What got you started? Would like to hear others stories.

[psparr]

I'll start by admitting I dont even remember what gave me the idea to tap my first tree. And that was only three years ago. (Maybe too much lead paint when I was a kid) But I do recall the drill bit coming out of the tree and the sap chasing it out of the hole. I don't think the bug would have bit me as hard had the sap not been flowing.

I bought 50 old aluminum bucket sprouts off ebay. While waiting for them to arive I scrounged up 15 milk jugs, recieved my taps, and headed off to the cabin. 15 sounded like a manageable number... then 1 drop of that darn tree crack and I literally hung 35 Red Solo cups from the remainder of my taps. Needless to say, in a half hour I was running from tree to tree trying to keep the cups from overflowing!

My name is Patrick and I am a mapleholic.

[The dairy farmer]

I honestly got started trying to impress my hopefully future father in law , I tried to help him and then I wanted to do it on my own and now I got my dad,mom,and older brother addicted , I would go out in - degree weather to check my taps not nowing it had to be warm to flow!! haha

[Greenwich Maple Man]

A home school field trip started me at age 8. 3 taps, standard pails with shower cap lids. Made about 1/2 pint that year. Have been getting bigger ever since. Now 26 and my main occupation.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

I was about 9 years old, my Grandad, who lived about a block away from me, called and asked my brother and I to come down to his house.
When we got there, he told us we were going to make syrup.
We followed him as he cut a half dozen or so sections of tree branches from a tree in his yard, each about 10 inches long and just about an inch in diameter. From those sticks, he tapered one end down, just slightly, from about an inch in. Then at the other end, he carved the stick down to look like a half circle, about 6 inches long, forming a trough. Then using the tip of his knife and an ice pick, he hollowed out what remained solid of the stick.
After making one spout, he had my brother and I duplicate what he had done with the remaining sticks. Once we were done, he grabbed a brace and bit and we headed toward tree number one. He had a few maples in his yard and we had a large one in our yard. Grandad had my brother and I take turns drilling into the trees where he indicated. Once a hole was deep enough for his approval, we would tap one of our spouts into the hole, and hang a 1 gallon ice cream bucket from it.
We saved all of the sap we collected in 5 gallon buckets. Once we had what he thought was enough sap, and the sap stopped flowing, we pulled all of our spouts.
On a Saturday morning, Grandad started a fire in the back of his property and had me help him set a large, 30 gallon, cast Iron kettle on the fire, and start pouring sap into it.
By late afternoon it was cold and windy and had started to rain, so we ladles out what was left in the kettle into a bucket and took it into the house where grandma put it in a pan to finish it on the stove.

That year we ended up with less than half gallon of syrup. I'm sure things could have been done to draw more sap and produce more syrup, but looking back, it doesn't matter. That sweet brown gooey syrup was amazing, and so was the experience. A memory I will hold forever.

Fast forward 27 years, I wanted to show my own children how it is done. I even made one wooden spout just as my Grandad taught me those many years ago.

[shane hickey]

5Th Generation Here Started With 75 Taps When I Got Starte. Demand Kepted GettingBiggerSo I HadToGetMoreTaps Now Just In It For The Money.I

[johnzski]

Made a bit of syrup with grandpa when I was a kid . Lost him when I was 8 . Made some when I was in high school but became distracted by other things . Fast forward 30 years , noticed I had a few maples on my place and thought the kids would like to see how it's made . 2012 tapped ten trees , boiled on a turkey fryer ended with a pint of syrup . Hooked ! 2013 built a 2x4 evap , tapped 50 trees , ended with 4 1/2 gallons . 2014 Re-doin the arch for a 2x6 hybrid pan from smokey lake , buying a boatload of other equipment , planning on 200 taps . I need a second job to support this !

[Deano686]

Had a couple friends that dabbled in sugaring. Over the years, as I would mow my lawn, I would count the number of maples I would pass. 12 total just on the mowed portion of my 5 acres. Offered to tap those and give the sap to a friend and help boil just for something to do. That worked for about 3 weeks. As I tapped those, I searched for more just off the lawn edge. Every day on the way home from work, I found myself stopping in to pick up more taps and buckets. I will say, I was warned that it's a very addictive hobby. By the end of the season, I had a small homemade evaporator, 90 trees tapped, my first mainline run, and was boiling around the clock. Although I do the majority of the work myself, my wife does help with bottling, and friends and relatives do show up from time to time to help out in the woods. Those are some great days!! This year, I am expanding to a 2X6, all pipeline, and have been lucky enough to gain permission to tap literally an endless amount of maples on a neighboring property. I have a feeling, I'll be boiling around the clock again. Just can't seam to get enough. The one saving grace is the season does have an end to it......but there's always next season!!!!!

