Vernon County

Hi fellow sappers, yesterday Feb 16th I took my buckets and snowmobile over to our land for the upcoming season still had 4 to 5 inches of snow in the valley about 2 inches up top. So I hauled 225 buckets in my otter sled in 4 trips to the top and covered them up. then took both of my 100 gal tanks up. got them covered and piled what snow I could around them. saw some melted spots from deer lying down, and lots of turkey tracks. The sun was out but the temp was about 22 degrees with some wind. Looks like March 3rd and 4th to tap. that's the plan for now, will also be trying 3/16 tubing and 25 to 50 spouts. also purchased a 125 gal tank for the lines to run into. This summer had to have a big bass wood cut down that was leaning over my sugar house, should have cut it down before we built it. 500 dollars latter now I can sleep at night. Check in with your plans, and stay safe out there.
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Feb 25th back from a work weekend at our land, Sat morning first job take the mainline up top and run down to my bulk tank. Get the tank up on the stand by sliding it up two 2x4s works great, the steep icy hillside was a challenge to say the least. Used ice fishing cleats, then hang the last 80 ft to get elevation to tank cover. Marked trees that I plan to use 3/16 tubing on, have 18 together for 1 run, cleaned the inside of the sugar house, picked up branches in the sugar bush. Weather sat cloudy heavy drizzle eve then rain to 1 inch snow to a flash freeze. First season with this much ice, our valley and ridge road was like a glacier. Lots of water running in the ditch by 11 am Sunday,three of us plan to tap on Sat March 3rd the frost is still deep because our sugar bush faces mostly west to north west, still had 1-2 inches snow up top and 2-3 inches snow in valley.Enjoy your week.

Thanks for the update. Can't say that I'm sorry to have stayed home rather than heading over to our north facing sugar bush this weekend! Sounds a bit messy. I'll be tapping on March 3rd. Here's to CF drip rates!

Hi Folks - back for 2018. . Thanks for the updates. Tapping my usual 30 trees this weekend with my buddy Sophie the dog. Hope the weather cooperates so family & friends can help me boil the following weekend. The ice was nasty this last weekend! Thought either me or the dog would bust a ACL,...luckily no such thing. Remember that old cop show from the 80's "Hill Street Blues"? "Let's be careful out there". Good mapling to all. Tom

Tapped 24 (I only tap 30 trees each year,..) today (3/3). Half in shady west side of property were dry, the half on south side all running nicely.
Tom

Good for you Tom. My north facing ridge is challenging me. I am hoping for enough sap in my buckets to keep the wind from blowing them over in the next 24 to 48 hours. This is a practice in patience for me however.

Hi Irish Ridge , Tommoore and Lulugrein Got home about 5 this eve, son Joel friend John and I got our hill tapped Saturday225 on buckets all on top of our hill. Then Sat eve we ran 450 ft of 3/16 tubing on a steep hillside,facing north west. ice was a real danger,but all had ice cleats and we still fell some. then Sunday morning we tapped 16 there, and by noon all were running very cool to see. checked up top and some pails had one inch of sap not much going on up there. We saw large flock of turkeys in the top sugar bush Sunday morning. Also robins, red winged black birds, geese and heard sand hill cranes. oh also a rabbit What is not ice is very soft or mud. no snow left. Good luck this season and keep checking in.






bush,

Finished tapping my 30. All of today's taps ran well. Several inches of frozen sap in every bucket. Looks to be 40-50 on Wed-Fri. The comrades are coming this weekend to boil (and other stuff :) )

Hi Tommore, Good to be all tapped, today they ran better. I spent the weekend working at the sugar bush, cut some brush back along our valley road,need to get more sun in there to grow better grass. We have had a couple of floods thru there and washed out the road some. also stockpiled snow for replacement around top tanks,covered it with a silver tarp.This morning gathered 55 gal sap that is all so far this season seems the taps on the sunny side did better.The new snow should help more moisture for the trees. When I got home my back yard maple was overflowing a 2 gal pail. so very soon for us in Vernon County. Also cleaned out my bluebird houses. So I see you have helpers, it sure is more fun with family and friends. SAP ON

Greetings to Vernon County. Appears that most of the usual suspects are all set and ready for some serious sap flow. Things are still slow to the west of you in Crawford. By the end of the day I should have a report from a neighbor who taps up highway 35 in De Soto. He brags about how steep the slopes are. I simply question his sanity. With his tubing he says its not bad. Saturday was spent making maple sugar candy for a cub scout pack coming out this next weekend. That process added a bit of humidity in the house. Sap gets collected and stored in packed snow later today. Looking forward to another boil this Thursday. Patience.