Quick little update
Hello out there
Just a quick little update on what we were up to last weekend in the bush. It was a ton of little nick nacky work that had to be done, you know move this, attach that, patch this, connect that. We have the bush tied to the extractor, we have the extractor tied to the tanks. We just have to tie the tank to the large evaporator and hook up the automatic draw off.
Chuck is nearly there too, only a few little attachments and some plumbing and we are off to the races. We found a great blog or should I say that they found us. They are another maple syrup produciton pleace based out of New York. They are the home of the sapsquatch. As you know the sapsquatch is very powerful and mysterious create that lives primary on the hard work of fellow sap collectors. Beware his is perplexing nature!
enjoy the little
Central New York Tapped in.
Look Like Central New York has lots of sap happening and not much snow. I think it is going to start pretty early this year. I have been keeping an eye on some of the videos posted to Youtube. It looks like Elizabethtown, Pa has 2012 maple syrup. Some places in Vermont are also tapped in an getting ready to produce. So it is coming soon for everyone I don’t see why Northern Ontario would be an exception!
Stacks
Well, it’s that time of the year. Time to put up the Stacks in for the new evaporator. Not that there is a good time to do something like that. For those of you who have never put up a 13″ diameter stack 16′ up in the air it is not the most pleasant thing in the world. You might fall off the roof, you might drop the stack, you might crush your fingers the whole gambit of bad things.
We started by moving the big evaporator into position with the tractor. We used some good old tractor knowhow and placed it perfectly. We than put the stacks in up as high as we could on the inside of the building than proceeded to cut a rough hole in the roof. This was quite a delicate procedure as we already had 3 stacks coming out of the roof from last year. Our poor tin roof has started to look like a huge piece of swiss cheese patched with mismatched tin roofing on a ton of silicon.
Once we were ready for “the big lift” Mike and I move the 16′ of stack slowly up the side of the roof until we got to the peak. “All right lets lift it up”, I said wanted to get this over with as fast as possible. This was not about to happen as we just did not have the leverage or balance to get it done. Now for those of you who have significant others whom you love and love you, you know that they can sometimes separate themselves from a situation that could be potentially life threatening. We decided to come at if from another angle and set up an extension latter latched to the building with a rope leading though the highest rung back to the ground where Brianna could keep the stack from falling.
Now the moment had come, we had the stack upright on the roof ready to lift and put it into the already secured stack sticking out about 3 feet above the roof. Now any number of things could have gone wrong, fingers crushed, falling off the roof, being tangled in the safety lines or loosing the stack off the roof. On the count of 3, Mike and I lifted and place the stack perfectly. A few seconds of panic and we were solid! The engine now has an exhaust!
shot from the roof of the sugar shack
Down the Stack
it's a stack victory!
And syrup season begins again!
Well there has been quite a bit of activity in the bush in the last little while. We have been working non stop for the past two weekends. We now have the evaporator in the building, nothing really hooked up yet but boy are we happy that there is no chance that a branch will fall on it. I can also tell Mike how I hit it with a golf ball as there does not seem to be any real dents or dings since we took it out of the uhaul.
We also tore everything out of the old shack, rebuild the floor and now our sugar shack will be much easier to keep clean.
We also spent some time organizing the hole in the universe known as “THE BROWN SHED”! That thing was an enormous junk pile. So now we know where things are for the most part which makes life that much easier.
Things are moving forward now, summer is over and it is time to Gear UP! Get it done!!!!!
No work in the Sugarbush – Trillium time
No work to be done in the sugar bush in the next little while so that we can let all the Trilliums do there thing.
Lean Mean and Clean
So it has been pretty cold up here the last couple of days. No sap is running at all but I have a feeling that this is only the calm before the storm.
It has been a pretty long time since I posted anything but there has been so much work to do all the time. We spent the last few days cleaning everything, a clean sugarshack makes for happy syrup.
We finished cleaning both Chuck and Burns, the extractor, the gravity tank and everything else. I am relearning that when everything freezes it makes doing anything a lot more difficult. Take for example pumping up our back tanks to the gravity tank. We had a great little system set up with valves that turn tanks on and off. When this system froze however it became useless so Mike completely cut all of it away and installed one line that went directly into the tank.
Simple is good.
