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Hall Farms Maple Products Online Journal

Our online journal provides updated information about the season, status of our products and anything new on the farm. Please check back often for the latest developments.

DATE

JOURNAL ENTRY

January 6-7, 2007 Rod and Barb bottled syrup both days. We can't believe how much syrup we are going through. That's a great sign.
January 11, 2007 Rod and Barb attending the Agricultural Trade Show and attended the Annual Maple Producers Meeting. We participated in the 2007 Maple Syrup Contest. Our syrup placed First (1st) in the medium amber category and third (3rd) in the light amber category.
January 20, 2007 Rod and Barb bottled syrup. We decided to put up a few large batches in hopes to get us through the month of February and meet our retail/wholesale customer needs.
February 1, 2007 New lateral lines & tubing started to be installed in our new sugar bush. Again, it finally warmed up and was a beautiful day in the woods. Tubing was installed and/or replaced. Rod's been real busy putting the finishing touches on some renovations at the Sugarhouse. Our inventory room is in the process of being re-insulated, new ceilings are in the process of being installed, along with new walls and a coat of paint. All in a days work!
February 2, 2007 Rod, Randy and Eddie finished up on the new lateral lines and tubing in the new 2007 sugar bush. Looks like after this weekend, we'll be taking a week off, since it looks like we'll be moving into a deep freeze again.
February 3, 2007 Today is a chilly one, the thermometer says 26 degrees, but with the wind-chill, it's barely 0. We received about 4-5 inches of snow overnight, which made the morning a bit crazy. We won't be working in the bush today. We look to be in good shape. We've started finalizing some of our plans for "Maine Maple Sunday" and our All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Breakfast.
February 4, 2007 Today was extremely cold with the wind chill factor. We worked down in the garage for most of the morning. Temps were still 20 below 0. Too cold to do to much outside.
February 6, 2007 Today Rod and Randy spent time in the barn doing some odd jobs while Dad and Gloria were in Florida. The afternoon, Rod put drops together to be prepared. We could be back to 20-30 degrees. Anything is warmer than what we've been having.
February 9, 2007 Rod spent some time cleaning the sugarhouse and getting ready for the cold weather to break. Eddie will return on Sunday and then they will all venture back into the sugar bush to begin tapping trees. We're in hopes to have all the trees tapped before school vacation. This morning was 10 below 0 and it didn't warm up .. The wind was brutal again today. A brief snow shower was enough to give the vehicles a good dusting this morning.
February 10, 2007 Rod went into the sugar bush to check more tubing and put in additional drops. By the time all said and done, we'll have 8600+ taps.
February 12, 2007 Rod, Randy and Eddie ventured into our orchard on the north slope, not too far away from the house. This is our steepest orchard and they all decided it would be a great idea to get these trees tapped before the snow comes. All predictions are saying the same thing, 24" of snow starting Tuesday night into Wednesday.
February 13, 2007 Rod, Randy and Eddie returned to our north slope today to complete about 1200 taps on the steep slope. This will help offset the need for snowshoes on the slope. Still, many trees to tap. If the snow continues to approach it looks like we won't be back into the bush until the first of next week. Temp today was -5 degrees with a wind chill of -30 degrees.
February 14, 2007 Well today was an interesting one. Snow removal, snow removal, snow removal. By 8:00 pm we received more than 16 inches of snow, which will definitely slow us down in the woods. We will be postponing our tapping process for a few days.
February 15, 2007 Clean up day ... We received an additional 10+ inches of snow by 5:00am today. Rod and Randy are out cleaning up again today. It's 8 degrees, but with the wind chill, it's about -10 degrees. The winds are causing white out conditions.
