This Month On The Homestead: Maple Timber, Maple Sap, Maple…

March 2019

The sap is flowing, the sap is flowing! Maple sap, that is. Welcome to a selected maple-flavored model of my This Month On The Homestead sequence. As we communicate I’ll cowl the strategy of tapping our maple bushes, working tubes between the bushes, and amassing maple sap. Since I used various phrases to jot down down about all that, I’ll dedicate a future publish to the exact boiling of the sap to make the exact maple syrup. It’s a protracted course of, people, and the documentation (not lower than when it’s written by me) is equally prolonged.

Since we’re throughout the sticky thicket of sugaring season, all homestead actions this month have been related to creating maple syrup. Once more in October I regaled you with our plans to make maple syrup and now, I’m proper right here with half two of my maple syrup mini-series.

Sugaring (the verb of “to make maple syrup,” which I maintain inadvertently terming “syruping”) was a life goal for Mr. Frugalwoods and me. Once more throughout the dream-fueled days of homestead planning, the facility to faucet bushes on our land and boil their sap into sweet, sweet syrup was on our guidelines of the best 5 points we hoped to do someday. THAT DAY IS HERE.

Now we have now zero aspirations to point out a income from our homestead-related labors; fairly, it’s about fulfilling our need to dwell additional sustainably and deepen our understanding of engaged on the land. Plus, as you’ll see, sugaring is so time intensive that we’d ought to price about $700 per gallon to interrupt even. To not point out generate exact income… so that’s a nope. Our sugaring adventures have been mentored and impressed by Kate from the Vermont Evaporator Agency who offered us with a sap evaporator (which I always want to call the evap-o-tap for no good function) and a bounty of sugaring intel.

Whereas I’m for the time being consuming gazing at some excellent accomplished maple syrup on my counter, instantly I’m starting to start with of this season’s journey. To begin on the REAL beginning, return and browse How We’re Preparing To Make Maple Syrup.

In case you’re merely tuning in, it’s a recurring sequence throughout which I doc each month of our lives out proper right here on our 66-acre Vermont homestead. After leaving metropolis Cambridge, MA in Might 2016 to chart this wholly fully totally different life, we’re experiencing a relentless finding out curve of exploration and a great deal of foolish novice moments. Check out closing month’s installment proper right here and enjoy the best and worst (okay, largely the worst) moments of our first 12 months on the homestead proper right here. Questioning if it’s cheaper to dwell rurally? Check out: Metropolis vs. Nation: Which Is Cheaper? The Last Value Of Dwelling Showdown.

Gathering Our Sugaring Offers

As all good homestead initiatives do, our sugaring journey began with gathering supplies. So many supplies. We are the proud owners of SO MUCH homestead stuff that it’s an outstanding issue we have a barn to retailer all of it in. Sidenote: in case you’re questioning if it’s dearer to dwell on a homestead than throughout the metropolis, it is. Be taught why proper right here.

Beneath is an itemized guidelines of all of the issues we bought to facilitate the first part of sugaring (getting the sap out of the bushes). I’ll make clear what all of the issues was used for in a momentito.

Purchased from Bascom Maple Farms in Alstead, NH:

• 3/sixteenth tubing (2 rolls of 600 ft each)
• Taps
• Tees
• Closed End Tees (for the beginning and end of line)
• Unions to splice 3/sixteenth tubing to itself
• End clips to secure tubing throughout the tree you begin at
• Fittings that translate from 3/sixteenth to 1 / 4 inch
• Vacuum gauge
• Tapping bit

Purchased used from our native barrel man (I’m not making this up, that’s what he goes by):

• 275 gallon sap assortment tank (meals grade, beforehand held ethyl alcohol)
• 55 gallon sap holding barrel (meals grade, beforehand held spicy pickles)

Purchased from Amazon:

Stuff we had spherical the house:

