february Journal

Getting to be pretty much go time. Going to be warm here today and then its up and down next couple weeks. Typical Feb for us. Hope everyone is getting pretty well ready. Guys up north seem to be usually a month later start than us but soon everyones gonna be getting sap. Be fun to see how everyones hard work this year pays off. Ive been bustin getting ready and Im pretty close. Made a decision last couple days that makes me feel pretty good. All done expanding for a couple three years probly so the setup I have now is the setup Im goiing to have for a while. Im pretty happy about that becouse Ive been full bore for two years and looking foreward to a break. Once this year is over all Im doing is a bunch of wood. Ive got a lot down in the woods and want to get a couple years ahead. Then next year all Ill have to do is a little mending in the woods and drill and make syrup. Ive got some property Ive bought. Its real nice with a good part of my sugarbush on it and also with a real nice pond on it too. I want to take my syrup money and pay down on it as much as I can especially with times being tough. Other nice thing about this year is no house projects to do. So once I make syrup the kids and I are full time fishin and huntin. Hit the wood hard in the fall and syrup time again. Hope everyone starts gettin the sappin weather. Keep me posted on all BIGSAP. Theron

Theron you beat me to it. I was just going to start a February journal and you already have it started. It's pretty hard to keep ahead of you.

Got some tinkering and tweaking stuff to do but if the weather turned favorable it wouldn't take me too long to start making syrup.

Hey Russel,
Only one thing I can stay ahead of Theron on and that's my age. Unfortunately that can be a drwback, not an advantage.
Doug

Guys- Heading out now to hook up the 1.25 to the releaser and system across the road. Wish me luck. Were going to see if anything is tight over there. Theron

Good day all,
Well here it is February 1st already, time sure flies now doesn't it Doug!!
PA he's off and running like a rabbit this morning!!! :-)
Russ and I are looking at the clouds thinking "what the .........??"
Doug he's figuring his advantages and disadvantages.
Me, I'm thinking "Doug's right", but I feel great and that's what matters!!!!
Well anyway, got to go get some supplies Thursday so we can get everything set up and going in the sugarhouse, pans and EEU set ready to go.
Then we're waiting on Mother Nature and she can be grindy at times!!!
Soon we'll all be saying "I wish this sh*# would just slow down for a day!!!!
Stay safe guys!!!

Dave

I haven't got much done last few days. I have been south for the last two days. Went to Cumberland/Frostburg Md. Family matters. I am going to go hit the sugar house today and maybe walk my last mainline. I still need to put up some pipe I took down last year and put my bucket collection system backup in the woods. While i was away I had my truck in the shop. ball joints ,bearings and rotors. heavy duty trucks can be a bear to work on.

3%- it kinda funny what this hobby does to you.we wait all year for this and then in the middle to the end of the season we cant wait for it to be over. well less than a week till i tap so i got to get some jugs and fill the propane tank. everybody a great season.

nate

Feb journal is my favorite, cause I know I'll be tapping this month. It may be late Feb but I almost always tap in Feb
Keith

3%,
I feel great too! I love what I'm doing and when I'm busy, it is relatively easy to overlook the aches and pains. Kinda nice now to be able to blame my age for not getting something done (always have been a procrastinator). I sold my cows in May (Great move) and it has been nice to focus my energies on the woods and sugaring. February is a great month in the woods here. Days are longer and the sun is warmer. Daytime temps usually stay cold enough so I don't get wet and the roads are usually frozen in pretty good. My Grandpa loved it too, always said it was the bast sledding of the year.
Doug

Right there with you Brookledge... it's almost go time! I was out in the woods today and it's starting to get that "sugaring time" feel to it... it has a certain smell to the air when it gets a bit warmer like today... you go out , take a deep breath and say..... MMMMMMM Smell like sap season " !!!!!

kind of a blaaahhhh weekend, starting to get sick of tubing, had the logger whos logging the property next to the sugar woods winch a couple logs i couldnt get to, finished the lats, on the 3/4 lines, now i only have to do the lats on the 1/2, about 100 taps left to go, ran out of lateral line today, gunna have to get some, need to go get the tanks from my uncles, gotta go see if i cant get a 300 gal tank from a guy i know, need to poor a slab for the evap, need to get an evap, need to go fix the wind damaged lines in my little bush, need to finish my tank shed in the big bush, need to run a line from the tank to the drive way of the nieghboring piece of land, need to go take some wire and tighten up any sagging lats, or mains, money is running out fast and i still dont have an evap.
sugar house is all built and done with, the only thing i dont like about it is how the guy did the coupala he didnt put any over hang on the roof so it just looks like a freakin box on the roof........... too much to do, i dont think im gunna make it, i might just have to miss the once in a life time opportunity to go to florida and disney world, and all that, maybe i will go any way and just skip a day or two of school, i really hate to because i would rather use those skip days for staying home when ive got BIGSAP to boil in, idk guys, it might not come together,

Went over to Acer's place today to help him get the stack up on his new evaporator. We walked a small section of his woods and found about 200 or so taps for a mainline that he wants to run and also found some other spots that could be tapped and run into totes to get that number up to 300 or so.


