Hurricane Farm

It was "supposed to, maybe, probably, it could" snow all week here in Connecticut.  We had rain.  But...Friday came and so did the snow.  Finally!

The maple buckets are in the woods and there is a fresh layer of clean, peaceful snow on the ground.  Perfect conditions for woods-walking and maple sugarin'!

The ducks and geese love it.  They take this opportunity to escape from the mud and clean their feathers.

Even the hogs like the snow, since it gives them something new to dig in.  This one is almost ready for market.

This is Butch.  He seems to be the current ruler of the barnyard.  He doesn't mind the snow, and is the first one out of the barn despite weather conditions.

The Sugaring Hut...now fully piped, roofed, and ready to keep on sugarin'.  We'll be adding some tin roofing in the Spring time.  As it was, I was barely able to finish it to this stage before the sap started flowing!  It works great, though, and now we can sugar in all sorts of nasty weather.

Here is one of our "snow plows" hard at work.

Another shot of the new Sugarin' Hut.

Here's Liev heading out to "plow" the "bridges" that we've put out to get us across the small streams and into the woods.

With all the rain, the water in the woods is flowing quite rapidly!  In fact, some of the jugs that we set out on some the trees are now inaccesible.  The larger brook has swollen beyond its banks and we can't get to some of the maple trees to retrieve the sap.  Paco the Cat, however, does not seem bothered by this.

We use milk jugs to gather the sap once we run out of metal buckets and 5 gallon pails.  You can see a couple of the jugs on some trees that are now in the midst of the brook.  We'll have to wait to collect from those for a while...Or else brave the bitter cold water?  I think we'll wait...At least until my Dad comes down and is loking for a job to do!  Bring your waders, Dad!

Another tree now in the middle of the brook...

Finally, here is a cool tree bound by wild grape vines.  Pretty neat find out there at the edge of the woods.

It took only a few hours and a sunny morning to get about 100 taps in.  We dug out the buckets, lids, tools, and spouts, loaded up the trucks, and headed across town to the sugar bush.

The owners of the land that we use have been hard at work clearing out the brush, thinning the trees, and making the sugar bush more productive.  You can see in the above photo some of the smaller trees that they had cut down to allow the larger trees room to grow.

The darker hole in the photo below is the hole from last year.  To the right you can see the a new hole with fresh sap already dripping out.  We generally put two taps per tree.  This works out well as the two taps will generally fill a five-gallon bucket each day during the sugarin' season.

The first step once we make it to the woods is to lay out the buckets at each tree we plan to tap.  We put out about 50+ buckets today.  We still have at least 50-60 more spouts to set back at our farm.  Hopefully we'll get to this in the next day or two.

A few slight knocks with a hammer and the spout is set!

One a sunny day like this, the sap starts to flow before the drill bit is removed from the hole.  It starts with a steady stream, but then slows to a pulsing drip.  Those drops sure do add up, though!

Once again, everyone lends a hand.  First we loaded up the trucks.  Then we unloaded them in the woods and set out the buckets, covers, and spouts.  Finally, we drilled and set the spouts into the trees.

It takes some focus and concentration to score a direct hit with the hammer!

The old-fashioned hand drill (brace) works better than an electric drill, in our opinion.  Less noise and more elbow grease makes for some contemplative moments in the woods.  (The more keen of our readers will notice something about the photograph below.  Examine last year's photos...any takers?)

Teamwork all around makes quick work of the trees in the sugar bush.

The buckets are set, the trees are tapped, the sap is flowing...Maple lovers prepare to have your taste buds tantalized!

With the roof on, the trees tapped, and SNOW in the forecast, it was time to bring in some of our dry firewood.

Our design of a post/pole building leaves plenty of open room for the sunshine, for fresh air and ventilation, and for stacking wood!  We started with the remaining slabwood from last season and then moved on to some of our super-seasoned hardwood.  To get the sap boiling, you need as hot a fire as can be mustered.

The stacks of wood will also make a nice windbreak.  An added bonus!

Every one in the family lends a hand at maple time.

Once we get all four walls stacked, it will be as if we're in a bear den.  And...once the evaporator is firing, it will be nice and cozy...

It's almost SUGARIN' TIME...

We've been planning for a couple of weeks to tap the maple trees today (President's Day).  So...for the past couple of days we've been frantically working on getting the sugaring hut finished up.

Erica and I were able to move the evaporator--about 1 foot at a time--all by ourselves.  We removed the pan, the smokestack, and even the doors.  We were able to get the whole thing down to what seemed like only 1 ton.  Nicely done!

But...the sugar hut still needed a roof.

First we needed to add the chimney pipe and make a cupola for the steam to escape.  We're going to extend the pipe 2 feet up from where it stands in this picture so that it gets sufficient clearance over the cupola.

Have I mentioned how I do not really like ladders?  I must have back when we were posting the pictures of the meat chicken coop.  Anyhow, I've been getting better, but I still don't "prefer" the task...

Meanwhile, Liev was stacking milk crates.  Then knocking them over.  Then stacking milk crates...

Here is the cupola just about finished.  We'll still need to shingle the roof, but that will have to happen after this year's sugarin'...the sap is already flowing!

We used double-insulated Class A chimney pipe to connect to the evaporator's smokestack.  When researching smokestack installations, I learned that most sugarhouses seem to go with single wall galvanized roof jacks (which cost WAY too much, by the way).  Also, they tend to incinerate the roof, making yearly replacement a tradition.  Not cool!  So, we opted for more of an "interior wood stove" installation.  Better safe than charred!

Perched like (an uneasy) bird.

Soon to come...we move in the wood and tap the trees.  Stay tuned!

It's just about time to pull out all of the equipment and head out to the woods!  This week we have lots in store at the farm...

100's of buckets, lids, tubing, and spouts will need to be rinsed off, loaded into our truck, and driven across town to the sugar bush.  I need to sharpen up the drill bit on the hand-drill, or brace as it is called, and grab a hammer as well.

This weekend I have been working on the roof to the sugaring shack.  Chimney piping has been ordered and I hope to have the roofing up and ready before the piping arrives.  Today I will be working on the venting system (like a long cupola) and then the rest of the roof will go up.

Perhaps the toughest task of all this will be to move the evaporator into the sugar shack.  It is only about 12 feet away right now, but this is a very heavy piece of equipment.  We can take some of it apart, but the 50 or so firebricks that are cemented in place inside of the arch will not be removable.  We'll be enlisting anyone nearby to help with this, I'm sure.  Luckily, the ground is still frozen and icy so maybe we'll be able to slid it as we move it.

And, of course, there is a ton of wood to be split into small, quick-burning pieces...

We plan to set out the supplies in the woods this week and hopefully tap the trees next weekend.  It's still a bit cold here, but things could change at any time here in New England and then the sap will be running!