We also got a huge jump on Fire wood. It takes a ton of wood to make Maple syrup and we sure hauled out a ton of it. I leaned how to be a hooker! It’s a dirty job but someone has to do it. The job entails following the guy driving the tractor and looping a chain around the log and hooking up to the tow bar. The hooker than follows the log as it is dragged out of the bush, if the log comes off the hooker hooks the log back up again. When the log is taken to the place it is going to bucked up the hooker release the log. The logic behind the position is to keep the guy driving the tractor from having to get on and off of it . You do a lot of running in the job, something I could stand to do a bit of.
A really interesting effect that we noticed from the freshly cut trees was the icicles forming out of sap on the ends of the logs. These “sap-cles” formed very quickly and were a very sweet treat.
More to come soon.
A New Enemy In Our Midst
A new enemy has emerged for Maple Syrup producers. It sneaks into the sugar bush without the producers knowledge, it takes hold of the precious nutrients in the soil and slowly kills the team players will to produce sap, it multiplies rapidly and without warning, before anyone can do anything the invading army has imposed its will upon the land. But its edible.
I am refering to the invasive species, Garlic Mustard. In the recent weeks a few articles have described the new found threat discovered on St Joe that has the Maple Syrup industry worried. Garlic Mustard is an edible plant brought over by European settlers for gardens and has since escaped the boundaries of rock and wire to roam freely about the province.
It seems garlic mustard produces toxins that contaminate the soil hampering the trees ability to grow and produce sap, at the same time multiply rapidly to out compete the native vegetation. After a few years the area invaded is dominated by the plant. It is a tough one to get rid of because of the fact when the plant is broken or cut off it is able to regrow quickly below the cut line and when left to its own devices can produce large amounts of seeds and destroy the ecosystem invaded. The seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to 5 years.
I haven’t had chance to do any patrols in the sugar bush yet but rest assured if any of these edible little devils make an appearance in Sap To Syrup’s slice of heaven they will end up in my kitchen.
Maple Producers Beware
Enjoy
Mike
UPGRADES ON THE WAY
Hello folks
With firewood done for the year and the setup in hibernation, Dave and I have been relaxing as much as the off season allows. But it won’t last long. We have acquired some things to upgrade the operation. There should be some interesting posts coming up.
Enjoy
Mike
Maple shop
This month is just flying by. Soon it will be time for the sap to flow again, I can’t wait! I had a chance to talk with Mike today about how the bush was progressing. He has been insanely busy running mainlines and I wish I was up there to help him.
I have been busy myself putting together a little corner for all my maple syrup stuff. I tripled my storage space (I added a shelf). I now have a place for everything to go and I won’t have to dig around to find labels or a book. I have a very understanding girlfriend to let me use what little space we have in our bedroom store all my maple stuff.
Of course this is nothing compared to what Mike has been done in the last little while. My hat goes off to him.
Sugar shack work
Today started out great. We began the day by fixing up the sugar shack. We installed a rudimentary sink drain for the sink . Mike put in some more rafter braces and cut out a few more logs. The Sugar shack looks amazing, much more wide open.
We did not spend much time out in the bush today as the weather was not helping what so ever. We are going to be able to get a few small things done tomorrow before I have to head back down south to Toronto. I really wish I could stay up here from longer but I have to keep working away at my web development stuff.
We took some time to visit with Keith Brown and pay off some bills, we picked up a gripple tool and some mainline ties. We should be all set for tying on the lines early tomorrow morning.
After we came back we leveled out the main evaporator and put in a sink and counter. We also put some insulation between the roof and walls to hold in a bit more heat. It gets nice and toasty in there now.
I will be able to post some videos and pictures when I get back to Toronto.
Thats all for now.
Running main lines, we’re committed now
Well it has been a long time since I have posted something on the site. I am back up north for the weekend and Mike and I have a lofty goal of running all the mainline in the large part of the bush. This is about 350 taps and from now on it will called section 1.
I had the misfortune of cutting open my finger after buying a new Remington knife. Beware, I’ll post the picture when I am not on devil Dial-up. It flipped open on the car ride from the Sault less than 20 minutes after I bought it. Not a great start but I am sure it will get better.
The first stop we made on the island was Keith Brown’s. We picked up the wire spooler and the mainline wire. He was nice enough to let us borrow a gripple tool, this was an amazing and time saving device. It helped us get all the wire up in less than two days.
