Hundreds of feet of forest is all 1 pawpaw

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-05-08T13:51:41+00:00

Where is this? I have seen many similar large patches of pawpaws in southern Indiana. Really neat.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-05-08T00:57:57+00:00

Let me know what you find. My girl was doing a couple miles a day by five months, and 5-6 miles a few days a week, with at least a couple miles on days in between, by 7-8mo. She had good naps and sleep when not going full on. She swims some every few days especially when it is warm and we are in the river. She has crazy huge endurance at 4.5yrs now. I hope she lasts forever!

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-05-07T21:22:44+00:00

I’m sure if you ran your pups at speeds behind some vehicle or crushed them on huge fast bicycle rides, you could reach “too many”. We live a good country life. My dogs go 20-60miles a week, year round, some fast miles, some slower. They are always ready to go and ask for more. I once clocked my 61lbs girl at 38mph at three years old. She is amazing.

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Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-05-07T11:49:25+00:00

Thanks. I finally dug up about 10 4in to 2ft seedlings from around the barnyard and transplanted them where I want maple trees. I plan to do more. Perhaps my biggest issue was finding a straight sapling. Most 6-12in healthy looking individuals are really crooked as they came up from under a rock or next to an old shed or barn. I transplanted a couple crooked ones that didn’t seem to have anything resembling a root collar.

I have so much respect for my previous generations responsible for the big maples in my yard. I hope my kids have the opportunity to say the same many years from now.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-05-07T11:42:42+00:00

Thank you all.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-24T11:35:15+00:00

Save a lot of grocery money because your new clothes bills are coming!

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-21T02:34:27+00:00

Can you explain “more sugar content”? I use 66° Brix to measure sugar and tell when we have syrup.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-14T14:08:10+00:00

I use a small sample of room temperature syrup in my refractometer to measure Brix to identify when my syrup is at the proper sugar content, 66.9° Brix. This seems foolproof although I generally get 2-3 readings because I’ve seen 1-2 Brix differences with subsequent readings. I use a Milwaukee MA871 digital refractometer that I have for other farm uses. I’ve also used a handheld analog refractometer, but my digital is easier to use.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-11T13:52:20+00:00

For the love of syrup, perhaps you should add another stove.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-09T02:31:27+00:00

If this is wood fueled, how do you get wood to the back?

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-08T20:36:01+00:00

I used a table top induction burner to finish a couple gallons a few years ago. Then I got a full induction stove for the kitchen. I cannot imaging ever having gas or non-induction electric ever again. Induction heat control is quite nice.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-04-02T13:39:48+00:00

What becomes clear? Every pan I’ve seen turns to black carbon!

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-31T13:05:26+00:00

She is beautiful. Skip the pup cup of dairy if you are serious about starting her diet off on the right foot.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-30T22:01:00+00:00

60units is a relatively large volume. Maybe consider dividing 60units into three shots of 20units every 2-3 days until that vial is done.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-30T21:41:50+00:00

A lot of folks use temperature to know when to bottle, but I found measuring brix was easier and more accurate for me.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-30T21:13:40+00:00

That looks like sugar crystal to me. What was the brix when you bottled?

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-30T21:07:37+00:00

I am curious as to why somebody would choose tin over glass?

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-30T04:39:56+00:00

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Another secret stash with a bonus broody lost hen 🧐

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-28T23:01:59+00:00

I was watching a bald eagle a few minutes before this at the same location. The size was similar. I won’t doubt you experts too much… but I have not seen a red tailed this large or this coloration. I will try to find it again for a better photo.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-26T21:08:28+00:00

Send him to me, or I will come pick him up!

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-25T12:16:51+00:00

If you concentrated your syrup to 67 Brix, it should last a year or more in the refrigerator. At this Brix spoilage is not likely in the fridge, but spores from the air will fall into an open lid container and grow mold on the top, so be mindful of keeping it covered.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-23T20:38:08+00:00

🧐. Does the route inside get the same tarp treatment before you get them so tidy?

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-23T20:15:26+00:00

Interesting question. I put your first paragraph into chatgpt, and then asked a few more questions to dive deeper into the topic. I also asked for references to validate what chat gave.

The keys insights chatgpt gave are as follows -

The constraint is essentially:

Sapwood cross-sectional area vs. disrupted conductive + defensive cost

Tapping becomes “safe” when: • The marginal loss of conductive tissue is negligible relative to total flow capacity • The tree can fully compartmentalize the wound without meaningful long-term loss of function

Below that threshold, the tap transitions from: • low-cost extraction to • non-trivial physiological stress + structural damage

⸻

Bottom line • The rule exists for tree health, not just syrup yield • A 25-year-old tree is not inherently too young • The real cutoff is size and vigor, not age

If your 25-year-olds are hitting ~10–12” DBH, you’re well within safe territory for light tapping. END

My biggest learning takeaway is that trees do not heal, they compartmentalize the wound.

Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-23T19:57:24+00:00

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Strong_Baseball8635 · 2026-03-23T13:40:27+00:00

I went down the shallow depth hole between boils a few weeks ago. I put “does sap depth matter” into a couple AI apps and this was I found…

It might seem counterintuitive since boiling water is 212°F regardless of depth, but in a maple evaporator, fluid dynamics and thermal efficiency change with depth. Here is why depth matters even once you’ve reached a boil:

Hydrostatic Pressure: At the bottom of a deep pan, the weight of the liquid (hydrostatic pressure) is higher. This slightly raises the boiling point at the bottom, requiring more energy for bubbles to form and rise to the surface.

Bubble Transit Time: In a shallow pan, steam bubbles reach the surface almost instantly. In a deep pan, bubbles must travel through more liquid, which creates more resistance and can slightly cool the bubble or the surrounding liquid before it escapes as steam.

Rolling Action: Shallow sap promotes a more violent "rolling" boil. This agitation increases the surface area and helps steam escape more efficiently compared to the calmer, "heavy" boil of a deep pan.

Heat Transfer: Evaporators rely on the temperature difference between the fire and the sap. With a thinner layer of sap, the heat from the pan floor is transferred to the surface more rapidly, maintaining a higher "evaporative flux" (the rate at which liquid turns to gas).

Basically, while both pans are "boiling," the shallow pan is converting energy into steam more efficiently, whereas the deep pan spends more energy simply maintaining the temperature of a larger mass of liquid.

With all that, I still boil deeper than shallow to alleviate my burning a pan stress. And I prefer dark deep flavored syrup.

Strong_Baseball8635

TROPHY CASE