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03/04/10, 02:09 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Indiana
Posts: 2,006
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Sap is running like crazy today!
Karen in NE Indiana
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Miracles are like snowflakes
They happen with little fanfare and they're everywhere.
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03/04/10, 02:19 PM
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Max
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near Traverse City Michigan
Posts: 6,560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebel Lemming
We put in over a thousand taps yesterday, exhausting.
We already had over 40 gallons of sap last night.
On my way down there to empty buckets with the boys today.
fun fun
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do you have some on tubing? a thousand buckets is a handfull
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03/04/10, 02:22 PM
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Max
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near Traverse City Michigan
Posts: 6,560
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some people are tapping here, but Iim not quite ready. one guy called me today. He has 90 galons of sap to sell me. I kind of expect to get a bunch of sap sold to me this weekend. I hope to be in the woods saturday putting tubing out.
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03/04/10, 02:24 PM
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Max
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near Traverse City Michigan
Posts: 6,560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy7Farm
Made just under a gallon today. Hoping to make the 10 gallon mark by saturday, which we are preparing to be our last day because of the weather, but if we get another run or two we will take it!
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thats fantastic! IM envious. I cant wait to fire up my evaporator.
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03/04/10, 02:26 PM
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Max
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Near Traverse City Michigan
Posts: 6,560
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebel Lemming
We have officially started tapping today.
We are doing one small grove today and planning on doing many more in the coming days.
It is so exciting after this long winter of being trapped indoors most of the time.
I can't wait to get out there and start carrying buckets full of sap!
I blogged about it a little today 
http://frmerswife.blogspot.com/2010/....html#comments |
what size is your evaporator? must be at least a 2x6 if you are tapping 1000 trees
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03/04/10, 02:40 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Austin-ish, Texas
Posts: 5,000
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Max,
How long before you will have syrup for sale again? I'd like another gallon and a friend wants several gallons, too.
__________________
"Perhaps I'll have them string a clothesline from the hearse I am in, with my underwear waving in the breeze, as we drive to the cemetary. People worry about the dumbest things!"
by Wendy
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03/04/10, 03:55 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michiganfarmer
do you have some on tubing? a thousand buckets is a handfull
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No, we have a hard working family 
We spend hours upon hours a day collecting sap. Last year we made 113 gallons of syrup. I doubt we will have so much this year because the weather might not cooperate.
It is a lot of hard work, but it is well worth it.
This is a link to one of my blog postings from last year.
http://frmerswife.blogspot.com/2009/02/hard-part.html
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03/04/10, 04:05 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 304
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michiganfarmer
what size is your evaporator? must be at least a 2x6 if you are tapping 1000 trees
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I will let my husband answer this when he gets home, I am not sure the size exactly.
But here is a picture of it.
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03/04/10, 07:04 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,898
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Ha. Some picture, Love.....my head in a cloud of fog.
My evaporator pans are roughly 40 by 50 inches by 8 inches deep.
I have two, stair stepped on the cooker so that I can run a slow trickle from the preheat pan into the finishing pan.
Those dimensions aren't anything special. I just happened to have two sheets of three-eighths plate 40 by 50 inches and I figured eight inches would be a good depth.
They hold somewhere in the vicinity of 60 gallons, each.
Tubing would be fun and all, but our trees are all pretty much on the flat.
__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III
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03/05/10, 06:25 AM
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Indiana
Posts: 339
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I couln't believe yesterday. We had never tapped before. We have 9 trees and we put in 25 taps. In 24 hours we had 12 gallons of sap!
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03/05/10, 07:49 PM
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FKA: Ripcat Ranch
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 165
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Have made a little over 2 gallons over the last two days. The forecast has extended our last run date to sunday but after that it looks like "Lights Out"!
I did manage to get one of those new Check-Valve taps from Leader and will see if it works without a vacuum system over these last two days!
This year we discovered a new "bucket" for our taps. We had been using gallon milk or water jugs but now we started using kitty litter jugs(cleaned out real good of course) from the local recycle center for our single tap trees, they hold a little more than 2 gallons of sap and work great! And you can even use them for more than one year. For our 2 or 3 tap trees we use 5 gallon buckets with tubing running from the taps into the tops of the buckets.
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03/05/10, 08:06 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 304
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We have gathered about 400 gallons of sap so far!
Our official taste tester
Can you tell he loves his work?
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03/05/10, 10:13 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Indiana
Posts: 339
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebel Lemming
We have gathered about 400 gallons of sap so far!
Our official taste tester
Can you tell he loves his work?
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wow! That is awesome!
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03/06/10, 09:47 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Indiana
Posts: 2,006
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Sugarspinner, was wondering how things are running down your way? The weather is supposed to be up in near 50 later this week. I'm hoping that doesn't put an end to our syrup making.
Karen in NE Indiana
__________________
Miracles are like snowflakes
They happen with little fanfare and they're everywhere.
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03/06/10, 12:17 PM
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 94
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Can someone explain the temperature thing? This is our first year and we have 3 taps. We probably collected about 10 gallons of sap so far and am hoping to make a pint of syrup. We are small fry Anyway the book says temps in the 20's at night and 40's during the day creates pressure in the tree that makes the sap run. What temperature range does the sap stop running at? Also how long can you keep in the refrigerator before boiling it down? Thanks everyone for getting us started on this
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03/06/10, 01:30 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Illinois
Posts: 9,898
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The sap will tend to stop running a day or two after the nights quit freezing sufficiently.
It will start flowing again the next time it freezes to 25 degrees or so and then the following day is 40 and sunnyish.
Sap will keep a week or better, refrigerated. It makes an excellent drink by itself, cold....and wonderful base for hot herb tea as well.
If you really want to keep some for a while without cooking it down, freeze it.
__________________
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Barry Goldwater.
III
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03/06/10, 08:22 PM
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Scotties rule!
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Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: IL
Posts: 1,614
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Quote:
Originally Posted by michiganfarmer
If you get ice on it, throw the ice away. the ice is mostly water, and by throwing it away you can reduce your boiling time.
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So if I have the freezer space I could toss buckets of syrup in the freezer for a few hours and then throw the ice away?? That sounds doable!
Kathie
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www.littlebitfarm.net
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03/06/10, 11:47 PM
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AFKA ZealYouthGuy
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NW Pa./NY Border.
Posts: 11,453
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Ha, found this video from a few years back... me... bigger... the boy... smaller.
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03/06/10, 11:50 PM
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AFKA ZealYouthGuy
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NW Pa./NY Border.
Posts: 11,453
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Our evaporator set up from 2 years ago.
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03/07/10, 11:00 AM
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FKA: Ripcat Ranch
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Kentucky
Posts: 165
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Made a little over a gallon of syrup yesterday. Today is the last day the sap is going to run and spring has sprung down here with the next week in the mid to high 50s lows in the high 30s and low 40s. Getting ready to go out and boil, got about 35 gallons to do. Partly sunny and 58 outside.
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