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Post by osprey on Jan 4, 2017 20:04:36 GMT -5
Great all around photo's! I like that muskrat contraption - gonna try it here on Long Island. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by gimtilly on Jan 7, 2017 11:14:03 GMT -5
Absolutely great seeing these pictures of you and your son, Dino. I really enjoyed the last one of the first set with the picture of you two on the door from a few years back. Very very nice.
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Post by dinorocks on Jan 8, 2017 20:40:03 GMT -5
Thanks! I love that photo too...got it enlarged on canvas and gave it to my wife for Christmas (she wove the trap baskets for us). I put up a few picts from our most recent trip on another post.
The muskrat contraption worked real well for us...basically stuck it in a couple feet of water with the trap just below the water...put some SAV around the trap and stuck an apple to the top.
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Post by oldtimer on Feb 27, 2017 17:07:23 GMT -5
that is what i call a great great great thread.billdrake.
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Post by dinorocks on Feb 28, 2017 12:59:09 GMT -5
Thanks Oldtimer! You need to check out our recent November 2016 annual trip up north photos...a few threads below...we caught our first fishers...plural with an "S"! Just sent the female to the tannery...the male is at my taxidermist waiting for me to get back to him with a mount plan.
Take care, Dino
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Feb 28, 2017 17:49:13 GMT -5
Always a class act, Dino. Hey, not sure but was that you that called on Friday? It was your area code but I was busy fleshing and - well, you don't want to grab the phone when doing that.
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Post by dinorocks on Mar 2, 2017 10:53:55 GMT -5
Hi Tim...thanks for the nice comment! Yes that was me calling you...wanted to ask you a couple maple syrup questions. I recently boiled 120 gallons in my new pan and yielded a tad under 3 gallons of syrup. I pulled/cleaned all my buckets the other day and put them out again on Tues...probably should have waited until the 70 degree day (and 50-something degree night) passed. Looks like after Sat, the temps are a bit more stable although many of the trees have started to bud... Did you get any trees tapped this year (I recall you were waiting for some thing to get worked out with one of your properties). I'm in the market for 10-20 galvanized buckets, lids, taps (preferably Leader brand) in the event you have any leads for me.
Take care, Dino
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Mar 2, 2017 17:02:58 GMT -5
BUDDING?!?!?! Wow, not here. That's what's had us worried, that those high temps were gonna last. I think a few more days and the fruit trees and grapes would have started. That'd be a huge hit in the wallet. Bah... the Town... anyways, no, still forbidding construction of a sugar house on the farm because I don't live there. I've given up on the state's Ag Protection Unit, they've been involved since May, 2012! No closer. And I'm not the only one, there are at least 3 others now in the town that the APU is "helping" and going nowhere fast. But at least we're tapping. I still have to sell my sap wholesale to another producer. I take the sap from the taps at home and boil it down over propane and it's fine, but it's not going to make any moola. I know a guy, the guy I sell my sap to, he's not too far from the farm. He used to go entirely with buckets but after his Dad suffered a heart attack (he's doing great now) he decided to go with tubing. Too bad, there are dozens of good trees in the neighborhood that he used to tap that are now untapped, they're on people's lawns etc. I got a dozen buckets/lids/spiles from him, I know he's got a LOT more, but it's quite a trek for you just for buckets lol! I'll text him today and ask, if he has any he'd like to part with I'll get in touch with you. Another 80 acres we've been looking to buy that is landlocked but adjoins the rear of our farm was offered to us, we jumped on the deal, the seller asked us to make an offer. I said neither side should be pulling numbers out of the air (or anywhere else for that matter), I'll pay for an appraisal, we all agreed to go with that. But her lawyer said "that's pretty crooked, sure he'll pay the appraiser to come in low!" Idiot... So, I told the seller to get an appraisal done herself, but she balked so I said I'd pay for that as well. The lawyers on both sides said good idea, my lawyer said take the average and her lawyer said no, go with the higher of the two. Did I mention "idiot" yet? Anyways, both appraisals came in, MY guy was a tiny bit higher than hers. Oh yeah, I really have a lot of pull trying to get a licensed professional to jeopardize his reputation, his license, his livelihood, over a stinking appraisal... anyways, after they both came in spot-on for what we had planned on offering in the first place, she freaked, said it was worth at least 3-1/2 times that amount. So, we'll see how she does trying to sell it, maybe she'll come back to us eventually. But I think I'll offer less for it then. Her Dad always used to say that her heart didn't go "thump, thump" like everyone else's, it went "crinkle, crinkle" because it was made of dollar bills. She hated the farm, her Dad just died so she's subdividing parts of the farm that have road frontage. Potentially thousands of taps are in the woods on the 80 acres, it's about 57 acres of very old woods, but then she went and had it logged this winter. More than 30,500 board feet of sugar maples!!!, and around 17,000 board feet each of white ash, bitternut hickory, and black cherry as well. And THEN she said the land was worth more than what it appraised for, which were done BEFORE she had it logged!!! GAH!!! crinkle crinkle. crinkle crinkle. Sounds about right. So, we'll see what comes of it.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Mar 2, 2017 17:09:02 GMT -5
Oh and by the way, I'm letting everyone in the neighborhood know what the market value of the property is, lol! No one can access it by vehicles other than tractors, etc. except through my land, and no way will I ever grant an easement. The only other access is from the rest of her farm but there's no way any sort of road can be built across the farm since the terrain isn't traversable for cars or trucks. From my land, though? Ahhh... easy street, baby! lol!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Mar 2, 2017 17:10:39 GMT -5
...and, they'd have to have an easement of more than a half mile long. That's just to GET to the land. One heck of driveway.
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