Tuesday March 8, 2016

Day #14


You can tell everyone is tired. Muff contributes: Not much sap, 320 gallons, ants. everybody scattered, didn't get pictures. finished before dark. Brad, Dean, Muff, Adam , Katie and Bob collected.  Brad got started  early alone, he panicked a little as he started a fire after school and was getting a little low on sap so he headed into the woods to grab some quick.

 

At 9 pm there are 9 inches in the upper tank, Bob is a little unsure what to do. Filters are plugged with syrup but sap won't last. Might be done. Maybe not. Syrup considerably darker!

 

Total Sap today: 320 gallons

Total Sap to date: 3,712 gallons

Total syrup off tonight:11 gallons (3 from late last night)

Total syrup off to date: 63 gallons

Monday March 7, 2016

Day #13

Warm and windy and misty today. Busy day for all. Brad, Muff, Dean and Bob and Mr. B got started on the south path. Gathering went off without a hitch as nearly as can be discerned. Chuck and Sue and Katie rounded out the crew at some point. There were 27 gallons from sandhill rd and 520 gallons from the woods tonight. The sap is 1% sugar and after 3 hours of boiling none has been taken off. As of 9 pm there are 13 inches in the upper tank, it does not smell quite right, Bob is wondering if it is worth the wood to cook it tonight. However, it clearly will not last until tomorrow. Will tomorrow be the end?

Total sap today: 520 gallons + 27 gallons sandhill rd
Total sap to date: 3.392 gallons
Total Syrup to date: 52 gallons

Sunday March 6, 2016

Day #12

The weatherman sadly missed the mark today as we were promised a few hours of sunshine and much warmer than what materialized,...... gray, overcast and 34 degree afternoon with light wind. The sap has run a little the last couple of days and Bob wanted to get that processed to take the pressure off of the week as the warm spell is to start tomorrow...murphy's law!





Ice in the evaporator to start the day!







Brad checked buckets after church and split some wood. Adam, Gerri, Bob (his first trip into the woods to gather in a LONG time!), Brad, Muff, Dean, Dave and Gary gathered at a pretty good clip. Mr. Birch, back for more, dumped buckets on Wallie again allowing us to keep moving. Almost all buckets had some degree of ice in them today, we tried to get the sap and leave the ice behind to help preserve the sap tomorrow when it is supposed to be 60 some degrees out.

The picture shows the typical piece of frozen sap in each bucket, with the hole where the sap has been dripping in!

 

 

Bob started a fire as we discovered the valve was frozen shut on wallie. He made a make shift funnel out of an old clorox bottle and poured hot sap into the hose and several of us pulled this up in order for the hot sap to flush back into the valve, this actually worked on the first try (thankfully). Lesson for the day, park on an incline to empty Wallie completely.

Tomorrow night is 4-H, FFA and church council meeting and the first 60 degree day of the winter, so not much going to be going on tomorrow! In anticipation of sap running like a fawcett, Bob gave Adam some tips on being home alone tomorrow, including a Wallie driving lesson. Adam was quick to point out that he did not HIT anything (as others have). Mr. B was returned in one piece and reported that Adam did a fine job driving :)

Apparently it is all about the confidence.


Mr B about froze his hands off, he had to stay close to the fire for a bit to get the feeling back. Dale is now in sick bay, likely with Bob's plague (that seems to be still plagueing him). We did not really enjoy the pictures of Ted and Nancy in sunny arizona at spring training. Chuck went to a wrestling meet so he had the day off.

In a surprise corporate move, Bob has promoted Nicholas P. to Vice President of marketing. He thinks he has a  culinary appreciation for syrup and the personality fitzpah to get the job done right. Shout out to DUCK...please ask him about his rise on the sugarwood ladder when you see him!


Two Bob's and a Brad...........................

Sophisticated book keeping system.

Total sap today: 240 gallons
Total sap to date:  2,845 gallons
Total syrup today: 4.5 gallons
Total syrup to date: 52 gallons

Monday February 29, 2016

Day #11

Leap Day! Brad came home from school to check the woods, he thought there might be 300 gallons so he figured we should go get it. Bob sent out a text that this would happen asap.

Chuck showed up early to clean out the fire pit, he filled an entire wheel barrow that Brad soon emptied. He said this extra duty kept him from gathering the Sandhill forrest. Bob and Brad headed north through the woods soon joined by Muff. Adam caught up a little later and finally Dale and Karen. They found 280 gallons. Finished before dark. 

