+ Reply to Thread
Page 17 of 24 FirstFirst ... 789101112131415161718192021222324 LastLast
Results 161 to 170 of 238

Thread: Vernon County

  1. #161
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Hi Lulugrin. Well Thursday March 19th I drove over to gather sap, I just knew the trees would fill my pails and they sure did. Started gathering at 10:30 every pail was overflowing so for every three tree pails I had 9 gal of sap to carry and dump into my transfer tank.And 8 hours later I was done. Of course it rained steady on me that whole time, The thunder did sound cool though.Ended up kind of wet guess my rain gear has a problem, but did gather 600 gal plus 125 in the valley tank from our 17 trees on tubing. So I will try to cook solo for a while with the currant pandemic. Guess Sunday will be go day for me. God Bless. Did have turkeys talking back and forth in the morning and the mud on top was bad.
    Last edited by Mr Sugar Maple; 03-20-2020 at 05:14 PM.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  2. #162
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Prairie du Chien, WI
    Posts
    201

    Default

    Sat. March 21. Nice updates here. Had the great flow as well. Boiled in between rain. Speaking of thunder. We had a loud thunder clap and minutes later a dog was running down the road like he was after Rusty of dog racing fame. That was funny. Strained ice out of buckets this morning and am back to boiling. It is actually turning into one of my best years. Have a good weekend everyone.
    2019 47 taps and 10.75 gallons of syrup
    2020 45 taps and 21.25 gallons of syrup
    2021 50 taps and 13.5 gallons of syrup
    2022 50 taps and 18.5 gallons of syrup
    2023 49 taps and 18 gallons of syrup
    2024 49 taps and 9.75 gallons of syrup

    56 acres above the Mississippi River in SW Wisconsin
    43.01N

  3. #163
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Hello everyone, well I am back from 4 days at sugar camp, got there sat aft and after getting the finish pan and stuff to the sugar house I went up top to straiten the pails, counted 28 or so on the ground from the wind. Fixed and cleaned out the blue bird houses. Sun morning started the evaporator at 9:30 cooked 300 gal sap, had to stay alert all day, done at 6;30 cool down clean up, had to pump the valley tank into the big tank so 9:30 supper 10:30 bunk time. Monday March 23rd started cooking at 8:30,had 325 gal sap to cook finished at 6.:00 pm cool down clean up,food and sleep. Tuesday March 24th up at 7:00 boy I sure feel old today, when I went out the cabin door 3 deer were eating under the bird feeder, was nice to see them, they look pretty rough this time of the year kind of like me.Went up top to gather started at 8:00 most pails were full again, got 560 gal,
    so all my tanks are full for this sat. the valley tank had 60 gal just from sun and today.packed up went home. Had the road to myself guess it will get better sooner or later. Irish Ridge I liked to hear about your race dog. stay healthy and God Bless. The sap did not seem as sweet, made 15 gal syrup from 625 gal of sap.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  4. #164
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Viroqua, WI
    Posts
    62

    Default

    That is alot of sap Irish Ridge!! I got so busy last 20200321_114209.jpgweekend that I had no time to post. Figured out what to do with the stored sap so it wouldn't freeze when temp went down to 15 Fri night (yep, that is our outhouse with a space heater&#128516. I'm trying to rearrange my schedule so I can head over today and cook all day Friday when weather looks best for outdoor boil and sap still good. I suppose it'll then be time to pull the taps. If all works out I'll have close to 5 gallons. Will post 1 more time and then sign off for the season

    2014 - Cinder block fire box, 2 roaster pans (thanks Mom), mix of 11 red and sugar maples tapped, 1.75G syrup.
    2015 - Same fire box reconfigured for Smoky Lake 24" x 33" pan. 17 taps on 16 trees with tubing to 5 gal buckets. 114g sap down to 2 3/4g
    beautiful syrup.
    2016 - Cinder block fire box is holding up fine. 20 taps, 155 G sap, 3.37G syrup. Great fun with friends.
    2017 - 21 taps on 5 gallon buckets. Good sap runs and reached my goal of producing 5 G syrup.