February 19, 2007 Another cold day, wind-chills nearly -25 degrees. But we worked anyway. With the new 26" of snow last week, we went into the woods on snowshoes in order to pack down the trails so 4-wheelers can be used tomorrow. We'll be doing a significant amount of tapping. You just never know when the weather will turn and the sap will run.
February 20, 2007 A nice day to tap trees! Rod, Randy and Eddie ventured into the bush today.... Tapped about 700. Looks like the rest of the tapping will be done on snowshoes. It's much harder to carry everything when you are on snowshoes, especially when this particular orchard runs about 4600' up hill from the road.
February 21, 2007 We had a very productive day, but a long day on snowshoes. Lunches were packed so we could eat our lunch on the run.. Temperatures were beautiful. A nice balmy 35 degrees. If sap was running, it would have been a perfect day.
February 22, 2007 Rod, Randy and Eddie, finished our hillside orchard across the road that has about 3,300 taps. We were a bit concerned that we might receive more snow ... What a beautiful day, temps were in the mid 30's, no wind and the sun was bright. We've been a bit crazy with orders, equipment and supply sales. Everyone has the itch.
February 23, 2007 Today, we met with the Portland Sunday Telegram for approximately 3 hours. They all came prepared, boots, hats, gloves, cameras and strong backs. They truly wanted to know what it was like to carry everything up into the sugar bush, tap the trees and connect spouts before we head off to the "old schoolhouse". Rod loaded them up ... gave them a backpack and drill. We made it a bit easy on everyone by going into the North Jay sugar bush .. mostly flat ground and only about 250 taps. Once the Portland Sunday Telegram crew left, we finished up in North Jay. Only 3 sugar bushes left to go and 5,300 taps. We're well on our way.
February 24, 2007 Rod got the sugarhouse cleaned. He also got the inventory room finished with a new ceiling to go along with the new metal roof. The next cleaning spree will be the evaporator. We still have some busy days ahead getting the rest of the taps in, let's hope for nice weather going forward. We turned on the vacuum pump to make sure the lines are cleaned.
February 26, 2007 Rod, Randy and Eddie went back into the Dr. White lot and began tapping. A bit more physical this year than last year, because we all need snowshoes to get around. Beautiful day today, temps in the high 30's and no breeze. Snow seems to be melting. Business has been busy, between store orders and equipment and supplies we don't have much down time.
February 27, 2007 We finished tapping at the Dr. White lot today. A long day, but we did finish. Tomorrow we head to the Holman bush. We're looking good. Should have all of our tapping done before the end of the week. Just in time for more snow. Everyone has been a champ this year dealing with the physical demands of the snow. We're not benefiting with four-wheelers this year.
February 28, 2007 We had an early start at the Holman bush. We didn't get as much done as we had hoped, but tomorrow is another day! Our plans for tomorrow will be a full day, since the weather will be turning poor. All forecasts say that we will see snow and possibly a mixture of sleet and freezing rain. Sap ran today, but it's still a bit early. If we have these types of days next week, we'll start the vacuum pumps up and start collecting. We'll have to see what's in store. Rod's dad returned with our jug order. He had a full load and then some. We certainly have jugs now. The 26' trailer was plum-full from top to bottom, the back of the truck was full. Our first phase of our jug order produced more than 250 cases of jugs for us to fill and resell. No worries about the usage of these jugs. This is only a start. We'll be ready for our 2nd phase of our jug order later on in the season.
March 1, 2007 First job this morning was to finish chores around the farm. Then, we went on to unloading our jugs that were picked up. This will get us through the first part of the sugaring season, but we'll need to get our second phase of our initial order, which will be another 250+ cases towards the middle/latter end of the sugaring season. Temps were in the mid 30's. It seems as though mud season has hit.
March 2, 2007

