WEATHER: Wednesday, March 5th brought an all-day drizzly rain. The temp rose from an overnight 32 degrees to 40 degrees and dropped back into the mid-30’s last night. Today, Thursday, the forecasted high is mid-40’s and the low tonight 20.

HOW’S IT RUNNING? At 11am on Wednesday Freedle said, “The cold rain don’t cut it.”
“The run is as dead as a mouse on the kitchen floor,” said Chops.

By 7pm the run kicked in (the term we use here). The sap ran all night and will run now until the lines freeze this evening.

SAP SWEETNESS: 1.7% sugar. The rest is water. Today we will brew coffee with sap for the first time this year. The crew has looked forward to this moment; it’s one of the perks of the job. After a coffee klatch at 8am, all four of them will snowshoe up the hill to check for breaks in the lines and leaks caused by the villain, those flighty squirrels.

BOILING STATUS: We will boil this afternoon.

Start-up task: What IS he doing in the firebox? [ALF photo]

Start-up task: Somewhere under the snow is a long tank we call The Sub, short for submarine. [ALF photo]

Start-up task: Attaching the main lines to the sap shed. [ALF photo]

Start-up task: Chops climbs up into the cupola above the evaporator to open the doors that let the steam out. [JG photo]



Start-up task: The Mock Boil. We boil water in the pans as the final step in prepping them. [LC photo]

Start-up task: Cleaning out a sap tank where a goldfinch met its demise. [LC photo]

Start-up tasks run into the night. [LC photo]

All work and no play makes Jenn a dull girl. Here she displays Canadian curling form on a Sunday afternoon at Spruce Peak. [AC photo]

ON TARIFF TENDERHOOKS: We at Nebraska Knoll are of course not insulated from current events. The dreaded trade war with Canada began March 4th. To read comments by Allison Hope, the executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, here is the link. https://vermontbiz.com/news/2025/march/05/welch-joined-capitol-hill-allison-hope-vermont-maple-sugar-makers-association?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=enews%20%7C%20Bernie%20blasts%20Trump%20speech%3B%20Burlington%20voters%20support%20big%20bonds%3B%20%20Safe%20at%20Home%3B%20%20School%20budgets%20pass%20statewide&utm_campaign=Enews%203%2F5%2F2025&vgo_ee=JGO313SrPpmgy%2B4tL8%2F6VNVjVkuice5f40kGCLo8eJpxQW1kPLY%3D%3A6Umn%2F6fw7HivfEKMmvbdKT2oJbZz7Yz%2F

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