MapleAcres

Brought back to the farmhouse and rinsed the R/O hoses with bleach solution. The bleach solution sanitizes for off-season storage.

Thinking about replacing the woodshed before next season. The woodshed has had additions to expand it, but those additions weren’t well planned. The south side addition is more of a lean-to that seems to defy the laws of physics to stay standing. The east side addition lowered the roof line to under 6’ causing a hazard to hit your head. And the floor is uneven causing tripping hazards. Without lights in the woodshed, it’s a challenge getting wood when it’s dark outside.

Low 20s overnight. Sunny and low to mid-30s during the day.

Drained water from bottler then brought back to the house. Collected six buckets we missed yesterday. Made a trip to Menards to purchase a new flex house from the propane tank. Propane leaks from the fitting on the old hose.

Also drained the R/O feed pump. It takes too much effort for this simple task. The drain is in the 7 position on a clock surrounded by other parts of the R/O. It’s difficult to reach with a wrench to drain at season end or tighten at season start.

Mostly sunny. Mid-20s overnight. Below normal temperatures for the coming week because the jet stream dipped. Snow flurries for tomorrow morning.

Into the woods by 9:00 AM to collect buckets can covers. The small utility vehicle got stuck in the mud. It doesn’t have the clearance to get over the ruts created by the mud. Pulled out the H. Used the H to get the remaining buckets and covers. Finished collecting buckets and covers by 12:30 PM.

Rinsed the buckets with fresh water to help with washing for next season. The buckets are now stacked in the garage to dry. We’ll rack them next week.

Back to the farmhouse by 5:30 PM.

We made 73 gallons of syrup this season, but only bottled 71 gallons because 2 gallons went to the floor on March 20. With 410 taps the statistical average would be 75 gallons based on a yield of 1.5 pints/tap. The sugar content was down to 1 Brix on the last two runs of 265 and 475 gallons of sap otherwise we would have made more syrup.

Into the woods by 7:45 AM. The first batch bottled was actually from the last boil. The syrup was dark amber, but not grade B. Happy about that. The next batch was slightly lighter in color.

The new order of filter papers for the filter press has a slightly different composition causing them to filter differently. More syrup was trapped in the filter press. We were concerned the syrup could be cloudy because it didn’t seem like the filter paper removed all of the filter aid. Fortunately, the syrup was clear. We’ll need to monitor this next season.

Remaining work: bring in the buckets and covers; clean evaporator pans and firebox; bring back R/O and other equipment.

Back to the farmhouse by 1:00 PM.

Another milk can bottled. Into the woods by 8:00 AM. Back to the farmhouse by 12:15 PM.

Approximately 5 gallons remain to bottle in two milk cans. Projecting around 72 gallons for the season. One milk can has around 3 gallons. The last milk can, around 2 gallons. We put the last syrup into a separate milk can because it will be very dark: likely grade B. Its been quite a few seasons since we made syrup that dark because we could cook syrup faster with the R/O so it didn’t get that dark.

We’ll try to bottle both milk cans tomorrow. Estimating it will take 6 hours. It’s two smaller batches so will finish on the propane burner faster. We’ll finish and bottle each milk can separately so we don’t mix in the very dark syrup.

Cloudy and mid-40s today.

1 ½” of snow overnight. Changed to sleet at by 7:00 AM, then changed to rain by 9:00 AM. Rain ended by Noon, but stayed cloudy. Temperature in mid-30s. We didn’t go into the woods because of the cold, wet weather. We’ll bottle tomorrow when the weather is nicer.

Moved all the bottled syrup into the basement. When we brought the syrup in from the woods, we stacked it in the 1st floor living room.

Into the woods by 8:00 AM to bottle. Finished bottling another milk can by 12:00 PM. 19 qt and 13 pts. Projecting 70-72 gallons for the season. We have to bottle at least two more times.

Mid-20s overnight. The day started sunny. Turned cloudy in the afternoon. Light snow tonight again.

Back to the farmhouse by 12:30 PM.

Took advantage of the sunny day to get all the taps pulled out and buckets down. The buckets are still by the trees. They have to dry out before we collect them.

Also repaired a leak on the propane tank regulator. It’s had a faint propane odor for several years now. Saturday while we finished cooking, we identified the leak using a dish soap/water mix. Small bubbles arose on a bushing connected to the regulator where the thread tape wasn’t covering all the threads. Removed the bushing to redo the thread tape.

Rain turned to snow overnight. About ½”. Sunny and 40 today but felt colder. That’s typical for March. At the beginning of March, 40 feels warm. By the end of March, 40 feels cold.

Into the woods by 9:00 AM. Back to the farmhouse by 3:00 PM.

Drizzle and rain all day with a cold wind. This was an ice storm in Northern Wisconsin. No woods work. A day of rest. We did start moving bottled syrup to the basement.

Next week is cleanup mode.