My plan 2022/23

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trends

70% off seems like a good deal, where did you order it from if you don't mind me asking?

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Canadian Tire

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/m...p.html?loc=plp

The sale ends December 29th.

Thanks for the link. I have a CTC fairly close I'll check it out before the sale ends.

Have a safe & happy holiday season.

We are all experiencing the winter storm right now. Our power has been off since early yesterday evening, but we have a generator with Generlink so that is not an issue.

If the long range forecast holds, by next weekend, we will all have an early January thaw, that if the forecasted temperatures and rain amounts hold, it will do a number on the snow depth on the ground. We have a lot of snow, so I doubt it will all go. I think I will hold off making paths along my lines.

Long range forecasts do change.

73 days until the Sugar Moon. I still have a number of little things to do to get ready.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/09aU...yfzKmzOqBKS8Ew

My lines were pretty tight, but just looking at the lines on my property, they are so snow covered from the wet snow, a few of them are even touching the snow below. When the storm passes, I will remove the snow, also the pending melt will resolve it.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/056w...Ihxjy-0kBs36fw

https://share.icloud.com/photos/087O...SZieSCtf9zuKAQ

Attachment 22671


Edit: I couldn’t wait and cleared off the lines on my property and the two adjacent ones. I think when the lines get real heavy, there can be a tendency for the lines to slid down some ot the trees they wrap around.

Well, I might have fewer taps. A large poplar tree fell on the power lines at my neighbour’s. They pulled it off, up and over and it fell on a number of my short lines and knocked over a maple I was going to tap.

I will cut up the tree and see if I can get my lines back up. I am one drop down and maybe 13, we will see.

There are a couple of swear words in the video in case you are sensitive to that. The video starts after they got it back up.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/051C...yJ_e9mUirD4Hcw

I only have the one line up right now out front by the road. It has been so blasted cold and windy, and with the subzero temperatures, it can weather the storm until next weekend when it gets up to the 50's. I'll check it then. Just can't handle those subzero temperatures.

The cold does not bother me very much. It was below freezing all day today and I was out most of the day without a coat, just a hoodie and snow pants with a bib. Cleared snow for over 6 hours.

At the end of the day I had a chance to check some lines as well as the lines that came down as a result of the tree falling on them. Last year I never saw once the lines weighed down as much as this year. I guess just the right type or precipitation to stick to the line and then build up on them.

The snow is knee deep, but the big melt will reduce that. I still have to check the three long lines on the steep hill, but that will happen a few days from now. Tobogganing and snow fort building is on the agenda with the Grandkids for the immediate future.

The hydro guys that drop the tree, cut it up fairly well. I think after next weeks melt, I should be able to get the lines back up. These were just the ones I added extra, so no biggie if they are damaged and they do not go back up.

It’s hard to see in the picture, all the places that the crown of the tree are on the lines.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0cao...LZWGVISxhQSh3w

Attachment 22676

I made 14 batches of syrup last year, but the very first batch, when I tasted it and my wife tasted it, we both said it was the best maple syrup we had ever tasted. I had my one mistake of the season, while bottling batch #1, which reduced how much syrup was actually bottled. Batch #1 was also my lightest batch I made.

I saved a one litre mason jar of batch #1 for Christmas and we will be enjoying that syrup tomorrow with the Grandkids. Tonight while transferring some of it from a mason jar to a bottle, we had a little taste of it. My daughter and my wife both thought it was still amazing. I look forward to tomorrow’s “big breakfast”. For a backyarder like me, this is really what this hobby is all about.


Edit: Everyone loved the syrup. About 400 ml was used and we will finish the bottle during their Christmas vacation with us.

My maple season is already a success and oh yeah, I tapped 17 trees today.

It is rare for my daughter and grandkids to be up while I am tapping. Today my daughter helped me recover the lines that were trapped by the fallen trees. It was great working with her in knee deep snow, in the tangle of branches, with snow falling. We were able to free the two lines and restring them without having to make any cuts or adding any new fittings.

I retooled, then my daughter, 11 year old grandson and my 5 year old granddaughter joined me and we tapped 17 drops. I was able to pass on to my grandson what I knew about tapping, looking at the tree, looking a good spot on the bark to drill, check where last year’s taps were and where to tap the new hole and why, bracing his elbow why he drills, a straight in and straight out hole at a slight angle, what to listen for when you are tapping the spout in, the distinct sound when you have gone in far enough.

Whether we get an ounce of sap out of the lines pre season does not matter, spending time with my daughter and grandkids doing maple stuff, was priceless.

Now to get back to tapping in December in Northern Ontario and I am sure some people might think I am bat sugar crazy.

I did it for the following reasons:

1 - I was able to tap while the grandkids were up. Whether I get any sap from them or not, does not matter.
2 - All 17 taps were bonus taps, I added them just because I could, and my thought when I added them was that I would experiment with them and tap them a couple weeks prior to all of the others.
3 - After the tree fell on them, the fact that they came back, it was like a second life, and they had endless possibilities.
4 - Originally planned to be experimental, and being bonus taps, where it did not matter if I get any sap or not, it would be a neat experiment to see if I get any sap from this thaw, or any other thaw’s, prior to the season starting, and how long will the spouts stay open once the season starts.

https://share.icloud.com/photos/03dI...1kH1zS1Q8R8B2w

https://share.icloud.com/photos/028w...SuOufu_x0QZtBw

https://share.icloud.com/photos/097j...wFxpVlUCwbHASA

I will boil any sap I get in a large pot or pots, on my three induction elements.

I asked my daughter and wife and grandson what we should call the syrup, if any, produced. I suggested calling it “Christmas syrup”, but my 11 year old grandson immediately piped up and said call it “Sappy Holidays”. That name kind of stuck.

On a side note I put the 5/16 tubing on the drill bit as a stop, it fit slightly loose, and was worried it could fall off, sure enough before I tapped the first tree, it was gone. I had a pouch full of the stops and this time I grabbed a dowel stop I made, it fit snugly and worked perfectly.

Hopefully they will be able to come back when you are boiling and making syrup. Congrats on teaching and spending time with your daughter and grandkids. Passing along a tradition is as you said priceless.