It was sunny today. Still a little cold. It did not break 32.    We went into the woods about 1:00 PM.  Visitors came and we showed them the operation.  They will tap some of their own maples this season so were very interested in learning.   We were showing them the differences between the hard (sugar) maple and the soft maple.  And ash which can be confusingly similar to maples.  Its all in the bark and learning to read it.

It was nice in the woods this afternoon.  Sunny.  No wind.   Crunchy snow under foot.  The kind  of day  that you expect when tapping.  The sap is moving in the trees.   We put out 50 taps.  And then the trouble began.

The tractor was idling in neutral while we tapped the remaining 18.  When we hopped on the tractor to go back to the house the clutch was not responsive. It was flopping around and not engaging.  This is a major problem because we can not move the tractor.   We figured out that with the engine off, we could get it into gear.  Then with the tractor in gear start the engine and move it.   Every gear change required turning off the engine.  Our hope was to get it back to the house where we could work on it.  But with the snow under foot we had to maneuver around back and forward a few times, stopping the engine each time to change gears.   This drained the battery.  Starting the engine while its in gear is a big drain on the battery.   So now the tractor will spend the night in the woods.   We are making arrangements for someone to come in the morning and pull it back to the house for us.  And then find someone who can work on the clutch for us.   Since we can get into gear and move it doesn’t seem to be a transmission problem.   We are hoping it is something simple like a pin that fell out.  But with a 60+ year old tractor it could be a lot of things.    

We need a tractor for the season so there will be some drama until we get this resolved.