Tapped 50

Thought I'd get out today and tap one of my pipelines that was the furthist from my house. I decided to leave the snomobile behind and snowshoe to the pipeline and at the same time check trees along the way that I will be putting buckets on next week. Wow, lots of crust and sinking down about a foot. Turned out to be quite a workout. The pipeline is located about 1/2 mile from my house so snowshoeing ended up to be a mile round trip. It wasn't bad tapping because I actually could take a break between trees. I think this is the first time I have ever looked for the shortest distance between trees. LOL Even managed to break a shoe about 100 feet from a snomobile trail I was trying to shortcut to on my way home, and had to get creative and rest my boot in the sled I had my gear in just to keep going. Hopefully next wk. is better - I have another 100 taps to put out and think it might be a good idea to have someone else with me just in case. :lol:

We went out the past weekend to check things out too. All I have to say is, our taps will be 3 feet higher than last year!

We hung 20 buckets today just to get things started. We began with trees on south slopes in full sun. It was running pretty good, we'll see what the next few days bring, then we'll tap about another 100. Snowshoes are a must.

I will be putting in my tubing taps tomorrow, and my buckets this weekend. Sugarhouse is ready and so am I. Hope to do my first boil next Friday.

We went out today to collect for the first time this year. :lol: We collected a little over 10 gallons today. We have about 70 buckets out now. We will probably put the rest of our buckets out next week. Mostly frozen sap in the buckets. Still quite a few dry buckets.

We haven't tapped yet- and originally planned on tapping this weekend. Now the weather is looking like it's going to stay on the low side (yes, I see mon, tues, and wed are above freezing). With it being cloudy and such for most of the week I think we may wait until next weekend. Anyone having similar thoughts?

I wanted to tap everything this weekend. the snow didnt help, spent most of this afternoon snowblowing and shoveling when I should have been setting up the vac. so IF my buddy can set the vac up tomorrow morning while I'm at work then we'll tap the 325 +/- on vac in the afternoon, and probably wait another week to tap the gravity lines and buckets.

yeah im gonna be gettin in this week as well. out this AM in the woods and noticed quite a num,ber of snow rings around the trees even with the new snow. All hands on deck fellas the times acomin'

We spent the morning cleaning out the tanks and the rest of the sugarhouse. We're ready to put the mainline in when it defrosts. It may be a while. It was frozen solid today, and it doesn't look like it will run until some time next week. When it does, we're ready!

So glad that the maple world is getting ready for sugaring season. Here at Bacon Farm Maple Products over the weekend we set tanks and got the releasers and pumps out, tested them and cleaned everything and set them in the woods. The weather looks like we may be making syrup this coming weekend. Ready or not syrup season is here!!!!:):lol:

Tuesday will be go day here at Juniper Hill Sugar. We'll dump our 20 buckets that should be full of water tonight and try to hang another 100 or so by nightfall. The snow will certainly be a challenge. We've got more snow right now than any time this year. 30" plus in some areas on the ground. I hope I can reach the buckets when the season is over. It also looks like the snowmobile will replace the ATV for collecting this year. Good luck to all.

I only put in my gravity tubing yesterday. I thought I would do it all, but the weather discouraged me. I will get the buckets hung this coming weekend.

We are ready to go. We washed out all the tanks and should be ready, if it starts flowing the next couple of days. It's not moving today, that's for sure.

Nice blog JuniperHillSugar!

Thanks Revi. I decided if we live the good life here in Maine, why not share it with others from away. The Blog has been a neat way to share my sometimes random thoughts.

P.S. Since I hate FaceSpace and MyBook, I needed a way to spend some long winter evenings.:)

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Originally Posted by BG Farm

We haven't tapped yet- and originally planned on tapping this weekend. Now the weather is looking like it's going to stay on the low side (yes, I see mon, tues, and wed are above freezing). With it being cloudy and such for most of the week I think we may wait until next weekend. Anyone having similar thoughts?

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sounds great to me Im going to be in florida next week i like the way your thinking.

got around 200 in this afternoon, hopefully get the rest in by the end of the week

Just put up my last tap Sunday. I started first week of Feb. Very very slow going up past knees in snowshoes!!! Did about half that week and half last week. I didn't want a rerun of last year where I missed a week for not being ready. Considering it takes me 8 full days to tap I can't just do it on a couple days notice if the season breaks early.

My property is far too steep and to grown in to get up with anything motorized. Humping everything up in snowshoes for me :cry: 1040 taps later I'm feeling my age!

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Originally Posted by hispls

Just put up my last tap Sunday. I started first week of Feb. Very very slow going up past knees in snowshoes!!! Did about half that week and half last week. I didn't want a rerun of last year where I missed a week for not being ready. Considering it takes me 8 full days to tap I can't just do it on a couple days notice if the season breaks early.

My property is far too steep and to grown in to get up with anything motorized. Humping everything up in snowshoes for me :cry: 1040 taps later I'm feeling my age!

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if your going past your knees on snowshoes, your snowshoes are not of the proper size for your weight. I foung that out myslef last year!

I finished up with my 585 taps yesterday. Most of the holes were moist, but no sap made it to the bottom of the hill. Today i will fire up the vacuum and check for leaks. I'd say if you don't have your taps in yet, get them in this weekend.

We're only up to 60 taps so far, all a stones throw from the sugarhouse. It looks like Wednesday and the rest of the week won't have a big run. We'll keep tapping until we're overrun with a good run of sap. I keep finding more trees, I just can't pass them by. Maybe I'll stop drilling when I hit 150 or when the tree police stop by ... "Sir, Sir put down the drill, PUT DOWN THE DRILL."

Happy tappin.

I finished tapping and am ready to go. Looks like next wk. is the beginning of many wks. (hopefully). Ended up with 150 tapped, and like JuniparHill I keep finding trees. Unfortunatley I think my finances are tapped out. :(

champagne appetite and a beer budget. welcome to the club. at least after the season is done you will know that you got all you could get for this trip.

packed the trails with the boys on snowshoes today.followed up by a romping snowball fight .2 on 1 i was told as i was struck cleanly in the back of the head by my eldest.:lol:

sometimes you just need to take a brake from it all.....

Ive got 270 in on vac and ran the vac a little this afternoon and even got a little sap....was great to see the releaser work. Watching it trip makes me forget about how much I paid for the thing lol it really is a great sight. we are gonna put out 100 buckets tomorrow and get another 50 or so in on gravity runs, hoping to get some sap this weekend

The sap was dripping a little even up at our place. It faces north and is cold, but it was doing something today. We may have a season after all!