Day #15

Upper tank that gravity feeds the evaporator.Clear plastic tube on left is gauge we watch to see how late we will be up boiling!! 

Bottom tank (an old 300 gallon milk tank) where sap hopefully keeps cool until it is pumped into the upper tank. The portable tank on the trailer holds 325 gallons so the person dumping needs to be thinkin!!!!

Wonderfully warm spring day on Thursday March 17th. Blustery day in the enchanted forest though so uninvited everyone but Bob & Cody & Nickie to gather. We added four bees to our ant collection in the filter! Collected about 160 gallons (& 12 gallons from Sandhill Rd. where the big trees in Uncle Frank's yard are newly tapped and running great!) Cathy provided the corned beef & cabbage to set the holiday mood. Boiling was very slow today. Bob, Cody, Jack & Chuck babysat the evaporator until about midnight. This is the first day the syrup looks a little darker. Total sap: 5,572.  Total syrup: 115 gallons. 

On a goofy note, everyone has been so busy today (Friday the 18th) nobody even checked trees tonight. See what the weekend brings!