Thursday March 17th, 2022

Happy St Patrick's Day!! Likely are not too many as sunny and warm as today. Could not have ordered a more pleasant day!! The high today was 72.......and thus......

Today is the LAST day.There were a few buckets with 1-2 inches...but the trees are slowing down and so are the people!! The sap is a bit cloudy and not smelling as nice as it should so we will dump it.

The rather humid weather has the sap boiling off very slowly. We went out several times to get some more scraps of wood today. 

There is almost a full moon....officially it is tomorrow....but strange life happened today and Gerri spent 1.5 lonely hours manning the evaporator in full boil while Bob had an appt and every other person with this skill set was at their 9 to 5. This was frightening for all involved. Bob returned to the camp driving the GMC like he stole it. Gerri is proud to say that nothing scortched on her shift. Really all that was accomplished was about 4 inches of sap from the upper tank slowly boiled away. She used the ax ....filled the firebox.....checked the specific gravitiy, ...paid attention to the temperature.....which went up 4 degrees in 90 minutes (agh!).....watched the inches in the tank up above and even gathered wood from outside the camp. This was a high pressure job as Gerri was painfully aware, if anything went wrong, Adam and Brad never forget anything they can harass you about.   Most amazing she resisted the urge to burn a few things laying around that are on the declutter list......wasn't gonna press her luck. Just not enough energy to explain how the ugly chair got in the evaportator. Also figured Bob would be back soon and  it would be a long time before other witnesses to his response would arrive.......

The dogs slept lazily on the back patio in the sun. Birds are everywhere chirping and making nests. Spring has sprung. The buds popped out in the last 48 hours on the maples. 

The sap has lost that sweet smell...but the syrup we have taken off today, in our warped opinion...tastes great!!

Total Sap for Today: ZERO..left the little there was in the buckets

Total Sap To Date:5,500 gallons

Total Syrup off Today: Zero but 7.5 gallons random since last count

Total Syrup off To Date: 127.5 Gallons!!!!

 Wednesday March 16, 2022

Another beutiful day today, warmest of the year thus far! The trees appear to have ran slowly all night. They seem to be a little relentless. The sap was looking amazingly great for day 16 but is starting to appear a little cloudy here and there. The woods is coming alive with more birds to be heard each night. The ants....the ants are alive and well....always a sign the end is near. 

Tonight's list of tired helpers were Bryan, Adam, Brad, Nancy, Kelsey, Evan, Gerri, and Melissa. Dale drove again tonight, almost perfect attendance this year!!  Bob stayed at the camp, he started a fire early today as they had some sap once again from yesterday to boil in.....

Bob did a little multitasking tonight by grilling hamburgers on the campire out back and warmed up broccoli on the blackstone so supper was hot by the time we finished. Most buckets had about 2-3 inches in them. We had Walle full and had to dump 100 gallons to return to the mid section to get the last little bit...about 50 gallons on the middle path.

The syrup is dark and tastey now. This syrup is not Grade A Amber that is the most sought after, but clearly the our family favorite as it has a little more color and flavor. 

Every season is a bit unique. This one seems very condensed. We used to look for the lid that goes on the tank about twice during the season. The lid is helpful when the tank is nearly full as the ride on Walle can be a bit rough...and there is really no point in spilling what you worked so hard to collect. We have needed the lid almost nightly. Gerri dumped buckets tonight and there was a rumor the nasty youngins were betting on how wet she would get before remembering to put the lid on....jokes on them...she remembered! We also have gone to bed a lot of nights with sap sitting in the camp...waiting for people with renewed pep to boil it the next day. This is a bit unusual...and not our favorite option...but this has been fast and furious and we are older and wiser....some days enough is enough. 

Again we will attempt to put a few more pictures in place when we catch a breather. 

Bob, Brad and Gerri took a unanimous vote at 10 pm that the sap that was left could wait until tomorrow. Bob trapsed out to the woods to check trees and reports that they were still dripping a bit at 10 pm. However, it is 53 degrees tonight and that sap will likely not last through the night without bacterial growth. 

So we again said today was it.....but maybe tomorrow. 

Total Sap Today: 380 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 5,550 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today: 10 gallons

Total Syrup Off To Date: 120 gallons

 Tuesday March 15, 2022

Another fantastic warm day!! Not terribly sunny today, but the wind died down a bit. Bob worked at the camp most of the day. He cut another tote of wood from the scrap pile and boiled in what he and Brad were too tired to address last night. He took of 12.5 gallons of syrup off this afternoon...so that was a good bit of sap leftover!! They quit around midnight on Monday. 

