We wait

After a record warm February, we grudgingly went ahead and tapped last week.  I guess I need to let go of the old Vermont rule that you tap on Town Meeting Day (1st Tuesday in March).  Or right after Town Meeting day, since we’re always up to our necks in budgets, new dump trucks and pot-luck lunch on Town Meeting day.  Anyways, we had two pretty big sap runs this week and made a quick 8 gallons or so of syrup, but things changed quickly.  Tonight is forecast to be below zero, and stay cold through the weekend.  But Monday looks to warm again into the 40’s with good sugaring conditions through most of next week.

Our sugarhouse computer had some problems when I tried to get it fired up this year, so I had to get a new one and set it up, but now we’re all up and running with sap levels and temperature being recorded in 15 minute intervals.  This is a great tool for us as we’re boiling away, watching that sap level drop.

For now, aside from the empty buckets swinging from the trees in the cold wind, we’ll enjoy the rest of Feb. vacation doing other things. The sap will be flowing again soon enough.