Leap Day!

You just never know. We had low expectations as it rained throughout the night last night, was overcast and foggy all morning and really warm this afternoon with a high in the mid 60's. And yet there was a decent run of clear sap. We gathered a total of 338 gallons today. Gerri and 2 1/2 men started and did most of the south path (Curtis, Brad and young neighbor Cody-you can decide who the 1/2 is). Bob and Dan soon joined in and we made our way just prior to dark through the woods. Chris arrived at the end and helped Brad to move a new box of wood into the camp with the towmotor.

This was Cody's first voyage to the woods and he ran into some difficulty with getting stuck in the mud. The first time Dan attempted to pull him out he was quickly aided by the puppy Lola. Not really. She got mud all over them both!  (The huge dot of mud directly in the middle of Dan's forehead looked like he had returned from a rough ash wednesday service-but you keep these thoughts to yourself when you are less than half done!) The second rescue of Cody involved the age old problem of picking up the kid and the boots remain in the mud! Cody mentioned (unprompted) that he might take a bath when he returned home!

The filters had to be washed today as the sediment had built up to the point they were not running very quickly. Curtis learned that predicting the amount of sap is an inprecise science as a lot changed in the mid afternoon today! Ants and a few knats have arrived. Pastor Cathy made a wonderful hot casserole with cider and chocolate cake for dinner that was enjoyed rather late. The boiling was going rather slow tonight, 14 inches in the top tank at 8pm and none off yet! Chuck was making fire and Bob grading papers at press time. Today was the 10th day of gathering and boiling in the last 14 days. Kinda glad this day only comes once every 4 years!

Total sap: 3770 gallons
Total syrup: 88.5 gallons

Tuesday Feb 28th

Brad again drove the H successfully through the woods with Dale, Dan, Curtis, George, (Nathan and Nicholas too) and Muff helping to gather.  Susan Bishop joined in for the north path and Kelsey came near the end. Chuck supervised the fire box a little more successfully tonight (no chimney fires). He and Brad entertained themselves (they really did appear to be having a good time!) with the ax in a pitiful display of splitting wood. The only good thing that can be said for their technique was nobody split a toe open! Bob commented that they have not yet opened the main trailer of wood and have survived thus far just on the totes of scrap wood. The gang found 303 gallons this evening that seemed to boil in quickly compared to yesterday's larger run. Gerri arrived late from work in time to see a large cloud front moving in from the west which should bring interesting weather tomorrow. Ted and Nancy brought cookies later in the evening for Bob & Chuck. It pays to stay up late! Two days until Jack is home to deal with the late shift! It's really too bad he and Marsha have to clean up this big mess all by themselves this year. 

Each time we fill a 5 gallon pale with finished syrup at the woods, we fill a clear glass sample jar and label. This provides a way to track the color and flavor and date of production of each bucket and helps with quality control. Each batch that is put into jugs and bottles can be tracked that way. It is interesting to watch the color change throughout the season, but our eyes are really old or the color hasn't changed much from day one. Unusual. 

Total sap: 3432 gallons
Total syrup: 80.5 gallons

Monday Feb. 27th

A breezy but sunny day again today. Naturally the high was at noon today and not when everyone was out in the woods. Chuck picked up Brad after school and headed to the woods early. Brad, Kevin and Gus got started with Dale and Karen soon joining them. Buckets were much fuller today so this was quite the workout for this crew! A gang showed up in time to help finish (Ted, Nancy, Dan, Chris & Susan B). Chuck started a fire at 415pm so that gave us a nice head start at boiling in the 550 gallons of sap collected today. Dorothy sent a crockpot of chicken for supper that was devoured. Thankfully the only excitement tonight was a small chimney fire. The picture below shows the pink out the stack and the glow at the seam that apparently has melted and is no longer a seam! We may have shoved a little too much in the old fire box (Chris took the heat for this! ). Bob held the ladder while Brad took a bucket of water up on the roof and extinguished the flame on the stack seam and coated the roof in the immediate area. This was actually Brad's second trip to the roof in the dark this week (he apparently hasn't covered pulleys in science yet- found he had to go up and give the steam door a little push shut). Both were exciting trips. There is very little variation in the color of the syrup from day one (Feb. 16th) until now. We think today's syrup tastes better though!

