106 visitors today.  224 for both days.  We weren’t sure what to expect.  Very happy with the turn out.  It was fun to see the people that came out in sneakers or even penny loafers in one case.  Really, you’re  wearing regular street shoes in the wet, snowy, muddy woods.  Okay.  Enjoy.  Glad you’re here.  Visitors arrived a little slower this morning because people attended church first.  Bigger groups today.  And entire families and grandparents with grand kids.    That’s what a day visiting a sugar bush should be about.

Started the day with a family breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup.  It was controlled chaos but in a good way.  Then family photos in front of the original maple syrup building.

Into the woods by 8:00 AM to prepare the evaporator and R/O for the day.  By 10:00 AM visitors started arriving.

Froze overnight.  Ice on the puddles.  Partly cloudy most of the day, but did warm to 42 or 43.  Sun peeked out around 3:00 PM.   Went out collecting at 3:00 PM.  We had lot of help so sent them out to collect.  200 gallons.  1.8 °Bx

Our concern about the R/O was resolved today.  It worked as its supposed to work.  The soap wash yesterday helped.  The sap we collected yesterday was only 1.8 °Bx which helped too.  We took the concentrate to 6 °Bx.  Started the R/O by 10:00 AM.  It finished around 1:00 PM.  We were done cooking by 3:00 PM when we set out collecting.

By 5:00 PM we were back at the farmhouse.

It was around Christmas when we picked March 18 & 19 for the open house.  No way to predict the weather.  We got lucky and had sap to cook for both days.

It was a good two days.  Happy 100th.  Thanks for the memories.