Last weekend we had extreme cold, as cold as -15F, now today we might get up to 52F and tomorrow forecast for 54F , then the bottom will again fall out of the thermometer. This is perfect weather to get sick. Our bodies can’t adjust fast enough.
With all this, I’ll fill my last barrel for bourbon barrel aged syrup, another 10 gal. It should then be ready to bottle late June or early July.
I am also getting some tubing repair work done in the woods, in preparation for this up coming season. As cold as it was last weekend, there would not be much sap flow if any yet, the trees need time to thaw. That would take another 2 or 3 days of mild temperatures, but as noted above, starting Saturday, the temperatures again go back to real cold to again freeze solid. I may even start tapping around the sugarhouse next week.
In between things, I’m also getting the sugarhouse ready for the season, cleaning and organizing. Yesterday, I finished getting all my benches and shelves set in my new shed, thus some items that always had to be stored in the sugarhouse for lack of a better place, can now be stored in the 14×28 shed, and I can even drive my tractor in it and park that too.