Vernon County

Well had 4 more days of this syrup thing, Friday March 10th arrived at 3:00 pm have 6 more inches of snow on top of last weeks 3 inches of sleet. Took water and finish pan back to the sugar house, thank fully was able to use the 4 wheeler went up top looked like a gallon or so in the buckets. had a opossum walking in the wheeler tracks, thought it would be hibernating yet. 7:25 supper and a nice fire in the stove. Saturday March 11th My son and I started cooking at 8:00 am things flowed along nicely till about 3:00 I was reading a gold mining magazine looked at the thermometer UH O 228 degrees my son whats burning. dumped some water in the finish pan pulled wood out of the fire box dumped out the bad syrup rinse the pan and start scrubbing scorch. That was not an easy task. Then refill start up the process again, cooked until 7:00 cool down 8:00 pm supper. had light snow falling evening thru night had 3 new inches. Sunday March 12th started cooking at 7:30 finished at 1:pm, my son headed home, I did minor clean up then went up top to gather. Collected 180 gallons, took me until 8:30 pm. Had snow squall and flurries pass thru, about 1 more inch snow. that was the deepest snow I ever gathered in, buckets would drag in the snow while caring them. lots of turkey tracks all over the woods, did see 2 Toms in the afternoon.At my 2 am wake up to put wood in the stove my bottom bunk has a support 2x4 in center, so you curl up to get out, and instant double charlie horses so stumbled around the room thought they were gone till I bent down to stock the stove, what a pain it is WOW. Monday March 13th should have gotten up sooner had a crazy dream that made me more tired then when I went to bed UGH. Did final clean up went home at noon. God Bless.

Ohh brother...Couldn't sleep thinking I had an early start boiling today. Had to check in on you first before I head out. What a weekend you had. Sorry to hear about your 228. I dread the thought. I am almost paranoid and stay pretty close to the fire. When I go through the night and load up I am still out every two hours reloading wood and more importantly checking the level of sap even though I set up so accidents are impossible. I have the same snow levels over here. Slippery mud underneath. The springs out of the hillside are the worst. Still no turkey track here; deer track yes. Forgot all about your mine claim. Its my rib muscles that are all messed up from my buckets. Getting to be a long season for me. May next weekend be easier on you. God bless my friend.

Hi fellow sappers, We did not make any syrup this past weekend. Thursday March 16th was a mild day but had rain all day, so I decided to not gather for 8 hrs in that. Friday March 17th was cold and super windy High of 27. Saturday March 18th was 6 above in the morning with a high temp of 25. So Sunday March 19th I drove over to dump out ice from all pails, on the way up the ridge road with the atv and trailer I hit hard ice and even with chains on all 4 tires I spun out and started to slide backwards down the hill, a bit of panic set in but the trailer jack knifed and stopped me. have to have something happen to keep this old heart of mine going. The second run I stayed in more snow and went right up, pails were mostly full and was able to slide the ice out. It sure looks funny with a block of frozen sap under every tree, guessing 600 gal. also while waiting for the temps to warm, I split some more dry wood about a pallet worth. I stayed over night. Monday March 20th low was 28 sunny warming up fast got the Blue Bird houses cleaned out and had to bring all our wash water home because all containers were frozen solid. Saw small birds, bobcat tracks in the snow. Our hill top is snow free but snow gets deeper on the way down with 8 inches in the valley shade. Until next time God Bless.

Friday March24th arrived at 9:15, as soon as I opened the truck door could hear the red winged black birds are back. Well took water and the finish pan to the sugar house, then went up top to gather and found most were overflowing, 8.5 hours later had 600 gallons.was a nice day very calm, trees running strong. Another late supper and sleep. Saturday March 25th my son arrived ,He started out in Lodi with heavy snow turned out 8 inches came down, but not a flake here.We cooked all day with last fire at 8pm made 11.25 gal medium syrup. Fixed him supper at 9:15. high temp 50 low was 32. Sunday March 26th 23 degrees calm we cooked all day he went home at 4 so I ran the whole show till 8:30 made 11.5 gal darker syrup then clean up. The cool down took longer than I thought but made it back to the cabin at 11pm was clear calm 29 degrees quarter moon. Food and sleep. Monday March 27th 7am sunny cold calm 24 degrees will gather sap today started at 10:45 finished at 3pm. got 345 gal put in tanks for future cooking. Will need to drop a few standing elm trees for dry fire wood to boil our last time. The maple sap has been testing at 2.25 percent,so my fire wood supply went down faster. Last season was running 2.5 percent. Also had an issue with sugar sand in the finish pan. God Bless.