[Sugarmaker]

you asked:)

My dad was a dairy farmer in NW PA. I was about 8 or 9 when he asked me to watch the wood fire under the big black flat pan on the cinder block arch while he miked cows. I had tasted the sweetness of the cool sap earlier that day. We had gathered with the Allis Chalmers and a trailer carrying the big gray gathering tank with a strainer. The tractor left muddy ruts in the sugarbush. Our first sugarhouse was leaky old run down re-purposed chicken coupe. We were firing with damp slabs, they sizzled when added to the roaring inferno under that pan. The cold rain pelted the walls and I remember crouched in front of the makeshift arch doors feeling warmth of the wood fire, smelling the steam, and watching that amazing pan boil sap. Dad would come and check the syrup level and add buckets of fresh sap from the gathering tank to the pan. Dad said I could sample the almost syrup as much as I wanted while boiling.

How could a little kid not get hooked? You got too, stay up late, play with fire, and drink sweet syrup! The rest is history.
Having just retired Jan 1 2014, at 62 this will be another year I can play again in the woods and make wonderful maple syrup.
Some say this may get in the blood? I have recently found family information that I am the 6th generation to make syrup dating back to the early 1800's in West Virgina, so they could be right. Just a warning:)
Regards,
Chris

[Acer86]

I grew up listening to my father tell stories of the old family sugarhouse and decided I wasn't going to let the tradition die with my generation. Began with 3 buckets and a wood stove for an evaporator when I was in High School. I'm 27 now and have an operation totaling around 1300 taps. I hope to make syrup for the rest of my life.

[Drew Pond Maple]

A friend asked me one day if I had any maples on my property.
Well I found a dozen and decided to tap them on a 45* day in march, and you know what happened after that.
I was hooked. I had a small flat pan that I used with propane to cook it.
So about $150 of propane later and 1.5g of syrup later,,,, well you know the rest

[Bentley Wood Maple]

Year 6 and this will be first with no big changes, just try and do better with what we have.Started our 1st yr w/ 180 buckets and learned REAL QUICK we don' t have enough hrs in the day to work 60 hrs a week in a mill, gather buckets and boil. Yrs 2& 3 we went to lines and fewer buckets and last year eliminated buckets almost entirely.Now close to 400 taps off the hill all gravity into the sugar house.
Why did we start? Seemed like a good opportunity for us all to spend more family time together and my 2 boys are a big help and wife helps out as well.A surprise to me is how it has become the neighborhood hang out spot; kids and adults stopping by to check things out.
My only real regret is not working in another sugar house before jumping head first into our own place. We have learned most everything by trial and error (the EXPENSIVE way) Have a guy planning on helping us this year before he starts on his own.

[Bob 262626]

In Dec 2010 I retired; that year I enjoyed snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, woke up one day and the snow was gone; it was to cold for cycling. Sitting by the wood stove I thought about the four taps in my toolbox. That’s when it took a life of its own, four taps, a double burner propane stove and two SS kitchen pans, in a 15 hour day I would evaporate 18 gals, that year I produced the best half gal of watery syrup I have ever had. My Dad decided that four taps were not enough and brought me a 100 more. I built a homemade 2x6 arch, 2x2-finishing pan and 2x4-evaporating pan. The next year I built a parallel sap preheater, enclosed the evoprator and installed over and under air system in the firebox. Now up to 150 taps on buckets had to hire my wife as the Quality Assurance Manager and head bottler. We look forward to it every year and enjoy the time together in the woods collecting and sitting by the evaporator with friends and family. There is no cure for the maple syrup bug.

