Sleepy forest maple 2021

[BAP]

Good to see you back. Sounds like you have have been busy making changes. This weather does make it tempting, but is a short lived warm up. Neighbors down the road from me tapped and has run very little. Everything is still frozen hard and takes more than a couple warm days to thaw them out. I, myself am waiting another week and then reassess the weather before tapping. If it looks promising then tap, if not hold off.

[raptorfan85]

Back in the woods today. Got all 235 taps replaced. Had more line work to do than I thought. Had a couple small trees come down that I wasn't aware of. And the squirrel chews!! My god, the squirrel chews. There were several tees that they chewed the cups right off, the whole thing! They really didn't get the lines to bad, mostly the tees. Not sure why, I don't use bleach or anything to clean. I'm sure I'll find more leaks once I'm tapped in.
Got the woods tank ready, built a new stand for the releaser. Got it all out in the woods ready to go. Just have to hook the pump up. My other tanks are in the sugar house, have to get them out to clean. One problem, the big doors in the front are frozen shut with piled up snow from off the roof. Guess I'll be chopping my way in tomorrow... looking at the weather, looks like I'll reasses next weekend and maybe tap then, we'll see! Everything is coming together well this year, unlike last. I was way behind last year so it feels good to be ready this year.

[raptorfan85]

Good to see you back. Sounds like you have have been busy making changes. This weather does make it tempting, but is a short lived warm up. Neighbors down the road from me tapped and has run very little. Everything is still frozen hard and takes more than a couple warm days to thaw them out. I, myself am waiting another week and then reassess the weather before tapping. If it looks promising then tap, if not hold off.

Hey BAP. It's good to be back! I'm in to deep to go anywhere. Yes lots of changes this year. I try to improve a little each year. I keep telling myself I won't upgrade every year to cut back on prep time, but it never works out that way!

[red maples]

Ha we all say that we won't make changes but we all do it!!! you will definitely find more leaks once you get things going!!!
Good luck

[BAP]

Hey BAP. It's good to be back! I'm in to deep to go anywhere. Yes lots of changes this year. I try to improve a little each year. I keep telling myself I won't upgrade every year to cut back on prep time, but it never works out that way!

That’s every Sugarmakers moto as they are quietly changing and adding their setup.

[raptorfan85]

Got the tanks out and all cleaned up. The head tank is in place and ready to go. Hooked up the pump at the house. Should have checked the moisture trap before turning the pump on. Sounded like it sucked in a leaf or hornets nest when I turned the switch on to make sure it was working. It's a rotary vaine pump, I have to pull the side cover off just to make sure nothing is in there. Other than the incident,
Everything is just about ready, and just in time. Looks like after this freeze up it's go time.
Speaking of the never ending upgrades, I got the air over fire manifold in. See if I get any improvements on efficiency on wood this year. Hope everyone is ready to go. Looks like it's gonna be a good start.

[raptorfan85]

Tried several times to post pictures of the aof manifold but it won't let me...

[BAP]

Tried several times to post pictures of the aof manifold but it won't let me...

There is something wrong with the website software that won’t let people post pictures. It has been mentioned several times that supposedly the owner is going to update to fix it, but apparently it hasn’t been done.

[raptorfan85]

Got 100 taps in this afternoon before it got to dark in the woods. Turned the pump on and... 5hg. Walked up the main line and sure enough, bullet hole right threw it. Looked to be about 22 cal. Guess I'll need to pay better attention to where I'm aiming. No other big issues. 25hg at the releaser when I got back down there. Couple of wet tap holes but not much else. See what happens tomorrow, supposed to be 50 here. I'll try to get the rest of the taps in tomorrow. It's go time!

[raptorfan85]

Came home and checked the woods tank. Dumped 50 gallons of green sap. Everything coming in now is good to go on that tank. Setup the house releaser and started tapping. The releaser was dumping before I was even done. Some trees were running really well, some of the bigger ones haven't woken up yet. I'll dump everything I get overnight and should be good to go. 23hg at the house. A few small leaks to track down. Here we go!