Vernon County

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Well it looks like everyone has experienced the joy of carrying sap a long ways up or down even sideways. Wednesday March 20th I had to go to Lacrosse so thought to gather sap in the afternoon. First try the 4 wheeler and trailer, snow too deep in the valley,so back down to the snowmobile and sled. Now its 2.30 pm gathered where the snow was deep enough, even some drags across leaves back to snow. So carried buckets some distance, quit at 8.30 pm gathered 370 gal stayed overnight. then home. Friday March 22 went back to the sugar bush to get things ready for Sat am. More snow has melted and yes, made it up the ridge road so now I can finish gathering, I have a path in the woods to gather from trees along our top field,now I can get to them all with the 4 wheeler. got 130 gal sap. We have 16 taps on 3/16 gravity tubing had 100 gal in that tank. so thats 600 gal to cook. Saturday March 23 My son came and we started cooking at 8.30 am, cooked till 8.30 pm cool down clean up, made for 11pm sleeping bags, did 400 gal made 12.5 gal syrup. Sunday March 24th we started cooking at 7.30 am until 2 pm.did 200 gal sap made 6 gal syrup. My son went home, I did clean up till 5pm then went up top to gather again,was a beautiful evening, worked till 8.00 pm got 130 gal sap back down to the cabin for hot dogs and chips.watched some ice road truckers on dvd 10.30 bunk. Monday March 25th went back up top to finish gathering, got 195 more gal of sap so now have 325 in storage.sap temp was 39 degrees. I did have time on Fri to clean out the bluebird houses could hear they were around. Saw turkeys in the valley on Sat while cooking, with the snow melt comes the mud, but we still have 7 inches if snow in the valley and no snow up top. we tested our sap came in at 2% sugar. God Bless.

[Irish Ridge]

Nice report Mr. Sugar Maple. I guess we all share the burdens. I can finally drive my trails without getting stuck in mud ruts. That is nice. Sap was running slow the last few days but when I collected today I was getting fast dripping action so I am looking forward to good amounts. Can't imagine your long days. I get tired just reading your report. Snow is now pretty much all gone except where the sun does not shine yet. I plan on checking buds on some of my trees next time out. My wife was asking about peepers but I told her to at least let the ice go off the pond before we think about that. Where"s Lulu this spring?

[Mr Sugar Maple]

HI Irish Ridge, glad the trees are on the move now, I am planning on going over Wednesday morning to gather again. Want to get it into storage so it does not spoil, figured today Tuesday would have been a strong day with 17 degree temp this morning.Our land has the Kickapoo west branch below us, so far no peepers in the marsh. have been getting quite a few moths in the sap though.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Wednesday 27th Well made it back from our sugar bush, gathered another 380 gallons of sap, so now have a total of 680 to cook this weekend. Made two trips up the ridge road with more snow to add to the snow thats around the tanks. Was a warm windy day, did have 4 deer run thru the bush dont think they knew I was there.Monday when I put 325 gal sap in the bulk tank by the sugar house, sap temp was 39.7 degrees and at 4,30 today it was 39.9 degrees so the warm day didnt change the temp much.

[lulugrein]

Hi guys, have read a few of your posts and couldn't wait to jump onto this thread. The bottom line is multifactorial...1.sugaring season did not align with my vacation days this year so everything crammed into the weekend; 2. I'm busy helping to ensure we have a new mayor in Madison on April 2nd (ok, will not taint our discussions any further w/political talk), 3. have been worried sick as my mom's brother (they are 10 in total age 77-92, all still alive) may not make it after open heart surgery, 4. The sugaring bug has not really bitten me this year. Just have not been able to muster up the excitement for it. On that final note, have you ever experienced the same? Just had an off year, feeling "buddy" or maybe just tired? I think in part I have let my pride in simplified cinder block fire box set up get in the way of reality (5gph = huge amount of time processing small volume of sap). I will accept all encouragement to invest in a legitimate evaporator and may throw in a gator on the side or set up a collection tote and gravity line at the top of the hill. Last weekend I calculated having "farmer carried" (to quote Tom) over 800 lbs of sap down the hill to the fire. My friend who mostly fed the fire offered that she carried a total of 80 lbs. So, my body is feeling it this week. Thank God for all of the usual suspects that ultimately make this endeavor worth while... singing of the Titmouse, deer, turkey, Osprey, Eagles, babbling brook heard all the way up to the cabin, comments from friends who feel honored to be able to participate in this amazing process, sitting in the maple "sauna", clear syrup running out of the coffee urn, early mornings so crisp and clear with night sky still full of stars, reading the phrase that I put on my labels..."living the dream in the drift less". OK.. enough. I need to get to work. Have decided to finagle things so I can take Friday off and start chipping away at what I expect will be 80-90 gallons waiting for me. Friends coming to help this weekend. Dare I say I may pull taps this Sunday. Looking for your commentary on that. Thanks for inquiring about my absence here. Very sweet of you.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Lulugrein Nice to hear from you, I like you have experienced that lack of excitement, when one thinks about all the hours to do this crazy hobby hours wood cutting splitting stacking then set up before season, long hours in the sugar house, then take down. Taps to pull, buckets to gather, mainline to roll up, and then haul things home and wash those buckets OH MY. But we do it because of the great product we made from our own land and trees, And the time spent in the woods with Gods creation all around us, makes one feel alive. Were thankful for family and friends that help, and do it all for some maple syrup. If I was to start over again, would go with 3/16 tubing instead of 250 buckets.There is no labor in collecting and no buckets - lids to gather and wash. I have 16 taps on 3/16 tubing, wow they produce more sap even run when the buckets stop running, A larger evaporator would help reduce your all night boils, just depends on how much bigger you want to get,keeping it small has a lot of advantages,less cost = less stress = more love of this hobby. God Bless.