As predicted, the snow began to fall about 3:30 a.m. As the day progresses, we'll keep you updated. At the end of today we will have another very busy and productive week with equipment sales and supplies. Snow has accumulated all day. We've received more than 10 inches, as it starts to dwindle. The sleet and freezing rain has been a bit of a welcomed addition, because it will help pack the snow for snowshoes. We're hoping we can finish tapping the last 300-400 by Monday. Today's temps were 25 degrees. Last evening, we made another 350 drops for replacement purposes. These will be installed on Monday, March 5, 2007.

We would like to send out a special thank you to all of those who participated and are participating in our Maine Maple Trivia Contest. As of today, we have received over 123 entries from around the country, as well as England and Japan.

March 5, 2007 Tapping resumed today with temps in the high teens. The wind surely sent chills down our spines. We completed 250 of the last 500 taps. We do not plan on tapping the rest till the end of the week, since arctic air has squeezed into the area. The weekend seems to be shaping up to be a beautiful one. Last reports state high 30's, low 40's. Couldn't ask for better sap running weather ... as long as the evenings stay in the low to mid 20's, we'll be all set.
March 7, 2007 It's been busy for the past few days with sugaring supplies, etc. Things have been moving fast because everyone is getting prepared. All advertising has been drafted and completed and forwarded off to the newspapers for Maine Maple Sunday. We anticipate an extremely busy weekend prior to the warmer weather returning. This morning is was -13 degrees and no wind. What a difference that makes. All we have to do is hang on for one more day to get through the rest of the arctic temps and we'll be home free.
March 8, 2007 This morning at 5:00 a.m. temps recorded at -13 degrees. We all know that the temps will dip further before day break. The coldest temps prior to day break was -17 degrees. Rod's been extremely busy with customers, supply calls and retail sales. He gets a bit of a reprieve after 3:30 pm. Internet orders have been streaming in. Everyone is looking for fresh organic Maine maple syrup and other value added products. Shipping has become a daily event. We love it when our products get shipped all over North America. Our plans are to finish up the last 250 taps tomorrow. Temps will be in the high 20's no wind chill. It surely will seem like a heat wave for us.
March 9, 2007 Finished tapping the last 250 taps. The only thing left is our buckets. Usually we put out about 250+ buckets in our Fletcher bush. Snow is deep this year, so we may wait a bit. We may not even put them out at all. Buckets will be hung by the sugarhouse and on the front lawn for spectators to view. Now, all we have to do is wait for the sap to run. We're counting down the days until Maine Maple Sunday. We have everything we need for products (plates, napkins, silverware, etc.) for the breakfast. The only thing left is to freshen up the "Old School House", relocating boxes and supplies, cleaning and redecorating. With two people, it may take us 4 hours. Barb and Tasha will be responsible for that.
March 10, 2007 What an absolutely gorgeous day. High's were in the mid 30's, the sun was bright and warm. Sap ran a bit, not enough to keep yet. Today was busy at the sugarhouse. Customers in and out, supplies are flying off the shelves. We cleaned all the holding tanks, placed them in all of the bushes with the help of Randy. The RO is set and ready for action. Now it's a waiting game. Question #1 is ticking down for all of our participants on what date would be our first boil. Who will win???? You'll just have to wait and find out on our website.
March 11, 2007 We're waiting on mother nature. Rod, Barb and Caleb snowshoes one of the mainlines on the side hill to track down any possible leaks that could be causing us to lose vacuum. A few were found, nothing of any significance. The snow is still deep in the woods, so snowshoes are a must. It didn't freeze last evening. We had highs of 40 degrees. Forecast is predicting a freeze tonight. Our fingers are crossed for a Wednesday boil.
March 12, 2007 Sap ran very good for the first day, according to our calculations, if we had collected everything we would have a total of 2,000 gallons of sap. We've made the determination not to put buckets up unless the snow melts. It has melted fast during the last two days, but not nearly enough. If tomorrow proves to be equal to today, we should have a good 3,500 gallons of sap. Looks as though Wednesday will be our big day. All bushes seem to be running without any problems. This will allow us the opportunity to try our new RO. This will help substantially reduce the cost of oil. We should make about 75 gallons of syrup. With the bulk orders that we have, before the upcoming Maine Maple Sunday. We hope we have several 75 gallon days. Highs today at the house were 48 degrees. Tonight temps are planned to be around the mid-20's. Great sugaring weather.
March 13, 2007

IT IS OFFICIAL!!!! We boiled for the first time today, March 13, 2007. The season has officially begun. We made a barrel of syrup today.. Sap didn't run as well as we had hoped because temps stayed near freezing in the sugar bush, even though the temps at the sugarhouse were in the high 30's. We're in hopes that it will freeze tonight allowing the sap to run tomorrow. The forecast predicts a cloudy day for us in the western foothills. But that's okay, we have plenty of time.

