Ye Old Garage

[sublime68charger]

Then for Tree tapping I took the plow off the big ATV and tried my luck at the drifted woodland trail and made it to 5' of where I buried the 200sx the day before and buried the Foreman 450 as well but when you have a winch and a tree your never really stuck and was able to winch myself out. I took the plow off and used the 450 to blaze the trail threw the woods for tree tapping and then the 200sx pulled the trailer with all the buckets and tree tapping stuff. The 450 and winch will pull out the 200sx no problems. But if I took the 450 and trailer and get it stuck then I cant back up or wiggle it around to get unstuck for trail blazing its better to just have the ATV solo and scout out where your going and such and then follow along with other ATV and trailer can follow the broken path.

Also the daughter made a Bob Jr. Snow man while we was out tapping trees and set him up to ride with me on the ATV,

Then when we got back home Bob Jr got a house up on top the log.

 

[sublime68charger]

This was from early this winter the first Bob the snowman,

He's not with us any more the the sun and wind put a beating on him but Bob Jr might be around for a few day's or weeks its tough to say
.

 

[xtremek]

Good thing you had Bob Jr. along, making sure you didn't cause any trouble.

And good call on the ATV usage.

 

[sublime68charger]

Good thing you had Bob Jr. along, making sure you didn't cause any trouble.

And good call on the ATV usage.

Thanks, I like to think that having Bob Jr around is like having a Bob Heine spirtual advisor!

Also I take alot of ribbing for my ATV stuck Pics and why did I try going there when I should have know better. Its for times like on Sunday when I had to get out and tap trees and knowing the limits of what you can get threw. Hence taking a trail blazing ATV threw first to get a trail broken threw. Suppose to get 5-8" of snow on Thursday Morning which might make sap gathering a bit more interesting. If needed I have a rear rack basket I can put on ATV and haul back 3 buckets of sap at a time if snow is to deep to pull the trailer but I think I should be fine. May have to just bring back 1/2 sap loads or put the little trailer behind the bigger ATV as the 200SX does have its power limits.

 

[sublime68charger]

Sugar shack is sugaring and it's snowing 3" plus today it sure is nice to be warm doing this

 

[xtremek]

How much sap does each tray hold?

 

[sublime68charger]

How much sap does each tray hold?

Each tray will hold about 3 gallons or 4 if your level and want to fill er up. The barrels are not level they are .5 off give or take I keep .5 of sap on the high side at min and when filling up fill 1/2 to 3/4 full with hot sap to try and keep boil going. The fisher stand alone stove is more level I can fill those pans up more as it boils more even. the barrels will boil full on at back of pan rising up at the boil about a 1" or so.

High tech measuring strainer tool when top of strainer is visible in pan high side add sap.

 

[sublime68charger]

Barrel stove pan at full boil. This is the last big pan it gets down from here will go to round pot and get finished on the fisher stove or in house on stove top. Started today with 6 big pans and 2 half pans plus 2 buckets of sap on deck and down to this last pan started at 8am. Cooking by 8.30am full on burn by 9.30 takes a bit to get each stove going.

The home basement stove didn't really boil today just steamed which was odd. I think I might make up fored air for it from computer fans and put in ash door and force air to the fire box on it. Something to try I guess

 

[xtremek]

Are we going to Sub's house for the syrup, or Harley Jim's for the eggs? And who raises hogs, so we have the bacon. Actually, I'm trying to eat healthier, so make that canandian bacon.

 

[sublime68charger]

Are we going to Sub's house for the syrup, or Harley Jim's for the eggs? And who raises hogs, so we have the bacon. Actually, I'm trying to eat healthier, so make that canandian bacon.

wont mention it but have chickens here who are in the egg making enterprise but production is down and gonna have to get some new stock this spring I think.

Also have bacon in the freezer from the Pigs this last summer as well.

But you had your chance you was within 15 miles of my place last fall and didnt show up so its your loss! LOL!

Heck if I had know you was gonna be that close I would have had stuff ready if you had time to stop by!.

