Sugar Making Jobs

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For the most part the folks at the farm have been pulling on themselves to get the work done before the sap starts flowing. Trudging, hiking, carrying, and motivating amidst such brilliant cold light. Setup jobs include:

setting out the bulk collection tanks 500-1000 gallons
setting up and cleaning the evaporator
cutting and stacking wood
unrolling main lines
stringing up sap lines (the video shows the sap lines being attached to the main line)
attaching drop line
tapping
setting up new overthehill collection tube (video)
setting up buckets - don't forget the buckets
fixing broken things -brake lines, tractors, chainsaws, fittings, downed lines,
shoveling

This is for perspective and understanding only. come visit.

Snowy Woods Day

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A few detail pictures of the farm.

The Wood

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We will burn this much wood to make syrup. Unfortunately the logs are too muddy, so in order to preserve the chainsaw's sharp edge, the logs must be hatcheted at each cutting spot.  One at a time.

Laying out Pipeline

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Up from the bottom of the deep woods, over the hill and then down into the tank.  The idea this year is to have the sap travel to us using some pumping and gravity feed together.  This will eliminate late night dashes into the dark woods with flashlights and truck to empty the overflowwing sap tank.  We hope.

Horses

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Ben pays a visit to the camera.  Jake hangs back at the hay trough but even with his recent eye loss (possibly a sharp hawthorne spike?) he seems as mellow as always.  Enjoying their season without flies.

Spring Hills Chickens

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It is not Christmas for the chicken hawk looking for a quick meal in the snow.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: chickens, farm, maple