There was an article that seemed to be well written in Sunday's USA Today that is worth a look if you have time. ( http://usat.ly/wu4Tln)

Total sap: 3129 gallons
Total syrup: 70.5

sunday Feb. 26th

A pretty & sunny day here with only mild wind. Nancy, who just returned from Florida today, appeared cold. It is all in your perspective. There was a thin layer of ice on the top of the evaporator.  It has been cold the last two days so the trees have reset. There was a real steady drip this afternoon. Started gathering at 4pm with Ted, Nancy, the Oney family & Gus, 5 Rines, and Chris. Susan R. warmed up a seat in the camp. She refused to bring the Mercedes back, it is afraid of mud. She should have been afraid of riding on Bob's tailgait.  Chuck and Sue and Susan B. arrived a little late so they kept Susan company. It took awhile to decide whether or not to boil today. We found 190 gallons of really clear sap! Decided rather late to start a fire. Cody got this going before heading back to school. Afraid of what tomorrow might bring. (We are learning to pace ourselves!). There were really strong winds on friday so we had about a dozen tipped buckets on the north path. Dan showed up in time to enjoy a little fellowship. (We know about your clean truck- you weanie Curtis!)  Lola (the puppy) played in the water like it was July. She also found out how to make the blue seat rock and went to sleep! We made a run to gary & becky's freezer for hot dogs for supper that we didn't cook until about 8 pm.  No trouble with the tractor and trailor at all today. Brad wants to remind the guys that the brakes still need changed on the H! Amazing how many mud holes suck you in on the left when you are missing a right brake! Mark has been contacted about filling holes whenever he has a slump! The trees at our house have just cracked their buds, so high temp predicted for Wednesday of 56 degrees with rain may bring a quick close to our adventure! Time will tell.
Total sap: 2579 gallons
Total syrup off: 60.5 gallons

Thursday Feb. 23rd

Another in a long line of goofy weather days with high temp of 40 something and begining to sprinkle about the time to gather. Brad and Bob started gathering with Winston and Nick, catching up quickly with Dale and Karen and Dan and Curtis and finally Kelsey. There was actually more sap than expected with 180 gallons today. It was a quick trip with good help and little in the buckets. The big trees in the middle were the primary runners today. Cody arrived home and messed up Chuck's routine.  Chris and Gerri came after work to find gathering over so Gerri returned home with Brad to do chores and Chris helped Bob move two new boxes of wood into the camp with the fork lift (in the rain!). We are anticipating a couple of days off so we filled some quarts for the neighborhood helpers as pancake and sausage weather may be at hand! Thanks to all for your help in this very busy week!


Total sap to date: 2389
Total syrup to date:  55.5 gallons

catch up blog

Bloggers are tired so this is the catch up day! Sunday (the 19th) was cool and gloomy with essentially no run. Monday the 20th was cooler than expected although sunny. Brad and Bob spent the better part of the day at the camp getting more lids around and stacking some wood in the camp. It was decided not to gather although there was a little run. Tonight was the first meeting for 4-H for the year-wow time flies!

Tuesday the 21st (Cody's 20th birthday!!!! We missed him today in more ways than one!) presented a big run of 494. Chris, Winston, Brad, Bob, and Dale gathered about 5 pm. Kelsey was off at FFA and Gerri showed up late with dinner at 730pm. Sue P.and sidekick Nicholas came for a visit. Brad's luck with not getting stuck came to an abrupt end in the new "big hole" just behind the camp. (Brad wants to remind everyone that statistically speaking he is still doing well!) This was resolved with moving a small tree under the steel wheels. Dale expressed concern about the 4 feet the front end lifted off of the ground, but it did come back down as the physics teacher driving it out predicted.  Grandma Wilson has asked Brad to start wearing a helmet while driving as she and Susan B. are also concerned about the "wheelies" with the tractor. Chuck started a fire early so Bob was tucked in bed by 1130 pm.

Total Sap: 1714
Total Syrup: 38 gallons

Ash Wednesday Feb. 22nd:  This was a warm day with temps in the 40's and some sun and gentle wind. There was a nice steady drip in the woods tonight although the temperature began to drop and it started to rain later in the evening.  There was actually 1 gallon more today than yesterday (495). (That gallon seemed like a lot more than a gallon.) Lucky for us we recruited Curtis and Dan and John S to help Bob gather. Gerri, Brad and Kelsey and Chris showed up late after piano lessons but in time to help finish. We are tapped and gathering about 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule so the number of hours of daylight are limited. It is amazing how this encourages you to hustle up and walk faster-we are all in agreement the forrest is not so enchanted after dark. It is a broken leg just waiting to happen!!! Brad met his foe the "big hole" with a completely full tank of sap and was a little slow coming through but the third try was the charm (and getting the 3 clowns off the back of the trailer was helpful as well!). There were few pics taken tonight as everybody is tired. Bob and Chuck are not looking so good - as of press time at 10pm there was a lot of sap left (10 inches in the upper tank) and the boiling was not going quickly tonight-raining and humid. However, very thankful to have the sap to collect! Sorry about church Cathy, we will do better next time!

Total sap: 2209
Total syrup off at "press time": 48 gallons
Conversion (not counting what hasn't been boiled in yet): 46 gallons of sap to 1 of syrup).