Layers seemed to be the theme for the evening......lots of coats peeled off and left off this evening. Bryan, Braxton, Melissa , Collin, Megan, Brad, Nancy, Ava, Evan, Adam, Kelsey, Muff and Gerri gathered tonight with Dale driving. Bob and Bret stayed in the camp and started the evaporator. There were 640 gallons tonight, ....more than we expected. Many buckets again one third to one half full with nice quality sap. 

Melissa made walking tacos for dinner tonight...with leftover pie! Brad phoned Katie to discuss Adam's curfew and attempted to negotiate new terms....Adam left within 5 minutes of the call so we are left to assume that did not go well. 

Suppertime was a bit more relaxed tonight .....or everybody is really tired. Brad related that he is in awe of Morgan's bargaining skills and has decided to make a list of things he wants to borrow from Bret.  One can hardly soak in all the tidbits of knowledge tonight....how much did everyone weigh when they were born? why do I need a 5 G phone plan if have no 5 G service? Is it really your fault if you hit a coon on the road?  Group agreed it is your fault if you drive up a tree. Megan's choice of footwear was criticized.How did Nancy know to bring cowboy caviar tonight as it pairs so well with tacos?? 

Braxton reported cheerfully he would be back tomorrow. We said yesterday was the last day. Today we said today is the last day. Wonder what we will say tomorrow. 

There are a ton of great pics we want to share....will try to address later in the week !! Thanks for all the great help.  

Total Sap Today: 640 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 5120

Total Syrup Off this afternoon: 12.5 gallons

Total Syrup Off tonight: 5 gallons

Total Syrup To Date: 106 gallons (this adds totals from 3-14-& 3-15)

 Monday March 14, 2021

Brad asks that we go on record to note that Bob, for the first time in YEARS, forgot to wear his Pi t-shirt and wish people happy Pi (3.14) day. This is a physics teacher thing we think. Paying homage to Albert Einstein's birthday as well perhaps. It was pie day in the camp tonight with multiple pies for dessert tonight!!

There are not words enough to describe the difference in the weather from the two days previous that included harsh wind, snow flurries and bone chilling temperatures to the 59 degrees and sunny we were blessed with today! The trees were generous today giving up 740 gallons of sap. They did not really start running until about 4 pm though...slow thaw out maybe!! Gerri has help carrying extra buckets to load up the east path while waiting for Walle. Bryn and Evan with help from mom collected the east side of the east path and had that all bucketed up and waiting by the time Walle arrived. 

Dale came to drive while Adam, Nancy, Kelsey, Evan, Megan, Brad, Bryan, Braxton, Hannah, Bryn and Evan and Gerri for awhile. Perhaps Bret and Melissa attended....maybe...there was a trail of apple pie.....the last person to arrive should not write these things up!! Marsha and Steve Clapp camp for a look at the camp tonight for the first time as well. 

There are not too many opportunities to collect sap for the season....given the warm weather tonight could be it. We made the most of it with soup and bologna and hot dogs and smores.

Hannah got stuck...same place Kiley got stuck last week...so we are at experienced at how to fix that. Brad working on secret plans to prevent that from happening. 

Adam went home to see Katie and Henry before bedtime.....so Lola started to pull wood out of the stack....this involved a hope for a mouse. The mouse was apparently too quick for the old dog however. Piper later stepped in to assist....? maybe a whole mouse family lived in this wood tote?

Total Sap Today: 740 gallons

Total Sap To Date:    gallons

Total Syrup Off Today:

Total Syrup Off To Date: 

 Thursday March 10, 2022

Happy birthday to Bret today!! We made Bret a maple cake..he took the night off 😄..good thing...cake pretty much got devoured!

So, since we last posted.....Monday Bob boiled in the sap that was leftover from Sunday after taking to Cody to the airport at the crack of dawn!! It took him about 6 hours to finish the boil.. he  laughed that we went from 49 helpers to Bob the last man standing in 48 hours ! 

He took the opportunity to descale the pans this morning before he boiled since there was no impending run today. He sent Gerri a picture of his efforts on a plate....Gerri, having a one track mind, thought it was chocolate. 

Tuesday and Wednesday were windy overcast days with some limited sap flow...but we were just not feeling that the effort was worth it in terms of volume. No gathering! 

Thursday Bob found actively running trees about 2 pm. He sent out a text to gather up about 200 gallons. He was off a bit as there was 410 gallons tonight...at least according to Bryan H. He seemed the most confident about his math lets put it that way. 

Kelsey was quick to point out to her dad that he messed up tonight's sap run estimate. He seemed pretty oblivious.

