Images of the sugarhouse

I wanted to share some more pictures of our sugarhouse with you all. At the center of it is the evaporator. We have a 2'x4' flat pan that works well for us while it's much smaller than those used in the big sugarhouses.

Here I'm finishing bricking the arch, to protect the steel frame from the heat of the fire.



The beauty of this little evaporator is that it is quite kid friendly and the mystery of sugar making is revealed to even the smallest helpers. Our kids are used to wood stoves in the house, so the intense heat of the arch is carefully avoided. I've had one little girl check with her finger to see if it was hot. Yup it was.



We burn fine split pine, fir and hemlock in our evaporator. We've found that most of this pulp wood would have been left to rot in the woods, so it makes good sense to use it for sugaring instead. We've got a 6" stack that carries the smoke up and outside.




When the snow is deep, these snowshoes will be used by the kids to help collect the sap. This year we've had lots of snow so the snowshoes will be used a lot.



We still collect our sap in buckets, the old fashioned way. Its hard work but it is also lots of fun.



Here is a picture of the whole setup. We'll make some changes this year, but overall we're ready for the sap to run.



Remember we'll be open on March 27th, 2011 for Maine Maple Sunday, so plan to stop by if you get a chance.