Maple Syrup: Season 3

Here>>>>

 

Ok, but I’m gonna need to send a cashier’s check for double that amount. If you’ll cash it at your bank and refund me the difference it would be appreciated.

I eagerly await your reply

 

Not gonna work. Need gift cards. If you can’t send, just send me pics of the gift card number with the activation PIN.

 

No problem, but first I’ve detected a virus on your computer. I’ll need you grant me remote access so I can get it fixed for you.

 

What do you think would work best for metal? Plastic? I have about 200 holes to drill 60 plastic and 150 metal. The metal isnt that thick

 

Ok gimme a second. Need to forward this email saying Jesus Saves to 50 of my closest friends so I can get rich to then use that money to be able to cash your cashiers check.

 

Don’t take too long. Your grandson was arrested and I need a credit card number to get him out

 

What sizes do you need? I can check and see what I have.

 

How is my grandson a Nigerian prince?

 

Soul Glo

 

1 inch would probably be good. 1-1/8 max to limit sap loss on days the buckets fill to the rim

 

I am in.

 

I went out today and got about 50 taps in by myself. It really sucks tapping trees alone. I also got all new taps this year so I also had to drill new 1" holes in the buckets to hang them from the taps. Very time consuming. It was about 25° out there today and started to snow. Tomorrow is supposed to reach 50° and the weather looks great for the nest week or so. These 50 taps should give about 200 gallons of sap by Friday or Saturday when I can get the remaining 150 taps done. We should be cooking this weekend .

 

#BOOM!

And now we wait . . . .

 

Finally some decent weather. Usually we would be already up and running for a week or 2. But it's all good better late then never.

This could be a rough season for me. My brother and syrup partner has been having some issues lately and has been and may be zero help. It's not possible for this to be a one man show so I really hope he steps up and gets his shit together. If not it'll be very tough to have a successful season

 

Good luck. If I was closer I'd offer a hand.

 

If I go to CT next month, I'll help out if I can.

 

Missed out last season. I'm in, if there's any left after the returning customers.

 

So I way out of the loop on this one. What’s the cost?

 

First sap in the buckets today. 50 taps in yesterday, 50 more tomorrow, then hopefully 100 on Saturday. we should be cooking Saturday and Sunday.

 

Last year we made about 6k. Which was enough to finally pay off the investment and annual costs. It costs about $1k per year to run the operation, not counting firewood which we work hard to procure for free.
From this year on out it's all profit. Last year was a banner year and was close to double expected production. If we can profit 4k a year on average that's not too bad, it works out to be about $5 an hour or less. It's more for the fun of it and being active as the weather starts to get nice

 

Are all the trees yours? If not, I’m guessing you have to get permission from landowners? Interesting work pudge, it’s cool to see someone put in the work for something they love doing. Great job, keep up the good spirits.

Sorry for the ignorance on the matter, I’m from west Texas and we don’t have y’all trees around here. Mostly 10ft tall mesquites.

 

All but 6 of the trees are off our property. We ask local farmers if we can tap their trees in exchange for some syrup, good deal for everyone. We have 5 different properties all within a mile or 2 of the sugar house. We collect it bucket by bucket and haul it in a 250 gallon tank in the truck back to a 450 gallon holding tank at the sugar house.

 

50 more taps in today. I checked the buckets that I put up on Wednesday and they were all at least half full (4 gallon capacity). I assume by tomorrow morning we will have a couple hundred gallons of sap. Then we will tap 100 more trees. I have extra help this weekend so I'll make the most of it.

 

Man, half full buckets. We have 48 taps out as of today and we only got about 20 gallons from last week. It will get better, I'm just impatient.

 

Yeah way too early to tell. I have high Hope's for a good season but am leary of the quality of help I will get this year to make it all come together.

 

I put 50 out Wednesday and 40 out yesterday. Went out this morning and collected about 150 gallons. Then proceeded to put 97 more taps out, so a total of 187 for this year. I will likely tap a few more later in the season if needed.
Rainy day tomorrow but we will have to collect sap then cook it. I assume will have about 300 gallons or so to cook tomorrow afternoon.
I have the week off from work, and always take this week off , unfortunately Tues and Wednesday look cold which sucks for sap flow. Oh well I'll catch up on cooking those days.
I got my evaporator set up and dialed in today ready to boil tomorrow.

 

Ended up collecting 350 gallons today in the 40 degree drizzling rain and fog. Not a fun day but we got it done. Also started cooking the 150ish gallons we got yesterday.
Tried out my new pump today and it worked great. Itll save a ton of time and energy collected sap from this one area.

Here's the tank, we fill the tank up in the woods from the buckets we collect I'm 5 gallon pails. I have a small generator and sump pump to pump it down the hill to the truck. I tried gravity feed last year and it did not work. This works very well. I will add 2 more tanks in the woods, press out from each other. Saves a ton of walking, especially considering sometimes a bucket on a tree has 4 gallons in it, so you have 2 full 5 gallon collection pails from just 2 taps and normally would have to walk all the way to the truck to dump them into the tank.

 

This new pump is a lifesaver. You can kinda see how steep the grade is going down to the truck. I used to have to walk up and down that 60 times each time I would collect sap in this grove of trees. This saves time and energy. I would estimate that I'll save at least an hour if I'm collecting by myself. Not to mention carrying 2 buckets that weight 50lbs each down that slope 30 times. I will add 2 more tanks to the area and a new 3/4" hose that is not so stiff. With a 3/4" hose I should be able to pump about 20 gpm, compared to the 10 gpm it pumped today with the 1/2".
It's a small victory for me to finally get this working.
I scored the light weight 2 stroke generator and the "2000" gph sump pump from harbor freight for $150 and they work great for this application. New hose and 2 more barrels and I'll be a happy man.