December Journal

Well guys, time is getting short and the easiest working weather is behind us. We are down to the short days and the short hairs. Go time to get all those last minute things ready for the 2010 season. Here in the North Country, I have about 3 weeks more work to finish my new 500 tap bush and all the transfer and pump lines associated with it. Still need another 10 to 15 cords of wood for the sugar house plus more house wood and sell wood. I am still delivering hay almost every day but I am almost sold out and when it is gone, that will free up some time. Plan on buying sap again this year and with my own expansion I expect to be processing sap from about 5000 taps. Happy December everyone!
Doug

Still no Snow, If we Dont get a snow storm by dec 7 its a record up here, Its only been snow shower, we usally have aroud 7inches by now, but anyways, I been working in the woods, Added a other 100 drops to the new woods sunday, that puts me at 300 taps in the new woods, Should get around 400 in there,

hope everyone is doing well



Nate Casey

Ive got a lot to do to. Im starting to freak a little. Ill have the taps all in but I might not make the early tap in. Gonna have 5000 holes at some point. Hopefully that will make something good happen. Want to see some BIGGGGGGGG SAPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Theron

Good morning all,
Haven't posted here for awhile.
So, here's what's up here;
The sugarhouse woodshed is full.
Got the new bush done up, looks like another 82 taps on line and 10 buckets there.
We're shooting for 200 taps for 2010, may drop a few of the harder buckets.
Bought a 12 volt pump to make the tanks easier to drain!!!!
Should save us some time too!!
Tweeked the EEU a bit, should help some.
Just waiting to drill little holes in big trees!!!
NHMaplemaker brought his new sign over to frame yesterday, we did a pretty good job at it!!!!!!!
Looks real good Jim!!!!
Guess that's all for now!!!
Everyone be safe!

Dave

ennis that looks great and went up quick nice!!!

Just about finished with tubbing yeah!!!! finally. When I went through this past summer and marked trees I really didn't count very good I had figured about 150 or so trees and figured I'd do about 50 or so on my neaighbors lot and add on every year. So I made 200 droplines. and I have 20 left in the box and still about 50 to go on my property.

So I will have about 225 on my property and I am going to put 25 on my nieghbor's lot and call it at that!! so it will be 265 on gravity tubing and 10 buckets when I am all done. no wonder I needed more tubing!!! just a little more than 200.

finished up processing venison, lots of steaks, and ground meat, made 5# breakfast sausage patties, 5 # italian sausage links, and 5 # polish smoked kielbasa. Gotta get 1 more!!!

lots of new goodies here to finish but most notabily is the new 14x22 pump house. when done it will be half heated for the vacumm pump, electric releaser, tubing workshop side, and the other half will be cold for two new 8x4.5x5 stainless round bottom tanks. one for the back 30 and one for the front 20. and all of that grand sap will jet underground 800' to the sugarhouse. got to love automation!!!!! still plenty on new mains and tube to put up in my woods. plus still helping a few producers try and get ready for spring! I love sugarin' !!

Theron, I think I remember you saying that you were shooting for 4000 taps this year. I think you overshot your bush a little!:lol:
Paul

Theron, WHEN DO YOU USALLY TAP DOWN THERE??? JANUARY RIGHT!! BETTER GET WITH IT!!!! SUGARING SEASON IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER

well no snow here either . just a few flurries . got roof jack for steam pipe done today .still have to make ro room plumb ro and go crazy. still have 5/16 to run for 2000 taps where will i find the time . other than that life is pretty good please pray for my girlfriends daughter julia who was in a headon accident sunday night. doing pretty good though.

Matt,

Better get on the ball as it looks like cold weather is coming and not much fun running laterals when it is BRRRR! Be glad to pray for Julia and glad she is doing good so far!

Casey- I know, I know, Im doing the best I can. I bit off a lot this year. Might not get tapped in till first of feb but well see how it goes. Biggest thing I have left is the 600 tap bush but that is going to be real easy to tube. Ill be ready. Theron

still pullin logs with the wheeler almost done all the logs i wanted are piled up in a spot so when the snow covers every thing up i will know where they are, no im just skidding out all the logs that i wanted to get but werent priority, just to get the new stretch of woods cleaned up so i can run line with out tripping, going to need alot of slab wood to get this years hard wood to burn! probably 6 cord in the piles and i still gotta get the stuff home cut split and in the shed, working like a dog after school then muzzleloader starts up saturday and goes till next sunday, then im free of this instictive MUST KILL DEER thoughts in my head! its always great when its 8:10 and i have to be at school at 8:20 and i have a 15 min hike to get out of the woods yet! then walk in to school in full camo or full wool and every one shakes they're head and smiles!

I finally got back in the woods three weeks after finding the hole. Ran the rest of the mainline while it was warm and dry. My ankle still hurts, but a brace over thick socks did the trick. Now for the laterals. I did make lots of drops while I was laid up.

Well I put in the last of the saddles today few braches on the laterals...leftover widow makers from the ice storm last year came down in the wind storm last weekend!!!