• Twine
• Thermos (to hold boiling water)
• Sharp scissors to cut the strains (a tubing cutter may very well be greater, nevertheless we didn’t must buy one)
• Hoses: 6′ dimension of hose to be consumption for pump (goes down into the tank); 25′ hose to enter the barrel from the pump; 6′ hose coming off the underside of the barrel to empty into the water jug
• Step drill bit to place within the rain barrel changing into
• A hammer

Step 1: Set up Maple Timber

The first step was to find out which of our maple bushes we wished to faucet. Mr. FW positioned 24 sugar maples working alongside the slope of our driveway (additional on why that’s important below). He flagged them with orange ribbon for easy ID. They felt so lovely and explicit. The bushes you faucet for syrup are formally generally known as a “sugar bush.”

Now we have now an epic number of maples on our property, nevertheless as we’ve realized, it is advisable maintain your operations as close to the house and barn as potential. Tapping maples means off in our woods would equal additional time and further work.

That’s moreover why all of our gardens are clustered spherical our dwelling. No matter having 66 acres of land, we uncover it’s greatest to concentrate labor-intensive initiatives inside a few acres of the house and barn.

Step 2: Choose Buckets or Tubing to Extract Sap from Timber

As we established once more in October, maple syrup comes from the sap of maple bushes. Subsequently, the 1st step throughout the course of is to get the sap out of the bushes and into some type of assortment tank. A few of us use buckets, whereby you stick a faucet throughout the tree, dangle a bucket under the tap, and collect buckets filled with sap. That’s BY FAR the additional photogenic, Instagram-friendly methodology. However, it’s moreover rather more labor intensive since it’s essential to–ya know–stroll spherical and collect each bucket. Being lazy/time-pressed part-time quasi-homesteaders with two kids too youthful to assemble the buckets for us, we opted to go for the far a lot much less lovely, nevertheless far speedier tubing system.

Tubing entails working tubes from maple tree to maple tree, amassing sap from each tree and funneling it seamlessly proper right into a single, large assortment tank (in our case, the 275 gallon food-grade container we bought from The Barrel Man–not a enterprise title, merely his exact title).

In case you’re tapping just a few bushes, buckets would likely make additional sense. However, we uncover ourselves unable to do one thing halfway and so, we tapped 24 bushes, which made tubes additional setting pleasant. Furthermore, we’re blessed/cursed with an enormous slope alongside which many maple bushes sit. Given this, we have a gravity-fed system whereby sap flows down the tubes by benefit of the tubes working down a hill. Double win for tubes correct there. Tubes would make fairly a bit a lot much less sense if we didn’t take pleasure in gravity on our side to tug the sap down (chances are you’ll run a pump, nevertheless that ventures proper right into a additional commercial-scale operation).

Step 3: Make Drop Strains (toddler-friendly train)

Mr. FW and Kidwoods made drop strains early on throughout the course of because of this can be carried out indoors near the warmth of the woodstove. This generally is a kid-friendly train and, at three years outdated, Kidwoods was delighted to participate. Littlewoods–at age one–not loads.

Drop strains run from the tap throughout the tree to the precept tubing line. They perform each tree’s personal sap conveyance system. Proper right here’s strategies to make them:

• Decrease tubing into 36-42 inch sections
• Dip the ends of each tube proper right into a thermos of boiling water for five seconds. The rubber of the tubing isn’t pliable adequate to insert the T and the tap, nevertheless by dipping the ends in boiling water, the ends develop to be free adequate to allow the T and tap to be inserted.
• On one end of the tube: insert the T.
• On the alternative end of the tube: insert the tap.

Step 4: Run Tubing Between Timber

Let me start off by saying that this is ready to be an outstanding issue to do sooner than there’s 4 ft of snow on the underside. Nevertheless it certainly wouldn’t be the Frugalwoods Homestead if we did points on the optimum time and throughout the optimum means.

Mr. FW started on the prime of the hill, with the first of the 24 bushes he’d flagged. Flagging the bushes was a useful practice because of it made it easy for him to map out the place the tubing would go. He then wound the tubing between all 24 bushes, usually using neighboring bushes to help maintain the street taut.

