Southern Minnesota

[tomslusher]

Not tapping but getting equipment ready and moving sone snow around.

Anyone one here further south in Minnesota than me? Lattitude N 44° 15.845 or so. Just northeast of Mankato, Minnesota. And if you are in the general area, do you look into your woods and wonder how you will get sap out with all that snow? I'm glad I didn't sell my snowmobile like I was thinking about.

tomslusher

[Riley/MN]

Not tapping but getting equipment ready and moving sone snow around.

Anyone one here further south in Minnesota than me? Lattitude N 44° 15.845 or so. Just northeast of Mankato, Minnesota. And if you are in the general area, do you look into your woods and wonder how you will get sap out with all that snow? I'm glad I didn't sell my snowmobile like I was thinking about.

tomslusher

Just outside of Millville. We tap mainly "farmstead maples" :)

I really would like to have one of these:

http://www.flixxy.com/snow-vehicle-concept.htm

[Highislandmapler]

Most of my tapping is done in town and residentials sites from people I know. Just do it as a hobbiest. Only 12-15 taps, but if you go bigger I understand your pain with all this snow.

[Ike]

I live south of Mankato and I am over knee deep in snow and repairing coyote damage to my lines. Will start repair and tapping 3/6/10 My neighbor is buliding a snow vehicle like the old Fordson.

[Riley/MN]

I live south of Mankato and I am over knee deep in snow and repairing coyote damage to my lines. Will start repair and tapping 3/6/10 My neighbor is buliding a snow vehicle like the old Fordson.


Keep us posted on that!

[buck06]

I live south west of mankato between mt.kato and rapadan not looking good hear at all for snow i am a little new to making syrup i love it and so do the kids next year i want to build a 2x4 evaporator what do you use

[RileySugarbush]

My neighbor is buliding a snow vehicle like the old Fordson.

Maple is interesting but I want to see that screw drive tractor!!!

Will you let us know if your neighbor gets it working and if we can come see it go!

[Riley/MN]

...next year i want to build a 2x4 evaporator what do you use

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/RileyMN/Clark%20Sugar%20Camp/th_852220-R1-13-14_014.jpg (http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/RileyMN/Clark%20Sugar%20Camp/?action=view&current=852220-R1-13-14_014.jpg)

4' X 8' pan divided 2x2, 2x2, 4x6, on cement block, wood-fired arch....

[buck06]

how far do you live from mankato i would like to see that in action

[Riley/MN]

how far do you live from mankato i would like to see that in action

I'm 25-30 miles NE of Rochester. Probably 2 1/2 to 3 hours (depending how you drive)

[Peepers]

We only tap a few trees and carry buckets to the road/driveway to dump the sap in a half barrel keg. I'm thinking of shoveling some paths to make things easier. I see 30's in the forecast next week and the sun is pretty warm so things will probably start soon, especially in my front yard and near the road. I have a bunch of wood split but I need to get my filter rig built and my block arch put back together...

you guys almost ready?

[Ike]

I will let everyone know when he completes the snow vehicle and up date everyone as he progresses . I will give location at that time. Should be done by fall.

[buck06]

is there anyone that lives in mankato that i could see there set up or just ask some questions ?

[buck06]

any one have any luck

[Peepers]

I'm in Hastings so not too close to Mankato but if you have ??? let us know. This board is great, I've learned a lot from the homemade section amongst others.

I tapped one of our silver maples today and it was pretty dry. One of our box elders was damp tho. any day now...

[Minnesota Acer]

Tapped two silvers on Monday, a silver and boxelder on Tuesday and my dad tapped a silver today. Same thing as peepers, they've all been dry when tapped. No sap running and even the wood caught on the drill bit felt dry. The two silvers from Monday have got me encouraged. They've put some some drops in the buckets, it's only drops, but I figure it's a sign of things to come. I'm excited for the boxelder this year, only tapped silver last year and don't believe I've ever had boxelder syrup, so it'll be fun to try it when done.

[Peepers]

yep, still no sap here today.

I haven't measured our sap but I'm told the box elder sap typically has less sugar so it takes more sap to make syrup and the extra boiling tends to lead to a darker syrup. Our early syrup last year was maybe 1/3 box elder, was very light and tasted great so I didn't notice any difference.

[Ike]

Tapped 200 trees today and 50 to go. The sap is just starting to run in most of the taps today. south of Mankato