Tuesday March 1, 2022

The riddle.......

what is more fun than gathering sap????

gathering sap in a light rain and in the dark...followed by no fire and no supper!!

We checked all of the boxes tonight! The woods is tough to walk in pretty much year around. There are always hidden holes and sticks and things that look frozen but are not! So, walking around after dark is generally frowned upon. Our family has always had day jobs...so once or twice a season this is going to happen like it or night. We discuss a new spot light for the top of Walle's cab every year. Every year we fail to get one hooked up. 

It was certainly a gloomy day all the way around today, light mist and 44 degrees without much sun. 

The trees, however were ready,........ likely ran all night and the buckets were full!! The vast majority of the buckets were over half full. 

We had an amazing turn out for night one of people desperate for exercise and entertainment. The crew included (apologize if I forget anyone! ) Bret, Melissa, Collin, Megan, Adam, Brad, Muff, Evan, Phil, Kiley, Blake, Aiden, Isabella, Gerri and driver Dale! 

Bob stayed at the camp cleaning and sorting. He may have had his fill of the woods and pollen yesterday. He awoke to the fascinating experience of vertigo this am and spent a couple of extra hours in  his chair acclimating to March. Tree pollen is the one thing more plentiful than sap right now! He climbed into the loft tonight so we assume he is better. 

There was enough sap that Walle had to return to the camp after each path. This slows things up a bit, you cannot consolidate 2 buckets that are each 70% full and get too far! It was quite a blessing to have all the hands tonight. The fun started about 6:40 pm when the sun was just about gone. Adam directed the crew to get the outside of the east path as these buckets are the farthest apart and the farthest away from the path. Due to the heavy run, they only made it around to the small east drive out of the woods. Everyone patiently waited on Walle to return. Brad then decided that we would empty the buckets that were already collected and head for the camp. Pointing out that a little missed sap is better than a missing person. We guess 100-150 left in the woods tonight. The sap will stay cooler in the woods. Newly retired Bob can start a fire in the am and boil!

When nearly dark Gerri found a nice 4 point buck antler! Too dark to take a picture though...sat in the cab with Dale..wonder what he did with it?

Muff wants to put lights on the buckets next year. Collin suggested strobe lighting. We did good to get lids on this year folks. Gerri and Adam laughed that while they both own head lamps...they do not know where they are and they certainly did not remember them tonight! 

We were not ready to build a fire as we have some chimney issues. This is a slighlty more involved fix than the 12 stainless screws G.erri made a special trip to town to get this weekend...just saying.  Brad got a ride to the roof on the telehandler to assess the chimney. Walle was used to get the telehandler out of the mud with a chain..Bob apparently being the one who parked it in the mud. 

No fire. Not gonna lie, had  water, beer, doritos, cookies and rice krispie treats for supper. Not proud of that.........its kinda been a rough week.......maybe tomorrow.......sorry folks.......

Total Sap Tonight: 845 gallons + whatever we left in the woods

Total Syrup Today: Zip

Total Sap To Date: 845 gallons

Total Syurp To Date: Zip