Plan to finish a batch of syrup cooking today of about 8 gallons and collect in the woods. We have been boiling and adding sap for 3 days now to this batch. The sap pails have an inch layer of ice on the top. By noon, they will have started thawing so we collect, toss the ice (which like an iceberg in salt water) is pure water and prepare for the next batch. The wood pile is going down fast with all of the cooking.
The foot of snow is hard and crunchy; the mud frozen solid; the puddles skimmed over with the crunchy air pockets we so enjoyed stepping on as kids. I restrained myself and only broke the ones that didn't have a big pool of water underneath.
By 6:45 am it had already warmed up 1 degree from the 10 F this morning. The sun was shining over our hill to the far side of the lake. A turkey was gobbling and a pheasant squawking--early morning Saturday, cold and yet all they had on their minds was procreation. I didn't ;-)
Have to get this all done in time to go to the Cushing Community Center Spring Bash, Lasagna starting at 4 pm served until 7 pm and then the auction. If you come, head upstairs to see the Cushing Memory Rooms--our local museum.
Remember April 2012? Green already! Click here to see!
