Last spring as the syrup season approached the weather turned very strange and it became clear that we wouldn't be able to tap the trees. We had 25 degree days in the second week of March, which melted all the snow, dried the soil at the bush and we felt it best to simply not have a season. In the end I'm glad we made that tough call as it would've been a tough summer for our birch trees and further stress from tap holes would not have been good. So we had a break from birch syrup production for a year, a bittersweet experience.
Unfortunately, I had just laid out a good chunk of cash for a reverse osmosis filtration system which will aide in making our syrup production much more efficient. The unit went in the basement and construction of an addition to the sugar shack, in which the RO unit would be housed, was put off till this fall. So last Saturday construction began.
The week prior I bought and had delivered the lumber needed for the project. As is usually done I hauled the wood in using the ATV. After many loads, the materials were safely stored in the shack.
This past Saturday, Larry Bockus and I headed out to get the addition started. We got the floor on, posts and beams up and one rafter cut to serve as a template for the rest of them. The following day, Dave Sr. and I continued on. He drove up to Thunder Bay on short notice to help out and with major rain destroying the highway at Wawa, dad was forced to take the long way round Superior through Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota! He made it though and put in a few days of hard work out there.
By Sunday, we had the headers, rafters and strapping on, ready for the steel/plastic roofing.
I took a vacation day on Monday and we got the steel on.
On Tuesday, after work, we took to the OSB sheathing. To get it into the bush we made a travois, the suggestion of Dave Sr. (aka MacGyver). It worked really well!
By Tuesday at about 6:30pm the project was done! Fast work, I'd say. I'm glad to have this up as now I can get the plumbing for the RO in place and insulate the room so the family can spend the odd night out there this winter. Thanks to Larry for helping to get the project rolling and a big thanks to Dave Sr. for making the drive north to help with this! There's not much better than building something with your dad.
