Maple syrup

The house I grew up in was built in 1809. It had wide plank maple floors. Best looking floor I've ever seen and at the time otvwas probably the cheapest to use. I'd bet some planks were 16 inches wide. If I ever build a house, I'd go maple floors for sure. Love that look.

 

My friend's family feeds their chickens their dinner scraps, including chicken.....

 

Hope your back heals up quick and if you need any help when the sap starts flowing I'm only 25 min out and I will work for syrup.

 

I'm about 6 weeks away from drilling some holes in some trees and firing up the evaporator

 

That's a great time love me some Maple syrup.

 

useful timing... i'm getting low.

 

I'm empty and it's time to reorder.

 

Its like liquid crack!!!

 

I'm about 3,000 miles away. But I've been accumulating air miles and I too will work for syrup...!

 

We have a few syrup paid employees hahaha

 

Plan is to add 6 more feet of stainless 10" smoke stack, which should really increase the draw and draft, and up the efficiency this year. Also I'm hoping to be able to get a small preheat pan for the very back of the evaporator, the cold sap will flow first into that, heat up a bit from the steam, then flow into the main pan from there. Even if I can raise the temp of the sap a few degrees it should make a decent difference.
Finally I'm working on a barrel and tube system for one large maple grove we have, it's up a hill and carrying the sap to the truck in 2 5 gallon pales at a time from 60 taps takes time, especially on days that each tap puts out 2-4 gallons of sap. My plan is to have a barrel in the middle of the grove to dump sap into, with a spicket that I can attach pipe or a hose to, that will gravity feed down to the 225 gallon tank in the truck. That'll save time and hauling down the hill and having to walk back up for more sap. Could save an hour a day and a lot of labor if it actually works. If the gravity system doesn't cut it, I'll run a 12 volt pump with a solar panel on a deep cycle battery to pump it down to the truck, it's that much work to get the sap that I'm willing to sink some money into simplifying it.

 

I found a guy who has food grade barrels for sale. I told him what I needed it for. He said he used to make syrup on his familys farm. He promptly said he has some stainless pans that may work for a preheater, and also said he has 30, yes 30 cords of cut, unsplit wood that is seasoned 3 years that I can have, for FREE. It's mixed hard and softwood (which 8 can burn in the cooker) from a lot he cleared and he says he'll never burn it all before it rots. So looks like we are set for wood to burn for a while, I really hope it's good to burn.

 

I just spent a decent chunk of change on a custom fit back brace that will hopefully get me through the season. Since I'm putting back surgery off til at least the season is over.

 

All good ideas @Pudge ! That's awesome about the firewood!

Are there any things you can safely/painlessly do PT wise to strengthen your back up before surgery?

 

Oh yeah for sure. First off I've been dieting to lose some weight, I'm down about 10 lbs in the last 3 months which is helping.
I do some basic stretching and yoga stuff to help strengthen my "core". Biggest thing is being smart about what I do and how I do it. I do pretty basic PT which in combo with the epidural seems to be helping. I don't like to and won't be wearing the brace unless I'm lifting stuff. I'm hoping to get through the season. One wrong move and I'll be useless and go in for surgery. I just couldn't do it after the issues with insurance and it being so close to Xmas and the syrup season. I'll inevitably need to get it fixed but I feel like I'm in a good place now to give it a go.

 

Good deal, be careful not to push it too much!

 

Found these pics earlier today. From about 20 years ago when I first made syrup. Started on a woodstove in the barn when I was 10, did that for a few years. Then upgraded when I was 15. Sold all the equipment when I went to college and then got married and had a kid. After a long hiatus got back into it a few years ago.

 

Season is about a month away. Supposed to be warm this weekend so lots of prep work will get done.

 

Hell yeah Sean. I had to eat other syrup last wknd . Wife asked why syrup tasted funny
I said unfortunately were left with the other stuff . Good to hear. Will be ready and waiting.

 

Everyone better stock up this year, you know how much you like it and how fast you went thru it.

 

yes indeed. hickory and birch trees can be tapped to make syrup as well, even the american sycamore which supposedly has a butterscotch flavor to the syrup. its pretty much the same process except it takes more sap to make the same amount of syrup because the sap is lower in sugar content, except the butternut (white hickory) tree, those are also have sap around 2% sugar as well. i also believe the time of year the trees are tapped is slightly different. im actually surprised more people dont make various syrups.

 

Spent the day cleaning equipment and prepping. Everything was cleaned after last year but it sits all summer so I did it again. Cleaned and powerwashed the 425 and 210 gallon holding tanks, the 100 gallon stainless gravity tank, the evaporator pans and 200 taps and buckets.
Also Realized two of the 3 cast iron firebox grates were cracked from warping under extreme heat so I'll have to order some new grates unfortunately and install them, sucks because I need to remove then re-cement some fire brick back in that area to do that. I'll also order some insulation board and blankets to seal in the heat a little better. I am thinking I'll also get a gas powered transfer pump this year, I can use it in the woods to transfer sap from holding tank to truck tank instead of hauling it in 5 gallon buckets, and it also will pump sap from holding tank to gravity tank much faster than my 110v pump.
Other than that I'm pretty much good to go. Just waiting for weather now. Can't wait.
Oh I also scored a 6.5 hp 27 ton log splitter today. Honda motor, runs great, for $700 from a pawn shop that really didn't realize what they had, I heard about a guy through a friend that had to pawn it for 500 so I jumped on it. We had been borrowing a neighbor's 20 ton but it was slow and old, afraid we would break it. My brother burns wood in his house so he'll get good use from it.

 

Can't get a tig welder in there to repair?

 

I was actually just thinking about this. I could call a welder to come take a look. One grate is so warped it may be beyond repair but it may be worth a shot.

 

i have a tig that i mess around with and a) it amazes me what it can do with just my skills... but...

b) pro welders can do some mind blowing work with cast iron repairs, provided they have enough access to clean it up prior to welding, it could be a good option for you?

 

That's good to know. I could remove the grates to make it even easier too. I'll get the grates together and call a welder. Thanks for the tip. New grates will be 200 + shipping. And while I'm at it I'll see if he has some scrap stainless he can fab up into a preheater pan for me

 

I'm definitely going to have to get me some this year!