February Journal

[sugarin4fun]

Father and Son - I am assuming that is you in the Erie paper, nice article. My son and I are in our second year and boy do we have alot to learn and equipment to buy. I'm sure my wife is hoping that the hobby stays a small hobby and doesn't get out of hand. It is addicting.
Have a good a productive season. Greg

[Sugarmaker]

Yep Jim Bortles is FAMOUS with his picture in the Erie paper today, tapping trees. Nice job Jim!

Matt,
Tubing is hanging in there (no pun intended) Some start up problems. But I think it is going to work real well. 50% of the taps this year will be on gravity tubing so it will be a good test to see how it compares to some areas with buckets. I really liked putting the system together but now have many ideas for improvements next year. I did put in a lot of extra time getting the tubing ready and in place. We will see if it saves on the gathering time and effort. That's the goal.


Regards,
Chris

[royalmaple]

Chris-
I think you'll find that tubing tool was money well spent.

Good luck.

Off Topic

Recent tree rat totals are:

Last week:
Wed - 2
Thursday -2
Friday -4
Sat-0
Sun-0
Mon -2

Seems those darn things are multiplying faster than I can shoot them. And these are all off my feeders right behind the house, not even trying to hunt them. But everytime I shoot one two come back. It is like ground hog day.

Still just saw another one this morning. I bet I have shot over 40 red's this year off those feeders, and they keep comin and comin.


Also got the vacuum hooked up at my house this weekend and made a sap ladder for one old gravity system and a new mainline going out back that will be able to pick up three more old gravity systems into sap ladders. Have to see how it all works. Sun is peeking out now, but still gonna be pretty cold this week. So one more week of getting ready. THat is ok, I need it.

[danno]

Speaking of tree rats - I put in my 300 taps yesterday and I had one drop line and the 5' foot of lateral for that drop line absolutely shredded, including the tap.

What amazed me was that they did not hit any other lateral or drop line in the entire bush, just that one? They actually stopped at the "T" on either side of the shredded lateral which made spliceing in a new section easy as pie.

Knock wood - I'm feeling lucky. If they did to several hundred feet of lateral what did to that one section, I'd be starting over.

[Father & Son]

Greg,
Yes that's me. The reporter was going down the list of members in the NWPAMA and I was the first one to answer the phone.

Chase was 12 the first year we did this and he tapped trees before I had the evaporator set up. The first syrup he ever made was on a turkey fryer and the first pint took 2 tanks of propane. That was a little spendy fuel wise.
The important thing to remember is that this is something you and your son are doing together. Quality time and memories to last a life time.

You're absolutely right about addicting. Like someone said on here there are two seasons, maple season and getting ready for maple season!

Jim

[Revi]

Well we tapped some of our trees this weekend. It was 38 degrees and felt like spring. We've added over 50 taps so this year should be a good one. Every year for the past 3 we seem to add more taps and get less sap, so I hope this year breaks the trend. We'll see... Only a few of the south sides were dripping, but hope springs eternal. It's sugaring season again!

[Pete33Vt]

Finally got the preheater on the rig. All thats left to do is plumb it to the feed tank. I finally said the heck with it and built a new rack to hold my 300 gall feed tank out side. Only thing left is to put a roof on it. Some plywood should work alright for this year. Need the snow to go down to get out more spruce to saw up. Have to rebuilt vacuum shed this summer anyway. Sugarhouse is just about set. Heading to the woods today.
Everyone be safe.

[mapleman3]

Boy Pete you do have a lot of snow to go through.. we got some today and yesterday but not more than 3-4 inches.... your place looks great, good luck this season. I'm heading out now to do some more tapping, weather should bust loose here in a day or so.

[Sugarmaker]

Jim Bortles,
Did you and Chase get everything tapped Monday? I would like to get around to see several folks boil this year. Local Sugar maker Jan woods has a old sugarhouse and would be like a step back in time.

Picked out another 150 buckets. I think I may take the day off tomorrow and tap the rest of the buckets to be ready for Thursday. We are supposed to have thunder and lightening. Last year we had to stop gathering and let a storm pass.

Matt, That tubing tool is slick. I did talk to Brad and they are going let me try some 30P tubing. He thought I might have gotten a roll of memory flex that was on the high end of the size tolerance for the inside diameter. I also ordered 50 additional tee cups and tree saver taps, so I will make this tubing work.

I found that I did crack one of my water pipes when it froze in the sugarhouse last week so I will get that fixed tomorrow some time too.

Gathering tanks is cleaned and ready. Wood is in the evaporator fire box. Wood wagons are loaded and ready to go.

I still have several of those chunks of tree with the tap holes showing, $15.00 each plus shipping.

Regards,
Chris

[Father & Son]

Chris,
The answer is no. I'm calling this my "HALF AST YEAR". The sugar house is half ready, half of the buckets are hung, and the tractor is half wired for a dump and pump set-up. Using a cage tank to collect this year. I still can't get the 4-wheeler or the tractor through the yard, the snow is way too deep! These first few days of gathering are going to be tough. We tapped tonight between 3 & 6:30 and most of the buckets were half full at dark. tomorrow should have them overflowing. Going to try to get this first run boiled Saturday then get everything neatened up and organized during the cool down next week.