We’re so far behind posting lately since we’ve been so busy in the woods and sugar shack. We’ll keep posting every few days now even if the content is slightly dated.

It wouldn’t be maple season without equipment failure. Since almost everything has failed at one point or another over the last five years we’re getting pretty good at fixing things.

First, we forgot a Romex connector on one of our Busch pump motors, and as a result mice got in, chewed wires, and built a next inside this 10 horse motor. Of course it was the most difficult pump house to access, but we were able to replace this broken 160 pound motor with a more efficient three-phase motor and VFD.

Second, one of our submersible pumps seals broke and the connection corroded. We always have backup equipment now for things like this, the only sap we lost was the little we had to drain to exchange the pump wire, and a new connector is on order.

All 22,000 taps are in, we should have our first full-sized run early next week!