Final Run for the Season

 Maxine explores among Native American Hazelnuts early Saturday morning which are found though out the Driftless region of Midwest.



It's short sleeve shirt weather.


This beautiful weekend brought the sugar season to a close.  With the temperatures creeping to near 70* and no fluctuations, dropping down below the freezing mark.  The sap flow has come to a stand still.  Fortunately I had about 50 + gallons of sap back from the previous week.

 Mart and Joan made it back North after wintering in Florida.








Jazz and Maxine got to do some exploring while Mart and I got caught up on things

 We spent most of the afternoon sitting back in the sunshine enjoying all the sounds in the timber.


As you sit you can hear birds of all kinds as the timber comes to life.


Cardinals are some of the earliest each morning.  Downy woodpeckers, nuthatches and a pair Palliated woodpeckers flew in tandem vocalizing the entire time. 

 When the sap gets to a full roll the pan will pop and hum as the water evaporates leaving the sweet, caramelized sugars behind.

 Sap and stoves in various stages along with my tapping drill.






When I got busy cleaning up I made a few good finds. The drill was a major discovery.

 I also found my rasp which is good to have for a few fine tuning projects.





















Hot and dry conditions led to a little fire behind the stove.  A guy can get sidetracked when you have so many projects in the mix.

As the weather changed to rain
my last visitors  made it down in the bush.

David and Maple came down from DBQ with their three kids and a buddy from Chicago.  I had a few bags of sap back for the kids to empty and some sap to sip.  We also had some marshmallows to roast for smoors.

I've got to get this crew down earlier next year because they were full of energy and they'd be a great help breaking sticks and burning things.  Having them stop by was a lot of fun.