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

 Monday Feb 28, 2022

The request........

Today was a really sunny pretty day..as long as the sun was shining. The cool air was quick to move in this evening!

Bob managed to tap about 2/3 of the woods by himself today. He failed to track his steps.....this would have been fun to know! He said he felt as though he trecked all over the woods today...

He was perhaps never so happy to see Evan and Brad in the late afternoon. He made a screen shot of their arrival on the life 360 app!  The boys tapped the south path to the former soft maple swamp, ........Brad did the outside and Evan the inside of the path. They counted lids this year and think that there are 456 taps.  

The sap was plentiful......this is a screen shot of the few seconds that it took for each tap hole to fill with sap.  It took about 2 hours for the first 2 inches to drip into the buckets.

...back to the request...when asking Bob what he wanted for supper....he requested roll on arthritis rub. Awfully early in the season for that.........

 Sunday February 27, 2022

Bucket and lid washing has been checked off the list in the last 2 weeks yea! This job is not a family fun favorite...but necessary. Bob and Gerri ran to Kansas presidents weekend for a baby shower and Cody's 30th birthday party......a very fun and fast weekend!! Meanwhile, the buckets were finished up by Brad, Adam, Kelsey and Evan...with supervision from Katie and Henry! 

Bob ordered a new attatchment for the power washer thinking this was the answer to our bucket washing woes....it worked but not the miracle we were looking for!!

A rain then sleet than snow storm slowed things up a bit for all. 

The fun thing in the last 2 weeks has been listening to Bob field phone calls from family friend Dave Green. These calls make Bob pull out the full repertoire of emotions..from banging his head on the wall to wailing in laughter. Dave and his neighbors are in their second season of "mapling" with a new evaporator and while clearly making progress....still have some questions. Bob made a treck to New Washington to see the operation in person on Tues Feb 22. They have a very nice evaporator and set up!! 

We start laughing when Bob's phone rings and we see Dave's name pop up. Brad's quote of the week response..... "Mom, this is why you never feed stray cats." We love you Dave Green! 

Today, Sunday Feb. 27th, started at church with Jambolaya after ...enjoyed this meal with our church family and then back to work. Gerri went to Sam's Club where apparently most of the world decided to do the same!! Brad, Bob, Adam, Muff and Evan threw buckets and lids out in the entire woods. Gerri showed up a little later....enough to realize that the north side of teh woods was pretty chilly!! The dogs enjoyed the run in the woods today as well. 

Bob is really impressed as he thinks this is an ironwood tree and he thinks that this woodpecker was pretty motivated to make this hole!!

The sun was shining and most of the snow was gone. 

Watch the ice in the above picture wave as Brad drives Walle forward!!

The plan is to tap trees tomorrow...but everybody is doing to their 9 to 5 except Bob.....so we will see what tomorrow brings.

The Blur from April 2021 and forward......

Announced to the family that we needed to do a catch-up blog…they retorted that they did not understand what there is to say about ketchup. Chief concern being that they seemed rather serious. The ever droning on pandemic has not enhanced our family’s intellectual performance.

 

The 10 months that have flown by since our last entry have been strange to say the least!  We are grateful to be well. The pandemic interfered with our ability to get buckets washed.....we still have to face that monster prior to the season of 2022.

Bob spent the spring saying good bye to Penta Career Center after 31 years . He enjoyed his time with his applied math and physics students over the years and did not grasp until early September that he was not returning!!

The field crop planting in the spring was a rocky process plagued by equipment breakdowns. Our most notable issue

was sitting for days over the Memorial holiday waiting on a new tire for our planter. 

 

Brad and Cody busied themselves going for swim looking for turtles! We also cleaned up a tree from the barnyard and hauled it to a small burn pile!

Gerri and Piper went for a ride between trips with limbs.

The entire family worked hard for a weekend at tree trimming and stump removal. This included a short encounter with a flying squirrel…that IS a real thing....you can see it in the in this tree if you closely!

 

Evan and Kelsey could name 2021 the year of demolition! They successfully did weekend warrior house demolition. They managed to clear and clean out the Metzger farmhouse. They enjoyed meeting with Don and Gail Metzger and getting some of the house history.

 

The sheep continue to multiply. They occupy two barns now. Portable fencing allowed them to graze the cover crops. Bob occasionally does chores and  while he complains some, he pets them all and mysteriously knows their names. 

Brad did a little online auction shopping...site onseen purchased this AC G tractor..........pleased him to no end!!

Hands down the most laughter we had in 2021 was a 3 week adventure with an escapee emu. This big bird showed up in unexpected places and entertained the entire neighborhood. “Cher” the emu frolicked about a square mile at large for some time making new friends in strange places.

Our future labor force increased by one on July 8^th with the arrival of the cutest lad .......Henry Clark….son of current farm slaves Adam and Katie! 

There were some quiet moments on the farm this year. The landscape can be serene.

Spring garden planting was a bit late, so we decided to try bale gardening. These are bales of rye straw that has been supporting our compost pile for some time. Our friend Kim Root has mastered this skill.....we did no prep on the bales but found this to be a "do again" project!! 

 

Labor day week Bob and Gerri ventured to Kansas for a house painting party that ended in lime green victory! We enjoyed our whirlwind visit!!

 

 

We made fun of Cody ...... borrowing the neighbor's scaffolding looked a lot like an episode of "The Red Green Show"!

The guys went to the woods in mid august and surveyed our supply of trees that were candidates for running through the mill. They subsequently went to work cutting down several trees in the soft maple grove. Enough boards were cut to build Gerri a small building for outdoor projects. Ironically the roof accounted for 80% of the cost of the entire project!