March 14, 2007 We gathered sap today, although it wasn't as much as we had hoped. The forecast for last night proved right. It didn't freeze. Sap is running with the help of a vacuum system. This vacuum system changes the pressure inside the tree, which allows the sap to run. We've decided to turn this system off over night, because the likelihood of a freeze is slim. Tomorrow we will gather the rest of the sap that we have and we will boil again. We are in hopes to make another barrel of syrup.
March 15, 2007 Sap didn't run today because temps didn't get below freezing, but we had plenty of sap to boil. Enough to produce another barrel of syrup. We're off to a good start as long as Mother Nature stays with us regarding weather. It looks good. This weekend we expect cold temps and more snow. That will cool things down a bit and sap should run again. No worries here. In total we have produced 75 gallons of syrup, not nearly enough for Maine Maple Sunday, but we have a great start. We have had 89 entries for our guess the number of gallons Hall Farms will produce this year. One of entries came from as far away as New Zealand.
March 20, 2007 Yeah!!! Spring is here, well it will be at 8:47 pm., although the temps aren't telling us so. Sap hasn't run this week, tomorrow will be the first day of the warm up process. We're in hopes to see sap run again soon. Our fingers are crossed. All the clean up work has been completed at the sugarhouse and tomorrow the schoolhouse. By Friday, our schoolhouse will be cleaned, tables will be set, counters/windows cleaned grills will be set-up and we'll be waiting on our caterers to present a fine meal to our customers..
March 21, 2007 Reporters were at the farm most of the day taking pictures and tapping. Looks as though we will be front page news again tomorrow. We very much enjoy the publicity that our Farm is receiving during the sugaring season. Today we sold 3 barrels of syrup and more will be leaving tomorrow. Seems as though we are one of very few that currently has bulk syrup. Rod and Eddie will spend all day Thursday and Friday canning syrup to be prepared for Sunday's events. Looks like our days will be much busier going forward because sap began to run today. It is the first time in approximately one week that sap has run well. Cold temps, snow, sleet and freezing rain have been the factors for a slow season. Long range weather forecast looks favorable for the upcoming 7 days.
March 22, 2007 Well today was a wonderful day! Sap began to run at about 2:00 pm. Rod and Eddie canned about 115 gallons of syrup to help put the finishing touches on our supply for Maine Maple Sunday. Looks as though the sap will run through the night. This is the best day yet for sap running. Tomorrow will be a collection day in order for us to relocate all the sap to the sugarhouse. Looks as though the weekend will be a busy, not only for the visitors on Sunday but for us to boil continuously. This is finally great news that we have been waiting for. Randy went to one of our sugar bushes that didn't seem to be producing sap, come to find out we had a blockage in one of the lines with ice and in another location we found that a manifold had been removed, the sap started to run on the ground. No worries, this bush is a late bloomer, so we didn't miss much if any sap.
March 23, 2007 Sap, sap and more sap. We have more sap then we ever imagined. It ran through the night, so we left our vacuum system going. That was a smart move on our part. We've been to all of our gathering tanks two and three times today not including our early stops this morning at 4:30a.m. Tonight will be a great night, temps are scheduled to be between 22-28 degrees, so that means sap will run tomorrow. Perfect timing for Maine Maple Sunday. We have finished gearing up for our special event on Sunday. Hall Farms chooses to remain traditional with honoring Maine Maple Sunday, rather than doing a weekend event. With the number of patrons that we receive each year, it would be impossible to have two days worth of events. Looks as though we will be very busy with the wonderful weather expected. Today highs were in the 50's. Tonight the temps dropped to a low of 24 degrees. Mother Nature is on our side.
March 24, 2007

Time is ticking away quickly towards our Maine Maple Sunday events. It's 5:15 a.m. and signs are currently being made and laminated. Ice cream will be delivered this morning, our milk was delivered at 6:00 a.m. this morning. We're looking great! A day ahead of schedule. Sap is producing extremely well, we have 3,000 gallons in storage right now and we are looking to retrieve another 3000+ today. Our main concern is enough storage space. But, that's not a problem with us. We are always prepared for anything that could happen. We have enough storage space to hold 5,000 gallons of sap at any given time. If we retrieve more than that, we'll just have to start boiling today.