Chuck had to leave to assist Sue with a wardrobe snafu and quickly returned. They lit a fire and quickly boiled in tonight's haul and home by 9:10pm. Brad was off with James celebrating their love of moving furniture.

We had Aunt Dorothy's soup and Baldosser hot dog's for dinner--sent Brad to steal those yesterday! Nothing says Christianity like sending your kid into your neighbor's home to steal food on the way to church.

Bob is beginning to recover from the respiratory plague, no naps all day today, ....however just beginning to fight with the SAND in the syrup. There is a fine grit in the syrup--you can't see or taste this---but it plugs up filters quickly. 10 gallons completely plugged 2 new filters. This makes the final filter process really slow. We left 4 gallons in the filters last night as we ran out of patience...good thing as it was still sitting there tonight. Bob reheated the syrup and tried again with new filters.

Brad claims that tonight he saw 4 bald eagles about 15 yards of the edge of the yard at the farm. No video of this although he reports he tried!

Thanks to our helpers tonight!

Total sap today: 280 gallons
Total sap to date: 2,555 gallons
Total syrup today: 9.5 gallons
Total syrup to date: 47.5 gallons 

Sunday February 28, 2016

Day #10

Gorgeous sunny day! Bob checked buckets just prior to church and found several inches so he decided given that, and the wind forcast, to gather early today.

We left the camp about 1215 with Mr. B (back for more!)  up on bucket patrol on Wallie with Brad driving. Muff, Dean, Gerri, Adam, Mark, Susan and Julius. The buckets were a little fuller than yesterday. Kept one eye up in the air to watch for branches shaking loose in the wind. Pretty noisy today, hard to talk as we walked.

The sun peaked in the open roof.

George, Katherine , Nathan, Nicholas and Karaline joined us in the middle of the south path. The kids enjoyed the walk and were good help. Duck proudly attempted to tromp through each and every mud puddle. Bob said the missed photo of the day was him emptying the water out of his boots!

James showed up to help finish up. We gave Julius the grand tour of the camp and visited and ate. The camp felt like a nice sauna today. We had a total of 450 gallons with 20 from Sandhill Rd.

 
 

 
 

 

Bob said the evaporator ran through about 90 gallons per hour. The hose filling the back pan could not keep up at times so they hand carried in buckets of sap.

Bob attempted a brief nap, lasted about 5 min.

Total sap today: 450 gallons plus 20 gallons from Sandhill Rd
Total sap to date:  2275  gallons
Total syrup today: 8 gallons today
Ttoal Syrup to date: 41 gallons to date

Saturday February 27,2016

Day #9

Lovely day in the woods! Warmer and windy today! Bob is crawling out of quarantine....all but his voice and enthusiasm have returned.

One Word "Quote of the day" award goes to Adam:

Bob whispers  "I feel better but have no voice"
Adam responds dryly "Shucks" ...and then busts out laughing!

Bob and Lola left at noon to do CPR on the forklift, it needs a new set of points, but will run 20 minutes at a time, so for now...it is what it is.



He dug out some nice wood so Chuck was happy to have a better fire.

Dean commented how little ground eruption there was with the falling of the giant oak tree on thursday night. Bob inspected. It was VERY lightly rooted.







Lola enjoyed playing king of the mountain

Brad and Bob played with moving the carts around with a jack.

The wind is out of the south today, but crisp. We left the camp to gather about 510 pm with Adam, Katie, Nancy, Dale, Karen , Muff and Gerri. By the middle of the south path Mark and Susan came, (Mark came to get a brownie we think). We were graced by the presence of  Mr. Bob Birch tonight --hereafter referred to as Mr. B as do not want to confuse our Bob's. Anyway, with plenty of hands on deck to gather, we put Mr B on Wallie with Karen to dump buckets and Dale the daredevil driving. No accidents or spills noted! Well oiled machine. 1-2 inches in the buckets on the south, a little more as we headed to the northeast. 260 gallons found in all and we finished in the light of day! Found 2 buckets extra "full" likely missed as the last 2 paths through the woods ended in dark!!

Everyone glad to see the sun except Nancy who felt it could be a little warmer since returning recently from Florida.

