March Journal

[super sappy]

I tapped in a couple hundred taps today cuz I was born in vermont and its town meeting day tomorrow.I agree with mike look out on the 3 rd week of march and put on your swimmies . The big sap flow is coming soon = GO VOTE TOMORROW

[maple flats]

Finally looking like maple weather most of the rest of the month. We start tapping Sat. Will most likely be snowshoes, but we'll try getting the snowmobile in with a jet sled to haul supplies. I also have pull handles I made for 2 such sleds (made using emt) if we need to pull the sleds, the handles work much better than ropes and they swap to solid towbars for behind snow mobile and ATV in seconds. With so much snow in the woods my guess is that we will need to lift lines from under the snow to relevel and tap.

[sjdoyon]

Tried to make it to the top of the sugarbush today (2,400+ elevation section), snow started pushing over the top of the Argo. Had to turn around. Snow is very soft. Thankfully lifted mainlines last fall up to five feet plus off the ground. Still have some clearance under the mainlines.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

Spent the day in the sugar house still getting ready. Went to CDL this morning and got some supplies and they have totes for sale so I grabbed one for a transfer tank, half the price of a pickup tank. Hope the temps break things up and we get some sap moving

[jrthe3]

after 3 days of trying to fix leaks on my ro after changing membranes i find out that the new caps i hard to order where brittish threads so ready to ring some necks

[maple flats]

We're going to the woods tomorrow. Going to attempt breaking trail with the snowmobile. If that gets stuck, we'll all be walking in on snowshoes. If we can bust trail with the snowmobile, after several times in and out, the ATV will likely make it. That goes thru up to 25-30" of light and fluffy, but with a crust that it breaks thru, it won't go at all most likely.
Tomorrow will be my first time using my new Hot End system. I got an extra battery, I hope it like it as much as what I've read others like it.
I hope no new big trees came down, we had everything fixed and cleaned up between Christmas and Jan 9, but have not been able to get in since with the machines.

[maple flats]

It ended up being a snowshoe day. The snowmobile got stuck 4 times just trying to get out the 1st 100'. I decided I really like the Hot End system, very quick and easy. My only complaint is the weight of the battery, but I guess it's worth it. My first battery ran for 6 hours. I thought that was good.

[bowtie]

Tried to get to sugarbush today, yeah right. Made it about 100 yds up the hill and that was with my 4x4 tractor, and that was a mess, broke a line trying to use bucket to get unstuck. I have at least 3/4 of mile uphill left to go, might try my snowblower tomorrow. If that does not work and I doubt it will I will miss at least the first week of runs. I thought about trying to get a bulldozer but at around $500 dollars to get someone top plow it is not worth it. The crappy thing is if I had a dozer it would take about 2-3 hours to drive up and back, but so is life. This winter sucks!!!

[nace]

It looks like Thursday March 5th was our last freeze here in southern Kentucky and I suppose it will run dry till next year. Last boil tomorrow. Good luck y'all!

[maple flats]

Finally, yesterday was my first boil, from accumulated sap from 8 days to have enough to fire up the first time. I finally had enough to boil for 3 hrs. after running the RO. Did not get to my first draw, was 3 degrees light yet at shutdown. It now looks like the next 2 weeks will be good and busy. For me this is actually good timing, I don't have to return to work until 4/7 and then I took 4/8 off in the afternoon (I drive school bus, done in morning about 9:00 AM), then I drive am and pm on 4/9 and 4/10 , then 2 days off for the weekend. This should get me past the rush, and then it will be slowing (or stopping?). We are on Spring Break, a time when I often am on after season cleanup, this year I just started.
Sugar %, I've had quite a broad range, from 1.8 up to 5.2% from individual trees. The batch yesterday, blended from all previous hauls over several days, was still at 3.2%, and it had 1" of ice on top in the tank. From washing other tanks, including my head tank and cleaning to RO to be ready to process 2 days earlier, must be I didn't drain my hoses good enough, all had some ice in them someplace in the hose. What a pain in the a$$. I will be more careful from now on.
Flow should start again today shortly after noon and might run all night. I'm sure glad gas prices are down because my pumps both run on gas.