March 24, 2007 What a day..... sap is still running. It's about 5:30 pm and we have finally finished all the last minute things for tomorrow. We've been collecting most of the day today in preparation for tomorrows boiling. The guys have plenty left to do ... Chores in the morning, make sure the barn is nice and clean. We had a new calf born this morning as well, just 1 day prior to Maine Maple Sunday. We could have another calf born tomorrow, but if the crowds remain as big has they were last year, she'll probably hold off. We have one of Randy's Belted Galloway calf in the barn for spectators to see. She's a cute little thing. Looks like Rod will be really busy tomorrow, but he'll have plenty of guys on hand to help. Rod's dad, Randy, Eddie and Ralph will hold down the evaporator and talk with the visitors. Gloria has the ice cream and syrup all taken care of. Barb and Tasha will have the store and replenishing the caterers down to a science. Amanda and Beth will be in charge of the plate distribution. Temps were in the high 50's. We're suppose to freeze again tonight. Let the Party begin.
March 25, 2007
Maine Maple Sunday 		The crowds were large and continuous. We had a significant number of visitors to the "old school" and the "sugarhouse". We were able to meet many people and some just in passing. The hay rides started early and went throughout the day. Many folks decided to walk to the sugarhouse, since the day was so beautiful. Highs were in the 50's. We fed well over 550 visitors at our sit-down, all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast. Our caterers had the lines moving quickly. We had our RO machine running all day and made well over 140 gallons of syrup in 5 hours. We gave out over 1,000 ice cream cups with maple syrup (warm maple syrup at that). That seemed to be a hit of the day. Our dairy barn was open for spectators. We had a new addition to our family, a holstein calf that was born on Saturday morning, March 24, 2007 at 6:20 a.m.... Guess she didn't want to wait to be our Maine Maple Sunday calf. We've had several over the years, but this one decided to come a tad bit early. Randy brought down his new Belted Galloway calf for viewing as well.
March 26, 2007 Rod was up early -- 1:00 a.m. to be exact. He was a bit concerned with the RO. You see, it has an automatic cleaning process, but since last night was the first night that Rod set it for auto cleaning, he wanted to make sure that it worked right and it shut-off with no problems. The RO did just that, it cleaned and did an auto shut-off. What a nice addition to our equipment. Rod, Randy and Dick collected sap today and Rod decided to boil. He boiled for about 1 hour and 10 minutes and made another 30 gallons of syrup today. We took inventory today after Maine Maple Sunday and we went though 150 gallons of syrup for Maine Maple Sunday (in just 7.5 hours). What a day we had!
March 27, 2007 Temps didn't get below freezing last night, but sap ran in our bush where we have vacuum. It actually ran very well today. None of the other taps did much of anything. It's been a strange spring. Rod and Eddie are planning on canning syrup tomorrow due to the number of requests. Lately, dark amber seems to be the most popular request. At 9:30 p.m. Rod gathered another load of sap and shut his vacuum pump off for the evening. We're a bit concerned about the next couple of days, because it doesn't look as though temps will get cold enough over during the evening hours. We always tend to cross our fingers and hope for the best each and every year.
March 29, 2007 Rod and Eddie were busy all day. Sap ran all day and into the evening hours. Even after 9:30 p.m. sap was still running, but had slowed down quite a bit compared to previous hours. Rod decided to shut the vacuum pump off at 10:45 p.m. and get ready to start up early tomorrow morning. All our storage tanks are filled and Rod plans on boiling tomorrow, March 30, 2007. Temps dipped in to the mid to upper 20's.
March 30, 2007 Sap has run continuously. Rod began to boil around lunch time because we ran out of storage area for the sap. Even running the RO non-stop, we still have a total of 5 hours of boiling today. We produced 115 gallons of syrup by the time we stopped and cleaned up. We had well over 5,300 gallons of sap to boil down in total. What a day!
March 31, 2007 Sap ran well on vacuum today and it ran "okay" on gravity. We gathered about 1600 gallons of sap today and the remaining sap will be gathered tomorrow. All forecasts say that sap will run well tomorrow before the storm hits and the temperatures drop.
April 1, 2007 We made 80 gallons of syrup today. Sap ran extremely well on vacuum. Rod finished up around 4:45 pm. We cleaned most of the tanks today. All but 12 gallons were put in barrels, the 12 gallons were canned in quart containers, that seems to be the most popular. Looks as though the next 2 weeks will help the season along. Cold weather will be returning. Forecasts predict lower than average temps. The RO has proven itself thus far in the season. We've been told that once you make syrup with an RO, you won't go back, and that is a definite fact. What a difference it makes.
April 4, 2007 We made syrup today , about 30 gallons. This gives us a total thus far of 410 gallons of syrup produced. Not the best year we've had so far. Snowy cold day today. We've heard many rumors surrounding the maple producers in the southern part of the state. Some have stated that they are all done for the season. With Mother Nature bringing us winter weather conditions again, it looks as though we will be producing syrup at a minimum for the next week. Temps didn't get low enough last night for sap to run, but we expect it to turn in the next day or two.
April 5, 2007 Wow, 16 inches of snow today .... it snowed throughout the night, when all said and done, we received 16 inches. Last night the temps dropped to approximately 26 degrees. Apparently that was enough for everything to freeze up, because today has been the best day ever for sap to run. As of 4:00 pm this afternoon, our releaser at our vacuum pump was emptying every 3 minutes and 12 seconds. Each dump is approximately 12 - 15 gallons of sap. That's what we call a great day. Looks like we'll make lots of syrup. We've been waiting for this kind of day. This is as fast as Rod has ever seen it run. What a day! It's approximately 8:00 pm and Rod will go get another load in 1.5 hours and probably continue until the temps dip into the 20's.
April 6, 2007 We made syrup today. We collected sap from the areas close to the farm. We'll wait until tomorrow to collect the remaining. Sap ran well, but not like we say yesterday. By the end of the day we had made about 60 gallons of syrup, which brings our total to 470 gallons in all. Temps are starting to drop into the 20's already and it's only 7:30 pm.
April 7, 2007 We collected sap today, from our North Jay, Holman, Dr. White lot, our bush across from Randy's house, which includes the Science Hill area. Looks as though this afternoon it will run well. Vacuum is on and ready to go. Sounds like after Easter Dinner, we will begin to boil again. We'll take a nice well deserved break for our East Dinner and then right back to it. Seems as though the season plans on extending itself in our location. By the end of today we will at a minimum have over 2,000 gallons of sap in addition to what we gather tomorrow. We made 70 gallons of syrup.
April 8, 2007 Happy Easter everyone! Today we gather sap from all over. Sap ran well, but temps weren't as cold as predicted. No boiling today.
April 9, 2007 Rod's "40" Birthday! This is the third time that he remembers making syrup on or after his birthday. Sap ran very well. Rod made another 60 gallons of syrup to give us a grand total of 600 gallons of syrup to date made. Looks as though we may squeak out another week or so. We are on borrowed time though.
April 10, 2007 Rod made syrup again today. He made another 52 gallons, which makes our grand total 652. We creeping our way though the season. Temps didn't get as cold as they were suppose to. Only got to about 30 degrees. Many of the producers have stopped making syrup in the southern part of the state. We're making light and medium amber. The RO has paid off tremendously. It has cut our boiling time in half and we've saved substantially on our fuel consumption. Temps dropped this evening into the mid-teens. This gave us a good freeze.
April 11, 2007

