In today’s post, I will provide an update on our Vermont Cabane De Sucre project. In addition, we will stop by Deer Ridge Maple on the first of three operating sugarhouses we visited on our recent trip to Vermont.
Our last estimate for the project, we were at $53,250. Our savings account for the project now stands at $36,105 which is a nice healthy jump from our last post. However, as with most projects, this project continues to expand.
I’m sure many of you can relate to having an initial project thought, with a rough cost, only to take out a second mortgage before you are done. Two summers ago, we decided to put a couple of landscaping pavers under our second story deck to reduce the amount of mud we would slog through while grilling hamburgers. By time we were done, we had hired a landscaper, that needed to bring in utility vehicles, planted 26 trees, put in a retaining wall, and a firepit. I do however, enjoy grilling now without walking through mud.
While in Vermont, we outfitted our ATV with logging hitches, cargo boxes, and an additional winch. Then we took the ATV on a test drive through the sugarbush. It didn’t take long to realize that an ATV even with four-wheel drive, doesn’t do well in deep snow even going downhill. I was fortunate enough that a neighbor groomed a trail through the sugarbush, and we were able to make it through where we needed to on that trail. The neighbor has an ATV with tracks.
I also noted that there was an ATV with tracks on when we visited Deer Ridge Maple. Normally I wouldn’t mind putting extra effort to accomplish a task, but I had visions of heading to the sugarhouse (not built yet) in the early morning after a snowstorm only to get stuck halfway there, and needing to walk back, in waist deep snow and in this case, it really would be uphill the entire way. That seems like a hard day, before the day starts. So, it appears that we will need to purchase tracks for the ATV. I priced used tracks at $4000, bringing the project price to approximately $57,250.
The first operating sugarhouse we visited was Deer Ridge Maple, in Derby Vermont (http://www.deerridgemaple.com/). The owners Jaret and Jessica Judd were welcoming, warm and friendly. In addition to operating their own sugarhouse, Jaret is a maple syrup making equipment dealer for H2O Leader.
Charla went in one direction talking to Jessica about the process of making maple candy, and maple cream (both of which we plan on making in the future). Jaret took the time to show the functional corners of the sugarhouse.
There were many additions to the sugarhouse and so his first piece of advice is to build the sugarhouse bigger than you think you need, and then make it bigger again. In this case, Jaret explained, that we will need to utilize a “head” storage tank.
To gain efficiency with the evaporator, and not use a reverse osmosis machine (see earlier blog post), we had decided to use a steam-away. This is a device that uses the evaporator's steam to preheat the sap before it enters the first boiling area of the evaporator pan. What I didn’t realize, that Jaret explained, is the sap will enter the steam-away approximately six feet up from the floor. The “head” storage tank is a tank that will need to be located where the bottom of the tank is higher than six feet so that it can gravity feed the sap to the evaporator's steam-away. I hadn’t planned on the cost of this extra tank, nor did I plan on the cost of the pump to push the sap from the holding tanks, where the sap flows into, up to the head tank. The approximate cost for the extra tank and pump is about $1800. Our expected costs are now at $59,050.
We left Deer Ridge Maple grateful for the short lessons on making maple candy and cream, and advice on the size sugarhouse as well as information on the need and location of a head tank. If you have access to facebook, You can see a video of Jaret “firing” the evaporator here.
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