[Father & Son]

I still haven't figured out why I started making syrup. I have no sugaring in my background. I had never even tasted real maple syrup. When my son was 10 I thought this was something we could do together and he seemed interested when I asked him. We have a few maple on our property so I started looking for equipment. Hit the mother load when I found someone getting out of sugaring and had everything for sale. A 2x6 Leader evaporator, 75 buckets lids and spiles, and a strainer and hydrometer and cup was loaded in the pickup and brought home. Had no idea what I had or even how to set the stuff up and use it. Most people I have talked to started out on a cement block arch with a lasagna pan so I really had no idea what I had just done. Started watching local auctions for more equipment I thought I needed and that is where I met "Sugarmaker" from post #8. His guidance and friendship since that first meeting has been immeasurable. Put up a 12 x 16 shack, my son was boiling on a turkey fryer before the roof was on, set the evaporator up, and the first syrup we drew off was the first I ever tasted. Now, like I was told by another producer, there are just two seasons in the year - 1) Sugaring season and 2) Getting ready for sugaring season.

Jim

[Lethalbowman]

My father started tapping a few Maple trees in his backyard a few years ago and then boiled down the sap in his kitchen. (front and back doors open to create a cross breeze) he would share his finished product with all of us. Last year after asking him where he got his taps from he gave me 4 plastic ones and some tubing. By the time the sap started running good I had purchased more and had 20 trees tapped. I attempted to boil the sap down on a Coleman stove. I soon learned that it would take forever to make syrup that way so I purchased a propane fish fryer & a used roasting pan from the local Goodwill store. From that point forward I was boiling sap every chance I got. I used a few vacation days from work and boiled sap the entire day. I made 3 batches and the last one ended up being the very best syrup I had ever tasted. I got fancy with 8 oz. syrup bottles & even made my own label. I donated 1 bottle that was auctioned off at my annual Michigan Bow Hunters Spring Banquet. Those fine outdoor type people raised the selling price of that small bottle up to $20.00! Not bad for my 1st attempt. This year I will be moving up to a block arch with a 24" X 30" stainless steel pan. With any luck I should be able to double if not triple my production. Quite a few people have already asked for a bottle or two this year. My "Pure Michigan Gold" will be headed across the country to friends and family by Spring.

[sap retreiver]

My **** boss got me into it!
Being a true flatlander, originally from the cape, the only thing i knew about maples was they sucked to rake up. When i moved to NH 10 years ago I started working for the highway dept. became good friends with the boss and he invited me up to his place. I think he just wanted a grunt to haul buckets. Well i helped him collect and he explained it all as we went. Then when we started boiling, cool now i get to drink and feed a fire, can't get any better. I swear he knew it was gonna happen. He says "go ahead stick your head in the steam, ya smell it?" Oh great sweetness, i can smell it, yup another one getting sucked right in.
Don't think he boiled alone again that season, almost got a divorce from the newly wed wife too. She now understands and has a close eye on the check book, can't imagine why?
That season i found a couple on our land and made a little on a 55 gal barrel evap that he lent me and the next year he didn't use his 2x4, so guess who's moving up in the world! After having two boys things have slowed up a bit, but so worth it. My oldest son tapped his first tree last year and not much can get better, until he starts hauling sap!
So 7 years later, after trying every year to build a sap house, it will happen this summer and i will boil inside.
Thank you all for helping and have fun

[pdr]

Attention Deficit Disorder

[Homestead Maple]

I had helped a person when I was a teenager and once I got married and had my own place and saw some of the maples on my land, I thought I'd tap a few (24 taps) and try to make my own syrup. Man, was it ever black stuff but the flavor wasn't so bad!

[Paul VT]

Dad hung 6 buckets on some soft maples in the backyard when I was probably 5. Many hours watching a revere pot boil on the stove. By the time I was in junior high I was hanging 25 buckets on the neighbors sugar maples and boiling on a homemade arch outside. Doing homework with a flashlight.

[Jebediah]

Realized in 2012 we had some maples in woods behind the house, thought it might be fun (for the kids...of course) to tap a few. Embarrassing, in hindsight--we stared at those trees for years before it occurred to us to tap them. Still a novice, certainly, but fun and whole family involved in various ways.

[nace]

An article in Kentucky living magazine "back yard sugaring". After reading it, I look out my window at our 3 1/2 acres of woods and say to my wife, there's gotta be a maple back there. Even though it was the middle of February and I wasn't sure what a maple looked like naked I put 2 taps in a likely candidate with brass connectors and tubing into a icing bucket from SAMs club bakery. A few days later, I boiled down 5 gallons on a turkey fryer and roasting pan...hooked by a 12oz maple bug. 1/2 gallon that first year, 3qts the next then I missed the 3rd season because I got sick and the season ended early. Last year I thought we were moving with work so I got a late start even after I had a pan built but nothing else but wo nd up with 13 gallons. This year has had many challenges but I have a 40"x12 king and will tap this weekend ! I tell people that if you want a hobby, smoke crack cause it's gotta be cheaper and less labor intensive.