1 thing to remember if you are stretching tubing and put in a Tee remember to make sure you put the tubing all the way because when you stretch it it will come off and you will fall!!!:emb: man everything went flying emptied all the fittings out of the tool belt... gotta wet butt twisted my wrist (not bad though) at least it was in the woods where no one could see ...would have been funny!!!!

So I added everything up that I spent this year and hopefully I can sell my syrup for $50 a quart so I can break even!!!!:rolleyes:

We've all taken a few of those tumbles Red Maples! I can't count the number of stumps, logs, laterals, snowshoes, etc... that have put me on my rear! Glad you're OK.

oh yeah I think I fall just about every time I go in woods:emb:

SO I called a friend of mine who happens to be the chairman of the planning board . and also has a logging company. I was just asking about the process of registering my maple business with the town bla bla bla. and asked what I was using for wood. said the usual getting from the woods junk wood pine etc. he's got 2 truck loads of pine 1 year old probably 12-15 cords said he would take 2 gallons of syrup for it not bad huh. so needless to say its coming next week but I can't pay him till the spring when I have syrup!!!!:cool:

December 3rd and 56 degrees! Worked on laterals after delivering some syrup. Only 200 more trees to get to in the new bush.

We have so much rain here the feilds are flooded in places. Ducks are heading south just to dry out instead of it being cold enough. If it freezes the ground will be a solid ice cube.

bring on the freeze...rooting for cold but no snow for a few weeks so we can get some good logging ground set up...

with all the rain we have been getting lately we had to stop logging. this down time gives me chance to work on my ongoing job of cutting the fir out of my maple stand, but that dosen't pay the bills. I think I saw one of those canadian ducks with a life jacket on today.

Spring peepers were peeping here this morning. Thought I missed maple season. I'll take the nice weather. It would be nice to hunt some in the snow but I could do with out it after that. A good friends two boys are both home this week, they got a nice buck out back tonight. Very happy for them, both are Navy Cops home for a week. First buck for the one, the other hasn't been hunting in six years. I have a feeling he'll get one in the morning. Made for a great photo.

A few more loads of wood and I'm set for this season. Only have 100 on gravity one main line won't take much to check, fix and wash it could almost do it all in half a day right before I set taps. So other then ordering a few things, some cleaning and pluging in the taps when it's time I'm ready!!!!

Messed up weather for sure. I have a few red maples with buds on them. Never seen that before in December. Fall tapping is turning out to be lost with the weather. Glad I only put out a few test buckets and was waiting too get more taps in when they started producing. I think when winter hits it is gonna hurt this year. We have been to lucky so far to get away with it. Oh well bring it on.

High temp of 65 here this afternoon. Not sure how much rain we got this am but sent all the small streams around us over the banks. Everything is waterlogged. Hope the woods dry out bit soon.
Mark

going to try and pull some wood today, but if the woods are too wet, its hanging tubing time for me...

still need to finish RO room, run the plumbing for the RO , find 1000 gallons of stainless storage, etc... might be my own "honey-do list" if I don't watch out...

trees are budding around here also a bit. I have rose bushes that are stiff green and we are still eating broccoli and cabbage from the garden that grew back.
If any of you do it yourself kind of guys need a small welder I figured out how to make a homemade one the last couple of weeks that actually works. I have absolutly nothing in the way of cash put into makeing it so far except the cost of one welding rod.

It is almost here, we got almost a foot of snow over night. Forcast is for more throughout the weekend. Yesterday 40's today 20's. 3 months and the sweet will be flowing..:)

After work yesterday I went and looked at/bought a 600 gallon sunset bulk tank for the bush. Got it for a great price and the guy included delivery to my farm! Then I drove about an hour and picked up my SP22 vac pump I bought on e-bay monday night. Got home around 10:30PM. Things are starting to come together here in the sugarbush. Hanging wires and tubing this weekend. Bulk tank will be here sat around noon. Mike

we got 4" of rain yesterday i didnt even try to go up in the woods, fearing the tractor would sink out of sight or i would make bad ruts and damage the root systems of my trees, i didnt even try it on the 4 wheeler either, i moved some fire wood into the shed that was about it, not very productive,

finally done!!!! got all the lines run!!! final count will be 267 on gravity tubing and 10 buckets!!! Ahhh feels good to be done with that. stock tanks are almost plumbed just need to make some covers, make a wood rack for the sugar house and I think thats it. Then to tend to the business end and get that all squared away. (I hate that part because I don't know much about it)

and get ready for snow and holiday stuff get the snow blower on the tractor I put in a 30'X60' ice rink in the front yard this is my 3rd year so I go a little more every year this year lights!!!

oops just walked away from the woodstove for a few minutes to check the trader and got the stack temp up to 900f. I can smell it when that happens oh well it needed a good hot burn anyway.

maybe some snow on sat night here, after 60's yesterday!!

