Day #11

Wow huge run today! Jack discovered buckets running over early in the day. A tree blew down across the entrance to the north path so job one was taking the chain saw out and addressing that issue. John & Gerri (who are clearly not 25 anymore) gathered between 1 and 3pm. South path more than filled the tank (325) and the north path had 290 gallons. Jack drove tractor and is well aware of what we meant earlier when we said the heater was not working! He has not reset his thermastat yet! Reinforcements arrived after work and Bob, Muff, Kevin, Jenny, Gary, Ed, Hannah, Chris, Heath & Susan gathered while Mike drove tractor. Total sap was 895 today. Bob says he is too tired to remember but believes they took off 9-13 gallons of syrup. Have to check on that! Rained all day!! Everybody pretty wet. Give you the totals tomorrow!

Day # 10

Monday found the weather cloudy & uneventful & no run. Tuesday the 8th of March was warmer & we were able to gather 376 gallons (6 from Sandhill Rd.). Dale, Jenny, Nathan, Muff, Chris, Kelsey, Brad & Bob gathered and were done by 6:30. Jack & Chuck boiled with supervision by Susan! Hot dogs for supper on the fire. Took off about 5 gallons. Syrup is still running really light. Jack worked on getting syrup to one of our favorite customers (yes, Jan is making ice cream!). Total sap: 3032 gallons. Total syrup: 58 gallons.

Day #9

Jack & Cody spent Sunday afternoon replenishing the wood supply. Bob doesn't really remember anything between lunch & supper on Sunday. He assumed the napping position! The first picture is the tractor at midnight Saturday & the 2nd a picture of the camp on Sunday afternoon.

Day #8

Well let's review, Jack & Chuck boiled & took off 6 gallons of syrup on Thursday the 3rd during the day, no run to collect. Friday was very windy & scant run as well. Total syrup: 33 gallons.

Saturday the 5th was the biggest run of the season & a very long day! A small army showed up to collect at 1pm (this "group texting" people thing is working out!--til people wise up anyway!) and it still took over two hours to gather but collected 832 gallons-to be clear 12 from the Sandhill Rd. forest-we expect them to have there own evaporator by next year. Anyway was a ton of fun, rained the entire time and most buckets were pretty full which made for olympic training as we walked through mud. (We will be curious to see who responds to the next text!) Almost filled the trailer on each path. Chuck got a fire going after the first dump to help shorten the day. Used up the entire wood supply in the camp. The syrup lightened up as you can see on the serial bottles (one of these for kept for each 5 gallon bucket of finished product).

Highlights include: Mark has not yet wised up & gotten real boots. Ang & Adam aren't smart enough to know most respectable college students don't spend spring break in wet carharts.Nickie showed up ill, what a trooper. Muff & Gerri have decided their arms aren't quite what they used to be (or the trailer has gotten taller!). Jenny did not fall in mud much to Brad's dismay who is living for the next time this happens! Bob took his wet shirt off & hung to dry near evap. He left zippered sweatshirt on beneath carhart bibs and was amazed to find the metal on the zipper heats up considerably when you stand next to the fire. Jenny & Gerri enjoyed the "fire dance" tremendously.

Big thank you to Mark, Susan, Jenny, Kevin, Nathan, Caleb, Ted, Angela, Adam & Nickie from the natives who would have been hours longer doing this alone! Chuck, Bob, Cody & Charlie finished boiling around midnight. Snowed a couple of inches since the sun went down. Thanks to Cathy for chili for supper. Experimented with sausage & venison in the fire pit. Jack canned off a little syrup in the evening at the house. Total sap: 2,656. Total Syrup:53 gallons. Notice all the little elves on the far side of the mud hole. The 2nd pictures show people who were not yet soaked & still happy. Sorry, Nickie couldn't resist your enthusiasm in pic #3.The 4th picture down shows the process of filtering the syrup just after taken off the evaporator.

Day #7

Wednesday the 2nd of March brings with it sunshine and a constant sweet drip. Big & small trees both running today, except those on far north end. Chuck & Jack boiled in a lot of sap today, the leftover from yesterday. Grandpa Clarence would be bewildered, high of 35 degrees with north wind and still lots of sap. Jack, Nickie, Dale & Bob started gathering with Gary, Gerri, Brad, Ted & Nancy wandering in fashionably late. Collected 520 gallons of sap from the woods & 4 gallons from the Sandhill Rd. annex forest which poor Chuck collected all alone! Even Petey is tired as he is napping in Mindy's favorite chair! The H is back in use, never got stuck today!! Gonna be cold tonight. The sap trailer was getting slick near the end (slushy forming on the deck!) Quit early again (if you call 9 early) and guys will boil rest in tomorrow.Total sap: 1824 gallons. Total syrup:  27 gallons.

Day #6

Bob, Chuck, Susan, Muff, Dale, Brad, Kelsey, and Kevin gathered 290 gallons in the dark as we did not start until 6:00pm. The trees were dripping about a drop a second when we finished. The 560 once again got stuck in high gear and we had to finish with the H. Cathy made a roast for supper that was devoured! Chuck ran the boiler by himself successfully!  The water in the woods is impressive in spots as seen from the perspective of the tractor driver above. Jack arrived from Florida in time to help finish boiling. Quit before we even started on today's sap. That can be addressed tomorrow. Everyone is tired! Total sap: 1300 gallons. Total syrup: 20 gallons.

Day #5

Saturday found us with knee deep snow on the north side of the woods. Bob, Cody, Brad, Gerri, Ted, Mark, Susan, Chris & Hannah gathered about 100 gallons of sap and left a lot of ice behind! Tractor was stuck twice, but only once required getting the H out to pull. Brad & Gerri washed some new buckets up and Susan ran to Toft's for more lids. Total sap: 100.

Sunday the 27th found every type of weather known to man, snow, sleet, rain, fog and thunder and lightening to round things out. Everyone gone except Cody who got some help & gathered 250 gallons of sap, likely a lot of it yesterday's ice. No boiling today! Total sap: 350.

Monday was the first big run of the season!! Susan B., Kevin, Jenny, Kelsey, Chris, & Brad gathered 660 gallons. Kelsey drove through woods and did not get stuck once! She is very proud of this, however should mention she hit a tree with dual. Small river running through woods! Jenny explored the bottom of mud hole much to Brad's delight! Always advisable to dress in layers! Front end of tractor under water so it will need greased ASAP. Muff brought supper over. Chuck & Bob boiled for first time tonight and took off 15 gallons. Total sap: 1010. Total syrup: 15 gallons.