[psparr]

I tell people that if you want a hobby, smoke crack cause it's gotta be cheaper and less labor intensive.

I'm loving the sentimental stories, but thats pretty **** funny. And true.

[Sugarmaker]

Very good read! Thinking about how folks get "hooked" on this syrup thing.

Your own work provides great rewards that you can share with others.

In this day and age what other hobbies do that. Most things come from Walmart shelves.

I also think there is some hidden stone age gene that says "build fire, boil sap, make syrup". You have to say that in your best deepest cave man voice:)
Regards,
Chris

[Big_Eddy]

Imagine if you can, a nice young family from Australia, 3 young children and a pregnant wife. Arriving in Canada by way of New City to start a new life in a new country. Destination - A gov't reasearch job, a gov't a house in a gov't town, everything well organized months in advance. New beginnings, new experiences, life is wonderful. The plan was to spend a few years in Canda and find their fortune before returning to Australia to live in luxury.

HA!

Reality - Driving a rented U-Haul truck from New York city north via Watertown on Jan 3 1971, 5 people crammed into the cab with all possiessions in the back, white-out conditions all the way. Suspicious border guards, whining kids, running out of diesel 40 miles from no-where in the middle of the night - finally arriving for find 4' snowbanks in front of the new house, no heat, no power and minus 38F overnight.

That was my introduction to Canada at 4yrs old. A year later - my now somewhat less naive parents moved out of the rental and bought a very small house 3 miles out of town on 4 acres. The previous owner mentioned in passing "there are some maples on the property. You might want to try tapping them". Not knowing a maple from an oak - my dad had him mark some trees with yellow paint before leaving.

Between various fix it jobs and killing mice all fall, my dad talked to various folks who explained the process - "it's easy - just drill some holes in the trees, insert the taps, hang some buckets and collect the sap. Once you have the sap collected, boil it and it will turn to syrup". Armed with his newfound knowledge, 10 spiles and 10 milk jugs, he proceeded to tap 10 trees. Nothing happened. Not for weeks. Not even over Christmas. Then one day during a January thaw - there were a few drips in one of the buckets. Then a few in another. At the end of the day - dad collected about 2 cups of sap and set it on the top of the big heater to watch it turn to syrup. What better place -it was hot on there - we usually kept a big pot on there evaporating water to keep the fingertip sparks down to a mere inch. And my how he watched. It sat there simmering lightly. For days on end. Initially it was crystal clear and smelled delightful, then it went hazy, then a kinda murky yellow. But it never did take on that mellow golden hue of syrup, and eventually the smell became so overpowering that out it went.

Somewhat desperate - it was warming up and more sap was flowing and we kids kept dragging it up to the house - Dad made a trip to the library and borrowed Nearing's "The Maple Syrup Book" which at that time was likely the only book ever written on the subject. What an eye-opener. Changes were made and simmering became boiling.

By the end of the winter - Dad had a clue - he made some syrup on the stove that year, and syrup has been made by someone in the family every year since.

We progressed over the years - starting with pots on the stove, then turkey broiling pans on a kerosene heater, to pans on a fire. 10 taps up to about 60 some years. When I was in my teens, we acquired an antique cast-iron syrup pot and made syrup in it for years. We'd add sap for days to that monster, keeping the fire going 24-7. I still remember my wife (fiance at the time) melting the soles off both boots while watching the fire under that big pot. I also remember the night that 2 week's worth of syrup went up in smoke. Now my parents use a 2x3 pan on a block arch.

When I first bought a house, we had 2 large maples on the property, and 10 roadside trees across from us, so I bought 10 taps and a turkey frier and we made syrup that spring. We expanded from 10-100 taps a few years later after buying 75 acres adjoining our house and that fall my parents presented us with a 2x3 flat pan which I used for the next 20+ years.

40+ yrs in Canada now - My parents still make syrup although not every year - typically about 30 taps. My sister makes syrup and tyipcally does 30-40 trees. I'm making syrup with 100-200 trees, and all 4 of my boys are fully experienced in the process. I expect they'll find some maples wherever they settle down.

Did they find their fortune. I think so. Priceless memories and gallons of golden nectar.

