02/19/19
Filed under:
General
Posted by:
@ 1:21 pm
4-7 inches of snow are expected tomorrow which will set a new record for February. approx 28 inches in the Twin Cities. Eau Claire has already set a record for February and will probably set the all time record for any month. 35 inches.
Luckily we have completed all of our season prework so we don’t have to deal with the deep powder until we tap. Right before tapping we have to connect the drain lines to the collection tanks and plow the snow to get to the woods. Based on the current 10 day forecast it will stay below 32 degrees through February so I wouldn’t expect any tapping until closer to mid March. The latest we have ever tapped is Mid March so no early spring. Since the Polar Vortex came the last week of January the temperatures have been below normal and the snow above normal. In 2014 we tapped the Harmon woods March 15-19th and didn’t collect any sap unil 3/27. This year looks like a repeat of that year.
02/08/19
Filed under:
General
Posted by:
@ 1:46 pm
The temperatures have turned below normal late January (2 days of -30+) and now the snows have returned with almost 20″ in the last week. Late January had the coldest temperatures seen since 1996. There is a theory that the cold weather could make the trees convert more starch to sugar. We will see what happens but we could see higher sugar content than normal this coming spring if this happens. We just bottled 45 gallons of syrup yesterday since our inventory was depleted. This should give us enough to last until the new sugaring season is started. The 10 members of Weiss Woods Syrup and their families had their annual meeting/dinner on January 5th at Molly’s in Plum City. .
During the fall and winter we have done the following projects: The main goal was to increase vacuum in the west section. Higher capacity pipes and shorter collection lines were the goal.
Harmon Woods -
Enclosed vacuum wagon with plywood, added steel roof and insulated
Installed 3200′ of 1″ diameter blue plastic piping from the collection cylinder to the far west section
Installed 2800′ of 3/4″ diameter blue plastic piping in the far west section - attached to 1″ line
Installed vacuum booster in ravine below the outside dam. 3/4″ lines are hooked to the booster.
Moved the current black 3/4″ line to the ravine leading to the outside dam
Rerouted 5/16″ white lines and attached to the new blue 3/4″ lines with wired manifolds.
Installed clear new spouts to 4000+ drops
Added new 5/16″ white collection lines to the sections north of the shed.
Replaced or added 400+ new drop lines in the reworked/added sections.
Added heat tape and insulated the 1.5″ sap line where it extends from the ground to the vacuum wagon.
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Homewoods
Installed new clear spouts to 1000+ drop lines.
Installed steel roof to cover the vacuum motor on the wagon
placed the vacuum wagon into position in the woods
Checked/repaired all lines
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Other Items in process or need to be completed yet. .
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Replace / update website Weisswoods.com
Change labels to add Grade A when new labels are being ordered
Extend 3/4″ line from the dump tanks to the slough Harmon Woods
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02/06/19
Filed under:
General
Posted by:
@ 9:25 pm
Welcome to your new blog! This is the first post. Edit
or
delete it, then start blogging!