The Bovine Bugle

Taking down the sap buckets

With the sap boiling done for the season, the clean up of the sugaring operation began. The past two days Karen and I spent a couple hours each afternoon taking down the sap buckets and pulling spouts. We made stacks of buckets and covers along the woods road to be picked up later. After two afternoons, we had all but 70 or 80 buckets down and ready for pick up.

Today, Ben and I went over by the Christmas trees and finished taking down the rest of the buckets. We loaded these buckets right into the wagon, and then we went through the rest of the sugarbush to pick up the buckets Karen and I had taken down. By noontime all the buckets were stacked on the lawn in front of the sugarhouse awaiting their "turn" on the bucket washer, the covers were stacked under the bench in the sugarhouse, and the sap spouts were in two buckets of hot, chlorinated water to soak overnight before being dried in the sun and put away, ready for next year.

--Jonathan, Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

Learn about other organic dairy farmers and the Organic Valley family of farms.

ABOUT THE BOVINE BUGLE

Subscribe by using the box at the upper left.

To unsubscribe, send a note to chalvorson@stonyfield.com

Posted by Blogger Chris at April 21, 2005 11:11 AM