Considered collecting today because the weather forecast is for snow followed by cold. But there was still ice in the buckets at Noon. After Noon, the sun appeared and temperature rose to low 40s. Trees started to run and will run into the evening. However, snow is forecast for the morning: 1” – 3”. Clears by Noon. Then gets colder with lows in teens and highs of upper 20s for Friday and Saturday. The question is: when do we collect? Collect today and they will be sap overnight. Wait until tomorrow and we have snow to deal with. We chose to wait until tomorrow to get the full run and empty the buckets before the cold.
25 overnight. Snow flurries again. Cloudy much of the day, but after Noon the sun appeared for a few hours and temperature up to low 40s.
Into the woods by 6:30 AM to bottle. But the milk can was too full to safely dump solo. Help arrived by 8:30 AM to dump the milk can. And then dump again into the bottling pan when the syrup was ready. We’re going put less syrup into the milk cans.: 6 to 6 ½ gallons instead of 7 to 8 gallons. This will make the milk can 11-22 lbs lighter and easier to handle solo.
Completed bottling and cleanup by Noon. Then checked the woods and decided to wait until tomorrow to collect. Tree pressure was negative until the sun appeared. Then up to 6 PSI.
Back to the farmhouse by 12:30 PM.