3-14.. 33 deg. this am. went and collected...trees not doing much at 9am..emptied all the barrels and 4 buckets some buckets were full..fired up the 2x6 cool out with an strong east wind,no wind break from that direction...slow start..but it warmed up after noonish ..a few people stopped by ...some even split a little wood for me! all went well... drained and put everything away cold temps and snow coming.
3-15.. Froze here this am, but it was a raw and windy day...covered up wood pile and some other things getting ready for the snow thats coming today..helped Clyde out by cutting a huge double red oak tree over 24''..had a split in between them.. first one notched and it was solid..tree was leaning hard so I bore cut to the outside just got going through to the other side and it heard a pop and down it came before it should of .. was lucky.. so I knew the other side might be bad and it was but came down with a some fight...snow coming down and we quit for the day..3-16 ..we ended up with2.5'' snow not melting yet a 9am..a cool day nothing going on with syrup making.
Looks like the season might be done after this weekend. Its getting pretty late in the year to have 6 straight days above freezing with rain. What are your thoughts, should a guy pull taps next week?
2016-two straws stuck in tree by the kids-1 pint syrup
2017-40 taps 8 gal. syrup
2018-70 taps...19 gal syrup
2019-90 taps....18.5 gal syrup
2020- 100 taps....25 gal syrup.....new oil barrel arch
2021- 85 taps....unknown season
3-17..Light snow here this am..29 deg. took off this am for a town run.. a list of stuff to get..got back in the afternoon went and checked the barrel's was surprised to find two of them full..pumped a little over 200gal all together.. it had a light yellow color..hard to believe this early in the season? trees slowed later in the day..split wood..As for pulling taps... I am pulling this weekend..warm temps and rain coming..very windy again for Thursday.
3-17.. Very windy today mainly from the N.east... split the rest of my wood pile, some of it has been in the for 3-4 yrs. so this season I will be out of wood...will cook Friday and Saturday.. Went and collected late in the afternoon brought in 170-180 gal..Wind was getting stronger..was hearing this cracking noise from a white cedar tree by the house went over to see a crack opening and closing with the wind..got a log chain and binder put that on one tree and to the one that was cracked..then found a piece of house roof shingle on the lawn..dang wind..good weather coming for two days...Oh ya forgot to mention that the quart jugs that have been on back order since Jan...came in today!!
Last edited by Dave Puhl; 03-19-2021 at 07:25 AM.
3-18..Very still morn..first thing this am was to deal with the tree that is cracked . my friend Clyde came over and we got a rope on it 20ft up but then we noticed a branch from another tree hooked it to this one..we went for it anyway almost cut through it and both of us on the rope ..just brushed the house sort of..wife heard a loud thud and came out to see the damage..nothing but a few scrapes...on to cooking what a very nice day to cook all went well 5 1/2 gal ..after cooling down went and checked the barrel's surprised to see some only half full.. one last cook Saturday..
3-20..Went and collected this am..trees must of run during the early night. one barrel was full and the rest 3/4..there was ice coming off the lines into the barrels..one run is giving off color sap...this one has a red maple on it..pulled the buckets as I went...and pulled taps on one run..brought in 180 ish gal..drained the flue pan cause it was moved over to one side alittle.. the other day when it was empty the east wind must of wiggled it over..I did not clean the syrup pan..should of... was windy right off in the am..wind gusts made the smoke puff out the bottom a few times,but it calmed down some and ran ok allot of sediment in the prefilter when drawing off...last cook of the season for me..running out of wood..shut down and brought in and cleaned up the barrels..
Last edited by Dave Puhl; 03-22-2021 at 08:31 AM.
3-21..After listening to our church service on the radio I headed out to the woods.. the wind was really rippin this am ..heard a large tree go down up the valley from me.. pulled all the taps and taped the drops back on to the main 5/16 lines..always had a problem taking up the lines they just did not want to coil up right..this year I carried the coil half way.. laid it down on the ground and pulled the rest to me and coiled it up like a garden hose it helped some..next year will be new tees, drops and taps for each tree.
1-26-22
Replacing taps and drops on 100 trees tomorrow as its supposed to be 25 degrees. Hanging 50 rope nooses on 50 new trees for supporting buckets.
1960 - 1970s 70 taps on galvanized buckets with Dad and Grandpa.
1970s - 1985 Acted crazy!
1986 - 2005 20-30 buckets.
2006- 2017 70 buckets and bags
2017-2019 100 bags and buckets
2020 Finally retired!!! 75 buckets, 50-75 on tubing. RO Bucket, New 12 X 16 Shack and a 42X42 flat pan.
2021-Adding another 125 taps along with a second RO bucket.
2022- Shooting for 350 taps, with 100 on lines.
Lots of Family and Friends and dogs named Skyy and Nessy!
1-30-22
Cut up 3 trees that fell on my 5/16 gravity lines. End hook pulled out, but other than that no visible damage. 10" of snow in the woods.
Nice enjoyable 20 degree day in the woods.
1960 - 1970s 70 taps on galvanized buckets with Dad and Grandpa.
1970s - 1985 Acted crazy!
1986 - 2005 20-30 buckets.
2006- 2017 70 buckets and bags
2017-2019 100 bags and buckets
2020 Finally retired!!! 75 buckets, 50-75 on tubing. RO Bucket, New 12 X 16 Shack and a 42X42 flat pan.
2021-Adding another 125 taps along with a second RO bucket.
2022- Shooting for 350 taps, with 100 on lines.
Lots of Family and Friends and dogs named Skyy and Nessy!
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