The sun made an appearance today.   It was about 2:00 PM when it emerged.  The fog lifted, the clouds broke and the sky cleared.  And we saw a sunset.  The day did start foggy again.  And it did not freeze last night.  No sap.  The forecast for the coming days is sunny with highs around 50.   It may or may not freeze at night.    

This is a difficult weather pattern.  It seems too early to think about the season ending.  Yet without a return to freezing nights we are facing that possibility.   If it does end, it would be the worst season in decades.    Its sobering to think of that.   But  we can not control mother nature.  

We may look into ways we might freshen the taps after a long warm period like this.  The tap hole is a wound to the tree.  And a healthy tree will try to heal the wound.   The first part of healing is to stop the bleeding; sap dripping from a spout is the tree bleeding.  Micro organisms start to seal off the cut veins in the wood.  It forms a layer in the tap hole (think scab) that protects the tree.  And also stops the sap flow.   Colder weather delays the onset of  micro organisms thus keeping the sap flowing.

We are willing to wait it out for a week or so yet.  Because you have to be an optimist to do any type of agriculture.