Sounds like a new dish, Sweet Marinated Rodent, tastes like chicken from the local Chinese restaurant!
Sounds like a new dish, Sweet Marinated Rodent, tastes like chicken from the local Chinese restaurant!
Oh, they breathe for sure. There's an article on pestcontrolhacks about these critters. Might be worth looking.There was a centipede in one of the big tanks the other day. He was in there all day and when the level got low enough, I picked him out so he didn't get sucked up by the pump. I dropped the carcass on the floor and he ran away! How can a critter stay submerged for 16 hours and then just walk away? Don't bugs breathe??
the first harvest
I'm reviving this old thread because of something new. For the first time ever, we had SLUGS in the buckets!! That's just wrong! It's bad enough that the little brown moths showed up on the very first run, and that the big black flies came along just a week later, but slugs...yuck! Our changing climate is going to ruin everything.
I had a couple of slugs as well on my last gather along with a few young night crawlers.
No need to fear. The slugs will just enhance the flavor. A skunk in the sap would be a game changer.
Spud
Yeah, Imagine the labeling, Eau de Slug. Clings to your pancake. Mmmm
Not to divert the thread but"slugs" in the bucket reminded me of a story that our farm insurance agent told us where years ago he had a claim from a farmer who in the spring found that someone had shot a hole in the bottom of all his buckets. They were stacked and laying on their side under a shed and every stack had been shot through.
3,100 taps
60 cfm flood
HC2
5 by 14 oil
Brian
I came here to see if I can salvage the bucket (one of those light blue sap buckets that hangs on the tree).
I guess I'd have to conclude the answer is "yes"!
I did toss the sap. And I also did not keep the chipmunk.
2024: 28 taps, 7 gallons. RB5 purchased but not opened :-(
2023: 30 taps, 17 trees, 11 properties, Sugar Maple & Norway. 2x3 flat over propane & kitchen finish. ~11(!) gallons.
2022: 9 taps, 5 trees, 4 properties. 3 hotel pans on 3 Coleman 2-burner stoves burning gasoline; kitchen finish. ~3 gallons.
2021: 2 taps, 1 sugar maple. Propane grill then kitchen finish. ~Pint.
All years: mainly 5/16" drops into free supermarket frosting buckets. Some plastic sap buckets hanging on 5/16 sap-meister.
The joke I've heard (with apologies to all)...
If you're from MA or CT, you take out the squirrel, dump the sap, wash the bucket and start over.
If you're from ME or NY, you keep the sap, dump the squirrel, and just rehang the bucket.
If you're from VT or NH, you wring every drop of sap out of the squirrel into the bucket and keep the sap.
If you're from WV, you keep the sap, cook the squirrel and dip it in syrup when you eat it.
Dr. Tim Perkins
UVM Proctor Maple Research Ctr
http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc
https://mapleresearch.org
Timothy.Perkins@uvm.edu
I’ve had 1 red squirrel in my buckets over the last 12 years of doing this. This year I’ve had a chipmunk and 4 mice so far.
100-110 buckets
Leader 7.5" 3 Bank filter press (2023)
RO Bucket RB10 (2017) upgraded to RB20 (2020)
Homemade oil tank arch
Homemade stainless pans
12x16 Sugar Shack (new 2020)