Week of 3/24/25

The week of March 24th started out a bit cooler with a low of 26 getting up to 46. Good weather for the trees to sap. I went to the chiropractor in Mineral Point this morning as my back has been really hurting. I then went on to the AT&T store in Platteville to see about getting back our money that they had been taking out of our bank account for services that we didn’t get from them. They assured us that they would return it.

Tuesday was another bright & sunny day, starting out at 26 before climbing up to 52. It should be great sap weather. We collected 400 gallons. It should have been considerably more, but the trees are slowing down, and the season is getting done. I started to cook at 12:15 and got done at 5 in the evening. One of our syrup customers was out and watched us cook. We let him fire up the cooker, which he really enjoyed. I got a telephone call from a company in California called Think Spark. They want to republish my book and make me a lot of money. Another scam.

Wednesday was again a cool frosty morning with a low of 24 before getting up to a warm 56 under a bright sun. I had a class of F.F.A. kids from the Riverdale School in Muscoda come up to view our maple syrup operation. Unfortunately, we did not have any sap to cook, so we explained the process as best we could. We also showed them how our sap lines carry the sap from the trees to the stainless steel gathering tanks. That afternoon I went back to the chiropractor as my back was not getting any better.

Thursday was a very warm and sunny day, getting up to a high of 64 after a low of 41. I finished cooking up what sap we got today for this year. Ted and Tayden then took the spouts out of the trees in the Antonson Woods and took up the lines. I took hay up to the cows on the ridge this afternoon. This evening I went to the V.F.W. meeting in Highland, Wisconsin.

Friday was a hot summer-like day, getting up to a whopping 80 degrees. I cleaned up the evaporator this morning. My back was really hurting by the time we got done. I put a heat pad on my back to see if that would help. Then this afternoon I took it easy, sort of anyway. I started making phone calls to bookstores to find out who is carrying the book so we could put it on our website. So we have over 50, and I have many more to contact. Ruth had a syrup customer today who had bought a book earlier. She said she had all her kids and grandkids read it as it was so informative. I was also told that there are now three 5-star ratings on Amazon. The feedback I have been getting is wherever the book is out on display, it sells very well. However, the book can be bought at every bookstore in the country, not just those that carry it. They will order it for you, and take about a week to get the book.

Saturday started out cloudy and warm at 63 but got colder during the day and ended up at 36. My back was very painful this morning. I iced it down and took pain medicine, it was better by evening. I did no work Saturday.

Sunday morning started at 36 with a Thunder shower. Again, my back was very painful. I iced it and took pain medicine and did my few chores. I then did nothing but write my blog. That is it for this week.

-Helmuth Krause