Another beautiful early spring day! Today felt like the dreaded Monday following a spring time change. After a couple of hard days of gathering, there were some aches and pains to be nursed. The folks gathering with kids in backpacks were particularly feeling the pain. Adam said frozen veggies to shoulders is a quiet and effective treatment if anyone needs a tip.

For it being a Monday, we had a great turnout and we suspect the sunshine had something to do with it. Alex, Liz, Esme, Burke, and Mabel bravely returned as well as Nancy, Adam, Katie, Henry, Brynn, Amy, Cody, Emma, Oliver, Muff, Heath, Hailey, Gerri, Brad, Jackie, Jake, Jeremy, Tyler, Jasmine, Susan B, and Michael. Bob once again kept the evaporator running. We will have to calculate how many hours this has been running in the last few days, but the answer is a lot! Bret stopped in, on his birthday, to say hello and neighbor Dan also made a visit this afternoon. John stopped in later, bringing girl scout cookies, not realizing that Bob has a sizeable, doomsday quality stash of these (much to Gerri’s dismay). Though John seemed more willing to share his stash.

The question was asked why we often do not gather earlier in the afternoon. The answer is that most of the above folks have work/school and 5:15 pm is about as early as we can get a crew around! Despite the alarm clock being a shock one hour earlier this am, everyone appreciated walking back to the camp in the light!

We gathered nice clear sap tonight that tastes sweet. The first of the bees and a few ants were noted randomly, but they were far and few between. Henry rode on Walle with his mother and Gerri for a bit tonight. He was baptized in sap that fortunately ran off his hat into the tank. Henry was quick to tattle on Gerri for this baptismal experience. It was pointed out to his mother earlier in the week that the brown coat was a poor choice if you want to find a muddy kid. He has been sporting a bright red rain coat since. Sap sloshed out of the tank as it neared the top hitting Henry like a Niagara Falls visitor.

Cody drove Walle tonight, almost like he stole it, and we reminded him “he is no Dave”. We will give Cody a little grace as he has missed a couple of nights of sleep this week. The fresh air has not helped Oliver sleep, we are hoping another day exploring the woods may tire him out! The dog ate Cody’s ice cream tonight, just a tough day all the way around.

We had biscuits and creamed turkey tonight with veggies and for dessert pie and ice cream. Kelsey fixed supper tonight, she felt bad about how her biscuits turned out on the blackstone, but would have felt better had she seen the biscuits her dad tried to finish up in the evaporator. We celebrated Bret’s birthday without him as Megan made him a nice birthday meal at home!

We quite literally ran out of wood in the camp tonight. Cody, Brad, and Michael disappeared for a bit and came back with a couple of totes. They used the skid steer to move the totes into the camp. Emma, nearly 3 years old, sat in the skid steer for a minute and started it. Uncle Brad’s reaction probably left her wondering if she would see her third birthday. She will not try that again! Mike sat in it yesterday and never messed with any buttons… just saying.

Henry and Emma had a great time playing in the mud but perhaps not quite as layered as yesterday. Katie overheard a cute conversation between them:

Emma: Where is your house?

Henry: Where is your house?

Emma: Far away

Henry: Oh

Emma: Is your house far away?

Henry: Where’s it at?

The adult conversations do not make much more sense.

Total Gallons of Syrup today: 17.5

Total Gallons of Syrup to date: 74.5

Total Gallons of Sap today: 500

Total Gallons of Sap to date: 4,365

Mar 10

Mar 9