Thursday March 21. 2019
What should have taken three to four hours of boiling in the sap from last night, took 6 hours so that kept bob busy for  a bit.  Brad was elected to go to the trailers and dig out some dry wood.  There was a discussion as to who put the cart of short pieces in the trailer.  Bob did decide that short pieces would be better than the wet wood. Bob is feeling a bit disappointed that the sap did not keep well..the syrup is quite dark tonight...but everyone was really whipped last night and the decision was made to quit.

Some housekeeping details today like cleaning out the fire pit, which included a full wheelbarrow of ash. Replaced a fire grate in the firebox.  Should have done two , but only had one on hand. This is a picture of a warped fire grate (started out straight). Took a little heat to bend that !!

Noticed some flowers trying to emerge in the woods. 













It was quiet boiling today so there was enough time to read the walls!

Total Sap Today: ZERO
Total Sap To Date: 5,115 + 188
Total Syrup Today: 8.5 gallons
Total Syrup To Date: 113 gallons

Wednesday March 20, 2019

Spring! Rather cloudy afternoon but thankful the drizzle did not settle in until we were almost done gathering sap tonight. When the weather changes.... it changes fast. Kelsey commented how soupy the north lane was tonight. We spied a few ants. The sap was nice, but perhaps not as pristine as a few days ago.

Kelsey said that everyone literally showed up to gather tonight one by one. She and Melissa got off to a start by themselves and eventually, and in no specific order, Brad, Muff, Gerri, and Adam arrived.We made one big trip around the paths and dumped only once, but almost full with 285 gallons on the tank. Evan arrived in time to help unload. 


Bob once again got a fire going as early as he could. The guys unanimously voted to let the fire die out last night with around 200 gallons yet to boil. So the gathering crew had plenty of time to do their thing without worrying about running out of sap in the camp.

Muff and Kelsey assembled dinner of sloppy joes and macaroni salad, veggies and cookies. We laughed that we are going through more drinks with the warmer weather!

Tonight we discussed squirrel damage and why they are attracted to bleach,  the raccoon population in the woods and Brad made a list of things the girls could do tomorrow! 

Boiling did not go well tonight. It is humid and the wood we had was a little damp. All that was boiled in tonight was the leftover from last night. Frustrated and tired, everybody headed home by 10 pm. And this was an early night. 


Quote of the day by Bob: the ever-ready bunny needs a battery recharge. 

Total Sap Today: 260 + 25 gallons
Total Sap To Date: 5,115 + 188
Total Syrup Today: 4 gallons
Total Syrup To Date:104.5 gallons

Picture from Monday night: Spirited conversation: thought Cody would enjoy seeing who was in charge, nobody. 

Tuesday March 19, 2019

Everything we thought it would be tonight. 495 gallons + 30 to be exact!

The woods was still and quiet tonight, quite a change from the last few weeks.

Thanks to all who helped tonight again...Evan, Kelsey , Bret and Melissa got a jump start on the gathering joined by Bryan, Nancy, Chris, Phil, Aiden, Kiley and eventually Gerri. Dale provided chauffeur service again tonight.  Bob was out on an errand so Adam got the boiler going while the crew made 3 trips/dumps tonight. 




Kiley's inquiring mind wanted to know what the dog was dragging around.....a deer leg bone that has been laying in the woods all season. 






Word has it that we will need to pull the soft maple taps tomorrow if we gather. They are done according to those who tasted and smelled! These trees are normally the first to run and they are typically very short in duration. 

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Signs you might have spent too much time in the sugar camp in the last week.........

Bob asked if today was monday or tuesday?!

You have no clean clothes, the only ones you know where they are for sure are carharts/boots .

While cleaning up the food we realized that Melissa's crock pot is at Gerri's, the base is in the camp and the lid is at the farm house. Guys cleaned up by themselves last night. 

You are still laughing at Katie's stuck upside down behind the dryer story..even if you heard it before...can still make you cry. 

If you overhear Brad explaining to Adam why it goes a little faster when you make a fire under the evaporator and not beside it. 


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We had reubens, veggies and miscellaneous left overs for dinner tonight. Discussed raising bees and berries and hay tonight...diversification plans. 


Phil helped to put up a new light in the camp....Brad said we need this because Bret and Gerri cannot read the thermometer...the problem is the interpretation not the visual....anyway the new light is lovely, we can land a plane with it when we r done using it in the camp. 

Less than peppy 7th inning players.

Left about 180 gallons of sap not boiled tonight due to fatigue. 

