MapleAcres

Maple Syrup: Nature's Spring Tonic. -- Since 1918

Done In The Woods

Into the woods by 9:30 AM. It was warmer and sunny today. A good day to finish cleanup in the syrup building. Washed the floor. Got all the tanks into the building. Used a dolly to move the tanks. It made the move much easier. Brought all the equipment back to the farmhouse.

There is off-season maintenance needed on the syrup building. Replace a broken window. Replace the kitchen door. Replace a door lock. And fix a PVC evaporator pipe we broke today while cleaning it.

We’ll post a season summary in a few days. Back to the farmhouse by 3:00 PM.

Washed Equipment

25 overnight. Cloudy most the day until late. Below freezing most the day until late afternoon. Lite snow flurries again.

Washed milk cans and filter press. Prepared the membrane with SMBS.

Should be warmer tomorrow. Hopefully we can get the floor washed.

A Rest Day

Into the woods by 9:30 AM. 30 and cloudy with a cold north wind made uncomfortable in the woods. Snow flurries even sited. We gathered milk cans, filter press and some other equipment to bring back to the farmhouse. Glad the pans were cleaned because it would have been miserable washing the pans in the cold. We’ve done that in some past years.

Returned to the farmhouse by 10:15 AM.

Evaporator Day 2

Evaporator, finishing pan and bottling pan are all cleaned. Inside of evaporator cleanup was easy. The residue wiped away. All tanks also cleaned. The floor is next to clean. Then get the tanks into the building and bring the R/O back to the farmhouse.

Into the woods by 8:30 AM. Back to the farmhouse by 12:30 PM.

Evaporator Day 1

Into the woods by 9:00 AM to clean the evaporator. Syrup pan clean. Bottom of flu pan is also clean. Working on interior. We’ve had to scrub harder in some places on the bottom of the flu pan. It cooked 3745 gallons of sap so it’s not surprising it’s taking effort to clean. The interior should be easier to clean.

It was sunny today and up to high 40s. It was pleasant this afternoon cleaning the pan.

Back to the farmhouse by 4:00 PM.

R/O Hoses In And Washed

Late start. Into the woods by 2:00 PM. Disconnected the R/O hoses and brought back to farmhouse. Washed with bleach and flushed with water.

Back to the farmhouse by 4:00 PM.

Buckets And Covers In

Into the woods by 8:30 AM to get the buckets and covers. It took longer than expected because of tractor problems. The tractor just stopped like it was out of gas. We didn’t check the tank but instead went to get 5 gallon can of gas. When we returned with the gas to the tractor in the woods we checked the level. 3 ½’ of gas in the tank. It’s not out of gas. Got the tractor running but it sputter a few more times. We’ll need to check the fuel line for obstructions. Buckets and covers are stacked in the garage. We’ll wash them over the summer.

Back to the farmhouse by 2:15 PM.

74 Gallons For 2024

Into the woods by 7:45 AM to bottle the last batch. It was just under 2 gallons but all totaled we have 74 gallons for the season. It’s an average crop. We’re happy with the result.

Worked on the spouts and buckets and covers this afternoon. All the spouts are out. We’ll collect the buckets and covers next. Also drained the R/O this afternoon in preparation for getting it in from the syrup building. Brought the membranes in yesterday.

35 overnight. Sunny and up to 70 this afternoon. This is nuts for March 12.

Back to the farmhouse by 3:00 PM.

Sap At The Tap Hole

But no tree pressure so no sap run. Producers on vacuum may be getting sap. It was 25 overnight. Sunny and 47 today. This is sap weather.

Into the woods by 7:45 AM to finish and bottle. It was cold again in the building. Ice started forming on the water in the evaporator. Done bottling by 10:45 AM.

We were taking out spouts and gathering up buckets and covers this afternoon.

Back to the farmhouse by 3:15 PM.

Anticipating 73-75 Gallons

Into the woods by 8:00 AM to bottle. Five gallons. Two milk cans remain. Anticipating we end up with between 73 and 75 gallons of syrup.

Cold north wind today. 30 overnight. Sunny and up to 37 today. Evaporator clean up should go well based on the sample we checked today. The cleaning solution did its job.

Back to the farmhouse by 11:30 AM.

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