We then had Bill Smith take a walk through the our bush. He took a look at our layout and our plans and said it looked good to him. He did however have some real concerns about our evaporator. We have two really great stainless steel flat pans but there is no way that we will be able to keep up with 500 taps on a 2x 6 pan. We might have to pull back the number of taps we put in this year. It is either that or come up with $4500 for a new flue pan. We are keeping our eyes open for quality used stuff.
We have also made some major modifications to the sugar shack. We replace the rough log roof supports with regular 2×6. This allows us to cut off all the huge logs that run the width of the sugar shack.
Tomorrow we will do some more finishing touches to the sugar shack and put up the main line. We really wanted to get blue line run in the bush but it was not possible to get it here on time, we had to settle for the black stuff that was in stock. There is nothing wrong with the product it just takes a bit more effort to clean.
That’s all, will post tomorrow.
Videos – marking trees and mainline
I posted two videos a few day ago of mike and I running around in the bush marking trees and putting up main lines.
As I said I would here they are
Enjoy.
Marking Trees
Marking Main lines
Off dial up
Well I am back in Toronto and back on high speed internet.
This makes me very very happy indeed, but of course I miss the bush. There was a ton of stuff that we accomplished over the weekend I was up north. Once I got a chance to get to know the bush I understand a lot more about what Mike was talking about.
I think that we are in a great place right now because we have been laying everything out and planning things together. Every tree that we want to tap is marked with red or pink tape. Where we are going to run the main line is also marked with blue tape and leveled. Mike and I had a great time chatting about how we were going to run the lines and what trees we were going to tap and how. If we were ever going to kill each other that would have been the time but we came out of it smiling!
We shot lots of great video and took lots of great pictures. I will be posting them soon.
That’s all for now
Main line Plan
Well Mike and I have been incredibly busy the last few days, mostly clearing brush. Our plan is to eradicate every single balsam on the lot. We also finished layout the rest of the bush. We marked out our 500+ taps with taps with flagging tape, to good new is it was in a much smaller area than we though it was going to be.
This morning we are going to be marking out where our main lines are going to run. I am glad I am up here from this, it is really the foundation for a good bush.
We were chatting last night about how we were going to attach the main line cable to the trees. We don’t want to hurt them but we also don’t want to get too complicated. We agreed on strips of cedar from now as they are quick, cheep and simple. If there are any other ideas out there I would be happy to hear them.
Again it is difficult to deal with this dial up. To make matters worse the website is having trouble uploading pictures. Another thing on the list of things to fix up.
In the new Bush
First full day in the bush and Mike and I are stoked. Started off kind of bad as the plan we had come up with was rendered futile. We wanted to keep busy so bad that we ended up starting to work before we knew what to work on.
I leaned how to weld which was very helpful, tomorrow I will lean to use a cutting touch to undo everything. We needed to elevate the holding tanks to create a gravity feed to the evaporator because we needed to get the sap up higher than the evaporator. We welded brackets onto a huge trailer frame in order to hold two 400+ gallon tanks.
The first thing that we did was to move the intended vac shack to its new location. The shack was about 14’ by 14’ and was not easy to maneuver in a bush where the trees are 12’ apart. We were going to move it all the way to the other end of the yard and then pump the sap back to the camp in order to boil it. Good thing we did not move it all the way. When I am not on “devil dial up” I’ll upload some amusing video of the moving process.
Keith Brown was nice enough to come to our bush and inspect our prospective operation. He put us on the the right path on a lot of the issues in the bush. I am sure everyone has heard of the KISS principle before, we just needed a push in the right direction.
Now we are going to put the vacuum tank in the garage that we were going to use as our sugar shack in the next few years. He than suggested that we just boil in there as well…. you know “where the sap is”. Both mike and I felt a whole lot better after having him inspect everything. We both feel confidant that we are on the right path.
After Keith left we decided to mark all the trees that we wanted to tap in the bush. We marked them with flagging tape until it was too dark to tell the trees apart. The count so far was 268, I think we are going to hit 500 tap goal in a smaller area than we thought.
