Willow Creek Sugarhouse 2017

[Dill]

Well if anyone needs it, I have cords of Dill farm patented slow burning pine for sale. Perfect for maple weekend. Just know that your gloves may go into the fire with the stick if you don't pay attention.
But ya I'm thinking the same thing. Burn crap pine, probably leave the steamaway off and just use the RO to pump up to the head tank. Glad its sunny right now, but its still really cold. And holy cow that wind was blowing last night.

[red maples]

thats pretty funny.... Dill...

I didn;t want to hold sap I'd rather have good syrup then have sap for show. which I am glad I did. because what I did make will be beautiful in glass.

If worst comes to worst I drain the evap. put water in the flue pan add some sweet to front pan and just boil water I have done it before with the enclosed hood you still get the visual in the front pan and the sweet steam and you can clean the back pan at the same time. The forecast for me is pretty bad not many freezing nights next week. I hope that changes. for the better. I will end up just a smidge over last year if thats the case.

then basically hold sap for sat and sunday because we aint gonna git much friday its a thawing day espeically with no sunshine on saturday or sunday. blah!!!

[handtapper]

I have a 200 gallons on hand from earlier this week I havent boiled yet. Its been so cold im not to worried about spoilage... tomorrow is warm but i'll toss some snow on the sides of the tanks. This weekend looks like a washout anyways so i'll be boiling and dont expect many visitors but Im not on any kind of a list so normally just friends/family/neighbors here anyways. I dont expect much sap this weekend at all or the beginning of next week, temps are up but it just looks like a wintry mix/rainy mess. I think the season might be basically over, the buds are swelling on my trees and the forecast is poor right up until early april

[Russell Lampron]

I'll be boiling raw sap Saturday with no blower and no bubblemaster. Depending on how it runs tomorrow and Saturday will determine what I do Sunday. I have 375 gallons of sap in my bulk tank for the weekend. I'll probably boil about 200 gallons Saturday.

[red maples]

Hope everyone had a good day despite the weather. numbers WAAAYYY down as expected but still ok sales and a few pretty busy points as well. actually more people than I expected.

Only managed maybe 15 gallons of sap on the over night and if I got 30 gallons of sap all day today that would be a lot. need it to be a little warmer.

[red maples]

Well I am toast. Excellent crowds today. Just after lunch or I noticed a gentleman from unh coop. We was watch my maple presentation and after the crowd switched out he came over and asked if I could get wired up to make a pod cast, I said sure. So he asked me a few questions. Then I started my speech and he recorded me for a out 1/2 an hour. Pretty cool. So that will be out after it gets edited. It wasn't a record crowd but folks were out.

After I got everything cleaned up and tents away. I had to collect.sap. I was tired but I ended up with 250 gallons total few the last few days.

[red maples]

boiled out 525 gallons yesterday. was hoping for more but only managed about 8 gallons sugar was pretty low. I like better when the ratio is more like 50:1 rather than 60+:1 I wish there was more bucket sap that is at 2-2.25% so that does help but its alot of work.

only managed about 250ish gallons from last night through this afternoon and buckets and gravity have both shut off.

all the weather forecasts are different by a few degrees which can make all the difference I hope the WMUR forecast is right thats the most favorable one.

I am starting to see some of the bucket guys around are throwing in the towel. seeing the buckets are gone in some areas.

[red maples]

Definitely a slow and steady week. We finally got freeze here last night not much bUT at least it got things moving again. Boiled out another 525 gallons but only made about 6.5 Gallons. Sugar really took a hit. I was hoping for a little more sap today but since.we haven't had a freeze since sat pm. I managed 300 gallons today. Hopefully we will get another freeze tonight but with Temps only getting into the upper 30's now and 5 to 10 or what ever inches of heavy concrete coming not expecting too much for tomorrow either. Slow and steady. The cold ground and cloudy cool Temps have kept the red buds from swelling. And I have a string of about 20 sugars on the edge of field and I noticed they are swelling a bit. If the forecast doesn't change looks like we might run out of cold nights before the buds pop. Just keep chugging along. Need about 38 more gallons to reach my goal gonna be close.

[Russell Lampron]

I got 475 gallons here today. Boiled in 550 last night and made 9 1/2 gallons. I need to make 58 gallons to reach my goal. The sap is still coming in clear and the buds are tight so I think it's going to happen. The snow should help us. If the temps are right it could run good.

[Dill]

Yup same here, low low sugar, and just plugging away. I was hoping for really big sap yesterday but more of the same. Good run but not great. Making 8 or 9 gals a day. That RO is the only reason I'm still standing. Heading out in a bit to pump what I've got before the next big snowstorm.