Hi from michigan!

[Don(MI)]

Hey all! Just checking in to this awesome site!

Small time family outfit here, we make syrup just for ourselfs and enjoy this hobby we all love! My great-grandfather used to make syrup in a cast iron kettle way back in the day, and my grandfather continued that with his family. We still make maple syrup, with a small 5 acre soft maple woods. Just around 200 taps, nothing to technical about it. We gather with our Allis Chalmers "G" tractor and 120 gallon bulk tank, then pump this into the 150 gallon milk tank you see in the pictures. This gravity feeds around the smoke stack, as a pre-heat coil, and dumps into a stainless 4x5' flat pan. And you guys know the rest from there! The arch, my father and I made about 10 years ago, the building was actually a local high schools wooden baseball dugouts. They built new cyinder block dugouts, and my uncle got ahold of the old wood ones, works great as a sugar bush!

I will say this, growing up doing this every spring since I was about 6 years old, has been one of the best experiences of my life! I am now 25, and still look forward to every spring, with the same excitment!

Have a good one! Don

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/100_2505.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/Sugar%20Shack/100_0999.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/Sugar%20Shack/100_0979.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/Sugar%20Shack/100_0984.jpg

Dad headed out after a woodchuck.

[Don(MI)]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/Sugar%20Shack/100_0997.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/digital_rebel/IMG_7447.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/digital_rebel/IMG_7490.jpg

Our syrup is dark, from boiling on a flat pan.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/digital_rebel/IMG_7494.jpg

[Haynes Forest Products]

Looks like most operations MUD, MUD and more MUD. Dang I never thought of keeping a rifle around to get things done. What did having the gun around add to production 10%-20%-30%:lol: Cool set up I like it

[Haynes Forest Products]

Don When you emplty the milk jugs carry a horse shoe shaped copper tube and insert into the jug so it reaches the bottom when you empty it. It will let air in and empty fast. Its better than a hole in the bottom:lol:

[maple connection]

Don
Thats a pretty awesome tractor. What is it?

[Don(MI)]

Don
Thats a pretty awesome tractor. What is it?

Thats a 1951 Allis Chalmers G tractor. A 10 HP continential motor powers it. That paticular model was built by Allis for vegetable farming, with better viewing capabilities (rear engine design). This is a collectors tractor, They sell painted up for between $3000- to $4500, and implements can be added to that cost.

I can see what other tractors are for sale if you are interested in them, or search on the net, there are still many around.

Allis chalmers headquarters were in Milwaukee, WI. Also, the town West Allis got there name from the company. Yes, I like our orange tractors!

[Don(MI)]

Heres the tractor in the spring plowing...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/tractors/100_1665.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/tractors/100_1667.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/tractors/100_1663.jpg

[whalems]

Nice set-up! What part of michigan? Or are you under witness protection?:lol:

[firetech]

We also run antique tractors. I have a Farmall M and a C also an orange one a B. The son in law and daughter have about 10 IH tract tractors. What part of the state are hang'out. We are near Perry.

[Don(MI)]

We are not too far from Lapeer, thats probably the closest large city. Ya, we are under the program, so you guys don't steal our sap! :lol: Last year was our worst year, around 3 gallons made. Absolutley terrible. Hoping for a better spring, it was very dry here last spring. We have enough dry wood now split and stacked to last 2 seasons, there wasn't alot to do last spring! Might as well make firewood!

Here is the shack after 2 coats of red paint in June. The smoke stack is now removable, and we will be unbolting the stack after every season now. Before, rain would run down the side of our stack, and because its metal, would rust. Eventually we had to replace it. This way, its capped off during the off season, just above the cupola.

That leads me to a question, Is there a right or wrong way to construct a cupola? I did look through the other area, "sugarhouse design and construction". Should our doors on the cupola be higher than they are? We are going to have to rebuild it, as the current one has seen better days!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v50/Fuldraw/04-09-10_1701.jpg

[Ausable]

Hi Don -- Like Your idea for the stack -- have the same problem - others on this site have mentioned doing this and I continue to cap with a plastic pail. Put a new 8" stack up last Winter and starting to show rust already - so - will have to try it. You mentioned replacing your coupola and I noticed on Your Sugar Shack that Yours covers the whole ridge - But - If this design is handling the steam ok - why change it. -- Hey -- Best of luck for lots of sweet sap this season......Had the same kind of luck as you last year - very little sap and only 3 gallons of maple to show for the effort. -- Mike