What is THIS???!!!!

[Sugar]

Heavy thunderstorms, temps into the 60's....40 mile per hour winds! THEN, before midnight...FREEZING rain? I hope those sweet maple trees are OK. For pity sakes! Not expecting this!

[nace]

hello sugar, yes the weather has been wierd. has the sap began flowing again? i had given up due to uncertainity of job but now it seems stable enough. my problem is that i'm not ready but i'm gonna do it anyway. i just have to run my tubing, build a sugar shack and install the evaporator as soon as it's finished. hope to be boiling by 22 jan.hopefully the winter will continue like it did in 2010. by the way, we live in halfway, ky.

[Sugar]

hello sugar, yes the weather has been wierd. has the sap began flowing again? i had given up due to uncertainity of job but now it seems stable enough. my problem is that i'm not ready but i'm gonna do it anyway. i just have to run my tubing, build a sugar shack and install the evaporator as soon as it's finished. hope to be boiling by 22 jan.hopefully the winter will continue like it did in 2010. by the way, we live in halfway, ky.

Hi NACE! I live about 5 miles, outside of Scottsville City limits. The trees are still frozen and the sap is barely running. I read the small branches, must freeze, and then thaw, and ice was still covering them. I am hoping tomorrow. There was still a glistening of ice on the small branches, even late this afternoon. We are thrilled with our 2013 bounty. We started earlier this year, and we have had much more winter too. My chicks and I are keeping a close eye on the weather and it looks like you will do just fine. You don't have to have your sugar shack and evaporator, just go to it, and get to the rest when you can. Last year....We cooked inside, outside, and in the garage...All at once. Not the easiest way, but we got our syrup. BUT we are only making syrup for a few chosen friends and ourselves. No one can believe we aren't selling it...NOPE! I want my babies to have it!

[Sugar]

NACE...The trees are starting to run...Tonight very fast. We got about 40 gallons today. I am expecting them to blow tomorrow. We bought a refractometer and are anxious to give it a try. This one is good for sap and syrup. We went to the pharmacy and were nicely allowed to have some very small pill bottles. We numbered each tree and each bottle. One of my chicks gathered a bit of sap from each tree and tonight after we get today's sap cooking, we are going to see what these trees really are giving! We have mapped the trees and also plan to make a chart of each tree and record what is going on with the weather and how long into a run we are....This is the fun part of homeschooling...I get to do experiments and research too! (I still get to play!)

Get your stuff together. More hard freezes coming and next week looks favorable for maple tapping!

[Logan Cabin]

Pretty cool you're able to integrate schooling with this. I will say that doing syrup has burned cups, pints, quarts, etc. into my brain. Would love to track info like you will do, maybe next year!

Put out 13 taps near Morgantown the last two days. Some trees really were going this afternoon, others were still napping. Next couple days look ideal, hope to get a boil by Saturday. Transitioning to 5/16 plastic spiles with a tubing drop to five gallon buckets. Have two holes drilled in the lids, one for the tubing and second hole plugged with rubber stopper. Should keep out bugs and allow easy pouring to empty bucket.

[Sugar]

Pretty cool you're able to integrate schooling with this. I will say that doing syrup has burned cups, pints, quarts, etc. into my brain. Would love to track info like you will do, maybe next year!

Put out 13 taps near Morgantown the last two days. Some trees really were going this afternoon, others were still napping. Next couple days look ideal, hope to get a boil by Saturday. Transitioning to 5/16 plastic spiles with a tubing drop to five gallon buckets. Have two holes drilled in the lids, one for the tubing and second hole plugged with rubber stopper. Should keep out bugs and allow easy pouring to empty bucket.

Hi,

We aren't far from Morgantown. You are doing pretty much what we did our first year. We didn't have the spiles, but used plumbing, tubes, lids, and buckets. When we could, we switched to the bags, since my chicks have a lot of health problems, and momma is small, so the buckets were hard to empty. I know one thing for sure...I do NOT want bird doo in the sap! I am sure you will do fine with your class. I know that will be lots of fun! My chicks go to Camp Courageous a lot. I think we have them planning on doing maple tapping with the children there. They sure have the maple trees! Good luck!

[nace]

hello sugar, i put som photos of my sugarshack progress in the "sugarhouse design" threads. i hope to boil some tonight ! i also hope to finish tapping by the time it freezes again next week. how much have you made ?

[Sugar]

hello sugar, i put som photos of my sugarshack progress in the "sugarhouse design" threads. i hope to boil some tonight ! i also hope to finish tapping by the time it freezes again next week. how much have you made ?

Hi Nace,

We have about 125 twelve oz. jars. We collected 105 gallons of sap yesterday and about 30 today. The syrup is still quite light. I'll go and look at your sugarshack piks. I bought a load of pallet pieces and they are really great for firing up the evaporator. Good luck!

[nace]

i'm glad that you have made so much and having a good season! the bowling green daily news usually advertises free pallettes if you pick them up. you may also want to check with sawmills for slats. i bought some firewood from a cousin just to have on hand because i havent had time to cut any. i should finnish my cupola today and get my firebox lined and ready to fire. i have 65 gallons of sap waiting and 200 taps left to put in. hoping the weather cooperates.