[Tommoore30]

Lulugrein & Mr. Sugar Maple - Yes! Lack of excitement for this, deer hunting, everything, once in a while. Understandable with the aging family as well. (Or struggling kids/young adults,...). As a small player in this, I've found a few trips to the hardware store, and my imagination, are lessening the load a little bit each year (except for my lack of actually getting my barrel and gravity line set up on the ridge before I left after deer season,..which was my fault only).

I always am amazed though, when I'm feeling out of sorts and reluctantly make the long drive to the property, I get there and my whole being changes. Anyway,.good luck with family (we all need that) and know the rthythm. Ups and downs, tides come and go. BTW, after one more session of hauling these pails. I'm pulling taps on Sunday,...my arms and shoulders are shot .
Tom & Dog

[Irish Ridge]

Friday, March 29th. Hi Lulugrein and all. I love the thought provoking questions and the wisdom shared in the Vernon County corner of the world wide web. I find this hobby therapeutic and I solve many world problems when I partake. I also ask myself "why do I do this?" My wife and I have streamlined each year, learned tricks of the trade, and kept it fun by right-sizing. We also selected some trees to just forget about because the "farmer carry" was just too close to be dangerous going straight up a slope. But seeing a pair of wood ducks land on the pond today locked me in to another year. All night I wondered whether to pull taps today. When I got out there to collect, the woods made the decision for me. There was no sap, ok very little. Finished the boil an hour ago and actually got a little clean up in today. I'll give a total for the year in a few days. My vote is to stay the course. If I were not to do it, I believe for a whole year I would kick myself. I am also sure in the next few years I will cut back on the number of my taps. One last piece of news, I saw Spike from Grant County yesterday. He didn't post much this year but they did well. The season ends earlier across the Wisconsin River and they tapped out last weekend. Have a good weekend everyone.

[Tommoore30]

Well said Irish Ridge. I really enjoy reading everyone's insight and share it all. We collected about half as we did last week on 30 taps. Which was actually okay for me,....until we finished up. And like fishing or deer hunting, I just wished I could tap a couple more weeks. But since everything I do is low budget, by hand, it's all I can do. Cooking the last tonight and tomorrow - estimate I'll end up with 4 gallons this year - a record for me. I have lots of ideas for next year, so Home Depot and Ace Hardware stock will go up.
Seeing more deer, hawks and eagles than I've ever seen before. This is a great time to be outside. I'll keep following everyone until the last taps are pulled. This is a great hobby!
Tom & Dog, and occasional family & friends to help out.

[Mr Sugar Maple]

Hi guys, well I made the trip back over to the land on Friday March29th ,after getting my gear and food in to the cabin went up top to dump out my buckets. Most only had a inch or two of spoiled sap in them, Then sat morn my son came over , we cooked the stored sap from 7.30 am to 10.00pm, made 15 gallons of the dark amber syrup. went from medium to dark in one week. Sunday morning we started at 7.30 found a leak between the flu pan and the front pan, but we managed to switch out the clamp even with the flu pan filled.that could have been a big mess. Then I had to run up top to straiten up all the pails they were sideways from all the wind on Saturday cooked until 4.00 pm made 7 gal of syrup.Was nice to have a bunch of family and friends show up to see two tired syrup makers doing what they love. Then Monday April 1st I took a load of snow up to put around the top tanks, added that to the snow I took up Friday eve. also 2 loads of snow over the tubing tank. I have 16 taps on 3/16 tubing, I put a vacuum gauge at the top its pulling 28 to 30 inches which tops out the gauge very cool, got 100 gal sap each week from those 16 trees. At 1 pm started to gather and got 210 gal put unto tanks and hope to get another 100 from the tubing so should have 310 for our final cook.Had a deer come close and was watching me gather sap what fun. Still no peepers in the marsh but the forecast looks bad for more sap runs, so going to call it a season this coming weekend. Then comes all the clean up, things to haul back home, and lots of tanks to wash. I have enjoyed our conversations and good humor you guys are the greatest. God Bless.