Nice weekend report. I just smiled as we boiled on here as the snowstorm depth reports came in. No snow here either. Our temps matched yours and our very full 5 gallons pails matched yours. I haven't seen the snow fleas this year. Yesterday was the first day that there were more flies than moths around the pails. I haven't reached a 2.25% per cent all season. Topping out just above 2. Those are some long weekends you put in. All I have for now from the west of you.

Hi guys. I thought I had made a post but now don't see it. Will try to recreate...
I put in taps Feb 28th. Earliest ever for me. Retirement helps for that. Now on week 5 and I am elated about how its all gone. My record for syrup production of 6.5 G from last year is getting blown out of the water! At 9 gallons so far and one last big run and boil this weekend should get me close to 12 G!! I can relate about Charlie horses. Entire hamstring cramping that has interrupted a card game, sleep and an otherwise tasty meal at the Creekside in Readstown. My friends thought I was choking on the broasted chicken! Have had great help from fellow sapsuckers, nice days for boiling and all around great season. Still at 27 trees tapped. Had a run last week of 170 gallons of sap in 5 days. Surviving only because I have the RO bucket and a new Starcat evaporator dubbed the Moon Buggy. No more moving cinderblock around. Glad to see you are all still at it. Haven't heard from Tom Moore. Always think of him when the peepers start croaking. Have a great day! -LuAnn

Hi all, had a long stay at sugar camp. Arrived Wed March 29th with plans to cut some dead dry standing elm, Started that 10:00 finished at 1:30. then split it all and piled it up by the sugar house door. was a cool windy 35 degree day. Thurs March 30th slept in that morning felt good for sure, was sunny 16 degrees The day was to gather some sap, but buckets were frozen so I pulled 72 taps along our field path,had to get the rain gear on with some light rain hitting me. Friday March 31st 41 degrees thunder storms got me up at 2:30 am was a great show of Gods creation. Went up top and gathered 130 gal of sap in the morning. then spent the whole day pulling the rest of the taps. I mark the tap hole with those hunter trail markers, makes next season easier to find where to drill. Glad I had rain gear the big storms came about 5 or so while I was hauling buckets down to the cabin, made two trips up and down in that storm. Sat April 1st my son and I had 625 gal to cook, worked all day with a 11:30 supper, was a windy cold day, Sunday April 2nd was clear and frosty, we cooked and finished at 4pm, the afternoon was warm had honey bees around even saw a butterfly could not figure that one out. Did some evening cleaning and organizing. with the season over we cooked 2,625 gal of sap made 62.75 gal of syrup our 2nd best ever. Monday April 3rd filled my pick up with all I could haul and the snowmobile on the trailer. saw 7 deer heard geese, owls , coyotes, lots of small birds. And the first peeper Sunday night. Oh forgot to tell about my neighbor, he stopped to see me while I was packing up the pick up ,and told me he and his wife were worried about me with the truck sitting there so long. Told me he went up his ridge road to check on me and see if I was drawing flies guess I was in good hands. God Bless.

Nice update. Glad you had such a great year. We had similar good results. I remember that night storm. My wife nudged me and asked why I wasn't getting up to watch. Just too tired. Easy as that. Haven't heard the peepers yet but the fish made it through the winter. Time for you to finish cleanup and then get set for some prospecting.

Hi fellow sappers, back from 2.5 day stay at the cabin. My 19yo grandson came over to help me, he brought his Honda dirt bike with him which I rode a bit, boy that thing will make a old guy feel 19 again. We gathered all the tanks- tarps and began the cleaning process.and pulled all 17 tubing taps, flushed them and drained the line till next spring. That was Friday April 14. It was hot sunny 87 degrees. Saturday April 15th 7:30 am I decided to cut two very large high bred poplar trees down by the cabin. They were 21 years old and I could not get my arms around them. up a ladder with a tow strap then 100 ft rope with a come along to another tree ,Bingo all went perfect. and I dont half to rebuild the cabin. Then I finished the tank washing and he split a pallet of fire wood. supper, movie time and sleep, we had some thunder storms and rain in the night. Sunday April 16th got up it was raining so we packed up, went home. Saw 7 deer- geese- and sand hill cranes, And now while posting this its snowing, hope you all have a great summer and God Bless.

Yesterday Saturday January 27th I took my snowmobile over to our sugar bush.I decided to place my top tanks out and cover them with snow and tarps, seeing our snow is melting away. The second week of January we had three snows with a total of 20 inches, followed by a week of sub zero temps than a warming trend, and now down to 3 to 6 inches in the woods. Also noticed the ground is not frozen so would bet the trees are running. I will wait until last weekend in February for tapping. But open to a sooner date. It was a damp foggy day, stayed over in the cabin Saturday night with burgers for supper and a movie. Enjoyed the quiet night by the wood stove fire light. Sunday morning I saw two eagles, plenty of birds at the feeder. Hope you are all well , lets see what this mixed up winter will bring us.




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