The Bovine Bugle

All set up, and no sap to boil

For ten days this was the scene inside the sugarhouse. The evaporator pans sat idle, the storage tank was empty, the canning unit poised to handle the 219 degree syrup as it came off the arch. The only activity was my dad's daily hour-long visit to build a small fire in the arch to thaw out the frozen sap so that it would not freeze so hard that it would damage the soldered seams of the pans.

While we waited patiently for the sap to run, we caught up on things in the barn. Karen and I bedded the freestalls with fresh sawdust, making the girls nice and comfy. There is always at least one cow who will stand in a freshly bedded stall and paw out the sawdust with a front hoof. That drives me nuts, but I guess they just want to play.

Sometimes you'll see one with its face and head covered with sawdust, and you know that cow had just been rubbing its head in the pile of fresh bedding at the front of a stall. The maternity pens needed cleaning after the first round of calves since December. With the help of the boys, and a couple shovels, forks, and wheelbarrows, the pens were cleaned, bedded, and ready for the next expectant mothers in no time.

The forecast for the end of the week sounds promising, and we cling to the weatherperson's every word during the noontime and 6 o'clock telecasts. Little children are hushed, and whatever you are doing is stopped, as the forecast is given for the upcoming days. Will all the hard work done to this point be in vain, or will Mother Nature cooperate and give us those warm days and cold nights we need to make the sap flow in the sugar maples? Time will tell.

--Jonathan (left), Howmars Farm
Franklin, Vermont

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Posted by Blogger Chris at April 12, 2006 04:01 PM