Hope your back on the path to feeling 100% soon as well!

 

[xtremek]

Do you have a light on your chickens? Where did you get the bacon from? Didn't think you raised hogs. No pain or even soreness in my shoulder, though the toe still gets sore.

 

[sublime68charger]

Do you have a light on your chickens? Where did you get the bacon from? Didn't think you raised hogs. No pain or even soreness in my shoulder, though the toe still gets sore.

yes there's a light in the chicken house that is on for 3 extra hours 1 in morning and 2 at night.

Yep have had 2 pigs for the last 2 years. get them in spring and butcher them in fall. we get 1 and brother inlaw gets the other he has pretty much bought all the building materials for them. Thought they would have been pics of them on this thread but I guess not. also split feed cost 50/50 and all the butchering is done at his shop he has a nice place setup to get it all done.
He built a enclosed cooler trailer to hang Pig's/Deer/Beef has 6 hooks in ceiling and is insulated and has Air Conditioner in the wall to get temp cool to keep the meat from spoiling.

 

[sublime68charger]

some Pics of the chicken house.

Dont have any of the hog setup but if I get a chance I'll get some and post them up.

 

[xtremek]

I think I remember the chicken coop now.

 

[captain14]

I remember Sub posting about the chicken coops and I remember his pictures. Maybe if I see his pig sheds, I’ll remember them too.

Do you have all three days off this weekend to work on the syrup production?

 

[sublime68charger]

I remember Sub posting about the chicken coops and I remember his pictures. Maybe if I see his pig sheds, I’ll remember them too.

Do you have all three days off this weekend to work on the syrup production?

Syrup was run on thursday as I was Boy Scout Snow Base camping this weekend and just got home Sunday at 4pm.
I'll have some pics of the sleeping setups as we spent 24 hours outside at snow base camp and built sleeping shelters for saturday night. Temp was in the mid 20's for saturday night and low 30's with no wind for the weekend which was nice but right now I'm just tired. It's a 4 hour drive to snow base camp. Both my scouts are cranky and tired but had a good time.

Syrup run's are every 7 days give or take its takes trees that long to get a bucket full or half full. I only have 20 tapped and on avg takes a tree 7 days to get bucket 1/2 full, Have some trees that will fill a bucket in that time. Goal is to have 40 gallons at a time and make a run. so far 2 runs made 16 gallons on first run with 16 gallons of ice we sorted ice from sap and discared ice as its 99.5% water and not worth boiling down for syrup. 2nd run was 24 gallons on 5 day tap and have that down to 1 gallon left to get finished off.

Next weekend will be a big syrup run I'm hoping will go check trees wed/thursday night and see how much sap they have given. Will just spot check the best trees and if there buckets are full will dump those in trailer.

 

[zanyad]

so far 2 runs made 16 gallons on first run with 16 gallons of ice we sorted ice from sap and discared ice as its 99.5% water and not worth boiling down for syrup.

Any value to letting sap freeze overnight and discarding the ice to cut down on boiling?

 

[sublime68charger]

Any value to letting sap freeze overnight and discarding the ice to cut down on boiling?

yes week 1 run we had 4 buckets of sap and 3 buckets of ice when gathering we just seperated it in the woods at the trailer. There is little sugar in the ice so that can be tossed.
Heck even 2nd week was dumping buckets with Ice into the pans and then take strainer and scoop out the ice from the pans.
When the fisher stove is up to temp and you put a scoop of Ice on top of the stove it makes some nice crackling and poping and alot of steam!

 

[sublime68charger]

My Week 1 sap boiling and test run of the sugar shack didn't go quite as planned the basement stove and Barrel stove on the right both started walls on fire. Had to dump some water on the walls to keep them cool and then some imporvmets for the week 2 boil. Week 2 boil went fine with no walls on fire for week 2. But some week 1 pics will tell the story. Basement stove burnt wall and then wall replaced with Metal shingles.

