30 overnight. Partly cloudy and low 40s by the afternoon. The ground is clod and didn’t start to melt until 1:00 PM. Light rain started by 3:30 PM.
Tree pressure registered -5 PSI this morning then up to 22 PSI. Spouts trying to drip, but the ground is still frozen.
Into the woods by 9:00 AM. General cleaning and organizing. A main focus was improving safety by adding an OSHA approved First Aid kit and a binder for Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS).
The First Aid kit provides quick access for treating cuts and burns that happen when working around the syrup building.
The Material Data Safety Sheets provide safety formation on the various chemicals we use in the syrup building: Milkstone Remover for cleaning the pans. Bleach for cleaning tanks. Filter Aid (diatomaceous earth) for filtering finished syrup. The information for safe handling and first aid is in the binder. None of this is particular dangerous but diatomaceous earth is a fine powder and can cause respiratory problems if inhaled. Bleach should never be mixed with other chemicals. We’ll inventory everything we use and add MSDS for it.
Back to the farmhouse by 1:30 PM.