Vernon County

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi All Well it looks like its time to tap our trees. Our plan is this Saturday March 7th, the three of us will work up top, they will tap and I will bring two 100 gallon bulk tanks up, cover them with snow then white tarps to insulate Then run the 800 foot main line down to the 325 gallon tank by the sugar house. Clean up the sugar house, clean the soot from under the flu pan and patch the gaps in the fire brick. We have between 4 and 7 inches of snow in the woods. the weather forecast for next Wednesday is 56 degrees. too warm but we get what God gives us. Good luck to all and stay safe out there.

[lulugrein]

We're in southern Vernon county, north facing slope so may be behind a few days. Planning to tap on the 10th. Good luck and keep posting!

[Tommoore30]

Thanks Mr. Sugar Maple - I'll post once I get home - no internet access at the "farm" - which is not a bad thing - Good Luck Everyone.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Saturday March 13th Well I am back from the sugar bush, Saturday morning I went up top to wash out our two 100 gallon tanks. Found the snow fleas found there way in thru the vented lids.that was fun to do Ha Ha. Then went to gather sap what a bust, only 15 gallons from 200 trees.This extended warm weather does not produce sap from maples, but sure does produce MUD MUD and more Mud. The ridge road was all MUD my 4 wheeler and trailer created multiple ruts.Worried about erosion now, Sunday March 14th I tried to haul snow up top to replenish snow by the tanks, could not make the hill too much MUD. Then cleaned our dry wash valley ditch from downed tree limbs, I like keep it open for floods do not want log jams re routing the water. A syrup maker on highway 56 between Viola and Richland Center was not cooking syrup, guess I am not the only one. Tommore 30 how did your weekend go?

[Tommoore30]

Mr. Sugar Maple,
Don't know what just happened to my reply. Anyway, mud here too -took more than one good slip & fall on the slopes. Tapped 4 big old maples on south ravine Saturday and they were flowing! my other 20 taps from last week had about a pint or so of sap in some, nothing in others. I think the roots are just waking up now. Spent the weekend making firewood, setting the blocks and iron stand for pan. Made a yoke - forgot to take picture -will do so next weekend. Watched a herd of 35,...yes 35, deer walk, not run, from me over to the neighbors. No wonder every tree I plant gets devoured - even with cages around them. Next weekend (I only have weekends) 2 daughters coming to boil with me. Good Luck!
Tom

[lulugrein]

I collected 9 gallons from 15 taps between 3/10 and 3/14, then another 6 gallons on 3/15 which seemed to be the fastest running day. Slowed down again on 3/16. I and friends did a small batch on 3/15, not enough sap to justify using my new 24" x 33" pan so used the small roaster pan again this year. It works quite well and with a cinderblock fire box its pretty easy to move a few blocks around to accommodate the smaller pan. I ended up with about 5 cups of really nice syrup. At that, it was about a 50:1 ratio. A LOT of work in the woods this year trying to get around in all that mud. Talked to a few others in southern Vernon county who have more experience than I who also aren't getting much sap and unsure of what this week will bring. Temps were in the high 60s on 3/16 which made for a very pleasant day of fishing on Tainter Creek:-). Back to work today. Praying that the trees will run fast this week and have enough to do a boil on Saturday when more friends are coming out. -LuAnn

[Tommoore30]

Tapped 23 in eastern Vernon County yesterday - 15 within an easy walk, 8 way up on ridge. Get to those on foot (!). Made a yoke for carrying two 5 gallon buckets. Looked them up on google and decided $200-300 is too much. Made mine from Ace Hardware for $19. Will let you know how that works.
Building rocket stove with insulating firebrick this year - like to experiment. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyTWOBAUYs8

Hoping to have full buckets by week's end. Good luck!

2012 - 1 gallon over propane burner
2013 - 2.5 gallons over wood fire
2014 - 3 gallons in 4 x 8 ss pan with cinder block rocket stove
2015 - 4 x 8 ss pan with insulating firebrick rocket stove - ? gallons

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Sunday eve March 9th Well it feels good to get back home, on Saturday March 7th the three of us and Sadie our trusty yellow lab got our 200 trees tapped. All the trees are up top on the ridge, last year 50 were on the north facing hillside way too hard to gather,spilled sap and wet pants. We used my old snowmobile with a large otter sled to move pails and stuff around. It was quite windy about 10%were dripping.the snow was melting fast. the guys saw 10 deer move thru the woods guess they ran down by me, of course I did not see a one. Got the main line down to the bulk tank, and called it a day. Today Sunday my son and I cleaned up the sugar house,and wow was the snow melting,went up top about three pm to check the pails,some had two inches of sap in the bottom others were dry. My plan is to empty pails on Wednesday, will store the sap in our bulk tanks on the ridge top, we covered them with snow and then a white tarp,this works great to keep 200 gallons cold. With the big snow melt guess its time to switch to the four wheeler.Hope I can make it up the ridge road,even with chains on all four tires it can be a challenge. Remember the whiter the bread the quicker your dead.

[Irish Ridge]

Greetings to my Vernon County friends. Your experiences seem to mirror mine over here in Crawford. Plenty of deer running around, melting snow obeying the law of gravity, and forecasts that don't change fore the next week or so. We'll have to see what we can make of this season. Meanwhile I am going to work on my own yoke this morning after being reminded of that a post or two up. Time for some wholewheat toast.

[lulugrein]

Irish Ridge.... would you be willing to post a pic or description of the yoke you come up with? Tapped 15 trees yesterday and nearly all were running. Set them all up on 5 gallon buckets with the plan to boil on the weekends (yes, packed snow around them and keeping my fingers crossed!). 2014 was my first year. Was so excited about the whole endeavor that it didnt matter how heavy those buckets were. Year 2 and I'm as obsessed as ever but trying to work smarter. I'm just north of you in southern Vernon county. Good luck!

Greetings to my Vernon County friends. Your experiences seem to mirror mine over here in Crawford. Plenty of deer running around, melting snow obeying the law of gravity, and forecasts that don't change fore the next week or so. We'll have to see what we can make of this season. Meanwhile I am going to work on my own yoke this morning after being reminded of that a post or two up. Time for some wholewheat toast.