Today was cloudy, snowy and rainy.  Into the woods by 8:00 AM for a day of cooking.  Cleaned the front syrup pan before staring the evaporator.  Then we had to boil down the sap in the evaporator before we could start on the tanks.   The evaporator got quite full the previous evening.  It was 11:00 AM before we could start on the tank, which was full with 225 gallons.  We got a nice fire going and were able to keep up a good boil.

We are also cutting down our firewood.  We should have 3 foot lengths but a lot of the wood in wood shed is 4, 5 or even 6 feet.  Two things happen with the longer pieces of wood  (1) more heat goes up the stack and (2) it blocks off the air flow of the evaporator.  With the 3 foot lengths were are able to get nice sustained boils for 15 – 20 minutes.  But its more work handling the wood to cut it to size.

Used the tractor to get water in the milk cans.  Brought back 4 milk cans full.

Around 11:00 AM it started to snow.  We got a dusting of wet snow before it changed over to rain around 1:00 PM.  By 3:00 PM it had stopped raining but it started again about 7:30 PM.

By 9:20 PM the tank was empty.   We were in the house by 9:30 PM.  All our tanks are empty now.  We are not expecting sap tomorrow as its forecast to be in the 50s with no freezing tonight.

Here’s how the days boiling went.

9:00 AM   22”
12:00 PM   20 ½”
1:00 PM   18 ½ “
2:00 PM   16 1/2”
3:00 PM   14 1/2”
4:00 PM   12 ¼”
5:00 PM   10 ¾”
6:00 PM   8 ½”
7:00 PM   6”
8:00 PM   4”
9:00 PM   2 ¼”
9:20 PM   empty