Acer helped me figure out how to swap my vacuum pump motor over from 115v to 230v. I tried it out when I got home, it runs great and still has all of the smoke in it. Thank you Dean.

Don't give up DanO it will all come together. You've worked too hard to give up now.

Maple guys and girls,
Couldn't take it any longer ( 40+ deg outside) had to hang some tubing; only got about 40 taps strung, (two locations) but its a good start. Making adjustments as I go to fine tune the system. and add in the adjusting LOOPs at the upper end of each short run too. This will allow me to stretch from both ends and keep the taps on the center trees in a more central location.

Cheryl and I went out for a nice steak and when we got home I went out to put up another 20 taps but found that the folks across the road from these trees has piled snow 8 feet up 3 of the trees. :(

So instead I went and visited Keith to see his new 10 inch smoke stack and roof jack installation on the 3 x 7. He may need another length of stack to get just a little higher above the roof peak. He just needs his pans and a storage tank and he will be all set.
The weather lady (Cheryl) says next weekend is going to have the potential for BIG SSSAAAPPP!! I may have to get some more tubing up!

Chris

Well I did it, I pulled the trigger and put in a few of my buckets to see how everything goes. With temps today right at 50 amd tomarrow in the high 30's I just couldn't wait any longer.

It looks like after a 2 day cool down Tues and Wed the temps are to just go back up.

I got my self one of those fancy drill bits this year and I have to say that they are worth every penny. Quick and clean hole.

Dennis,
You just reminded me that I have not found my fancy drill bit from last year yet:(

Chris

i bought one at the hard ware store, it is a metal drilling bit, and it has a "self starting tip" so it wont draw on the metal, i used that and its fast and clean, i paid 20 for it and am satisfied

DanO,
Heads up man! We all have those days. Just ask Theron or Royal Maple or 3% or anyone else who hangs out here. When I make a list of the things I need to do, it scares the bejesus out of me but somehow, every year I make syrup. You will too. Look at the stuff to do and prioritize. What are the must do's vs the should do's. I'd get a line on an evaporator real quick. Just do something maple everyday. If you are sick of tubing, set up some tanks. The days are getting longer so you will have more time after school. I came out of the woods tonight at 5:45. I only headed out at 4:15 but had to do something maple today. I'd been plowing snow and doing things for my folks. Like you I started listing the things to do this morning but hey, we aren't in Pa. We have a month yet at least. Maybe closer to 6 weeks.
Doug

Temps got up into the 50's here today. Couldn't help thinking that if I had taps in, I'd be collecting sap. But I don't want to jump the gun.

Whadda ya think Jim? Here's the 10 day forcast for B-town. Looks like some real nice weather next week....

Dano,
As last resort do you have some one that would boil your sap on shares? Good way to get your collection systems working the first year. We hauled sap for several years when or evaporator was toast.

Yea try not to look at the list. concentrate on these.
1. get the evaporator.
2. tap the trees
3. collect the sap
4. the rest will just seem to happen.

Chris

Nope. Not yet Clan! Too early if we go till april that means taps in for 8 weeks. I'll wait till the end of the month. Wait...and it will come !!


WAHOOO just won 150$ so far for the superbowl pool!! come on.... stay 17-7.... I have 7/7 for a square!!!

DanO,
Take a deep breathe, let out, take another, let it out!!!!
Now as Doug and Chris said .............. concentrate, prioritize!!
How do you eat an elephant??
One bite at a time!!!!
The thing not to do at this point is to get burned out or discouraged.
It's too close.
I've done some things this past year that is going to help us with our evaporation rate and you know I can't wait to try this stuff out, but there are some things I have to do before we get there!!!!
But, as I would tell the new guys coming into the fire department, you can't get off the truck until it stops!!!
Easy lad, easy!!!!
:-)

Dave

steelers up 20 -7 im making drops and watching the super bowl, pathetic?

Dano,
Did you call on the evaporator I pm'd you about the other day?

Did I read you have chance to go to Fl and Disney? Go, Have a good time. In the long run it really won't make that much difference. You're only 16 once! Every year you get older the harder it will be to get away.
Mark

Take the trip Dano! Twice during sugaring season near the end i took a nice spring break trip. Its really rewarding after all the hard work. So i missed a few runs. To me the trips far out weighed the money i could have made off the runs, and as others said it just gets harder as you age. I'm 23 and i hardly have enough time anymore to do anything! Too many things need to be done and when you think you're done... you're not even halfway there!