 

[sublime68charger]

My 2 barrel stoves on the back of sugar shack I had put brick lining on stove on the left and the right one I just left it as the barrel I wanted to see if there was a noticable cooking difference or wood usage. Stared the left one first and then started the right one 1 hour later and 40 min into the boil the right one started the wall behind it on fire and had to dump water on the wall to keep it cooler. so put up some heat shielding and all worked fine on the 2nd week boil also they are both brick lined now as well as that seemed to hold heat and boil better.

 

[sublime68charger]

Gonna run forced air on the basement stove to try for better boiling. 3 computer fans in the open ash tray is mocked up for testing for this weekends run!

 

[sublime68charger]

Installed and ready for testing during sapping this weekend. Has wire handle so I can pull out of ash tray shove ash tray into stove for ash removal there is even a screw on wall to hang fans on when not in ash tray. Power is run down wall.

 

[captain14]

Stared the left one first and then started the right one 1 hour later and 40 min into the boil the right one started the wall behind it on fire and had to dump water on the wall to keep it cooler. so put up some heat shielding and all worked fine on the 2nd week boil also they are both brick lined now as well as that seemed to hold heat and boil better.

Sub,

You need to install this in the basement if you’re chasing fire in the walls. Especially ballon frame walls. 150 feet of black line with a brass nozzle.

I saw an old training bulletin years ago, someone mounted this at the top of the basement stairs with water piped to it. His reasoning was a fire extinguisher wasn’t enough and the local fire station was quite a distance away. The hose would not freeze in the winter time inside the house too. He had enough to cover the entire house until backup arrived.

 

[sublime68charger]

Captian, I Never left the sugar shack out of sight for more than 2 minutes during the first week of sap boiling and the plan was if I needed I would use a bucket of sap as fire suppersion if needed. If bucket of sap wasn't enough I had a fire extingsher but if I had to use the fire extingsher that would mean all the boiling sap woudl be wasted and cleaning all the pans up before the next use.

Though for the first wall fire that didn't start till I had all the sap on the stoves, I sent the daughter to the house to get a bucket of water and I started using Ice between the wall and stove slow down the fire. Daughter came back with bucket of water and I doused the wall with 3 buckets till it quit smoking. I also didn't add any more wood to that stove for the rest of the day. 40 Min later the wall behind the barrel stove started so it got 3 buckets of water tossed on it as well and no more wood added to that stove.

Week 2 boiling went fine and didn't have to due any fire supresion in the shack at all. That is with the added Metal on the walls to provide heat barrier.

Though till I get a better handle on how the shack performs I'll be keeping a close taps on it when its in use. Heck even when its up and running it'll still wont go more than 5 min with out being checked on as you have to keep sap in the pans so that they don't scorch the sap and then warp the pan as well.

 

[sublime68charger]

Also the finish stove in the sugar shack is the Fisher Stand alone stove most times the finish of the final boil down take's about 1 hour or so when I'm down to the last pot/pan of sap so all the other stoves have wound down and are just have coals left in them. The Fisher I keep the wood to it till I have syrup but since that stove the fire is contained inside the Heavy metal fire box I don't worry about that one starting the rest of the shed on fire if left to its own. It is still how it would be if used in a house for heat I have made no modifactions to it at all.
The Basement stove and the barrel stove's where they are open to air when the pans are not on them I keep a closer eye on those till the fire is down and just coals left.

 

[sublime68charger]

Captian that is a good Idea I may just due that and have said hose in the basement hanging on the wall.

 

[captain14]

Captian that is a good Idea I may just due that and have said hose in the basement hanging on the wall.

Just treat it as a pre-connected house line like the old standpipe hoses you see in the movies behind the glass door.

What is the response time from the closest station?

Hint: it’s a very long time when you are waiting for water. I’ve been there when I arrived first on the ladder truck, rescue squad or the Chief’s buggy.
And how the residents act when you are not flowing water.

 

[sublime68charger]

Captain14, Closet Stations are 7 miles and 11 miles away. Im a member of the 1 that is 7 miles away and if called it would be appx 12 min before a truck show up in the driveway at my place.