  5. #165
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Sap storage in an outhouse, now that is a first.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  6. #166
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Well the season is over for me, went to the sugar bush Friday March 27th and on Saturday the 28th I cooked from 7:40 to 6:00 while doing clean up the weather got stormy so I made a B line for the cabin. Thunder, lightning,then the rain came and pea size hail. wow, that was fun. Late supper and sleep. Sunday March 29th I started cooking at 8:30 the weather showery most of the day.Found some dead boxelder in the wood pile from last fall so between firing I would split wood so it would extended my cook time to 6:30. cool down and clean up sleep at 10:00pm. Monday March 30th I wondered what the bright thing in the eastern sky was.Took the finish pan and empty water jugs to the pick up, then loaded the snowmobile up to bring home. We tapped on Feb 29th and last cook March 29th second best season for me, still have to pull taps,roll up main line, wash tanks and tubing so next weekend for that. God Bless.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  7. #167
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Prairie du Chien, WI
    Posts
    201

    Default

    Sounds like you had the same weather last weekend that we had. Not fun to be out and about in. We had the hail as well. Congrats on a fine year. Just waiting for Lulu's final report now. Hopefully she will come in with her 5. By next year we need a more official name for the sap storage room. Maybe the annex?
    2019 47 taps and 10.75 gallons of syrup
    2020 45 taps and 21.25 gallons of syrup
    2021 50 taps and 13.5 gallons of syrup
    2022 50 taps and 18.5 gallons of syrup
    2023 49 taps and 18 gallons of syrup
    2024 49 taps and 9.75 gallons of syrup

    56 acres above the Mississippi River in SW Wisconsin
    43.01N

  8. #168
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Well yes did have a lot of clean up to do, so Sat April 4th I went over to get started. Went up top to pull taps, I bring some water along to wipe out the pink mold that is starting to form, found out not to let it dry on the bottom because its hard to wash out later, then pull the tap and move on to the next tree, three trips down to the pick up with empty pails so it took 8 hrs to complete that. Sun morning at 6:am a darn Robin kept banging against the two west facing windows, thought it would give up but my tired old body could not take it any longer so I stuck my head out the window to scare it away but it kept coming back, so after a bunch of attempts I had to hang garbage bags over the windows. Well time to clean the 4 tanks and two barrels, our tubing tank on 17 taps was overflowing again, hated to open the valve and dump 125 gal of sap. also dumped two 55 gal barrels sure need a RO. Also rolled up the main line, its in 3 sections so not to get to large to handle. Friend John and his wife Katie came to plant some trees up by his deer stand, wants more cover for them.Mon April 6th I pulled the tubing taps and cleaned the tubing, I run a bleach mixture first ,then clean flush of fresh water. Loaded the four wheeler on the trailer and went for home. thanks for all the conversations over the season and God Bless.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  9. #169
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Well happy new year fellow maple friends,its been a strange year with covid 19 and a wild election season, But now its time to think about our time in the woods, all the syrup from last season is gone and need to make more. Snow cover is still on the low side but hope for more soon,I have not been over to our land in a a while.But we did have a great gun deer season My son got a nice 8pt my grandson a nice 6pt and I shot a big doe.Hope you all have a safe season and God Bless .
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

  10. #170
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Location
    West branch Kickapoo River Valley, Southwestern Wisconsin
    Posts
    192

    Default

    Well just returned from two days at the land, Left home Fri Feb 19th 8 am 7 degrees sunny and calm arrived 10:00 8 degrees. My day was good, brought the snowmobile over to haul 230 buckets up top. Made first run just snowmobile 2nd run 60 buckets in otter sled got stuck on the steep part of the ridge road had to pull it up to a flatter spot by hand then turn the snowmobile back down to get a run that worked. 40 buckets per trip worked fine. saw 5 deer 1 rabbit and lots of winter birds at the feeders. snow cover 12 inches of powdery snow, shoveled paths to wood piles and around sugar house cant forget the outhouse also. Fri night temp -9 used twice the fire wood to keep my 10x18 cabin warm. coyotes howling on and off most of the night.Sat morn boy you know your alive when your cheeks hit the seat in the out house.Then waited till 8 degrees to make two trips up with my 100 gal tanks, covered them with snow and white tarps.the snowmobile tracks were like pavement this morn. next trip clean sugar house and flu pan bottom. looks like March 6th to tap we will see.God Bless.
    Last edited by Mr Sugar Maple; 02-20-2021 at 09:01 PM.
    12x16 Sugar House 2x6 Maple Pro wood fired evaporator Arctic Cat 4x4 1980 Snowmobile 225 taps on buckets 17 Taps on 3/16th tubing on steep hillside

+ Reply to Thread
Page 17 of 24 FirstFirst ... 789101112131415161718192021222324 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts