18 overnight again. Sunny and 47 today but when it starts so cold it takes the trees a long time to warm up. Temperature up to 35 by 9:00 AM. By Noon a few signs the trees would drip. By 2:00 PM the trees were dripping slowly. By 4:00 PM there was steady drip but it was too late to collect and not really enough sap yet in the buckets: we need more than two hours of a run. Let the trees drip into the evening then collect tomorrow. Forecast is for upper 20s tonight and 50 tomorrow. Should be a good day.
The ground is still cold. Ice doesn’t melt easily. The ground is hard when we walk on it, not soft or muddy. The ice is still in on the river. With the cold nights it probably added ice again after the February warm spell. The biggest sap runs usually coincide with the frost coming out.
Fixed a few taps. Did a wash cycle on the R/O.
Started our bottling project at 10:00 AM. A batch from last weekend was over density and starting to crystallize. It poured like molasses. Emptied the bottles. Added sap to lower the density then reboiled to bring back to the proper density. Its time consuming. Finished at 4:00 PM. Then started another batch. The new propane burners finished it it less than an hour. We have to adjust our planning for that. Back to the farmhouse by 7:00 PM.