t was cloudy until 1:00 PM.  It hovered around 33-34 most of the morning.  Then it cleared.  We needed the sun to help melt ice in the buckets.  We checked the buckets around 11:00 AM.  Many were full, but also had ice.  We were hoping it would melt enough to collect as we wanted to have empty buckets before the snow storm.   The sun did its magic.  Once about half the ice is thawed we can collect.  We dump  the ice  as its just water.  Sugar does not freeze.  The remaining sap is more concentrated.    Ice is nature’s reverse osmosis. 

We picked up 400 gallons of sap.  More than expected.  We can cook about 20 gallons an hour so we have 20 hours of boiling ahead of us.  Again the R/O machine would tremendously help us.  It would remove about 300 gallons of water before we ever stated boiling. 

It gets dark around 5:45 PM.  We were not done collecting yet.  But we recently picked up some strap on head lamps.  That worked really well.   We should have done it years ago.  We have tried car or truck headlights in past years, but they cast odd shadows so its still difficult to see well enough to get the bucket off, emptied and back on the hook.  The head lamp puts the light right where we need it and keeps our hands free to work.  We finished up by 6:45 and were back in the house by 7:00 PM.

Still forecast to get a major snow storm starting tomorrow evening.  Amounts are still changing.  It will depend on where the cold and warm air masses meet.  We are currently in the 5” to 8” zone.  50 miles North its predicted at 9” to 15”.   And there will be wind to blow around the snow.   

We will most likely cook through the storm.  We have done it before.  It can be pretty snug and warm in the building while boiling.