With this blog post I will provide an update on business-related activities regarding this project. I will step back in time a little and explain the horse path just above (20 feet) from where we have been clearing the trees for the future sugarhouse. I will conclude the post with the progress Charla and I made on days four and five while in Vermont this past June.
Starting with the business-related activity updates. The funding has come up short for the project, so we visited our banking institution this past week and received a business loan. In addition, Charla and I have filed the paperwork to create two legal entities. The first is According to Jean LLC. This is the company that we will operate under for our maple syrup related efforts that this blog has been focused on. The second entity is called Pennvertucky LLC. I will hold on getting into details of this company until the timing is right. Although, a teaser, there are three states represented in the name. Where I am originally from, where Charla is originally from and where we live now.
Just above where we are clearing the building site, there is a path that, as explained by my father, was integral to the sugaring activities of the previous generations. In early spring, maple trees would have a small hole drilled in them. A spout would be inserted. A bucket would then be hung on the spout to catch the drips of sap as it flowed from the tree.
A team of horses was used to pull a maple sap gathering tank around to the different trees in the sugarbush where the buckets of sap would be poured into the gathering tank. I’ve included a snapshot of a painting by Richard De Wolfe that provides a wonderful picture of what it looked like back then.
Once all the sap buckets on the trees were empty, the team of horses would pull the sleigh to the sugarhouse over this path. This path was about 10 feet above and behind the main sugarhouse but equally high to the sap holding area of the sugarhouse. From the location above and behind the sap holding area the gathering tank would be emptied (spigot and galvanized tin trough) into a galvanized holding tank that was inside the sap holding area part of the sugarhouse about five feet off the ground. The sap holding tank would then gravity feed the evaporator inside the sugarhouse when it called for more sap.
I felt like Charla and I were going from 0-60 MPH when it came to cutting trees for the building site and firewood for the evaporator to use in the spring of 2025. My body hadn’t been doing any hard labor for many, many years and so on days four and five my body was feeling the efforts of days one through three on top of the work we were doing. The weight of the chainsaw, and being overweight in general is – well, weighing me down. Thankfully, Charla explained, that our readers will know that a camera adds 30 lbs to a person.
Starting on day four, we began with a larger birch. The birch came down easily and I started at the trunk end to block it up. Not many branches on that one. The trunk was off the ground making it easy to cut. I had sharpened the chainsaw the night before and so it cut nicely. The weight of the saw helped make the cuts and so I didn't have to push down on the saw. I shifted to the branch end and Charla started stacking and cleaning up the branches. The sawdust from the chainsaw flew everywhere. My hands and arms were feeling the power of the chainsaw and its ability to chew through the wood without hesitation. We repeated this for a couple smaller trees and then another larger tree. The day four video can be seen on YouTube by clicking on this link.
We had to take down a sugar-maple. I hated to. The reason we are doing this work is to make maple syrup and we need the sugar maples for the sap.
This was a 10-inch maple. Just the right size to start tapping for its sap. We counted the rings and it was about 40 years old.
It was such a beautiful day. Nature surrounded us in abundance. I heard the birds enjoying the peaceful setting going about their activities. Or they were yelling at us for disturbing their home. Not sure which it was.
Day five started with taking down a larger birch that was leaning opposite from where I wanted it to land. I grabbed some wedges, looking to provide some incentive to the tree. With the encouragement of the wedges, I heard the tree popping inside as it began to lose grip at the trunk. A couple more strong hits with the small sledgehammer and the popping turned to a moan as the top of the tree reached the tipping point and began to fall. Landing just where we needed it to, Charla and I momentarily celebrated our success. See the day five video and celebration by clicking on this YouTube link.
The success was more subtle, in that, in my youth I would have felt it took too much time to find a wedge (if one could be found) and would have wrestled with processing the tree as it fell in the wrong direction. It has taken a lifetime of metaphorically landing trees in the wrong direction to learn to slow down and intentionally think about where things stand and how to work to achieve a more positive outcome.
Day five was the best day so far. We were able to take down three large and three smaller trees. This made the stack of wood start looking a little more respectable. As the stack of wood was going up, the bottle of ibuprofen was going down.
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