Rod had his logging re-certification class he had to attend today. Dick, Randy and Eddie gathered sap throughout the day. Rod got back and found that we had sap everywhere. Temps were in the high 40's this afternoon. Now you know, today we needed to get everything taken care of because tomorrow is R. S. Osgood's Open House and we surely can't miss that. It's a great time to socialize, visit with the patrons and of course indulge for breakfast, lunch and dinner. R. S. Osgood puts on a breakfast of pancakes and none other but Hall Farms Maple Syrup.

The storm is suppose to hit tomorrow. Predictions show that we are in mountain area which could receive 8-14 inches of snow. Just what we need at this time of the year, but it will certainly prolong the sugaring season again for us. By evenings end, we'll have syrup totals for you.

April 12, 2007 R. S. Osgood's Open House
April 13, 2007 Sap ran well today ... last night temps dropped down below freezing. Temps at the house were somewhere about 25 degrees, which created a flow of sap. We started boiling around 5:45 pm and finally finished cleaning up and on our way up to the house at 11:05 p.m., even with an RO machine. Sugar content has been a bit low this year, so the ratio for syrup is about 45:1. For us, the RO has been a life saver by extracting a portion of the water from the sap. We made another 60 gallons, which moves our total to 779 gallons this season. The sugaring season is still on borrowed time, if it is to continue it will greatly depend on the weather we receive Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning. Some predictions state rain and warmer temps and others are saying a Nor'Easter with snow.
April 14, 2007 Sap ran again, although today it didn't seem as though it was enough to have the RO running. Rod began boiling at 1:15 pm and we were done cleaning up at 8:00 pm. Boy, not having the RO running makes the process much lengthier. When we began today, we didn't have enough syrup to run the RO, but during the afternoon, it proved differently. We made a total of 53 gallons of syrup for a total of 832 for the season thus far. All predictions seem to show that tomorrow will be messy. Although most of the weather forecast are predicting 2-3 feet of snow in our location. We'll have to see it to believe it.
April 15, 2007 Last night only got down to 29 degrees, Randy began the vacuum pump, but shut it off soon after. Sap didn't run much. All our tanks are cleaned, just in case the season comes to an end over the next couple of days. Rod and Barb went to Bellavance today for lunch. It's always nice to take a little break away and enjoy some scrambled eggs in syrup. Not to mention the taffy on snow. Hmmmm, and for dessert we finished up with crepes'. We were a bit concerned with the weather conditions. It started snowing hard around 12:30 pm and finally let up a bit around 2:00 pm on our way home. We decided to drop in on a couple of maple producers in Canada. Talk about state-of-the-art equipment. They were in full swing ahead, temps dropped enough to have a good freeze last night for them. It was amazing to see 15-20 (2" mainlines) coming directly into the sugarhouse from the sugarbush. No trucking their sap. All of these sugarhouse's are running RO's, and they have anywhere between 3 to 6 membranes. These bushes are quite a bit bigger than ours. These producers were tapping between 20-35,000. Both of the sugarhouse's that we stopped at were producing AA Grade, which equates to Maine Grade A Light Amber. We had a great day! It's nice to visit with others that are making syrup. We don't often have that opportunity, because we are busy ourselves in the sugarhouse.
April 16, 2007 Rain, Rain and more Rain. Last evening started out with snow and we received about 4-5 inches of snow before it turned to sleet. By 3:00 pm it had changed over to rain and hasn't let up since. Temps didn't get below freezing and the temps today haven't been any lower than 38 degrees. We're assuming sugaring season is over for the 2007 season. 10 miles up the road in Dixfield, the Maples have started to bud, so it's only a matter of time. Good thing we all made sure everything was cleaned up in case this were to happen.
April 18, 2007 Sap ran yesterday even with all the rain and snow we had. Go figure! I guess we can say we just never know what Mother Nature has in store for us from day to day. Rod is in hopes to boil today with the sap that we will collect. Although, the season is coming to a slow close. It's been a relatively (ok) season for us. We always say it could have been better, but if the season were to stop tomorrow, we can say "We had a good season". Rod boiled today and made 14 gallons. Not bad for a a couple of hours of work, from start to finish since he didn't use the RO. Grand total thus far 846 gallons.
April 21, 2007 Sugaring season is officially over. Wednesday was the last day to boil, which is surprisingly late into April. We would like to thank everyone for all of their help and continued business. We'll keep this journal up through the year for special communications of what's going on at Hall Farms, so keep your eyes peeled for on-going information.
April 25 - 29, 2007 We've talked with many individuals regarding their sugaring season and we're finding that sugaring season varies drastically. We brought in 7,000 more gallons of sap this year and made 14 gallons less compared to 2006. The sugar content was a bit low this year. We've had 3 additions to the farm two heifers and a bull, not to mention the new kittens we've find. 6 weeks to the first Antique Tractor Pull and we're ready and raring to go.
May 4 - 5, 2007

