RicelandMeadows

April 2, 2024

In the photo above, the evaporator has been partially disassembled. It is all part of the clean up process. Much of the clean up job has been completed. The tanks and many small parts, pieces, buckets, utensils and specialized equipment, have been washed dried and put away. The biggest and last job is to wash the evaporator.

I load the evaporator pans onto a couple of hay wagons. I have to enlist help because the pans are awkward and heavy. This years help came for two of our grandchildren and a few of their friends. Many hands make light work, but this work was still heavy, sticky and sooty. The pans will get pressure washed and cleaned in the coming days.

Our weather has been wet. Today, makes the fourth day in a row of rain. We worked between the drops to keep this job going. I am hoping the temperature rises just a bit before I have to spend the day splashing in water to get these cleaned, then put away.

We managed to get our kindling bunk mostly filled today too. I use this smaller wood to get the big fire going to boil the sap. I use “edgings” from a local sawmill cut in about two foot lengths. They will dry for the next several months and work out very well to get us off and boiling.

Sam, is inspecting our stack job. We restored order in the woodshed today. We will start the job of filling it back up very soon. The short season left us with a good start on next year’s wood.

We worked under cover as the raindrops fell. We stayed fairly dry and made good progress. It was fun working with my grandchildren Rachel and John. I worked alongside, shared stories and taught as we went. It was good to see the progress we made….and I’m not fooling!