Isn't he a peach? Ed started the stove and started cooking sap early this morning. He let me sleep in, while he did the feeding too. When I woke up and looked outside, was I surprised! I didn't expect to see snow! And so cold out too! It was 7°!

Ed cooked sap all day long. We got quite a bit done too. Finally, about 7:30 this evening, we decided it was too cold, and we will finish tomorrow. He turned everything off and we brought the unfinished syrup in the house and set it in the laundry room. Several buckets of sap are also sitting in the laundry room (it is unheated) so they don't freeze solid outside in the garage.
It is supposed to be 2° tonight! Yikes!

The farrier was supposed to come and trim the horses tomorrow, but we called her and put it off a couple of weeks. It is too cold to stand out in the barn and hold the horses while she trims their feet. It usually takes her at least 2 1/2 hours. She is as slow as molasses! And she likes to talk, but can't talk and work at the same time. Good thing she doesn't charge by the hour!

Here is a photo of what we woke up to this morning, and a picture of our fuel source for the cooking pan. This is a 250 gallon tank. We have made syrup with it for 3 years, only filling it once, three years ago. Ed bought it at a farm dispersal auction several years ago.