Evaporator...

So, we have an evaporator at last. Now we need sap.

Friday, we bought a half pint evaporator by Leader from an Amish distributor a few counties away. We spent the weekend putting it together - lining the arch (I'd call it a firebox) with brick and putting in a brick wall, and getting the stove pipe up and some valves in.

We have almost 40 taps in but we've only collected about 10 gallons of sap so far despite almost a week of below freezing nights and above freezing days. A friend has a theory that the ground temperature has to be warmer, not just the air temperature and that the Farmers Almanac predicts March 10. I guess we'll see.