In the throes of collecting sap again this year — our sixth season — I’ve come to the realization that every single season is different.

Early in February our buyer sent us a text from Florida: “When u tapping?”

“When are you opening?”

“When u have sap!” he retorted.

Growing up on a dairy farm, us kids had a couple of favorite cows and a few kitties. Our dad, when he was a little boy, had gotten bit by a dog, traumatizing him, so we had but one dog, and that was after us four kids cajoled and convinced him we should do this.

Morning chores when we were dairy farming consisted of hours of work before we came back in the house for breakfast. Opting to tend to the animals before we ate, my husband and I were on the same page.

I’m not sure when coffee introduced itself into my life, but I think it was back in the 1970s during my Shamoco Ford days. Fresh out of high school, a greenhorn in the working-off-the-farm world, I started drinking coffee.

Earlier in the winter, I noticed we had some visitors. Five beautiful male pheasants were meandering around our property. With a colorful, intricate plumage, these birds intrigue me. Surviving the pheasant hunting season, they seem to have no definite home nor means to feed themselves.

“Do you think they’ll be OK?” I asked my husband one day.

I wasn’t certain, and if we could do anything about it, I’d sure feel better.

Shawano County’s 4-H is holding Spark Saturday, an event open to the public for children in kindergarten through high school at 9 a.m. Jan. 10 at Shawano Community High School, 220 County Road B, Shawano.