February journal

[Sugarmaker]

snowing and cold: we wait

[Dennis H.]

Had to repair a mainline wire today. I found the loop around the end tree that holds the ratchet tensioner broke. The funny thing is I figured that it would break at the THERON SQUARE KNOT but nope, it broke where the wire went thru the tensioner.

This mainline is where it goes over a right a way so it is 15' in the air. I guess those trees must have gotten swaying yesterday when we had all that wind.

[paul]

Dennis
I`ve had the same problem and your right it`s from the tree swaying.We fixed the wire a few times before we decided to top the tree.

[waysidemaple]

Well Im at school and the report from home is 13 inches of snow on the ground. Our big fourwheeler with the 35 gallon tank on it crapped the bed while dad was plowing with it this morning.....great!!! Looks like ill be using the old international scout to plow the trails out in the woods when i go home wednesday.

[jrthe3]

this is the first year i jumped on the tapping band wagon and it will be the last year from now on i will be sticking to my guns only thing i made with the 150 gallons of sap i got last week was a dirty evaporator

[Sugarmaker]

Boyd,
Glad to see your enjoying the early runs too! NOT!
Well I have a good reason, I need to get some syrup for open house. But I may lose a good week at the end of the season Time will tell. Hang in there. Good news is, your tapped!
SM

[PATheron]

Update from Pierce and Sons- Last week was a real stuggle down here for us but things are starting to come together. Still tapping so couldnt get the vac where I want it yet. Id tap at night when it was froze and chase the heavy leaks in the days when it thawed. The sap did run surprisingly good for a couple days for such early sap. Got around 7000 gallons I think. Some of the first of it real thin then got better. All the while were hooking up stuff in the shed. Found that my newer cdl machine had a bad high pressure pump so had to process all the sap with the older machine which worked great. We really like the evaperator a lot. Very easy to operate. We ran it at about half throttle to get the hang of it with 8% sap and we both agreed next batch were going to take it to 12%. The piggyback developed a leak at a float box that had been patched. We drained it and decided not to use it. It will be easy to fix but need to lift it off the evap to do it and dont want to mess with it. I think Ill probly sell it and just use my ro equipment. Ended up making a 55 drum of dark syrup and theres probly a drum plus in the evap so Im really happy and figure were off to a good start. Gonna finish my last bush on the ring pump tomarrow night and then I have two 400 tap dairy pump bushes to do and Im ready to get the vacs where I need them. All in all Im pretty pumped about the year and I think its going to be a good one. Everybody better get ready Its almost go time everywhere now. Also, lost 8 pounds in 8 days, Weighed myself this morning. Looking pretty buff. Theron

[Maplewalnut]

Spent the weekend cleaning up wind damage and fixing a couple af leaks throughout the bush. Got everything nice and tight now but weather looks cold for a while still. Didnt need the 10 inches of snow we got again Sunday night, it was just starting to get walkable in the woods after a few days in the 50's. Yet to hang remainder of buckets, hoping for a later season this year since we susually fininsh up first week in April and no decent weather in sight in the 10 day forecast.

[ennismaple]

Also, lost 8 pounds in 8 days, Weighed myself this morning. Looking pretty buff. Theron

Keep at 'er Theron!!! I wanna be able to see the steam from your sugar shack here in Ontario! I always joke that I come out of sugar making season at my fighting weight too - no time to eat enough to keep the weight on.

[dano2840]

spent to much time in my buddies woods and not enough in mine, helped him tap, and he got to boil on friday while i was still tapping, only have 421 out of 700 in but ive got alot to do yet before i can even think about boiling any hoo so i gues it was a good thing i didnt get tapped, hopping to brush the rust out of the tank in the big woods, and stick the lines in on thursday and let it fill, that load will probably go to my buddies since im not ready to prosses it. way to much to do!