The nidar, a sandy sediment in the syrup, is always a bit of an issue. This year it seems to plugging the filters more than typical. Bob has been taking the filters home and hand cleaning them every other boil or so. This has still not resolved the slow filtering issue. 

Adam explained to Bryan the basics of taking syrup off....watch the thermometer....shut the gait, open valve..yell for Bob....

We had a good size crew,...Dale drove, Phil Shumway brought a band of 4 teenagers, Michael, Nancy, Adam, Gerri, Kelsey, Evan and Bryan H made a cameo appearance since basketball is over. Sorry Elizabeth..if it makes you feel better we yelled at him to go home. Brad arrived in time to clean up the scraps from dinner. 

A salamandar made a rare appearance...found under a bucket by the Shumway kids. 

Karen sent cookies, and we had cole slaw and ham and cheese sandwiches. 

Dale looked half frozen tonight. The temp is cearly dropping. The forecast for tomorrow is rain turning to snow and very cold the following day so we may have another couple of days off from syrup making. The trees are actively running tonight...they made a very rhythmic cadence tonight if you stood still you could hear sap dripping into the empty buckets. 

We appreciate everyone's help on this week night! Will update the pics in a bit!!

Total Sap Today: 410 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 3,740 gallons

Total Syrup Off Monday March 7th: 7.5 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today:

Total Syrup Off To Date: 79.5 gallons

 Sunday March 6, 2022

This was predicted to be a stormy windy day...the storm occured at 0500. One quarter inch of water and none the rest of the day. The wind however haunted us all day long. 

Blustery days make us gun shy about folks being in the woods so we manned today with family alone. We laughed that the last time wind was really a concern was also a Sunday morning. We made a surprise collection of 630 gallons this morning. Just saying, and I realize this should not be a habit..but church in the woods was gorgeous this am. Thankful for a safe journey through as well. 

A fire was made noon that burned all day long today. 

At 4:30 pm today we went back out and collected 160 gallons more just trying to empty buckets when it was so warm. It is not predicted to be much cooler tonight. 

Ironic but Amy texted from Kansas that they have a couple of inches of snow,.....Cody showed us these pics while sitting outside in Ohio in a t shirt...you never know. 

Pictures added to yesterday's blog if you want to look back. We are slow but sure. 

Sap Today: 630 p

lus 160 for a total of 790

Total Sap To Date: 3,330

Total Syrup Today: 15 gallons

Total Syrup To Date: 65 gallons

Sunday afternoon naps......

 Saturday March 5, 2022

Record Breaking Crowd..........49

None more important than Mr. Henry Clark's first visit to the sugarcamp!! He picked a nice day to visit!! 

Sunshine and temps in the 60's made you believe that winter is almost over. Although is it is Ohio and likely there will be more snow at some point!!

49 people starved for a breath of fresh air (and likely a few dragged against their will) arrived to help collect sap. Hands down this is the biggest crowd EVER. 

Having said that...... we have some fun pics and stories to share, but not at 10 pm. When this writer left the camp at 930ish the few surviving souls were rocking out to Billy Joel and watching Adam work. None of them could provide any help with blog info tonight. By the time the car was emptied...the dog...who came home "early" for a bath was snoring. So...will revisit this in the morning!! 

This sunny and warm day began with a roofing project. The chimney stack has needed some work all year...but this involves more than one person and the right weather. Today checked both boxes. Brad lifted them up in the telehandler and Bob and Cody worked for over an hour to get it fastened tightly and vertical again. Impending winds also moved this up on the priority list. 

Gary B. stopped over for a visit as did Dan B. We enjoyed a chat with them in the early afternoon. 

Dave arrived with pretzels in tow. He warmed them on the griddle which we originally thought was a bad idea, but they were really warm, salty and wonderful...good job Dave!

A few folks went out and grabbed 130 gallons off of the middle path as we started a fire a little early in the camp and were running low prior to the time we arranged to gather. Dave drove today..voiced that he would like to have a cupholder installed in Walle (even Brad thought that might be a bad idea) ......Justin brought reinforcements , his sisters Kelly and Linsdey...to help out today. 

The Kudro family visited and helped this evening.

Janet S. brought the grandkids

..no idea where Janet was when this was taken!! 

Phil, Aiden, Owen and Melissa take a moment to marvel at why Lola thinks this is a good idea?!