Total sap Today: 495 + 30 gallons
Total sap To Date: 4,855 + 163 gallons
Total syrup Today: 7.5 gallons
Total syrup Today: 100.5 gallons

Monday March 18, 2018


Awoke to a white powder coating on the ground this am! Sunny spring looking afternoon. The trees must like this weather as well as they gifted us 390 + 18 gallons today! So in retrospect it was a great call to process the 270 gallons from yesterday last evening!!

The source of tonight's blog is the rumor chain with no accuracy promised. At press time people who might know what happened are asleep or in the shower and the 3 in the camp sound like they no longer care (Brad, Bob, Adam). 

Word has it....... Erin, Tinleigh, Brad, Kelsey, Muff, Adam, Maddie, Katie, Bret, Phil S., Aiden and Kylie gathered tonight. Dale drove...and did report back through the grape vine..... how impressed he was that Morgan rode the wagon and repeatedly lifted full 5 gallon buckets and that he was thankful that was not his job tonight! Brad expressed appreciation that Melissa sent food. 


As of  10 pm there were 9 inches in the upper tank. On the good side, it is 28 degrees out. On the bad side... it will not stay 28 degrees until tomorrow evening. 

Total Sap Today: 390 + 18 gallons
Total Sap To Date: 4,360 + 133 gallons
Total Syrup Off Today: 7 gallons
Total Syrup Off To Date: 93 gallons

March 17, 2019

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Well today was, as Gomer Pyle used to say..a .suprise, suprise, suprise!!

The master plan was to rest, take a nap and prepare for the week ahead, which weather wise, looks like it could be a fantastic week for making syrup. They are calling for cool nights, and warmer temps during the day with some sun at intervals. Given the fact that everyone has work or school during the day, sap runs on weeknights are always a bit trickier. It takes about an hour to boil in 100 gallons of sap ...depending of course on humidity, air flow, sugar content of the sap etc..., and an additional half hour to get it up to temp and to cool it down again at the end, so you have to plan ahead a bit if you want to get all the sap boiled in each day and get some shut eye. Processing all the sap each day becomes even more imperative as the weather warms. Bob checked buckets mid afternoon and was surprised to find what he thought would be 270 gallons...he figured we had better deal with that today in case tomorrow finds a larger run. 

Saved again by neighbors and friends we had a nice size crew to work with today....Morgan drove...and did a wonderful job! Katie, Adam, Kelsey, Evan, Muff, Nancy, Gerri, Bret and Melissa rounded out the crew. Bob guessed the sap exactly correctly ...we had 270 gallons and Adam and Katie brought about 11.  

It was pretty and sunny earlier today, but clouds came in this afternoon and the temperature dropped considerably. There was a gentle, big flake snow while we gathered tonight that was very pretty but cold! 

Today was bring your dog to work day,... Bailey, Lola, Piper, Teddy and Calvin all enjoyed a run in the woods. 

Calvin gets the award for staying the cleanest!


Before....

After....please note the color of my feet and my expressions are sporting slightly more attitude....

Half of the crew had to get to a 4-H meeting so we made bologna and hot dogs lickity split and left Adam , Katie and Kelsey to man the fort. Still standing after 4-H..... all is well. 

Highlights of the evening included Melissa's cookies and Adam went on break without going through the proper chain of command. 

Thanks to all for your help...again. 


Total Sap Tonight: 270 gallons + 11 gallons
Total Sap To Date:3,970 + 115 gallons
Total Syrup Off Tonight: 5.5 gallons
Total Syurp Off To Date: 86 gallons

T

Saturday March 16, 2019

What a fun day!  Even though it still looks and feels like winter..there is a hint of spring in the air...the morning doves could be heard this am......and the moss is perking up. The weather is cool but reasonable. There was a hint of sun today and a light wind. Perhaps nicest in the mid morning. Awoke this am to everything a pretty white from rather unexpected overnight dusting of snow.

The beloved combine is fixed...thanks to Redline and Nationwide HAHA....so Bob picked that up this morning and returned it home. We scrambled to catch up on other chores this am as well.

Bob tried his hand at making some maple cream...made the taffy portion at 0900 and the cream portion at 2100! 

Not to be outdone by Cody and Amy who spent Wednesday evening on their version.

 Cody says they stirred by hand for 40 minutes...Bob befriended the kitchenaid mixer. 

Bob ran a phone pole yesterday for the time to gather today, as he really did not think it would matter much...picking up what has been there since 

Wednesday and likely not much running today. The afternoon votes won so we started about 1 pm. Brad gets the award for best hat.

