Almost Ready!

Yesterday we went up to the snowmobile trail and checked the tubing.  Last week we had a fairly significant windstorm (they called for winds of 70 mph and there were several power outages in the area) and we wanted to see what damage had occurred.  Thankfully, there was very little damage.  One dead tree had fallen on a section of the mainline, but just the very top of it had pushed the mainline down and broken a side-tie (side ties are the thinner wires that connect the mainline to nearby trees and help support it; we intentionally use a thinner/weaker wire for side ties so that if a tree falls on the line the short side-tie wire will break before the 1000' long mainline wire).

We were able to easily pick the line up around the top of the tree and then replace the side-tie.  After riding around the rest of the woods we found no other damage, and we're all ready to tap these woods.

The long-range forecast suggests that it might be sugaring weather starting in the middle of the week after next (around the 13th of March).  We're hoping to tap next weekend and be ready for a gentle start to the season.