Into the woods by 8:00 AM to cook the sap from the evaporator.  It was only 25 gallons but took about 7 hours.  The front syrup pan does not boil as much as the flue pan.    It was frustrating waiting for it to cook.   We slowly tapered off the heat so we could empty the pan with just about no fire under it.  The final batch will be 20-24 quarts.  More then we expected.  Back to the house by 6:00 PM.

Started the day by taking off the flue pan to rise out the big stuff.  The evaporator is actually not that bad.   The R/O removes a lot of the sugar sand so it does not accumulate.

Got the tractor to get a tank of water.   After the tank was full, the tractor did not start.   Used a smaller cart to get the tank to the woods.   The ground was frozen because it was 20 last night otherwise that cart couldn’t pull it.  The tractor is still outside in  the yard.  Tried the battery charger too.  No success.  It doesn’t even turn over.   Same as the problem from February 27.  We’ll call the mechanic in the morning.   

The outside faucet we use to fill the tank was frozen.    Used our new paint striper to melt the ice in the pipe.

Green sprouts are starting to push up in the woods.  Spring is coming and plants are retuning to life.  But it was cold this morning.  About 25 with a cold wind when we went into the woods..  Everything was white from yesterday.  Put on the insulated coveralls.    Snow squalls most of the day again.  By the end of the day the sun briefly appeared.   It did reach 42 but tonight it drops to 25 again.