Saturday the 18th

Total Sap: 1220

Total Syrup: 28

     Slightly cooler day than expected. 222 Gallons of sap collected. Most of the day was spent restocking the wood supply and eating! Chris, Kelsey, Brad, Dan, Ted, Charlie and Julie, Julie's Family, along with Chuck, Sue, and Muff all came out to help collect! Bob and Chuck finished boiling early so that Chuck could go dancing!

It's Friday!

Today felt a bit like the day after the huge day before (if that makes any sense). Sunshine all day and smells like spring. Brad made his second round of the woods driving successfully tonight for 390 gallons of sap. The greatest joy of the evening was finishing gathering within 5 minutes of sunset. Fun fact, apparently a few buckets were missed last night in the dark-go figure. Dale, Karen, Susan B., Kelsey, Chris & their friends Winston & Jordan helped to gather. Chuck got a fire going and Bob ran interference between the two projects. The Weasner family stopped in to check out the action. Sue sent food and thankfully a clean tablecloth to the camp. Karen showed up with a crock pot of something that was warm & was appreciated as the temperature tonight was obviously dropping a little faster than last night.


We ran out of enthusiasm and shut the fire down about 10pm. Parked the trailer with 50 gallons in the shed. We have about 400 gallons of sap sitting in the camp-we are certain it will be there tomorrow when we are more awake! Our supply of firewood needs restocked as well. As seen below there is a definite issue with the grates in the fire box.

Total Sap: 998 gallons.

Total Syrup : 13 gallons

Wow on Run #1

Wednesday the 15th found Bob alone in the woods getting the two stranded trailers out (one thawed on it's own-frozen brakes from Saturday, and one needed extracted from the mud). There is about 2 inches some of the buckets tonight.

Thursday the 16th was a big surprise as it was considerably warmer than predicted although cloudy. Bob's text was rather funny today (hey- this is not a test, we really have full buckets people!). It was answered today by Chris, Kelsey, and their friends Winston & Nick, Brad, Susan B, Charlie and Chuck. Bob scrambled to get the camp ready for sap. Gerri showed up in time to help rinse out the upper tank with water from the house. Chuck scrubbed the evaporator up while the gang made 3 trailer dumps for a total of 600 gallons! Five gallons were collected on Sandhill Rd. as well. Susan B. made a Marco's run for pizza and pop enjoyed by all at 8 pm. By 830 we had a nice fire going and sap was boiling. Sue came to visit and as the most awake person in the group led a discussion about what we to haul in for supper tomorrow.


We learned today that flash lights might need to be standard apparel on school/work nights with a good run. We learned that Brad could drive the entire woods without getting stuck! Especially in the dark! He is very proud of his driving efforts. (Everyone who left to gather did return-we checked). Kelsey still has more problems with livestock in the outhouse than anyone else. Today it was a rather hearty mouse. (Where is Jenny when you really need her?) We learned the puppy will need a full head to toe bath anytime she makes the trip to the camp. (And this really isn't so tough if she is almost too tired to stand up!)We all remembered the comfort of the warm fire and the sweet smell of the sap boiling. Bob and Chuck also recall now why having a good fire going before 8:30pm is a great idea!   

yes we are tapping!

This big event began Monday night Feb. 13th with Kevin & Gus (our neighborhood exchange student from France) helping Bob & Brad to tap the south path. They made awesome progress for an hour or so of daylight.

Valentine's day featured a light snow that came at dawn so school was delayed and the roads were slick today.  The tapping of the rest of the woods ensued with Kevin & Jenny (who once again was smart enough to bring a flashlight) and Bob tapping with Brad, Chris and Kelsey helping to get the tubing hooked up. Susan is looking into some more lids to replace some tired ones, but our contact at Toft's is out so we put in a 911 call to Charlie P. for some buckets and lids as well. Chuck & Sue came to size up the progress tonight. Chuck seems to think it "smells right" so we can't be too far off. Dale hauled the generator over from Chuck's yesterday. Everything but mother nature seems to be in place!

2012 Begins!!!!

Welcome back! Can't believe it is that time again. Everyone knows that any respectable farming endeavor begins with finding out what the neighbors are doing first! So we did that survey last week, and even the old and wise aren't really sure what to do given the crazy weather-so we proceeded to the second solid principle of agriculture-winging it!!

Cody cleared paths on Friday Feb. 10th with only the help of our puppy-who was nearly pooped from the fresh air adventure. Sat the 11th was a busy day for most so Cody ended up putting buckets and lids around the south path with only the help of his mother who was a marginal improvement over the tired dog. Brakes froze on the military trailer and slowed progress tremendously.

Sunday afternoon Feb. 12th found a few more competent helpers in Bob, Chris, Dale, Brad & Kelsey who threw buckets out on the north path and the east. We managed to get a second trailer and a tractor stuck today. Mud is quite the concern as it is very early in this process to be this muddy! (Mark you need to get serious about real boots.) A good bit of time was spent with the ax and crow bar cleaning out tires to improve traction.