Hop Kiln Road 2014

[Hop Kiln Road]

Red Roof, I'm not emotional ready to tell the Vienna/Olive/Thanksgiving story yet, okay? However I did follow up on your advice and tapped in a "companion" bucket this afternoon. I was going to alternate trees every year but maybe two buckets makes more sense. I'll see if M notices on her way home tonight!

[Hop Kiln Road]

M couldn't wait last night to tell me about the PAIR of buckets on Twist Hill! Thanks Red Roof! She said they looked just like Grandpa and Grammy side by side in the yard. (We got a new granddaughter the other weekend.) I was already in a pretty good mood having fired up my H2O. The storage solution is a mild food preservative/antioxidant but I rinsed/washed/rinsed and then sent the rest of the unfrozen sap and the permeate tested 0 sugar. Man do I have a collection of ice scattered about the neighborhood. So the production line is all assembled and test fired, and now we're going to get SUGAR SNOW! The season is starting and I'm right on schedule. Guess I'll see how the market closes in Europe and then mosey on down to the The Maple Guys and watch the Governor drill a tree.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Sap is trying to cut loose. Pumped .8 gpt this afternoon and there were some pretty good streams at the tanks, but a lot of ice. At two of the tanks, pumped 4 inches of sap off the top of the ice. The warmest site had almost no ice. The ma and pa maples ran over. The ratty pickup chugged to pull a cube of sap. Got to see Governor Hassen handle a drill today down to The Maple Guys. She sure ain't a shrinking violet and suspect she might even have some dental school in her past.

[Hop Kiln Road]

As part of my $2M Farm Bill Initiative I introduced myself to the Guv Tuesday at The Maple Guys tap out as M's husband. She asked my name and I explained we had different last names. Last night M reported that the Guv told her she'd met a gentleman who claimed to be her husband! The Guv is very pro local maple and an integral part of my plan. Sweetened the pans and made 8 gal of medium yesterday. A little bit of a learning curve with the filter press...Inventorying more ice in the woods tanks!

[Hop Kiln Road]

While we twiddle away, here's an eye opener: the European Union is self-sufficient in sweetener production. In fact they not only tariff the importation of cane sugar to their members states, they impose a quota system. Where do they get their sweetener? Indigenously produced and refined sugar beets. The EU is third largest economy in the world. The proposed international grading system is tantamount to joining the Quebec Federation to compete on this level; it will not increase the price of bulk syrup in NH. We'll see if Vermont is so foolish as to damage their developed brand and divorce Fancy. I mean, okay, she's high maintenance and likes fast cars but really, cooking sugar beets all August?

[Amber Gold]

Interesting...

Always enjoy reading your threads. Funny and well written.

Surprised to see you got a filter press this year.

[Russell Lampron]

Interesting...

Always enjoy reading your threads. Funny and well written.

Surprised to see you got a filter press this year.

I always enjoy reading Bruce's posts too. Sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what he is trying to say but it is usually funny.

[Hop Kiln Road]

Surprised are you Amber Gold? Well just imagine dear M the other night when I ascended Snob Hill, my upper torso like a coated pecan with a delectable maple mist from a high pressure filter press leak since Red Roof neglected to give me the right filter aid/syrup ratios in Henniker the other month! And, to be honest, I was guffing a bit. Well, more than a bit. Anyway, now she wants to know what exactly is a filter press and who are the maple traitors. I tried to explain it all had to do with the weather and the moon and they were actually just Maple Traders but she cut me off, saying, "I can see that!" Should be warm enough today to get some sap and clean the cupola windows.

[Hop Kiln Road]

.5 gpt yesterday with only two of the lines actually getting going. Substantial ice in all the tanks, deep ground frost, heavy frozen snow pack, favorable forecast: still will get 24+ days of sap run. Furnace wood will run out this week.

[Amber Gold]

Surprised because I thought last year you wrote the press off as an unnecessary piece of equipment. Just watch...next year you'll have a sucker to go with your squeezers.

I hope you didn't let the maple mist coating go to waste...sacrilege.