Okay I seen it all today. With all the flooding the grounds pretty soft in places. Drove by where for some reason they are drilling a well beside the river and these 3 guys were doing something in the middle of the feild. Turns out one of them sunk up to his butt in the mud and the other two were trying to pull him out. They mover the drill rig away from the bank of the river today also.
3 day weekend due to test's at school so i can get lots done hopefully. really need to catch up somewhat this coming Xmas holiday also. 2 semaines of freedom to do something that dosn't include passe compose.

went out in the woods this morning, my ankle kept me out in the afternoon. Cleaned up my forth alamo pump and started making a reclaimer this afternoon. Things are starting to come together for next year.

Well Still no snow thats staying on the ground.. But anyways have been working in the new bush on mapping out where the lifter lines going to go, Should have it all mapped out by the weekend if the weathers good. hope everone is doing good


Nate Casey

Took 2 days off of work to try and get a bunch of things done, and it looks like I am getting closer to the end.:rolleyes:

Any way I also got out this morning to get a little xmas shopping done, I think I have that all done now.

I finished the firebrick grates for the evap today, I had to get a new masonary hammer drill bit to finish it off.
I now have all the lat's in on my tubing setup, now I have to put in the saddles and the drops and I will be complete with the tubing.
Before I can put the drops in I have to 1st make the tool to hold the lat' while I cut it and insert the dropline. OOOH, AAAH, making stuff.
I got the milk tank all hooked up, now I do not have to bucket any sap I hope. I have a small electric pump to pull out of the milk tank to my evap feed tank and I also have a line that runs down to the driveway so I can empty the tank that I use to carry sap back to the sugarshack.

Go Time is getting closer, for me right around 2 months!!!:o

batten down the hatches..go to the store buy 8 gallons of milk 2000 D batteries as much bread as you can fit in the truck and don't forget bottled water!!!! were gonna get it 3-6 inches snow here tonight!!!! bla bla bla:lol:


SO I went and got some MORE tarps today and cover up stuff..this time of year my wife calls me the tarp man!!! everything is blue, silver and brown before its all white!!!!:D

got the tractor all ready with snow blower hate that thing back is always a little sore after hooking that up. driveway markers in, everything covered, a new snow shovel...destoyed the one last year sooooo much snow. got the x-mas tree too. OK off to the Exeter chrismas parade see ya!!!

I just kept buying bigger snow shovels the more it snowed. Got tired of walking back and firth shoveling my driveway. It 300 feet long.
Finally got working a bit on the evaporator. Have a idea what I am building so far but it might change as time runs out.

Hi all,
I think the nice weather of late is gone south!!!!
Been snowing all afternoon, 3" on the ground.
Looks like a cold and snowy forecast for the week ahead.

Dave

Just starting to snow a little here near Fulton. Wife was talking to a friend in NYC earlier, and it's snowing hard there.

I talked to my boss earlier this week about using the company's heavy duty UD dump truck to haul sap next spring. Sounds like a go as long as we don't need it much there. I could completely empty the woods tank(1600 gal.) in one trip, not towing trailer, and tip it up for emptying! How sweet is that! Especially since I may need to empty it two times (or more) a day on a good run.

Tim

about 2 inches here so far!!!!

Busy week quick review:
Monday morning both of the grandsons got bucks behind the house. Nic got a 8 point with a 10 inch spread at 8:00 and Mike got a 4 point with a 6 inch spread at 11:00. They were about 155 lb. live weight. Both deer are almost completely processed. I am dehydrating the jerky for Mike tonight.

Drove to Connecticut for work on Wed and was home by Friday night.

Today I had three does come in and bed within 60 yards of the tree stand, within a hour a really nice buck came in within 20 yards and I just could not get brow tines to grow on this deer:) It had a 18 in spread and I would have bet it was a eight till it got right up to me. Glad I did not get excited. Also 2 does came by at 4:45. All in all a very busy week.

Lots of folks looking for maple:( to bad I am all out.

Regards,
Chris

I took a walk up the hill last night in search of deer. Spent most the walk counting maple again. A man would go nuts tubbing that hill it's all up hill when your walking down, and down hill when walking up!!! If you have ever walked a Wayne county drumlin you know what I mean. The best part would run the wrong way for me to get to it easy. Some day that is going to pose a problem. But not for some time as I only have time for what I have now. Drive you crazy looking at them big maple that won't have a tap in them (this year any way). I find it hard to beleave the number of woods around me that have never been tapped. This county is all hills and hard maple. I mean a lot of them. I know 4-5 peaple that make any amount of syrup hear and thats it! Wounder why it hasn't taken hold around here??? Waiting for the sun to come up. I have to deside if I am hunting, cutting meat or cutting wood this morning. One heck of A light show this morning. Looks like a car went of the road and caught fire. There shure where a lot of lights down there. They had it lite up like day time. That went on for an hour and they were gone in a flash. Well by the time it get done feeding it will be time to choose one of the options above. I have to keep in mind I still have to work today. Going to be a long time to 12:00 am again today.