always washed (rinsed really) over the years just with water and low pressure on water pump. I just want to give it a try this year 'cause I have seen other bushes that do not wash their lines and I cannot tell the difference. Sorry for being involved in the hi-jacking of your thread wdchuck. As far as the snot & slime..I didn't see any of that. I did however vac water down my main lines. ps: I only made 252 gallons...too early and fast. I am hoping for 2000 taps next year and would like to make a minimum of 500 gal. Still working on maximum vacuum.