Apologies if we missed anybody, but thanks to all for your help!! Bob and Gerri , Brad , Kelsey, Evan and Cody and Adam , Katie and Henry and Muff showed up today along with a couple of others.....9 of the Shumway/Kudro family, Susan B. and Susan R. , Gary and friend from work Chris, The Robinson family of 5, Gary B, Dan B. , Dale,Karen and Dorothy, Scott B, Justin, Linsdey and Kelly, Dave, Bret and Melissa, Megan and Collin and Owen, Pastor Brian, Dean, Janet,Stephen, Tyler and Ava. 

The Robinson family visited and helped gather the south path.

We used the patio to cook pancakes on the blackstone today , not too many March 5th's that you can sit outside and eat comfortably! 

This is what happens when Cody is home to work! 

We ran out of firewood before the end of the evening so Bob moved some from the trailer to the camp about 10 pm. 

Piper thinking that somebody should take me home!! 

Total Sap Today: 640 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 2,540 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today: 20 gallons

Total Syrup Off To Date: 50 gallons !!!

A very big day and beautiful day!!!

 Thursday March 3, 2022

This was a sunnier and clear day than the preceeding week....but a bit of a temperature fooler! It looked nicer than it felt. We all assumed there would be no gathering today judging from the forecast...wrong again. We are surmising that the sap ran into the night a bit. There was a pretty hard rain when we went to bed last eve...but awoke to a dusting of snow this morning! Kelsey took a pic of the very thin ice. 

Everyone was in mutual agreement last evening that we needed to quit and start boiling this am...all were tired. It is a blessing to occasionally all be on the same page! Cody and Bob headed to the woods around 9 to get started. 

They boiled all day!  Bob said that this was a lot of fun today taking off syrup and not having to multitask moving sap, coordinating people to gather etc. 

Gerri brought the guys chili and salads from town for lunch. She  enjoyed the nap following lunch more than the food though. The camp felt great as long as you did not get out in the wind! Scott B came for a visit with Cody and Bob made some farm phone calls. 

Gerri wondered out to check buckets and found a surprising few 1/3 full, the "middle" seemed to run the best today. Bob strolled out to confirm this before sending out his mid afternoon ritual plea for help. 

Bret, Melissa, Kelsey, Evan, Muff, Adam, Susan B. , Michael, Cody and Brad gathered tonight. Bob stayed in the camp with his bottle of Icy Hot heehee. Gerri helped for a hot second. 

Somebody took Bob's shovel creating quite a stir ..but only for Bob...he was presented with a similar model.....snorted acceptance. Nobody really knows. 

Finding a hornets nest in the camp was the dinnertime entertainment

Hot dogs , beans, veggies and snacks rounded out dinner tonight.

People have sent great pictures that are in computer purgatory...maybe we can add them tomorrow!  

Total Sap Today: 280 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 1,900

Total Syrup Off Today: 24 gallons (might be a new record!)

Total Syrup Off To Date: 30 gallons total

 Wednesday March 2, 2022

Viscosity

Darkness came quick on Tuesday such that everyone agreed the sap would still be there in the morning...it was! Bob ran errands in town in the morning and got a fire started in the late morning. Today was a brighter, prettier day than yesterday but still a bit overcast. The humidity always slows the process of boiling off a bit. 

Bob stayed home to boil sap so Dale and Karen drove to Cleveland to get Cody at the airport. He made a pit stop at the house for old clothes and boots and headed to the woods. They chided Cody for wearing Kelsey's shirt tonight...he retorted that it should not have been hanging in Brad's closet if she did not want him to wear it. There are a number things wrong with the above statement....choose your battles. 

Ava, from the Bellevue FFA came out to the woods and assisted Bob and Cody in gathering about 160 gallons from the buckets we gave up getting last evening. They were concerned that these might run over...and rightly so....a few did. 

The exact same crew from last night returned to help tonight minus 2 Shumways and Gerri who got home from work late and plus Kelsey and Susan B. . The guys had a nice fire going that of course smelled terrific! Bob sent out a text requesting help at 2:15pm today stating that the volume would be about half tonight. He lied. They found 775 gallons and it took nearly until dark again tonight. People returning to the camp had steam rising from their heads tonight indicating a pretty good work out!

Walle left the woods on the east drive to dump as it was too full to make the complete loop. 

Melissa made a fantastic supper of sloppy joe's, strawberries and dip and oranges! We ate in shifts that worked out well. Susan and Bob went to church for Ash Wednesday services this evening. Adam went home early to put Henry to bed. Brad and Cody visited with Evan and Kelsey and Megan and Collin .......perhaps more than they were paying attention to the evaporator...they managed to run the bowl dry just when Bob returned. Kelsey pointed out that these things never happen when Adam is in charge. 

