Work Day!

Syrup Season has begun! Our pre-season work in the woods has started!
Nic and Robert spent the day in the woods on Saturday pulling lines
and replacing tubing and spiles. Our project this year is to replace
our aging tubing system and some of our spiles. It will probably take
several years to phase out all of the old tubing, but we are making
good progress. The old tubing gets very brittle in cold temperatures.
This causes many unnecessary repairs and vacuum leaks. It is a lot of
extra work to replace the tubing, but it will pay off in the long run.
A work day was a great way to burn off all of the turkey and pie
calories!

Jen and I don’t work out in the woods that often – Mason always comes
to the farm with us so we work on things around the house most of the
time. Jen bottled two rounds of syrup for orders this week. I
organized and cleaned the bottling and packaging area. Mason played in
the mud and dirt most of the day. It was quite warm, about 55*.
Needless to say, my tub is always destroyed by Mason’s bath after a
day at the farm. I could plant seeds in there!

From here on out, we will be at the farm every weekend, barring
unforeseen circumstances or terrible weather. The guys will continue
to work in the woods every weekend until late March. Jen has a lot of
syrup to bottle and the festival prep is about to hit full swing. We
will begin to send out information packets to all of our vendors and
media contacts in early January. All of the buildings need to be
cleaned and the store is being renovated!

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. Our
Thanksgiving was at the farm. We had a full house with Wendy, John,
Carter, McCall, Tim, Kathleen, Dee, Joel, Jen, Nic, Mom, Caleb,
Robert, Mason, and Me! Hopefully I didn’t forget anyone.

I made a roasted turkey with herb butter. Nic made a smoked turkey
using maple sugar and other spices as a dry rub. Both were equally
delicious!! Lots of napping followed.

Mason and I will be making another delivery to the Bloomington area on
Thursday. Check back for a delivery day update!!