Sunday, March 12, 2017

Single Digit first sap boil

Saturday marked our first sap boil of the season and the temperature did not get above 9 degrees F. It was frigid to say the least!

















Balaclavas were mandatory! The cold temperatures presented us with a bigger challenge. All the storage, which is more than we ever have had, was predominantly frozen, so we again had to use the Yankee ingenuity we have come to know and love. The sap had been freezing in the buckets, so some of the storage was garbage bags full of frozen sap, in the shape of a bucket!

























We will remedy the situation over by the boiler after we set a few things up.

















 In the mean time, we had a little fun. Now you see him....



Now you don't!  We need to work on improving the sound track - enough NPR already!























Who needs an XBox when you can play real life Mine Craft!?





















Getting the bellows going. Thank heavens for large garbage day and re-purposing.














Time to warm up with some sap tea. Haven't heard of sap tea? Take a mug, put in a tea bag, and fill it with boiling hot sap straight off the evaporator!






















The sap that wasn't frozen started freezing in the buckets!






















Ingenious way to melt the frozen sap chunks.













































We processed ~ 120 gallons of sap and yielded ~ 2.5 gallons of syrup.

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