Megan and Collin ...gonna need the camera flash next time! 

Supper together always encourages stimulating conversation. Cody suggested several upgrades to the camp that were flatly vetoed. The preferences of  pancakes vs waffles and the possiblity of making them soon was a happy little subject. Shamefully long discussion on viscosity tonight. Kelsey accused brother Brad of not understanding the concept of viscosity. There was some discussion about the meaning of viscosity. None of it serious...but here is why it is relevant to making maple syrup. 

  Viscosity is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. SO...a highly viscous fluid would be honey or cold maple syrup. They tend to be thick and flow more slowly. When you add heat (energy) the moelcules become less densely packed and slide past one antoher more easily and thus pour more easily. Syrup is made of large chains of carbohydrates that do not move past one another easily. Water has smaller molecules that roll past one another more easily. This is relevant to syrup production as we check the viscosity of each batch of sap as we boil it down prior ot pulling it off of the evaporator. We use a hydrometer to measure this each time before opening the valve to remove syrup from the pans. So the punch line is here we watch the ability of the syrup to sheet off of the edge of a ladle, check the temperature and the viscosity each time before taking the syrup off. Perhaps we can take pictures of this tomorrow!! Pictures in the morning! 

Gerri found an antler last night, gave them to dale for safe keeping...in a lapse of judgement he gave them to Brad who sat them on top of Walle's engine....Gerri happy to reclaim them tonight!!

Total Sap Today: 775 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 1, 620 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today: 6 gallons

Total Syrup Off To Date: 6 gallons

 Tuesday March 1, 2022

The riddle.......

what is more fun than gathering sap????

gathering sap in a light rain and in the dark...followed by no fire and no supper!!

We checked all of the boxes tonight! The woods is tough to walk in pretty much year around. There are always hidden holes and sticks and things that look frozen but are not! So, walking around after dark is generally frowned upon. Our family has always had day jobs...so once or twice a season this is going to happen like it or night. We discuss a new spot light for the top of Walle's cab every year. Every year we fail to get one hooked up. 

It was certainly a gloomy day all the way around today, light mist and 44 degrees without much sun. 

The trees, however were ready,........ likely ran all night and the buckets were full!! The vast majority of the buckets were over half full. 

We had an amazing turn out for night one of people desperate for exercise and entertainment. The crew included (apologize if I forget anyone! ) Bret, Melissa, Collin, Megan, Adam, Brad, Muff, Evan, Phil, Kiley, Blake, Aiden, Isabella, Gerri and driver Dale! 

Bob stayed at the camp cleaning and sorting. He may have had his fill of the woods and pollen yesterday. He awoke to the fascinating experience of vertigo this am and spent a couple of extra hours in  his chair acclimating to March. Tree pollen is the one thing more plentiful than sap right now! He climbed into the loft tonight so we assume he is better. 

There was enough sap that Walle had to return to the camp after each path. This slows things up a bit, you cannot consolidate 2 buckets that are each 70% full and get too far! It was quite a blessing to have all the hands tonight. The fun started about 6:40 pm when the sun was just about gone. Adam directed the crew to get the outside of the east path as these buckets are the farthest apart and the farthest away from the path. Due to the heavy run, they only made it around to the small east drive out of the woods. Everyone patiently waited on Walle to return. Brad then decided that we would empty the buckets that were already collected and head for the camp. Pointing out that a little missed sap is better than a missing person. We guess 100-150 left in the woods tonight. The sap will stay cooler in the woods. Newly retired Bob can start a fire in the am and boil!

When nearly dark Gerri found a nice 4 point buck antler! Too dark to take a picture though...sat in the cab with Dale..wonder what he did with it?

Muff wants to put lights on the buckets next year. Collin suggested strobe lighting. We did good to get lids on this year folks. Gerri and Adam laughed that while they both own head lamps...they do not know where they are and they certainly did not remember them tonight! 

We were not ready to build a fire as we have some chimney issues. This is a slighlty more involved fix than the 12 stainless screws G.erri made a special trip to town to get this weekend...just saying.  Brad got a ride to the roof on the telehandler to assess the chimney. Walle was used to get the telehandler out of the mud with a chain..Bob apparently being the one who parked it in the mud. 

No fire. Not gonna lie, had  water, beer, doritos, cookies and rice krispie treats for supper. Not proud of that.........its kinda been a rough week.......maybe tomorrow.......sorry folks.......

Total Sap Tonight: 845 gallons + whatever we left in the woods

Total Syrup Today: Zip

Total Sap To Date: 845 gallons

Total Syurp To Date: Zip