It still just doesn't seem right that I had to call it a season on the 20th of March. I just got done finishing the contents of the evaporator and ended the season with 130 gallons of syrup. Not good by any means but not as bad as my worst season. That was 2005 when I had over 500 taps and only made 45 gallons of syrup. It was cold that year, I didn't even start tapping until the 13th of March. I was expecting the season to last into April but it was over 2 weeks later at the end of March. 2010 was a bad year too. i made 152 gallons that year so this total isn't too far below that mark.

I am getting an early start to my clean up getting ready for the open house weekend. Unlike last year I won't be dirtying up the sugar house after the open house. Other than the evaporator everything will be pretty much cleaned up and put away. I will be boiling water this weekend for the 1st time ever on open house weekend. It won't be the same but at least my customers will be able to see some steam and hopefully smell a little maple too.