St Paddy’s day at the sugar bush

[Bearcarver]

Awesome Thread, HillBilly!!!:)

Great Community for sure!!

Nice---I Like.

Bear

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Dave,

I cannot speak for anything on irrigating them because I don’t know. But I find it hard to believe extra water would make that kind of difference.

We’ve had years where we’ve been closer to 30/1 and the 40/1 is average.
Hard maples on average yield 40/1. Soft maples are even worse. Think I heard 60/1-70/1 range but I’ve never tapped them. We pass them by because the yield is so poor.

At 15/1 I can only assume your not cooking the sap long enough.

I don’t really follow the science of it like I said, I like the eye test better. But I know sap doesn’t boil until 218 degrees. Water at 212. So if your not boiling enough of the water off before you pull that’s gonna change your yield. If you keep boiling at 218 or higher your wasting the actual sap.

But hey if it tastes good who cares? Enjoy it!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Thanks bear.

We have are moments out here :)

 

[crazymoon]

HBR, Great post and you got to love the fun at your local sugarhouse. We boil hotdogs and eggs in the middle pan for snacks,you all are fancy with the SV.I saw no one firing wood ,are you folks oil fired ?

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Crazy moon,

We also boil hotdogs, and eggs in the middle pan! Lmao! The sap adds a nice maple flavor to them!

The evaporater is wood fired. Constantly splitting wood outside and filling the fire.
The picture of the building from the outside shows the tractor with the splitter on the back of it. Just a small pile of wood next to it since we ended the season this past weekend. Usually we have wood stacked everywhere.

The sv is great! If you don’t have one get one. They work great for almost anything. I’ve smoked ribs and brisket for a few hours and then put them in the sv to finish and it’s lights out!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Tallbm,

The “white balls” are coriander and/or mustard seed from the pickling process. Sometimes I wipe all that stuff off sometimes I don’t.

 

[tallbm]

Tallbm,

The “white balls” are coriander and/or mustard seed from the pickling process. Sometimes I wipe all that stuff off sometimes I don’t.

Thanks!

 

[indaswamp]

Nice! Looks like loads of fun! I love maple syrup!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Indaswamp,

Thanks. Can’t go wrong with maple syrup! Especially when your making it and you know what’s going into the bottle.

 

[SmokyMose]

Great post, hillbilly!
I didn't know Costco had their own beer. With retirement coming up in the fall, I've been stressing about having to cut back on my beloved Budweiser. Now I have an option :)
The SV is a magical machine. It's the only way I do Pastrami now. I don't even smoke it, just rub a Corned Beef (mine or store bought) and cook for 16 or 17 hrs at 150 and slice thin.....Perfect!

"Point", "Like", or whatever. You got it!
Dan

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Dan,

Thanks.

The Costco beer ain’t great beer but it’ll do for the price. 48 per case! Lol.

I’d like to try pastrami soon. Love the sv!

Enjoy retirement!

Scott

 

[ab canuck]

Love the maple syrup thread, Been 40 yrs at least since I have been in a sugar shack, I have my dad picking me up a couple gallons in the next couple weeks. Being in the west we dont get it everywhere and when we do it is outrageous priced. Love the reubens as well!!!! Congrats on the carousel ride as well.

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Canuck,

Thanks. Syrup is always good and sv is the way to do corned beef that’s for sure.

40 years is a long time! I know a few farmers who collect and sell syrup for profit around here. Your right it ain’t cheap. That’s what’s great about our sugar bush, if you put in the work it’s free. The community coming together and collecting everyday and boiling all weekend. Great life in a small town.

Scott

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Still eating reubens! And I found this bag of Reuben chips in the pantry! I know I bought this bag over a year ago! Lmao! They’re still good!

 

[burly]

I took some homemade brats over to my folks sugar shack last weekend for lunch and cooked them over the fire, washed down with a couple snorts of syrup haha! Its always fun to hang out there. They put out anywhere from 150 to 200 taps.

 

[zerowin]

Nice lookin sammies hillbilly! Some of my wifes troopers bring back some fresh syrup for us once a year. It blows store brands away. Sounds like a great group there.

 

[disco]

Great looking day!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Nice burly!

What part of Michigan are you from? We’re out in Conway township. We have a big fattie contest here every year you should come by this year.

Smoker

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Zerowin,

First of all that’s one bada$$ pic you have on your profile! Murcia!

Group of guys out here you can’t say enough about. We all help each other out with anything and everything. From small jobs to rebuilding the farm parlor when it burnt down a few years back.

And yes the fresh maple Syrup with nothing added smokes the store bought stuff. You never know what your getting in those bottles. I watched a series on Netflix called Rotten and the first episode showed the mess the honey industry is in. Your probably not eating pure honey if it’s store bought that’s for sure! Luckily I have a few buddies out this way with hives. Lol.

Smoker

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Thanks Disco. I love this time of year. Unfortunately we shut it all down last week because everyone had the syrup they wanted and most of the help was heading down to Florida for vacation. It would have run like crazy this past week with the colder weather at night and sunshine during the day.

Smoker