The sweet perfume of a sugar bush
A sugar bush in the fall has a beautiful odour of crisp leaves that have begun to fall to ground, the smell of the assorted trees mixing togeather to produce the seeds being sown for next years crop of young saplings. Combined, all create an amazing perfume that is indescribable and is something to behold. It is the feeling, it is the ora, the majesty and the favorite time of year of mine to be outdoors in what mother nature has worked to create for eons. It belongs to the annals of life. The bush comes alive with the stirings of creatures gathering food for their winter hardships to come. Its is full of the sound of mating rituals, arguing hiararchys, and the distant cries of migrating birds. The feel of the chill in the air of the northern winds send goose bumps up your arms and across your neck. The sight of wood stove smoke gently drifting across the canopy awash in brightly painted leaves, sparks an awe inspired smile on ones face. It takes on a new strata of meaning for one and all. Just being able to expirence it is one of the greatest things that my forefathers could proudly pass on to me, and I accept it with my own sense of wonder and respect. I love it ! Fall is to me the best times of my life. How humbling it is to see this magical transformation from the interior of the artisans studio.
Well in a few weeks David will be on my door step and the Vac shack will be renovated to facilitate the vacuum tank and pump. I am looking forward to this as Dave has not really got a chance to see what is going to happen in the bush side of operations yet. Fear not we will be ready for spring in the lines department. Its the evaporator side of things that has got me thinking. We have an old 2′X6′ arch and two 2′X6′ flat pans that my grandfather had set up from his years in the buisness. The trouble is he was retired had all the time in the world to boil and didn’t really worry about efficency. We on the other hand can’t run like this! To add to my delema when I went to move the arch into the sugar shack the bottom and all the fire bricks fell out. I was bummed out but to tell the truth not too much because it was the first real hurtle I am faced with and it is easily fixed, Just requires some time. Anyway I have the parts I need coming and will have it operational in a few more days. The pans however are a problem. We only have flat pans which are used for the finishing of syrup. We need what is called a flue pan. Aflue pan has a series of small channels that the sap falls into in the bottom of the pan, and it protrudes into the fire below to increase the boiling surfaces and therefore increase efficency. I priced one out and they’re not cheap. I also have been hunting for a used one and have had no luck so far. But we can still make syrup it will just take longer thats all. I plan to build a stand for one pan attach a couple of propane burners for our finishing pan. The other pan will be the evaporator. It will need a hood so I am going to talk to Keith Brown on what I could use for a temp hood and if I have to I will build one. So that is what has been happening around St JOE Gotta go.
Enjoy Mike
Sap to Syrup Business Plan
Alright so I’m sitting here, procrastinating really, getting ready to write a business plan for our Sugarbush.
There’s been a lot of stuff happening in recent days. Mike and Steph (Mike’s fiancee) have successfully cut split and piled 15 cords and wood which will be our fuel this year. This is a definite load off my mind. Mike keeps me really well-informed but I still feel a little apprehensive as I haven’t seen anything, Mike still is not taking any pictures. (I think he wants it to be a surprise)
I have the daunting task to write the entire business plan for the Sugarbush. This is going to help us organize everything that we need in order to push forward. It’s also going to solidify the plane both Mike and I have.
It still doesn’t mean that I am going to enjoy this, I’m written business plans before and boy do they ever take a lot of effort, but I guess that’s why they’re worth it.
alright I’ve killed enough time doing this.
The start of something beautiful
Well it looks like I’m going to be expanding my maple syrup career. I was up north on St. Joseph Island and I got to talking with a very good friend of mine Mike Garside. Mike is on the far end of the island at a beautiful hunting camp in the middle of the woods. his grandfather and father both used to work in the Sugarbush that is on the property. Mike and I started chatting and thought maybe we should revisit the Bush and bring it back to life.
Mike and I go back a long way our first adventure together and commerce was our firewood business. My father had logged are old property and the logger had left all the tops of the trees in the back of the Bush. After leaving all these tops four a year Mike and I collected an old truck, wood splitter, a chainsaw and a hell of a lot of work. It was one of the better working relationships I’ve had in my life.
We had a chance to walk the Sugarbush and made a rough estimate of about 800 taps in full Bush. In the first year though I don’t believe we will try to put in all the taps for now we would be content with 400. Some of the old equipment is still there like a beautiful stainless steel boiling pans. It also helps that there’s power out there and a cornucopia of odds and ends that you’d don’t know you need until you need them.
Well are on our way for another adventure that’s for sure. At least now I’m going to have something to talk about on a regular basis on my blog. It’s incredible how much I’ve been lacking in the last little while I apologize to anyone who has come here hoping to find new content.
I plan to be investing a little bit more time and effort into this website I know I always say that by this time I’m going to as I want to begin selling our beautiful woodfired maple syrup online.
Stay tuned for some more updates and check out my broken bone.
The scaphoid is broken
