Pittsfield,NH

[gearpump]

Had a great start with the new sugarhouse. Processed at least 1400 gallons of sap thru the new R.O. My system of having the sap feed the ro from a 300 gallon tank and putting the permeate in a 200 gallon gallon tank works out great. By the time the 200 gallon tank fills up the 300 gallon tank is empty. The only problem I have is not having enough time for finishing the syrup in the finishing pan! I am drawing off a gallon of syrup on my 2x6 every 15 minutes. No time to tend to other projects. I have been putting the syrup that is ready to be finished in 5 gallon pails to finish off when I get free time. My dad was the one who ran the evaporator and I did the finishing, but he is too ill with cancer to run the rig this year. He did come out saturday for an hour, but got too tired and had to go back to bed. I am having to learn how to run the whole process by myself this year. It did seem great to see him out there, which might be the last time that we will be sugaring together.

Marty

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Marty,

Sure hate to hear that about your dad. It was tough on me not hardly having my dad around any this year. First year ever that he has hardly helped any but it was because he is building a new house and trying to get into it soon to advoid any more temporary rent.

Best of luck to you and a speedy recovery to your dad. I know that would about kill me to see him in that condition.

[Russell Lampron]

Marty sorry to hear about your dad. Cancer is a terrible disease and I hope he has some good days where he can help you boil. Sugaring is one of the things that my parents look forward to each year.

Glad to hear that the RO is working out for you. I've had a couple of good runs here too.

Russ

[chris]

Marty,
Sorry to here about your Dad and I hope everything works out. If you need help with finishing your syrup give me a call I will load my finisher in the truck and head up one night after work and give you a hand.
Chris

[mountainvan]

Marty, Please give your dad my best wishes that he gets better and tell him to hang in there with any treatments he's getting. Glad to hear he is out in the saphouse. I have a nice comfortable chair in mine that's just right for taking naps, not when I'm boiling though. Try to keep your own spirits up, I know that's tough to. This may sound girly, but give your dad lots of hugs and let him know how much he means to you. Seeing how much those around care for you when you have cancer helps. at least it does with me. good luck and best wishes, your friend in sugaring, van

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Marty,

My dad had cancer a few years ago and since then, he has been cancer free. Sure glad as he is only 55 and I hope to have him around many more years as he loves making syrup and sure missed having him helping much this year, but know if God allows me to make syrup in the future, he will likely be there to help if all goes well.

[gearpump]

Thank you everbody for all the great support. Had to admit my dad to hospice house today. He has taken a turn for the worse needs 24hr. care. I wanted to take time and finish some syrup tonite, but spent some quality time with him instead. I also found out today that my mom has to go back to Dartmouth this friday for another procedure to help her out. She has stage 4 cancer too. Its times like this that thinking about full sap buckets, and tanks and boiling into the wee hours of the nite with nothing but the hoot of the barn owls that gets me thru the day.

Marty

[Brian]

Marty, I am sorry to hear the news of your parents. My thoughts are with you and your family.

[gearpump]

Finished and canned 31 gallons of syrup so far. The evaporator has only run 17 hrs so that just over 1.5 gallons of oil per gallon of syrup this year. Gotta love the R.O.! I also drained the syrup pan and was going to soak it to remove sugar sand, but found that the pan looks good as new! It seems with the more frequent draws from running 8% sap that the pans clean themselves! I did find that I could only get two to three gallons of syrup thru the flat filter into the finishing pan. I am going to have get another filter so I can keep up the cleaning and not get slowed down by a clogged filter. I probally don't have to filter going into the finishing pan because I put the syrup thru the filter press after finishing, but I am sure it helps to remove a lot of the gunk before the final finishing process. Tryed the blind taste test with syrup from last year and the R.O syrup from this year on a couple of good testers, This years syrup won the test.

Marty

[Russell Lampron]

Marty,

How are Your folks doing? I hope they are doing good.

I found the same thing to be true last year when I started using my RO machine. After 3 boils this season I can still see the bottom of my front pan but I am changing pre filters on my filtering tank after every draw off. The RO sap is alot easier to boil as well, I don't have the problem of making syrup in the middle sections of the pan as much as I used to.

Russ