This sounds simple, doesn’t it? Spoiler: it was not. Second spoiler: it might’ve been easier if there weren’t 95 ft of snow on the underside, a screaming toddler, and 1.5 adults. Two adults, no kids, and no snow would’ve made this chore pretty a bit easier.

Now we have been all in our snowshoes and saved breaking by the crust of snow, which incorporates having your leg plummet various ft right into a personalised snow cave. You then ought to lean forward, uncover secure footing, and lurch your buried leg on prime of the snow pack… whereas holding the tubing, which have to be saved taut to make sure that this entire operation to have a prayer of working.

It was an exquisite, sunshiny day and I envisioned Kidwoods would play throughout the snow as her dad and I strung tubing. Perhaps she’d even observe alongside the tubing strains with us. I had the idea that this day may very well be the stuff of childhood idyl. Recollections would coalesce of sugaring collectively together with her mom and father. As an grownup, she would regale buddies at dinner occasions with tales of a childhood spent throughout the agency of loving mom and father, a joyful youthful sister, and sugar maple bushes.

In its place, she flopped throughout the snow and wailed. Tragedy, evidently, overcame her and the one decision was to tantrum throughout the sugar bush. There was no apparent function for this demonstration, except for the reason for all of the issues: she is a threenager.

Given this, my assist was short-lived and Mr. FW wanted to manhandle the tubing on his private, whereas in snowshoes, whereas guaranteeing the street stayed company spherical each tree. Nonetheless, as he so often does, he managed it.

With Mr. FW wrangling blue tubes in our woods, I carried Kidwoods contained in the place she proceeded to ask to return outside. I demurred and we settled on finding out books about snow as an alternative. Lord, please ship me from age three. A minimal of until I’ve to repeat this stage with Littlewoods, who’s–at present second–such a content material materials explicit particular person aged one 12 months, two months.

Step 5: Place Sap Assortment Tank

Having 100% given up on my dream of “family maple day,” Mr. FW proceeded to situate the gathering tank on the bottom of the tubing strains. He positioned the tubing line such that it terminates on the road to our pond, which suggests the gathering tank has a big, semi-flat spot to leisure. Let’s not neglect there are nonetheless 809 ft of snow on the underside.

As a technique to settle the tank, Mr. FW pulled out a shovel and dug a niche throughout the snow for the tank to reside in (moreover he used the tractor bucket to dig). Proper right here’s the place all that snow turns into useful: it retains the sap throughout the tank good and chilly, which is an ideal sap storage environment.

He slid a little bit of plywood on prime of the tank so that when it (inevitably) snowed subsequent, he wouldn’t ought to clear off the tank–he’d  merely slide the plywood off. As a result of it has snowed additional events than I care to admit since inserting the tank, I can report that this technique fully works. At present, as a result of the photo voltaic makes a additional hanging look day-after-day, this contemporary plywood topper acts as a shade so that the sap doesn’t get too warmth. Warmth sap = unhealthy. Chilly/frozen sap = good.

Step 6: Decrease throughout the Drop Strains on the Necessary Tubing Line

It’s time for these long-ago-made drop strains to make their outdoor debut. As is often the case, there’s a selected instrument for this work–the three/16″ Two Hand Tubing Software program–which makes the job a cinch. Did we buy this $120 instrument? We did not. Should we have bought this $120 instrument? Possibly so. Did Mr. FW MacGyver his means by anyway? In any case he did.

The target proper right here is to splice the drop strains into the precept tubing line and tap the tree. Voila! Sap be flowing. Not so fast, truthful maple buddies. This turned out to be certainly one of many additional fiddly/irritating elements of the entire course of.

