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New Section: Maple Syrup

We are getting ready for this coming season of Maple Sugaring. Nicole will be doing the bulk of the work. I’m in charge of getting the ducks in a row so we can hit the ground running when the sap starts flowing.

To this effect, we purchased an evaporator and 40 buckets & spouts. This should give us 10 to 15 gallons of syrup but the season could be weird given the “winter” we’re in now.

The model we have is a Mason Welding 2’x3′ Hobby Evaporator. It’s supposed to evaporate at ~8 gallons per hour.

Not my picture, ours is currently wrapped up.

270_Hobby_EvaporatorI need to brick it and get a chimney for it.

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Egg Stash

Some time in November I removed the fence around the chickens in preparation for the snow which damages it. Chickens never go far in the snow and they knew where home was so I felt ok letting them roam around. They enjoyed their liberty enormously and did very well coming back at dusk. Problem is they also started laying; not all picked the coop as their laying spot.

IMG_2272So unfortunately for them, and in the absence of snow, the fence is back and much tighter so they correct this behavior.IMG_2303

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Solar Upgrade

The past few weeks have made it clear that out 2 solar panels weren’t enough at all for the Winter months. Short and overcast days weren’t enough to keep the battery charged with even very minimal use and we went dark a couple of days. I don’t have numbers yet but these 3 panels should do a lot better than the 2 I had. I also doubled the batteries’ amp-hours to have more buffer.FullSizeRender(1)FullSizeRender