I have begun the process of getting my system ready for the sugaring season.

First, a bit of explanation. I’ve been away from the hobby for three years. Two years ago the winter and spring weather were not good in our area. The season lasted for about a week. It takes me a solid two weeks to get setup and two weeks to tear down. A one week season doesn’t make it at all worthwhile.

Last year I was just finishing six months of chemo for Hodgkins Lymphoma and was too weak to tromp through the woods on snowshoes.

This year we’ve had a great winter (from a maple syrup perspective.) We’ve had LOTS of snow and lots of very cold temperatures.

So, I’ve been spending time in the woods freeing up my lines (many were down because of fallen trees and branches) and doing repairs. All but six of my lines are now up and ready to vacuum test. Two of the remaining six are up but in need of major repairs. Two are short and look ready to go. They will only need inspections. The other two are longer and have lines down. I will be working on getting those six up and ready to go this afternoon.

I quit yesterday late afternoon because I didn’t have any taps (spouts) in my tubing bucket. I have struggled to find my tools and fittings after three years. I had decided that I needed to make a trip up to CDL in Perth to buy taps and flat hooks. (I use the flat hooks to anchor the lateral lines to the wire supporting the main line to remove the stress on the saddle and to give me a loop that makes it really obvious if there is a leak on the lateral line.) This morning I decided to take another look and found a milk crate with a bag each of health Ts, end of line hooks, flat hooks, and taps.

Thank you past me for buying lots of supplies!

In this photo are a 5/16" MAXFlow end of line adapter (pn 66265099), a 5/16" MAXFlow Health T (pn 660300099), a 5/16" MAXFlow flat hook (pn 66303099), and a 5/16" MAXFlow spout (pn 66090516).

All parts are from CDL (catalog).