To cut in drop strains:

• Mr. FW wanted to take care of the stress within the precept tubing line (keep in mind, it’s strung between the bushes and supported solely by rigidity).
• Then, he decrease the precept line and inserted a drop line at each of the 24 bushes.
• When he decrease the street in half to insert the T, unsurprisingly, the street wished to spring away (doing so would unravel the entire tubing system. Eeek).
• The actual instrument I mentioned choices two clamps and a cutter and one merely clamps the street and the instrument inserts the T for you. Multi perform! Not what we did!
• Mr. FW modified that nifty instrument with various objects:
  • He took a little bit of 4 foot prolonged twine, doubled it over, tied one end with an excellent two half-hitch knot, grabbed the precept line, twisted it spherical his arm, tied two half-hitch knots, which allowed the twine to hold taught. Subsequently, the tubing might probably be decrease with out dropping rigidity.
  • Subsequent, he adopted the equivalent course of he used when creating the drop strains. He dipped the tip of the precept tubing line proper right into a thermos of boiling water for five seconds. Dipping it throughout the boiling water loosened it up adequate that he might slide the T into the street.
  • Slicing in T’s generally is a risk to remove any slack out of your line as you’ll decrease out a bit of tubing if wished.
  • Lastly, he launched the stress and the drop line was set.

All of this was carried out by him alone, on snowshoes, in 4 foot deep snow, whereas juggling a thermos of boiling water. He proved it might be carried out with out the actual instrument, nevertheless he tales he 100% understands why the instrument was invented. And, whereas egregiously priced, he advises that in case you’re doing higher than 24 taps, it is advisable almost definitely go ahead and buy it.

At this stage, he had the precept tubing line and the drop strains all organize.

Step 7: Arrange Vacuum Gauge

Subsequent up, Mr. FW put in a vacuum gauge to start with of the street (prime of the hill, first tree) to seek out out if the tubes have been really pulling a vacuum. The max vacuum diploma is 27 inches, and we pulled 16 inches on the prime, which is ample for our needs.

The reason to make use of three/16 tubing (versus greater, additional commonplace tubing) is that it produces a pure vacuum when used on a slope. As a result of it flows downhill, the sap throughout the tube pulls additional sap out of the bushes. This moreover prevents the holes throughout the bushes from closing as shortly.

This technique must yield additional sap per day and permit the sap to run for additional days. In concept, you’ll double your sap yield by utilizing a vacuum like this.

Step 8: Insert the Taps into the Timber

Then, we waited until the local weather was ripe for a sap run and we tapped the bushes. This turned out to be the only part of the complete problem. We didn’t must put the taps in prematurely, nevertheless we moreover didn’t must miss a sap run, so Mr. FW monitored circumstances and bolted outside when he judged the local weather good.

Sugaring season is barely fully totally different yearly as a result of it’s absolutely temperature dependent. In keeping with the Vermont Maple Syrup Makers (whose annual conference Mr. FW attended): “A pattern of freezing and thawing temperatures (below freezing at evening time and 40-45 ranges by means of the day) will assemble up stress all through the bushes inflicting the sap to stream from the tapholes.”

It is best to get a drill bit that’s significantly made for tapping maple bushes. The good thing about using the appropriate bit (which is about $6) is that it yields the exact correct dimension hole for the tap and creates a cleaner hole, which ensures optimum sap stream.

Mr. FW drilled 1 and three/4 inches into each tree. For those who do this, it is advisable see blonde picket throughout the shavings. In case you see darker picket, you’ve drilled proper right into a rotten or ineffective part of the tree. You’ll must drill in a single different part of the tree until you uncover a spot with blonde picket. After drilling the opening, Mr. FW positioned the tap throughout the tree and LIGHTLY faucet faucet tapped with a hammer. That’s it! As you’ll recall, the taps have been linked to the drop strains in Step 3, so we’re now all set for sap to stream.

Step 9: Watch the Sap Transfer

Now began the strategy of Mr. FW and I dashing out to check on the strains at every different, just for the enjoyment of seeing the sap flowing by them. The tubing is translucent, so I was thrilled to seek out you’ll sorta see the sap on the switch. I rigorously documented sap flowing in a video and triumphantly confirmed it to Mr. FW, who gently educated me that I’d painstakingly recorded an air bubble. I stand by it because of it COULD have been sap.