Response break down
1 min for 911 call and Fire Page
3-5 min for first truck out the door Brush truck with 4 FF Each other truck is another 3-7 behind first truck
6-8 min for the 5 mile drive on 2 lane highway to my Township road
2-5 min for the 2 miles of township road with 3 90 turns 3 more sweeping turns and small valley S curve as well.

Truck response is
1st Brush Truck with High Pressure Foam suppersion system 250 Gallons of water. 4 personal
2nd Engine 1 1000 water 6 personal
3rd Tanker 6 3500 water 2 personal
4th Engine 5 1500 water 6 personal
5th Squad 3 6 personal support equipment
6th Tanker 9 3000 water 2 personal
7th Ladder 1 350 water 100' areial with 2 person bucket 6 personal
8th Brush 4/Off road Buggy 350 water

Station is empty well there is a 1929 GMC Straight truck "Parade truck 1/2" can haul people if you can start it and know how to run the throttle advance.

I can due a year break down of the trucks and a better equipment listing as well if you really want me to.
newest is 2020 I think and oldest is 1995

 

[JJC]

You Don't have a dedicated Atv or tractor with water for fire suppression

 

[sublime68charger]

You Don't have a dedicated Atv or tractor with water for fire suppression

I have sprayer tank with 15 gallons that I could use if needed. That has been used on brush pile stand by duty a time or 2. When I have needed to burn brush pile in summer and worried about setting the praire grass a blaze!

 

[sublime68charger]

So this last weekend was Boy Scout Winter Camp.


Drive 5 hours North. 1st night sleep in a bunk house its warm next day go and get outdoor winter equip gear Spend 24 hours outside. Sleep in a parachute tent. Make some Home made shelters. Go tubing pray you don't wipe out. The Boy's all had a blast and me and the other adult leader survied.

some pics of the sleeping arrangments from the weekend.
2 scouts Shelter made. the camp area was nice as they had wood platforms that tents are placed on in the summer so we shoveled out and made shelters on the wood platforms and some had already been shoveled out.

 

[sublime68charger]

The adult Shelter area. I was smart and took along some rope so we claimed this shelter area that had 1/2 walls and strung the rope across the top and then just drapped the parachute over the top and done.

Sleeping bags are rated for -30 weather and for the most part stayed warm. Temp was in the low 20's for night.

 

[sublime68charger]

More scout shelters.

This is my oldest son at work on his. The other son was part of the 2 man big shelter with the night pic.

 

[sublime68charger]

dont want to leave out the other scouts who made shelters as well.

 

[sublime68charger]

Link to the Tubing video's.

1 kid wiped out but was okay and made another run on the hill.

alway's good to see that. espically when its your own kid as well.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=matt+butteris

 

[captain14]

Sounds like a good time. What was on the menu for the weekend? I know you’ve posted about the chefs creations on previous trips.

 

[sublime68charger]

This was food provide by the Scout Camp running the Snow Base.

But we had Hash brown's Turkey Sausage Egg's for breakfast. Lunch was PB and J, And growl mix, Dried Banna chips/M&M/Rasians/Pretzel's. Supper was Pasta and Sauce Cooked over the camp fire becasue the small light weight stove didn't have the gumption to get the pot of water up to boil so we set the pot on the fire and held with a branch to keep from tipping. The Pasta tasted great as you been out in the cold all day and it was warm to eat.

Pretty simple meals and that was provide by the snow base camp so we didn't have to due the shopping or planning just show up and help with the cooking.

 

[xtremek]

Those housings look pretty cool. Wouldn't catch my old bones in them because 30*F is too cold, but still, pretty cool.

 

[sublime68charger]

Sap boiling this weekend. Sugar Shack got some lighting installed which is nice for finishing up in the dark. The forced air system held up as well without melting down. Was a bit smoky till it got the fire rolling then it cleared up and ran good.

 

[xtremek]

That's pretty cool pic, with the lighting like that. And instead of having your heat shields fastened directly to the wall, put some stand offs between the shields and the wall. About 1"-2" thick, ceramic or brick would be my first choice.