I am feeling a bit better about our prospects lately. We made over 10 gallons of syrup this weekend and all sorts of people stopped by to wish us well. The number of people who are with us far outnumbers those who are against us, so what the heck. We'll keep going as long as nature keeps sending us the sap. We are sending large quantities of steam towards heaven and having a good time doing it.

We had over 300 gallons of sap when we started on Saturday, and we boiled it down to a manageable 100 gallons. The next day we came back in and were back to over 250 again! We cranked Patrick up and boiled it all down by 8pm.

This is the only time of the year you can do this, so we are making hay while the sun shines.

I feel that it's a real privledge to be able to do this. I thank God for the opportunity.

It's a lot of fun too. We have friends like Dan who show up and man the hot seat in front of the evaporator every year. John does yeoman's work finishing and I try to help out by getting wood and doing whatever has to be done.

People came with kids to help collect buckets. It really is community supported agriculture.

Maili came through at a crucial time with soup and bread, and Sherri brought her knitting and helped with sales.

The sun shone and made the sap flow.

All in all we are blessed to be able to do this.