february Journal

Brian- its not as good as my syrup!!;) hehe lol
but at least your making syrup, its froze up hard around here cold wind to, bringing wood in was actually a chore today, brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Bryan glad to hear that you are back up and running. I like the small evaporator and RO idea though. Somehow it seems to be a lot easier to cut a cord and half of wood for the season and let the RO do the work. I should be at 700 taps by early season and up to 1000 or more next year. The only change I want to make is to add another membrane to the RO. You make the second best tasting syrup around, I make the best!

im telling you guys............ mines best over all the rest :)

been chipping away at the to-do list-

got my thermostatically vac. pump control wired up today...thanks to powerdub for the help- worked well in the shop- hopefully does the same in the field- then cleaned and lubed releaser

also soldered a 90 copper elbow on the bottom of galv. stock tank so drains better...

tomorrow cleaning boil, more taps, possibly trailer-hitch mounted dump station

10 day forecast still looks cold here...

Theron- The Lone Ranger and his trusted side kick Taunto are on the way HI HO Silver and away

went and put in some drops thought i could finish off the pipe i had up allready wit 35 drops, hahahaha i needed like 65 well i think thats a good thing, so i got to sit down and go through the tubing scaps and make some drops, oh yea borrowed the big loader tractor and went up to the house and cut 6 2ftx 3ft logs, for the tank to sit on got them into the pples drive way in which my tank line will go down to, got 4 of them up using my good old rubber maid sled that i used to use when i went sledding back a few years, now adays shes hauling trash barrles full of sap and 250lb logs good rugged sled, i got 4 of them up to the tank shed then i ran out of steam and called it a day, to tuckered out to do the other 2

My plans have moderated. I was hoping for 800 this season, I still have to count my new section but I am thinking I might only have 650 for 09. Hopefully the count will be closer to 700 but I don't think so. Now I am finishing final prep to be ready to tap with the next thaw as. I am going Monday to pick up a new woods tank and will set it Tuesday. Should have the sugarhouse ready with everything cleaned up and ready to go tomorrow if all goes well. At least the snow in the woods has now gone down enough and the crust is hard enough that I seldom broke thru today. That made walking easier for sure. I just finished connecting my laterals and adding the last few drops today before calling it quits.

Just finished up a 2hr boil this evening.

The trees ran alittle today and with the sap I collected yesterday it made it worth while to boil it down. These past 2 days of 50 & 60 degrees days with winds blowing at 30mph really shut the trees down.

Last night we got back down below freezing and with today in the low 40's and to already below freezing I have a good feeling about tomorrow.

We added another 31 taps in the yard sugarbush around the sugarhouse. This is Mikes project the I will need to gather:) I like gathering some buckets so it wont be too bad. He and I finished getting the new tires on the A-100 Wheel Horse today and he had fun in the snow. Some pictures on the photobucket.

Should finish all the taps this week before the next run.
Evaporator is drained and the sap is above 12% in the 10 (5 gallon) buckets. Rinsed the rig down and ready for a clean start up.
Changed the draw of to the right side on the rig.

Chris

It was a productive weekend. Got me my feed tank plumbed and once I get my float box back I'll be able to connect it and do a test fire. I started wiring my sugar house...need some more parts and should have it completed on Saturday. Installed some more laterals and should be over 350 total taps. Getting closer to my goal of 500.

It's been over 32 most of the past two weeks...wondering if I should've tapped already...