The building got a coat of oil to seal it and a nonslip floor painting over the course of the fall. It made its way to its final destination in the backyard on Feb 2nd . We have not been able to slide it out there all fall due to the wet conditions. It was certainly not dry the day it was moved...in the rain....but an impending snow storm and the need to get the snow plow truck in the barn pressed the issue. Brad describes this event as a "terrible experience". Gerri appreciated them moving it while she was at work and not present for this project. 

We celebrated with the Cleveland family Megan and Collin’s wedding September …beautiful day and beautiful people!

This fall was a frustrating rainy journey at times. Minor equipment issues slowed progress. The leaves were slow to fall, this photo was taken on Nov 25th!!

 

Our family spent much time and effort was spent appeasing Gerri’s specialty crop obsessions. (More on that later!) These projects too were hampered by the rain.

 

Cody and Amy came east to harvest their first Sandhill Rd. corn crop in early November. 

Cody and Amy creatively announced that we will have another generation of sugarmakers arriving in 2022!!

 Grandma Marsha made a whirlwind visit to Ohio in October. We enjoyed seeing her! It has been almost two years since we have seen them! 

It is a very long story…but we made a few batches of maple candy ….if you are going to learn how to do something….sell 600 of them for delivery in a week (sarcasm galore!) . This really improves your motivation to learn and deliver!! The entire family pitched in to get this order ready and Evan thankfully delivered the goods to Cincinnati on time! 

 

This Christmas..the market was good for syrup, but the farm workforce has been spread a little bit thin this year. Much time was spent shopping for bottles for the syrup…supply chain issues were evident.

 

Bob enjoyed a trip to Florida in January to visit with his parents. He enjoyed the sun and sand. Bonuses included a visit with Gail and Don Metzger and hauling home some orange blossom honey. 

                               

                                                                                       

As we start to think about heading to the woods…we have a great snow pack. We have been blessed with about 12 inches on Feb 3rd, 2022. Hearing that they have tapped in parts of Indiana already..think we are a few days away…hopefully.

 

more to come soon........

 Saturday March 20, 2021

Sunny and relatively still day today. We have had a typical March week in Ohio of rain, wind and a few snow showers Thursday afternoon. It was cool last night dropping down to 32 but not freezing. The trees ran a little today in the warm sun. Gerri had the privilige of taking the bucket check walk today to find a couple with 4 inches and many with none. Most with a bug or two though! 

Adam came up with the idea to grab the sap and boil in what we have while pulling the taps at the same time. We decided that we are all tired and gathering up tubing and lids, no matter how much help, was asking a little much of everyone. We settled for emptying the buckets and putting them along with the lids at the edge of the path. These can be grabbed another day. The forecast moving forward is warm. Unanimous vote to cut our losses and start the inevitable shut down/clean up process. 

The gang was large and made light work this evening. Ma Sue Parks her grandkids X 4 in tow this evening and Phillip Shumway brought his band of now experienced workers rounded out by Dale driving, Nancy, Gerri , Brad, Kelsey and Evan. Aunt Susan made a trek out to visit tonight. The walk was spectacular tonight. Still relatively dry despite the recent rain, no undergrowth yet and no wind to contend with this evening either. We talked that we have been relatively lucky this year and have not had to work in the dark much. Phillip and Gerri laughed that they rarely show up on time during the week to do the South Path so that was a special treat for them. 

Gerri ran to town to get Pizza and Salad. She was gone a long, long time. Did not go to Italy to get it, but might have been able to in the time frame this took. Sorry to all who missed it! 

This writer is not sure what happened  (guessing the syrup boiled a little too far), but the only thing more distressing than Adam and Brad fighting is when they are  excessively in cahoots, laughing  and discussing how "Bob does not need to know what just happened here". Bob was visiting with his Aunt Susan on the other side of the steam. He eventually came over to inquire but lips remained tight. 

The Parks kids checked out the sheep. Knox was NOT a fan HaHa. 

The day was spent hauling sheep manure and rearranging the critters. They loved the sun! This was the first venture out for the little lambs ...wish we had a video of that romp!

Sap Today: 140 gallons

Sap To Date: 

Syrup Off Today:

Syrup Off To Date: 99.5 plus.....

 Tuesday March 16th, 2021

Collecting sap "one tablespoon at a time"........quote of the day from Melissa! So true! Many buckets had little more than a TBSP..but the bigger picture is we added them together to make an impressive 150 gallons. 

Runner up quote of the day from Brad "glad we saved this sap...i bet we can make a whole pint of syrup from this that may or may not taste good..time well spent!"

Bob drove today in Dale's absence and he made an effort to tamp down the paths a bit to work on the ruts. Melissa , Collin, Evan, Kelsey, Gerri , Adam and Katie got the sap tonight.The woods is so unbelievably dry. The walk was easier than most tonight with lighter loads and crunchy leaves beneath your feet. 

Brad made a trip to the roof and declared the chimney a terminal problem that will need addressed as soon as the season is over or as soon it falls down..whichever is first. 

We had leftovers and subs for dinner during a quick boil in tonight.(The evaporator pan was full of water so they drained that and it quickly filled with our new sap. Bob's theory was to boil the sap a bit to cut down on the bacteria and see what happens later in the week. 

We were thankful for a beautiful walk tonight and the time change giving us some extra daylight this evening. We teased Evan about great names for the new ram lamb. He was not amused with most of our suggestions (Amos, Lester, Liam, and Charlie were some of our great suggestions 😁)

Total Sap Today: 150 gallons

Total Sap To Date: 4,657 gallons

Total Syrup Off Today; not even a pint, zero

Total Syrup Off To Date: 99.5 gallons