Turtle Lane Maple Farm

Actually, it is here! Only problem, we aren’t ready.

In all the past years, earliest we have had sap running is February 27th, and so that is what we prepare for. Imagine our surprise late last week when we figured out, OMG the season is passing us by. We have been working every spare minute on getting ready. Hanging lines for 500+ taps all around town, including a brand new run of 100 taps that replaces nearly the same amount in trees cut down last season on Johnson and Salem Streets. Cleaning the sugar house, the pans, the pumps, the tanks, and anything else we can put hot water to. And for the first time since December, now the website. There will be more coming soon. As in past years, we will post boiling schedules daily so keep checking back. Kathy is also working on a comprehensive tour schedule, sorry to all of you that have been waiting.

We should be ready to go by the end of this week. Then the question will be, will the sap run? The last week has been perfect, to our shagrin, and now it looks like the next 4 days will be miserable. Our boiling this weekend will be purely dependent on whether mother nature will have some pity on Turtle Lane Maple Farm. Cross your fingers, do a dance, and check back daily as we get closer to the weekend.

For those of you on Facebook, we have been enjoying sharing information via our Fan Page at: www.facebook.com/turtlelanemaplefarm and on twitter at http://twitter.com/turtlelanemaple

Thanks for supporting local agriculture!

This weekend was a bit different as we focused on Steven’s Estate.

On Saturday Paul’s dad, Buster, came out with us in the field. Paul’s mom, Maxine, stayed at the house for two hours and played with the kids. During the two hours, the three of us were able to run a fair amount of new mainline. We took a different path this year deeper in the woods which allowed us to pick up an additional 44 taps in a small sugar maple grove on the Southern portion of the estate and just West of the tote road. Interestingly, the beginning of this run comes within feet of the beginning of the Cullen Estate run, because each run starts at the top of a hill and run down each side respectively. We started with running 12 gauge high-tensile wire strung a long distance between two trees. The wire is tightened by using gripples and inline strainers at each end of the wire. When we say the wire is tight, we mean the wire twangs like a guitar string when you hit it. It must be in order to hold all the weight of the 1/2″ mainline pipe filled with maple sap, and not sag or loose its pitch (2 to 3 degree down sloping angle).

On Sunday we went back out to Steven’s Estate for a couple hours, to begin to tie in trees at the beginning of the mainline to the manifolds on the mainline. This is done through the use of “lateral lines”. These smaller (5/16″) lines string through the woods from tree to tree making their way down hill till they reach the 1/2″ mainline. Think of these as roads to a highway. At some point we will be putting a more descriptive overview of the tubing process on the website. With some trees that are somewhat below the topology of the mainline, we needed to use a 6′ step-ladder and string latteral lines higher up the trunk so that the line still runs down towards the mainline at about a 4 to 5 degree pitch. We ran lateral lines to about 12 trees, but did not tap.

Since Monday was a holiday, we took the opportunity to go out again despite the rain. Yes, even when it is miserable out, we go out and work because it won’t get done otherwise. Luckily, it was a light rain so it wasn’t so bad to work in. We finished running the lateral lines through the woods. We also ran a length of mainline through the grove of sugar maples on the back lawn to the tank area of the other mainline run. Unfortunately we ran out of daylight, so we have about an hour or so worth of work in order to finish the lateral lines in the small grove area.

At Steven’s Estate there are also three separate trees that won’t be connected to mainline due to their location. So they will have a 5 gallon bucket or small tote next to the tree to collect the sap. We will install these when we tap as these are easy to do.

We not ready to tap yet as it is too early in the season, but running the lines before hand really helps spread out the work.  And at this point you can probably begin to appreciate how much work there is to do.  Remember, this is just 116 out of 500+ taps!

As you go past the old farm off to the left at Edgewood, and go up the hill towards the Cullen Estate, you will now see two runs of mainline, one on the right and one on the left. It was an interesting day as it was nice for most of the day with a slight breeze. But at 3pm we were hit with a freak white-out. We watched a wall of snow travel up the field as we ran to the pickup truck just in time as it hit us. The white-out lasted about 12 minutes and then we were able to continue working. Such is the way when working with Mother Nature.

The run on the left as you go up the hill has 10 trees (some Silver Maple but most Sugar Maple), all having 4 taps each. There is some wind damage on two of the trees, but the crowns are full and so we will focus on the parts of the tree that are unaffected vertically to the healthy parts of the crown.

The run on the right as you go up the hill as 8 trees (again some Silver Maple but mostly Sugar Maple), all having 4 taps each.

Again, we haven’t tapped but just running the lines in advance.

And just as a matter of opinion, to counter the treachery of snow, wind and cold, we have to say that this area is some of the most beautiful in North Andover. We suggest that the community go and explore these areas and experience some of nature’s best in your own backyard.

The season is approaching fast! Today we ran our longest run of mainline (1/4 mile). It is on the old Cullen Estate, on the tote road that connect Steven’s Estate and Edgewood. It has 25 great old sugar maple trees that we believe were planted around 150 years ago (just our guess based on size). We will only place 4 taps in each tree as this is the maximum number of taps that a tree should have according to the North American Maple Producer’s Manual.

We not ready to tap yet as it is too early in the season, but running the lines before hand really helps spread out the work.