HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1991-03-06, Page 49s
51,' •
by M�igBurkhart
Frosty nights. Vann: dais.
ytime .tempOmtures about 45
Fees Fahrenheit. -That's
eOf yfreatiTt that'Nonisl4es,
n -n • hoPmg un,lhese elaYs• -
That' Of •w
sugar maple
,
orris. .and Mot (Jeorg
•startiiig .their second Yoar-
• 11
Lr
ong:,
th0•
-"70.000Mt
iShIflIO
s not an lots
•641!114)-r
consuming; itis
ii,4440,4-,
g work.'
tainless still and is of the con-
tinuous flow type which means
oats
is (41900
ssengerssed
• abot 40 cord of woodtct• ufuei
vvaltioYatirto
•Theprodixcrofn
• a gon',. A3
quick to le
blood!".
Norris;
I - 0,
s
iaple syrup
0001Ceflt
5'
'Ttlea$1104 WIU
.degrees.Brix. The.
rd density
Grad
the syrupiitaken off it
graded. Theie is: a
ato 40 e
grad,•.POP. kit used
ea are Canal!_,,_. # 1 Extra
ht; tight; .: Medium When
en ' jot.,
saiu we:
"
" .
:were raised
As
iranisd.pare"ourntspar. 1t, our
grmade it" Nonis
left Quebec in the 19 andInt
wasn't until' ink, five years ag-
that he actually started making
syrup again.
At that dme, dmidat to tap
&Put 75 trees in his bush. Se
adinitethat was 6$ too
4r0.*!-?.,tbe *mime
finairun into
and,generally clean die ItuS uP
to facilitate the 'onof the
main line of plastic tubing.
A tratisit level. was _used to
install the J10.40,•arid this' riad
bedone late--in,the. A6cor.,:
din to Norris. "theleaves had
He ,•doubt based that '
see. to get the levels."
'Oeerge used his backhoe to
• evaporatorbuilding and .the
vacuum, tanks. :They.
, reedited valuable assiatanck,
• frOniM1 And* geodettwo from
:area.- Who
COnsitfetable experiencein Iaying
out bushes for, pipellio. praduo.
In the',springof,1990, George';
and Norris busied thOinselVeg at
diilling'the.tapholea ,andinstal.
lingthe tubing from the taphole
to .the mainline.. They: used a
•?Agasoline , powered 4411.`twinijkoa
the .tapholes. ' When. asked 'how
long this ,jobwould have taken
them. to do, Norris figured, ,that
they had done 650 trees in -what :‘
he called a "small. daytt'.
• Soine.plaiming has to go into
no
reasoning �n die :fact that, he
used the traditional inethdd of
tapping... the sap buck.etson the
trees, the spigots in the tree, and
simply • and old pan for
evaporating.. And he spent hours
in 'the bush colleting.‘die sap
and then evaporatintit...Aut, the
tate of that fresh maple syrup
seemed to , be just what he
needed to encourage him to get
into this business in a bigger
way.
Today,. there are 950 trees
tapped in his bush. There are no
spigots, no sap buckets. But,
there is a lot of plastic tubing.
In the fall of 1989, Norris and
'George began profiting diebush
for roaPio sYmP production the
next spring. Their initial task
was to remove any dead trees
* be off &trees so we could
preparepreparethe:seftiflg for the
• the :S�leCt10fl. of trees .a
• into :ative.A000
,
.444iotot;iess diti4*: lb: Inches.
One taphole', would be used in.
trees ranging in diameter from.
ut
1.
empties into two 0 e tankSe
g
tapholes would' be used On trees
With a diameter ova- IS'inches;
• ari drilled. three
10td inches,
14and two
,inches into. the white sapwood o
• the tree. Statistics:. indicate'tbat
. s to produce the
•
°OS°
maiinum. yield of sap.
Oc-
caqnw--ilit tht Ofee
inch dePthican extend-, into -the.
tett,. Itee*twa4 If this. shi°141.
A. it is reeOmAended:',that
• .1g,cease, asthis heartwOod
or.,"'stained . !wood, as it is
sometimes called„ does not
produce sap,. •; . .
The tapholes arevsually placid
about three to four `feet aboVe.
the ground As Nadi said "We
-had to' use our own judgement a
Iot of the.thue because you
really have to work :around the
lovasof yotn mainline," °
.The tubing that goes from the
taphole io4he loanable comes in
different• 'Colours and it
° seemingly screens out the
ultraviolet rays ousftehde sun.
0;angeun.
* mainline tubing that Nor-
ris and George ,.
with a c Ls • ere is
reason., or the blackStripe. The
siripe will attract the heat from
the sun therebyeausing the Sap'
inthelinetothawaiidkeep
fl wing.
th�
• grNeaotrrisadv, faneetaissesthaLobri: oint
• operation is the fact that his -bush
• his -
they are ableto 1,1111W 10 it7;77slgravitationalfoivi
extent.•
. • ' Evaporation
All the sap from the Mainline
comes ,hito a vacuum tank and
then empties, into. two Other
holding tanks before making its •
_flog lou into 'the, `-evaporator.*
.• .Norris eatiiriated that they can
hold over, gallons, In the
tanks.
• Hardwood slabs are used as fuel
• for the evaporating process. Tho..
evaporator itself made dr
1
eanume
UCL, the
ncors -
-411
must appear on th container,
The sap stops running; the •
ufliS taken .-off, and
production is over for another
year. Now, it is time to clean oP:
This means • flus g out the
bringiog in •totting
aid washing it and cleaning the
tanks and the evapo,
Many long hours have been
spent in the sugarhush. Just how
smany:-depends entirely -Oh the
supply of sap, and that depends
entirely on weather conditions.
As Norris said, "It varies from
Year' to year. •
NolTis and •Gewe. are
preparing. the sugar camp for
produetionras this Story is being t
mitten. One of the fiat things
they would have to do is check
the lines to make sure that squir-
rels, chipmunks or porcupine had
not chewed away at the line. In
bushes, where ,there are a lot of
nut trees, squirrels andchip-
munks can be a real nuisance to
the maple syrup broducer.
With everything, in ,order, the
rest: is .up, tO Mother Nature.
Despite the long hours and the
Turn to, page 4A•
;