Rod and I left early Friday morning to pick up a load of jugs at Sugarhill Container in Turner Falls, MA. Once we loaded we headed off to our friend Bruce Bascom. It happened to be his annual Open House with a variety of seminars being presented. Saturday we visited with Glenn Goodrich at Goodrich Maple Farm. He also was having an Open House with seminars. This year, was the same as last ... Topic of conversation was RO's and vacuum pumps ..... We're very glad we decided to purchase an RO. It saved us from incurring a significant expense on fuel not to mention the time factor of boiling for Rod.. Rod says he wouldn't boil again without it. We've decided to expand our RO for the upcoming 2008 season because it just wasn't big enough. We've also decided to add a couple of new sap tanks and a new vacuum system. We got home mid afternoon today in order to get prepared to jug some syrup. This year will be an interesting year ..... a major topic of conversation is the lack of syrup that was created from all syrup producing states. The concern will be the availability and cost.

May 11, 2007 We've had many additions to the farm in the past few days. It seems as though new heifers are being born daily. The farm has been very busy. This time of year tends to be extremely busy with getting the fields ready for haying, and not to mention Caleb's baseball season. Last practice he hit a home run .... way to go champ. In addition, we've been getting all the tractors ready for pulling. First pull is in Skowhegan June 9th and how can we forget the maple syrup business --- that's been extremely busy. We're shipping 3 times a week.
May 23, 2007 It's been a crazy spring. We're getting our Farmalls ready to travel for pulling season. Baseball for Caleb is coming to a close and in the meantime he's excited about basketball camp. Spring has been crazy with Maple orders. We've got some new and exciting equipment being delivered in the maple business. RO's seem to be the hot commodity right now. We can't blame anyone for buying an RO. Saving time and money in the sap house is just the right business decision. As everything increases in price more people will see the benefits. We wish you all the very best for the Memorial Weekend and we'll connect with you all next week. Enjoy!
June 4, 2007 In our spare time we've been assisting the Maine Maple Producers in finishing up the sugarhouse at the Farmington Fairgrounds. All the farmalls are ready to head off to the Antique Tractor Pull at the Skowhegan Fairgrounds. We put up some balelage last week and this week it looks like we'll do some chopping if the weather cooperates with us. This year we've decided not to continue the garden since there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. We'll stick with the flowers this summer.
June 8, 2007 Well, tomorrow is the big day. The first tractor pull of the season. Look out boys .... Our Super M is ready for you all. But then again, last year we were too. We're looking forward to the new year. Tomorrow will be the first .... and in two weeks, we'll be right here in Farmington, Maine at the Antique Tractor Festival. This year is the Gathering of the Orange.... but, not us, we'll be sporting our favorite color, "Farmall RED".
June 9, 2007

We faired very well today at the first antique tractor pull of the year. We placed 1st in the Unlimited Class and placed 2nd in the 7500 class. Although the first place finisher in the 7500 was disqualified, which pushed us into 1st place. Our friend, Steve (Haus) Masterman placed 2nd in the 6500 class and 1st in the 6000 class. Nice job Haus and you did it with a John Deere. Hmmm, who would have thought.

June 19, 2007 Well the weekend is soon approaching and the Antique Tractor Festival will begin on Friday. This year is the "Gathering of the Orange". Lots of festivities going on ... stoneboat pull, progressive pull and the lawn and tractor pull. Check for outcomes next week.... Rod's ready to go .. his M-TA is pulling great, he had a practice pull last weekend. Randy has his MD running wonderful. Looks like this year will be a promising one.

Mark Your Calendars for Sunday, March 23rd, 2008
Hall Farms "24th Annual Maine Maple Sunday"



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rodney@hallfarms.com