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Pretty quiet in the Maine forum. What have all the sugarmakers been up to? We will finish line work and drops tomorrow in the big woods. 5400 taps ready to go. About half of them already plugged in. Than we'll spend a couple days checking lines in our bush and be ready to tap by the last week of February.
Been busy! I built a small sugar shack and moving the evaporator in this weekend I think. Started repairing lines just the other day. Hoping to be ready to tap within a week, then it's just waiting on the weather!
Still upgrading mainlines on our largest sugarbush. Probably have another week before we can start thinking about tapping. Pretty sure we've never tapped earlier than Feb 23, but since we've upgraded to CV spouts and vacuum I don't see any reason to wait once our lines are washed and repaired.
Started tapping today. Earlier than most years. Still have work to do in smaller sugar bush. Talked with a friend today where several producers typically make syrup early and it appears none have yet. Warm as it was (42) only one tree today had even a drop of sap make it out the tap hole.
Hope to finish up putting taps in today. Get the pumps hooked up and start chasing down leaks. Looking like steady rain this afternoon. We'll see how far I get.
Had a couple friends help today. Despite the rain we wire tied 850' of 1 1/4" vacuum line. Cold, wet and miserable, but we got it done.
Looks like temps will hit the mid 40’s a few time this week. Thinking about tapping tomorrow after work, interestered In seeing how the new 3/16 lines perform.
With the warm weather coming this week, trees should start thawing enough to get some sap flow. We are starting to tap next weekend. Still have a bunch of 3/16 to put up after the test run proved to be 100% better than 5/16. The new sugarhouse is just about ready. Next weekend we will mount and plumb the head tank and fill pipe and we'll be ready to make some 2018 syrup!
Looks like its time to think about sap. I'll be getting everything ready to go this week, probably start tapping Friday if the weather holds and plan on being ready to boil by Monday. Assuming the weather forecasts don't take a swing for the colder.
Picked up my new tank today. Was supposed to be 3' tall, 4' wide, 8' long. The tank they shipped was 4' tall, 3' 6" wide, 8' long. Throws my whole new releaser setup out the window. Made a lot more work for myself trying to upgrade, and this complicates it even more. We won't be tapping for a week or two yet at this rate.