[Mark Cowdrey]

Joel,
I am contemplating replacing a bunch of my tubing w buckets. I am wondering how the “slosh factor” is when the poly tank on your gathering rig is half full, as far as pushing & pulling the horses. Would you change anything if you were to build another one?

and

“What did one sugarmaker say to another? Looks like we might get a run in the next few days!”

Thanks & good luck.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

We had a decent little run yesterday. Didn’t really shake loose till early afternoon but ran until almost midnight. Actually felt like Spring for a few hours. Fighting with vacuum system components, of course. (See other active thread on technology!) Will boil today for 3rd time this year. Making some nice medium from sap running 2.0 -2.7%. If we get the weather they are forecasting for the end of the week may finally really get to work.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Thanks Ed & Joel for sharing info & photos.
A few random rants.
I have been thinking about Ed’s comments about the future of sugaring and just this afternoon picked the latest edition of Northern Woodlands out of my mailbox. In it is an interesting article about the maple “industry”, “A Maple Bubble?…”. Of course they don’t answer the question but they do a good job outlining how the actions of the Maple Federation in Quebec in recent years is largely responsible for the recent boom in maple development. A boom in both technological development and investment in both that development and gross bush size. Vacuum is pretty much standard and RO is coming along right behind. The commonplace use of the word “industry” to describe the maple production business is instructive to me. While many of us continue to produce at an artisanal scale, the siren call of “more, more” is out there. And a question to ask is “To what end?” What have we gained as farm families and as a culture? If my equipment is so high tech I can’t enjoy the occasional “boiling soda”, and the sound of machinery drowns out the sound of the wood fire under the arch, and the net profit never quite catches the gross outlay, what have I gained? What have I lost?
At the prices they get for these rigs, as well as replacing your tubing every 5 years (more or less), it is pretty clear to me who is going to be left holding the bag if this is a bubble. The same guy as always, the little guy who was assured that all this stuff would “pay for itself”. This would then be followed by some small timers just disappearing and others bought out for pennies on the dollar by the big guys. Sound familiar? Is that the ghost of Earl Butz stalking through the bush?
The question of whether or not we are in a bubble is one I raised at our recent NH Maple Producers regional meeting. The response I got was guardedly optimistic that we are not, but delivered in carefully measured words. As for me, I am seeing a waddle and hearing a quack, though my crystal ball is no clearer than theirs.
I hope when I get going here at my place, hopefully next year, I will have enough sense to do it like Ed & Joel, slow & steady.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

1. loop & staple
2. reach
3. max turning swing, about 45 degrees

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[Mark Cowdrey]

Corrine,
From looking at your second photo, your sleds are very similar to mine. I am not sure which piece broke, I cannot tell from the first photo. I think from your description that it is the “reach”, the piece that connects the front bob to the rear bob and allows the front bob to drag the rear one behind it. Am I correct? If so, the connection of the front of the reach to the rear of the front bunk should be loose enough, have enough play, to allow the front bob to pivot almost 90 degrees to the sleigh before there is interference.
I will post some photos later.
Hope this helps,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Thanks Jay.
I forgot to mention that I had first thought of my harrows (disc, spike tooth & chain drag) but they are all frozen in & under snow at the field up the road. Poor planing there.
I remember riding on a forecart with you dragging a disc on trails in the dark on a Winter Carnival weekend years ago.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I HAVE FOUND THAT IF THE “WHAT’S NEW FEATURE ” DOES NOT RETURN AN UP TO DATE LIST, LOGGING ON WILL MAKE IT DO SO.
MARK
Don’t we “hunt and peck”-ers love Caps Lock!

[Mark Cowdrey]

What is a “handy clutch”?
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

It is working now.
Thank you….?
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Thanks Carl.
I have
http://flofarm.org/dap/forums/whats-new/
set as a favorite and it was working for me until it wasn’t. Kind of weird.
I can see this by going to “forum” and then opening “bugs”, although this thread is not sown as the “most recent”. I need to actually open “bugs” to see it.
HMMMMMMMMM.
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

The model that Carl describes is the closest so far to how I typically make hay. I have only been doing it 5 years. I mow w horses, the balance w a tractor. I have a lot of orchard grass (early) w the timothy & red clover (no alfalfa) and am on neighbors’ fields (no early grazing). I shoot to mow first cut when timothy is just coming out of the boot. By then orchard grass is past prime and starting to dry a little standing. This is ideally the 1st week of June. I held off a little this year hoping to make up the growth we didn’t have because of the dry spring.The last of my first cut (it takes about 3-4 weeks in a good year (2012)) is all past prime, but still decent. As a result, it dries faster.
I have springy, sloping fields that have a lot of variability of species, growth, and wetness of ground.
I mow w a 5′ cutter bar, ideally in the afternoon to keep the dew on top of the mown grass, not in it. Also sugar content is supposedly high that time of day. My grass board is fairly severe for the rank, vetchy areas so I need to tedd fairly soon, usually around 10 the next morning (talking first cut here) when the dew is off the surface. This spreads it out and exposes lots of rank clots that would never dry if just left laying. I then retedd when the top stems are dry enough (sometime in the afternoon) to get the tedded hay to “stand up” some to get the air circulation going. Next day, when dew is dried off the top, I tedd to “stand it back up” and get that air circulation going again. Tedd again in the afternoon and hopefully turn up the last of the green clots. Maybe walk around w a fork and do a little shaking. (I mow about 2 acres at a time.) Next day (full day 2), tedd when dew is off. In good, hot, dry, high pressure weather, if crop is not too heavy, I can rake around 3 and bale after that. If because of weather and/or heavy crop it isn’t ready, go another day of tedding in the AM and rake in bale in the PM. That is when things are just right and makes what I think of as pretty decent hay. Of course in practice, things are a little different sometimes. You develop an eye for when the hay starts going from green to brown. You want to get it before that.
I use a NH56 rake (no tooth angle adj) and a 4 star 14′ old Kuhn tedder. Would love to get a motorized forecart for the tedder. Maybe some day.
Might have been able to dry a little hay in the kitchen today, if I could have found some grass to mow….
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I spotted that wood stove, too. I wonder how far he was traveling…
In that first picture, do you think that is a spring pole chain binder on the top of the load?
Great pics (including that (unintentional?) shot of ’70’s fashion!)
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Carl,
It would be helpful to me if you could explain what “contact” means to you.
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

Donn,
“pieces between the ears”?
I am unclear as to which pieces you mean.
Thanks,
Mark

[Mark Cowdrey]

I stayed back at the sugar house and when the crowd showed up I just kept my head down & kept stoking the arch. Did have a reasonable conversation w Lorainne Merrill (Comm. of Ag) later in the afternoon. Thought about writing “Ax the Pledge” in the dirt on the side of my truck but a nervous look from the boss’s wife convinced me not to make waves. Would have been good since Peter Thompson showed up later in the day! Oh well, I’m more bluster than action.
Has been running good here. We have made about 175 gallons of light & lightish medium. Last year total was 270 w no light. That number is deceiving (sap production-wise) because we have been trucking in sap from another fellow who has a bigger operation & is still struggling to get up & boiling.
Good luck all,
Mark

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