Productive Syrup Day

Today has been a day of boiling and boiling and boiling.  Last night I boiled down 4 gallons and this morning when I walked into the barn to start at 9:30, I had 24 gallons sitting there looking at me.  Uff da!  After today's harvest of 4.5 gallons to add to the mix, I am now down to 15 gallons for tomorrow.  I will be up late I'm sure finishing today's renderings, I'll post tomorrow what it all came down to. 


Lots of milk jugs and the turkey pot has 6 gallons in it. 

Other than my sap boiling, today has been gloomy.  We woke up to... you guessed it, SNOW!  Wonderful April Fools joke from Mother Nature.  Scott spent the day burning brush before all our snow was gone, at least in that area.  The rest of the yard and property still has lots.  I did get to see my first Sandhill Crane of the year flying over the barn.  They are pretty cool birds and make the most interesting and cool sounds.  Not far from where we live there is a place called Crex Meadows Wildlife Area.  It is one of the largest state owned wildlife areas in Wisconsin and every fall there are thousands of Sandhills who land there on there migration south.  Fun place to visit and to hunt.  Other than Sandhills, there are tons of ducks, geese and swans that either migrate through Crex or call it home. 

Yesterday Scott went to town and was able to pick up another old bear bait barrel that we will be able to turn into our 2nd compost barrel.  Now I will be able to have compost in two different stages.  That makes me very happy.  Once things dry out, I am going to sand it down really well and paint the outside black.  I have to do this to the old one also, but I'll wait until I am able to empty it later this spring and add to my gardens and such.