Nobody wanted to drive today so Gerri crammed into the cockpit. There was a lot of snearing, giggling and pointing......all Gerri heard was these people volunteering to drive next time. Nancy and perhaps one small tree..NOT a maple Bob...were the only victims. 

Katie exaggerating the bumpy ride!

Karma can be both swift and cruel. Nancy had a good laugh as Adam got one boot stuck in a mudhole. 

About 20 minutes later, Gerri/Wally baptized her as she collected a bucket near the path and Gerri goosed Wally to be sure not to get stuck. Sorry Nancy. Polka dots are in for spring! 

This is the scene of the crime, Adam is blocking Nancy......

Katie rode and dumped buckets while Adam, Kelsey, Evan , Muff,  Brad and Chris hauled in the sap. 

The soft maples have kicked in, Adam found a couple with full buckets today. 270 gallons was a respectable haul today considering we started with about 200 gallons in the camp leftover from Wednesday night. 

After we gather the sap into the
325 gallon container...we take it to the camp, attempt to park it on an angle and then pump it out into a stainless milk tank. We sometimes empty the tank if there is more than say 100 gallons at the end of one path (there are three major paths) so as not to be driving to the far corner of the woods and potentially running out of space. If you are driving Wally and emptying the tank this takes about 5 minutes. If you are standing by the path with your full buckets and those of your 2 best friends waiting, it feels like it takes about an hour. 

Adam working, Bob watching. 








Kelsey and Muff made philly steak n cheese on the griddle with cole slaw for lunch...that was enjoyed by all. 

Adam and Brad split wood and bantered for a bit. Bob gave them a talkin to about shutting down the evaporator properly....Adam grinned,...Brad rolled his eyes...unsure who absorbed the information. Dogs seemed attentive. 

The syrup is slightly darker today as the sap has sat for the last 48 hours. Each bottle represents a 5 gallon bucket of syrup. They are kept and used to help blend for specific uses while canning. 

Karen and Dale came for a visit at the end of the evening. Drove home in the daylight....woohoo! 



Total Sap Today:270 + 8

Total Sap To Date:3,800 + 104 gallons

Total Syrup Today:13 gallons

Total Syrup To Date: 80.5 gallons

Wednesday March 13, 2019

Hump day! Evan said he saw temp around 53 in his truck coming home from work today. The warmest day of the season thus far!

Bob sent out a text at 525pm to start gathering at 530pm ?????? Anyway, folks found there way to the woods. Bob went out to gather for the first time tonight (driving) with Brad and Kelsey and they were soon joined by Evan, Melissa, Chris, Sarah and Gerri. About half way Bob walked back to the camp after realizing that there is a good reason he stays in the camp, he worked on stoking the fire.....thinking about what time he wanted to go to bed! We really did not  anticipate there being quite this much sap today......420 gallons! The sap is terrific quality though...crystal clear and tastes great!  



There was a discussion about how much ice is left in the bottom tank in the storage building and how much we would have to boil in yet before we can drop the remainder down and put this on ice. The guys ended up letting 10 inches or about 200 gallons drop down to put on ice. They have had some late nights and are not prepared to boil all of this in tonight!  Rumor has it a couple of people may have fallen asleep at inappropriate times today...

We have created a system , while rather simple, it works. Each night we gather sap we write the date and amount of sap on the wall of the camp with a sharpee marker. It is a rule that the person driving Wally is to track the total...doesn't always happen! The plus on the right is what is brought in from outside this woods  ....Adam and Katie make their rounds in the neighborhood bringing this extra sap each time (and in earlier years Chuck would bring some from Sandhill Rd)

 Bob was making some comparisons to the season of 2013, the longest season in recent times , when we tapped on the same day we did this year...Feb 22nd ......and gathered for the last time on April 3rd. IF there is sap to gather tomorrow, that will be the most consecutive days in our barnside book-keeping system. We gathered March 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in 2013.  Tomorrow would be the 6th day in a row.    



Splitting the wood into narrow strips seems to allow more air flow around the wood and makes a little hotter fire. 

Thus far Bob calculates that one of these carts full of wood makes about 10 gallons of syrup. 

Tonight was the first night of boiling with the "patio door" open....felt good to have no wind, warmer air and the syrup smelled great tonight! 


At 10pm the center path had bottoms of buckets covered and nothing running on the south path. 

FYI: Bob has had a late night thought....somebody remember to put gas in Wally tomorrow...before heading into the woods :)


Total Sap Tonight: 420 gallons + 12
Total Sap To Date: 3530 + 104 (this # is finally correct)
Total Syrup Off Tonight:4.5 gallons
Total Syrup Off To Date: 67.5 gallons