Ya your still young enough to wear the funny ears on the plane ride home.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Russell Lampron

Went over to Acer's place today to help him get the stack up on his new evaporator. We walked a small section of his woods and found about 200 or so taps for a mainline that he wants to run and also found some other spots that could be tapped and run into totes to get that number up to 300 or so.


Acer helped me figure out how to swap my vacuum pump motor over from 115v to 230v. I tried it out when I got home, it runs great and still has all of the smoke in it. Thank you Dean.

Don't give up DanO it will all come together. You've worked too hard to give up now.

---

Thanks for the help Russ,

Probably won't get that line up this year. After you left I cut my finger to the bone making Guacamole. Going to see a surgeon today to see if they can reattach the nerve so I can get the feeling back in it.

Dean

I've got 300 drops installed to date and should be adding another 50+ on existing mainlines and adding another 1-2 short mainlines to get another 50-100. Weekend went well, got my evaporator bricked and the pans on and will be running the piping to it from my feed tank this week. I should be able to test fire this weekend. Still have electrical to do in the sugar house, but should have that straightened out in a couple of weeks. When installing tubing over the weekend I lost my one-hand tool at the end of the day and in the snow. I know about where it is, but the snow’s over 2’ deep. Currently trying to track down a metal detector to aid in the search. The way it’ll probably work out is I won’t be able to find it; I’ll buy a new one, and will find it in the spring. Only benefit to that is I’d have an extra tool.

acer; what the heck are you doing making something other than maple..... LOL. hope all goes well and you get the felling back in that finger. I know that it hurts and that you can't do certain things. A speedy recovery to you.

Acer, make sure your wearing good gloves on that hand when your firing!! we don't want you smelling a burnt finger before you feel it burning !! :p

Hope it gets better soon!!! sounds like a nasty injury....

Man I hope you have insurance. I cut the tip mostly off on my middle finger and they stiched it back on and put a big bandage around it and told me keep it ELEVATED................all the way home in the truck.

cut my ring finger like that had to have the nerve put back togather took four months to heal.never worn a ring since. i was 26 when i did it 24 years ago and that finger does not like to cold and never was straight again. i hope in the last 24 years finger surgery has come a long way and you get a complete recovery of that finger and sooner than i did jeff

Hope you guys all had a good year!

I looked at the 10 day here in Southern Illinois and went out and set my first 20 taps......drip drip drip. Our season here is real short and the silver maples I tap already have buds swelling up. I think last year I started tapping on the 23rd of January.

On the way into the timber my wife found a buck that I had been hunting this fall. I never got a shot at him but someone (or something) did. He was a real nice 14 pt but he was only 3.5 years old.

All in all it was a pretty darn good day.

Tuckermtn gave me and the Reverend a first class tour of one of his bushes and Parkers Rt 11 bush. I've got some good ideas. It really does pay to look around and see how others are setting up their tubing etc.

Parker, impressive set up on Rt 11. That's a really nice bush.

Eric, Thanks again for the tour and the vermiculite.

I appreciate it!

Todd

Dean sorry to hear about the finger. You gotta be careful with sharp knives. Hope you had good luck with the surgery and that you have a speedy recovery.

When you are ready to get that line up we can get a crew together and get it done. Another excuse to have a mapleholics meeting.

so i went to bake some of those cookies you get ready maid at the store, (these ones have the heart on them for valentines day) it said heat oven to 350 i happened to look over at my wood stove to see that the stack thermometer read 400 i took the pan and put it on the wood stove, 10 min later YUM! just gotta watch the ones in the center the bottoms burn easily, YUM YUM YUM, NOM NOM NOM, GOOD. IDEA!!!!!!!!! IM GUNNA COOK THOSE ON THE BACK PART OF THE EVAP WHERE THERE IS A TINEY BIT OF ROOM NEAR THE STACK WHERE I COULD PUT A 4" PIECE OF METAL AS MY "COOKIE SHEET" IM SO SMART!!!!!!!!! they will go great w/ the steaks in the sugar house

Last year I made a shelving unit that is open backed andis chained to the back side of the base stack. It has 3 shelves and a door that hangs on one end. With the door hung it reaches 350 in fairly short order. I made it to pre heat my glass bottles before bottling. I can take cold glass, set it in this "oven" and in a few minutes it is at 200. This would work well for making cookies etc. It cooks all of our meals while boiling. If I remember right i made it 24" wide x 12" deep and 30" tall. I made it out of 24 ga galvinized. Love it.

did not get any thing maple done this weekend spend time FISHING!!!!

don't take your tractor ice skating

Now that's! going to be hard to explain to the insurance company!!

Last winter I took my Kubota RTV for a drive through the ice. We were loading wood and put on 1 piece too many. Pulled it out with the 3 pt hitch skidding winch. Put it in the barn overnight, drained and refilled the fluids, ran her for an hour and changed the fluids again. Had some problem with moisture in the fuel for about a week but has been fine ever since.