Step 10: Put collectively Ye Pickle Barrel

Enter one 55 gallon food-grade barrel beforehand used for spicy pickles, sourced from our native barrel man, to be used as an intermediate sap storage container. Mr. FW washed the within of the barrel 3 instances with scorching water and dusted it with baking soda twice. The within nonetheless smells faintly of pickles, nevertheless I can report that the finished maple syrup doesn’t model like spicy pickles.

After washing out the barrel, Mr. FW constructed a pallet platform so that the barrel can journey comfortably on the pallet forks of the tractor. Subsequent, he added a bulkhead changing into and valve (a spigot in my information) to the underside of the barrel so as that we are going to use gravity to empty the sap out of the barrel. He then strapped the barrel to its custom-built pallet atop the aptly named pallet forks and trundled off to the gathering tank.

Step 11: Swap the Sap from Tank to Barrel

As quickly as an excellent amount of sap had flowed out of the bushes, down the drop strains, by the tubing, and into the gathering tank, it was time to change the sap.

The gathering tank’s skilled is that it’s HUGE. At 275 gallons, it is VASTLY outsized for our needs, nevertheless we knew we wouldn’t have time to change sap out of it regularly and we weren’t sure how loads (or how shortly) sap would collect. Increased to go too large than too small, we reasoned.

Plus, due to the snow blanket the tank is encased in, the sap can grasp round for awhile sooner than being boiled. We left one batch in there for per week and a half and it received right here out advantageous. If it is going to get warmth, the sap can get gunky. However when frozen, it’s advantageous.

Given that assortment tank is big (and buried in snow for refrigeration features), it’s not merely transportable. That’s what the pickle barrel is for: to maneuver sap from the tank over to the evaporator, which is positioned subsequent to our barn. The evaporator is what we’ll use to boil all this tree juice into syrup.

To pump sap from tank to barrel, Mr. FW hooked up a 12 volt DC pump to the tractor battery, which served to suck the sap out of the gathering tank and into the earlier pickle barrel. After all of the wire for the pump wasn’t prolonged adequate so he wanted to decrease it and splice in an prolonged wire. He tales that this technique, “works good” (that’s a direct quote).

Step 12: Drive the Sap to the Evaporator

Not loads commentary in order so as to add proper right here. After transferring the sap from the tank to the barrel, Mr. FW drove the barrel (strapped to the tractor) over to the evaporator.

What happens subsequent could be lined in my upcoming installment of Maple Sugaring On The Homestead: The Thrilling Conclusion to Our Inaugural 12 months As Sugar Makers. Spoiler alert: it consists of boiling the sap on the evaporator all the way in which all the way down to syrup! Wager you in no way might’ve guessed.

Photograph voltaic Study

Now that I’ve FINALLY (it solely took me a 12 months… ) written up the background information on our photograph voltaic panels, I’ll embody a photograph voltaic substitute every month on this sequence. That’s the one means for me to don’t forget that: a) I’ve photograph voltaic; b) you all need to be updated on it.

In March we generated 659 kWh, which is an outstanding trouncing of the paltry 70.4 kWh we generated once more in January. Spring cometh and snow doth slideth off ye olde photograph voltaic panels.

This has been your photograph voltaic manufacturing substitute. You’re welcome.

Want Further Fotos?!

Whereas I solely doc homestead life as quickly as a month proper right here on the weblog, I publish images to Instagram (just about on day by day foundation!) and updates to Fb with loads greater regularity. Be part of me there should you want additional of our frugal woods.

A few of us have requested about this and positive, I do try and publish a picture to Instagram on day by day foundation and–in distinction to with many alternative points in my life–I also have a pretty good monitor file. In case you’re craving additional homestead pics, Instagram is your best guess.

For those who want to remember to don’t miss a publish proper right here, sign-up for my useful dandy e-mail guidelines throughout the area below. You’ll get a message from me in case you do… On to April, frugal comrades!

Do you make your particular person maple syrup? Would you like maple syrup?