A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
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Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Miscellaneous / Off-topic
Forum Discription: Pull a chair up to the campfire and chat. No religious, political or weapons talk, please.
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7681
Printed Date: 29 May 2024 at 1:12am
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Topic: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Posted By: jato
Subject: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2016 at 3:04pm
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Having heavy snow today in northern Michigan just north of Traverse City, about 5" thus far. It is a beautiful sight seeing snow that is stellar white and not dirty. And i do know that soon, we will be able to retrieve our pod out of the horse barn and start camping. Can't get to it yet, ground too soft and even with 4 WD will get stuck in the mud. Had golfers out this week, so spring is definitely on the way. Don't think they will play today unless they play with those optic colored balls and then find the hole in the snow where the ball entered. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Replies:
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2016 at 3:50pm
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We are almost done with We are almost done with mud season here...............cant wait!!
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2016 at 4:02pm
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Leo, people in your neck of the woods are probably in the thick of "sap season" for making maple syrup; they sure are here and loving this weather, it extends the season, thus more sap and more syrup. Last year I hit it pretty hard with 80 taps, collected 700 gallons of sap and ended up with 16.25 gallons of syrup. Mmmm, mmmm good! But also used 3 face cord of wood. Not doing any this year, it is a LOT of work. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: JandL
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2016 at 4:07pm
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In Sacramento California Today - Fair today with a high of 75 °F (23.9 °C) and a low of 49 °F (9.4 °C).
Sunday - Partly cloudy today with a high of 76 °F (24.4 °C) and a low of 51 °F (10.6 °C). ------------- JandL 2013 Honda Ridgeline 2012 177 2 Paynes in a Pod |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2016 at 4:13pm
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We got you beat JandL. High today in Kewadin 33 F (1 C) and a low tonight of 19 (-7.5 C). Sun, what is that? ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 11:32am
The last few years I've considered tapping the 1-2 dozen red maples we have on our property. No sugar maples here but they are in the area. It always comes down to time and wood. We are always busy this time of year and it takes a lot of work to cut/section/move/split/stack a cord (or money and then I still have to move and stack it) and a lot of time to tend the boil. A lot easier and cheaper to buy a gallon at Costco... ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 12:27pm
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My son and grandchildren have tapped a bunch of trees, so we should have a fresh batch of syrups soon.We were out for a ride the other day and saw all kind of sugar house boiling! Really smells great!! ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 3:56pm
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Oh oh JandL, forecast is really "cool" as we are to receive 6 more inches of snow today and tomorrows forecast is for a high of 21 F (-6 C) and a low of 10 F (-12 C), yippee. originally posted by techntrek The last few years I've considered tapping the 1-2 dozen red maples we have on our property. No sugar maples here but they are in the area. It always comes down to time and wood. We are always busy this time of year and it takes a lot of work to cut/section/move/split/stack a cord (or money and then I still have to move and stack it) and a lot of time to tend the boil. A lot easier and cheaper to buy a gallon at Costco... Believe it or not they even tap white birch and make birch syrup around here, I don't think it has the rich taste of maple syrup, but it does have a taste all its own. Never had syrup from red maples, would think it would be similar to what you get from sugar maples, including the sugar content of the sap. Best sugar content is early in the season with the sugar at 2%, from there it will drop to 1.5% or even less. Once the temps stay above freezing at night the sugars begin to turn to starch (for leaf production), then you are done, the sap turns cloudy and bitter. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 7:21pm
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My son made some birch syrup last year, he said it tasted pretty good! ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 7:23pm
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Leo, ask your son what the ratio is for birch syrup. Under good conditions it is 40 to 1 for maple sap when it is flowing at 2% sugar out of the tree. In other words, 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Is birch sap the same ratio?
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 9:11pm
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I checked, he said that the birch bark is 100 gallons of sap makes 1 gallon of syrup.
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 9:13pm
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Said that is why a lot of people do not make it, over double the work.
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 9:46pm
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Red doesn't have as much sugar as sugar maple, but it isn't too far behind. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 10:05pm
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WOW, 100 to 1. That is why I have never seen it for sale, would sell for a fortune. Around here a quart of maple syrup sells for around 20 - 22 bucks unless you go to a Sams or Costco where it has been watered out, there you can purchase it significantly cheaper. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2016 at 10:16pm
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Yeah he said the birch syrup was really expensive! Ours runs roughly 20-29 per quart depending on who makes it. That's why my son and his kid's make it..........plus they have a blast making sugar on snow etc
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2016 at 6:22am
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All our kids have fond memories of making syrup. The only part they didn't like was the tear down/clean up after we were done. Collecting hoses, taps, washing out buckets. They told me it reminded them of when they had to weed the garden :)
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 04 Apr 2016 at 9:03am
Ha! my grand kids also mentioned the weeding of the garden!They enjoy the making syrup for the first couple of runs, then the fun seems to fade  ------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2016 at 8:10pm
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Yea, 3 more inches of snow today, followed by snain (rain + snow) and then sleet so we are having a blast on the road today. But wait . . . . supposed to get to 50 degrees on Thursday. WOW
------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Leo B
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2016 at 8:25pm
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Makes spring an adventure!
------------- Leo & Melissa Bachand 2017 Ford F150 2021 Vista Cruiser 19 csk Previously owned 2015 Rpod 179 2010 Rpod 171 |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 10 Apr 2016 at 8:39pm
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Indeed ! Yesterday my wife transplanted our tomato plants into bigger pots. They are about 3" tall now. Kind of neat. About 4 years ago we bought heritage seeds (non hybrid and non GMO) the kind we planted when we were kids. So you never have to shop for seeds again, just use the seeds out of the fruit/vegetable from the previous year, dry and store them and use them over. Hoping that our spinach will re-seed itself from last year, that part of the garden will not get roto-tilled. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |