Boiling - Day one

Our first day of boiling sap was cold and not very productive. The wind whipped around our kettle so bad that it took forever (and the deconstruction of a metal shevling unit) to get it up to boil. We had a nice fire going but the wind kept the kettle from holding enough heat to boil, so after hours of no luck, Mike found an old metal shelving unit and took it apart to use as wind breaks and insulators. Once that was set up around the fire pit the fire blazed and the kettle held a rolling boil. We are still processing the sap, so we are at the sweet water point. Hopefully by the end of the day we will taste the sweetness of victory. Here are some pictures before the shelves.