Tales from Sugarwood Farms

Saturday March 15, 2014 (gathering #5)

What a terrific day in the forest! We really had a lot of fun tonight! We didn't start gathering until 4pm. As though it isn't hard enough to decide when to gather factoring in wind, precipitation, amount of sap, availability of people, etc.......................enter march madness and the timing of the OSU basketball game into the equation!

Muff, Dean, Nancy, Ted, Cathy, Chad, Vickie, Gary, Bob, Gerri, Susan, Mark, Brad, Dale, Karen, Kelsey, and Chuck came to help gather. Bob and Chuck worked on getting the fire going while the rest of the gang tromped through a lot of mud and a little snow. A few buckets were 40% full. We gathered 320 gallons.

Lots of standing around near the end.

Some people are so easy to entertain!

Lola wonders why Dean is the only one who would play "throw the tree" with her.

This was the south path sap, decided to empy before venturing to the north.

Mark & Gerri are enjoying getting the bed of Chuck's truck muddy and reminiscing about Mark's inability to purchase appropriate, practical foot wear for the woods. Ongoing struggle for him. INFP problem? Maybe, we will have to THINK about it.

Food was great tonight. We had Baldosser excellent quality hot dogs thanks to a little late afternoon bartering with the neighbors. Vickie made Taco fixings which according to the guys were also great on hot dogs. The men folk experimented with quesadillas in the fire box. No wonder it takes so long to boil!

Brad learned that it is not a good idea to leave your hot dog unguarded around Susan or Lola. Brad wants to be clear, Susan was more of the problem than the dog. Unaware of his disappearing meal problems, his mother ate his orange too. Tough day Brad:)

The current yield is 46.9 gallons of sap to every 1 gallon of finished product. Everything about this year is a little strange. Bob taking off syrup and checking specific gravity.