I got a chance on a couple of mornings to buck and split some firewood. I have about 1/3 of what I need. A fast splitter really helps.
I also was also starting to empty a second storage unit I have rented, which should not have had any syrup in it, but I found another barrel, a 40 gal one at that, full of syrup. I guess it must have gotten put there when the other storage unit was getting rather full. At any rate, I’ll be packing this last one soon. I checked in the storage unit, there are no more barrels in there. I had seen this barrel a month ago or so, but I figured it was an empty one. This is even better than putting on a jacket you haven’t worn since last year and finding $20 in the pocket.
When packed, It’s certainly likely I won’t run out for Christmas sales, (but still possible) but I suspect I might still run out before the 2018 production starts, especially if the season starts late. It’s all about the weather.
In general, Jan. sales are slow, but they pick up in mid Feb and gain momentum from there, likely as people start getting tax refunds. I have one family who orders a whole year supply (usually 24 half gal) when their tax refund comes in. Today, I’ll do more firewood,Monday I might put the barrel heater on the newly found barrel to start heating it. After about a day, it pumps easily, when cold a 40 gal barrel can take about 10x as long to pump out, so 20 min. vs a little over 3 hrs (kind of similar to “molasses in January” slow). The forecast calls for 55 and rain Tuesday, a good day to pack that syrup.
In the mean time, I’ll try to finish the wood supply. So far I got thru about half of the smallest pile of logs, I still, if needed have 2 more much larger piles of logs but I’d need to move some on the top that were cut recently, and get to the ones that have been there for 2-3 years. Having the right equipment to move logs makes that fairly short work, likely just over an hour.