I went rabbit hunting…

I went rabbit hunting for the first time this year. We got 4 inches of snow last night so they were sitting tight. I missed 1 shot and the fella that came out had his gun jam twice. As he put it – If this was what we depended on we’d be hungry. We have 3 weeks of wood in the basement so we’ll be keeping warm. Let it snow. The pond I put in 3 years ago is really filling nicely. We were walking on it today. It is an acre – as big as a football field.

I have been clearing snow off the ponds to let sunlight get to the plants in the pond.  If you do not do that you risk having plants die which can result in a fish kill.  The ice under the snow is as smooth as glass.  If I had the time and energy we could have great skating.  If our son still lived at home we would be playing hockey.  We used to do that when he was younger.  The new pond would be fantastic for skating because it is so big.

We went and bought Maple Syrup supplies today.  Glass jars 8oz, plastic jugs quarts, lables and extra caps.  We will tap sometime in March.  We do about 100 taps.  It takes around 40 gallons of sap to boil down to a gallon of syrup.  Last year we made 15 gallons of syrup.  As you can see our set up is pretty basic.  What you are seeing is a flat pan.  The pan rests on angle iron on top of the cement blocks.  The fire is inside the metal sheeting under the pan.