Our Floor Was Sticky for a Month

Even with my repeated practice of boiling syrup all over the stove, pouring syrup into a broken glass jar which then spilled onto the floor and my sneakers, and, out of sheer laziness, letting the sap spill out of the jugs for the last three days of the season, we still made about 3 1/2 gallons of syrup this year.

It was a relatively easy season, slow and prolonged thanks to the spells of cold weather broken by spaces of a few warm days, so buckets of waiting sap didn't pile up.   Also, a borrowed woodstove on which to boil down sap made this year's expenses dwindle to almost nothing.  (!)

Topping it off was the surprise of these last several batches of syrup staying nearly as golden as the beginning batches.  If I hadn't given up before the season truly ended, I probably would have had some darker syrup, but...LAZINESS.  I have no regrets.