Chuck and Bob started a fire, Chuck had to tidy up a bit as Bob moved things around in his work area and he doesn't do well with change. He seemed pleased enough that he had really good wood which kept the complaining to a minimum. Brad seemed to be the target of his harassment tonight (Sue is out of town, Brad's turn). He explained that wrestling would go better if he would do more of his share of splitting wood. Brad kinda smiled and ate all night. He looked like a glazed donut. Took Chuck's crap in stride. Goes over easier when you are exhausted and starving.

We enjoyed a lot of great food, over-ate, visited and enjoyed the steam bath.  Mark made awesome soup and Muff brought ham and potatoes that were enjoyed by all. Mark ate a brownie, possibly two and requested that Karen try to screw up another batch.

Dale got rowdy when he found out Bob gave Mr. B some syrup when he left. He pointed out this was crap as it was Mr. B's first day and his gazillionth day and he never gets anything given to him for helping. Then he went home. We expect him back tomorrow.

Bob returned to check the woods and found an inch of sap before he quit boiling tonight. He cleverly lit up a bucket for us to see the sap within.







Thanks everyone for your help!

Thanks for the great picture Katie!









Let the fire die out early so we had a little sap to get started tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

Total Sap Today: 260 plus 5 gallons from Sandhill Rd.
Total Sap To Date: 1805
Total Syrup off Today: 8 gallons
Total Syrup off To Date: 33 gallons

Thursday February 26, 2016
Day #8

This is one of those days when you are shocked that it is STILL the same day as when you arose. Winter storm Petros dumped a little snow and a little wind overnight and timed it right that this was a pretty & snowy day until almost 4 pm. Most of the schools were closed today. Bob is still not feeling great so he took advantage of the day to work on school work laced with naps.

Later this afternoon he drove over to the woods to put a new tote of firewood in the camp. This turned into a fiasco as the forklift got him to the woods, but only a quarter of the way back to the barn. So he ended up walking to the camp. So much for taking it easy tonight. He started a fire and boiled a little and decided perhaps if we could get some help around to gather tonight that would be wise. Ted, Adam, Dale, Karen, Gerri, Muff, Susan B and Dean got most of the woods with Brad arriving late. Dale has a sore back from jumping in and out of Wallie on the Tuesday night adventure so Gerri drove. This was fun at first, not really so much anymore.

Bob almost ran out of sap so we took took the 100 gallons from the tank to the camp and then proceeded on to the north path where the gatherer's were way ahead, enough to have found an enormous oak tree down on the far west end , ....and of course , across the path. Cell phone call to Bob had him soon on his way with a chain saw, so he ended up walking the entire distance of the woods with the chain saw. So much for taking it easy tonight. He and Dean quickly removed the top of the tree and cleared the path, the others had worked forward some by that time. More sap on the north tonight by far.

This is the large tree that fell.






Chuck was late today and was reprimanded. He did not find the camp to be very tidy and had to say something to the affect that it was not his fault. It has been a no frills kinda week so he was fortunate that Bob remembered he even needed wood. The totes seem to be full of more scrap and lower quality lumber, so firing was a little frustrating again tonight.

Bob left the camp to see if he could get the forklift to start as it is sitting in the middle of the lane.He failed at this task, so much for taking it easy.  While he was gone nobody realized that the top tank was going dry so there were some exciting and dark moments when Bob came back and hand carrried in some sap. we did not manage to run the boiler dry, but came a little closer than we would like to admit. Bob got a little running exercise between buildings for a short time too. So much for taking it easy tonight. The forklift had to be towed to the barn. Dale and Brad did that and Brad has a colorful story of how all that went down with grandpa forgetting that he could not steer at all and a lot of mud holes and NO fenders over the tires. 

Finished with a tad more light today than on tuesday! We found 280 gallons of sap today and Sandhill Rd provided 28. We ate and sat a bit. Muff and Gerri were pretty sure it was almost 12 about 715pm. Getting old. Susan B pointed out that she felt too old to do this. We kinda laughed and ignored her. The most intellectual conversation of the evening was whether or not we loved Mark enough to send him a brownie even though he did nothing to help tonight. Really sad stuff. As of 9 pm there was about 5 inches left in the top tank so they should be headed home soon.



Lots of pretty pictures taken today that somebody is NOT going to stay up late enough to download in here. Maybe tomorrow.


Total Sap Today: 280 plus Sandhill 28
Total Sap To Date: 1540 gallons
Total Syrup Off Today: 9 gallons
Total Syrup Off To Date: 23 gallons

Adam's view on the way out!