Hi All,
Maria Paquin sent me a note to let me know that Gilbert would start boiling sap this afternoon around 4:30 p.m., so got my trusty camera and was on my way:
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp_070313.jpg)
Sure enough, parked my car on the Fanton Road and walked across the road and could see water running down the side of the road. Definitely sugaring. As I looked up at Gilbert's sugar house I could see the steam coming out of the stacks.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp01_070313.jpg)
As I rounded the corner I could see the fuel tank, which is what most of the more modern sugar houses use now and the sound of Rock Music could be heard through the walls of the sugar house.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp03_070313.jpg)
Gilbert turned down the music and gave me the smile he usually sports. He stood in front of the gleaming stainless steel equipment he told me he had bought used and had installed with the help of Adam Rainville. Gilbert said his operation gets a little bigger every year and he is now up to about 2000 taps.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp04_070313.jpg)
He showed me his new RO (Reverse Osmosis) equipment which he says is almost a requirement with the price of fuel -- Without this equipment it takes 4 to 5 gallons of fuel to make 1 gallon of syrup and at $2.50 a gallon can really cut into the profit. RO equipment removes water from the sap so that he can now convert sap to maple syrup with about 1 gallon of fuel to make 1 gallon of syrup.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp05_070313.jpg)
Gilbert wanted to show me where he collects the sap that is pumped up into the sugar house, so picked up his cell phone and called his son Dylan, a senior at BFA and asked him to come up and show me where it was as he wasn't able to leave the operation.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp06_070313.jpg)
A small building with tubes coming from all directions that houses another huge stainless steel storage tank is at the foot of the hill.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp07_070313.jpg)
Inside there is a glass drum the sap feeds into and when it gets to the point where the orange ball is, it dumps the sap into the huge tank.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp08_070313.jpg)
The little pump shown above pumps the sap from this tank into another tank just ahead of the RO equipment up in the sugarhouse where some of the water is pumped out of it.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp09_070313.jpg)
Took another photo of the sugar house from where the storage shed is.
(http://www.vtgrandpa.com/newsclips/gilbertp10_070313.jpg)
When I dropped back a little later Gilbert's wife Maria had arrived home from work and was keeping Gilbert company up in the sugarhouse -- Didn't have to ask this couple to smile as they both sport very natural happy smiles without half trying.
A special thanks to Gilbert, his wife Maria and son Dylan for giving me this opportunity to visit yet another sugar house in my usual spring ritual -- I love these sugar houses next to the road.