35 at 3:30 AM, but it froze sometime overnight because the ground was hard and puddles had ice. Sunny and up to 40, but felt cold.
Trees did not drip, but we collected at 4:00 PM. Wanted to get the sap out of the buckets. It sat for a few days in warm weather. If it was bad, we dumped it, but surprisingly it was good. Helps that the frost is still in.
Weekend forecast is promising.
No woods activity. 44 overnight. Sunny and 51 today with strong wind gusts.
But tomorrow the pattern changes. Forecast for next weeks look promising with high 30s/low 40s during the day and 20s at night.
43 overnight. 46 today. Cloudy with rain showers. Sun appeared briefly. Snow disappearing fast. Frost still in the ground.
Saw three robins late this afternoon. We can still get snow. Robins better be prepared.
By Saturday we return to a cooler, normal, weather pattern.
28 overnight. Sunny and 60+ today. Into the woods by 9:15 AM to collect to make up for yesterday. Finished collecting by 10:15 AM: 110 gallons. Started the evaporator. Two batches into the milk can. Keep a good fire to evaporate at maximum. Done by 3:30 PM.
Days cooking
11:00 11”
12:00 9.”5
13:00 6.75”
14:00 3”
14:30 2”
14:45 1”
15:30 Done
No Woods Work. 25 overnight. 50 today. Sap ran but tree pressure was only 10 PSI. Expected higher PSI because we had a good freeze and sunny day.
We were busy with other matters and couldn’t get into the woods. It was a long day: up a 3:30 AM Sunday and didn’t get to bed until 7:00 PM Monday. It was a very good day. Time for the party hats.
Into the woods by 8:30 AM. 20 overnight. Cloudy morning kept the temperature down and the snow and ground frozen. Got the evaporator fired up by 9:00 AM. Estimated 3 hours to cook 70 gallons of sap. Had a good boil and finished by 11:00. Almost fired too long. The 11:00 AM reading measured 1″ of sap in the tank. That’s getting low. Stopped firing and allowed the sap to flow in. Done by 11:30 AM.
Warm spell forecast the next 3-4 days. 50s. Even 60s. Getting too warm. We’ll wait it out.
18 overnight again. But the ice is nature’s R/O: water freezes leaving sweeter sap: from 2.5 Brix to 3.0 Brix.
Collected 70 gallons. Done by 5:00 PM.
Took until after Noon to warm to high 30s and even later for 40. By 5:30 it was below 32 already. The ground is still cold.
Put out the tree pressure gauge. 18 PSI today.
When its 18 overnight it takes until after noon before the trees start dripping. It was sunny and up to 40 this afternoon. Checked at noon. Starting to drip. Checked again at 4:00 PM. Dripping but not enough collect. Not as cold tonight. Tomorrow in the 40s. Likely will collect.
25 overnight. Cloudy and 25 all morning. At 1:00 PM the sun appeared and it warmed enough to start melting. But not enough for the sap to run. Glad we collected yesterday. We would have had ice otherwise.
Got organized and had the evaporator fire started by 10:30 AM. No ice in the storage tank. The temperatures dropped late at night which prevented ice from forming in the tank.
Done cooking by 2:30 PM. All old school, no R/O. Weekend weather looks promising but next week warms up too much. We’ll see what comes.
Had some repair welding done on the evaporator. The right side had a spot that burned through. Welded in a metal plate and replaced firebrick.
Sunny and low 40s. Trees dripping. Went out collecting at 4:00 PM. Altered our tractor path to account for the smaller number of taps. Headed northeast from the syrup buildling then circled around down the west side of the building before looping east and back to the building.
Picked up 85 gallons. Doing the math shows it would have been 425 gallons with 500 taps.
Pumped the sap into the storage tank. Tomorrow we’ll start cooking.
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