[handtapper]

I started on with my grandpa 15 years ago. Home operation using his homemade taps (dowels that he sharpened one end and drilled holes into). 1 gallon milk jugs and a turkey fryer. He got to old to manage the 50 taps we did on his property so a few years ago I used pots on top of a wood stove (talk about inneficient) then to a homemade barrel and this year a 2x4 in a new shack (almost done just the metal roof left to go on). My grandpa passed away this year, I look at the last 15 years making 2 gallons a year (16 last year) as my glory years eventhough I plan to make more syrup than ever. I don't care if I end up with 3000taps vacuum and ro. Ain't the same as hand hauling buckets. Doesn't have the same feeling about it when I walk in the big boys operations. Feels like a assembly line.

[MJFlores]

This is a fun thread...I enjoy hearing how others got started. Myself, I'm still new...this will be my 3rd season and I'm turning 44 years old! I remember as a kid reading about it somewhere and wanting to try it but my parents were busy and I just couldn't get them to. After buying my own home I kept wanting to give it a try but you know how life is, and then after becoming a dad I began wanting to again so as soon as he couyld make it through the woods we started with 5 buckets and taps. He was 4 years old and was with me when I tapped our first tree. We were both excited seeing sap run from that fresh drilled hole and we were really hooked when we made our first batch of syrup. It was only maybe 6 ounces but we poured it while still warm over some ice cream and now we both look forward to it every year. I think everyone with kids and access to maple trees should do it. It's quality fun, and without realizing it at the time...you're really teaching kids about how hard work pays off in the end with something sweet. How great is that?!

[Big_Eddy]

I must admit to being a "maple dealer".
After every open house or tour I hold, I offer the parents some of my older / banged up taps to take home and try it themselves. :)


Everyone has a few maples around, why not make some at home? It'll be fun for the family. Pull some juice or milk jugs from your recycling, clean em up and give it a whirl. All it takes is a few containers and somewhere to boil it. Heck, for 1 or 2 trees, just boil it on your stove. Boil until you think it's syrup, and then boil it down by half again. You'll be close enough and who's going to complain? You really can't mess it up. Just wait until you have a few gallons of sap before you start or you won't have enough. No, no it's fine, take em, I have plenty more. Nah, they're on me, save your money for when you're serious.

Funny thing - the next spring they're coming to me for "expansion" advice. Go figure :lol:

[SDdave]

Envy I guess is how I started. My oldest brother needed a 4H project for the fair in August, (I think I was about 12 at the time). My Mom and brother can't remember how they came up with the idea to tap the trees, but after tasting the final product. Me and my other brother started hoarding milk jugs. We used to make our own taps by cutting a section out of the jug, roll them up, and put them in the tree. My Grandpa after hearing this, gave us an old brace and bit hand drill (I still use it today).

We didn't know anything about syrup production, but we knew that when the High School basketball tournaments started was the time to start gathering supplies. When the state tourney was over was the time to tap until track practice started. I can remember racing off the school bus trying to beat my brother to get the biggest collection container and for stove place. My Mom had to put a rule into effect that we could only have 2 taps per sibling. But man we made some awesome stuff.

I quit for a while after high school, thought about it a lot during and after college. Then my brother started to make syrup again, then the envy kicked in again. Now the envy is gone and replaced with shaking, tremors, and a cold sweat only until I grab Grandpa's brace and bit and start tapping.

SDdave

[psparr]

Big Eddy. Your as bad as a crack dealer. "Just get em hooked!"

[Biz]

I'm new to this board, can't believe I never found it till recently. Here's my story.
Sugaring was in my family history. My dad recalls setting about 900 wooden buckets in the 30's with my grandfather in western Massachusetts, and boiling in a sugarhouse which was torn down in the '60's. I was curious to try making some of my own.
Chapter 1 - getting started: I tapped 3 large maples near my house when I was 11 years old, using old wooden spigots and gallon sized metal canned-food containers. They were always running over! Boiled on the kitchen stove, made a few quarts and was hooked.
Chapter 2 - my uncle acquired a used 2x4 Vermont evaporator. My 10 year old cousin and myself (12 yrs old) decided to go into business. Built an 8x12 sugarhouse (dad's lumber company was convenient for this!), dug up some old wooden buckets, cleaned 'em up, put a fresh coat of paint on, got some spigots and covers, ready for business. Set 88 taps the first year which was 1970. Gathered using snowmobile with sled, several 2-qt and 40qt milk cans no longer used by the family farm. Took 2 of us (with stops) to lug 40 qt can full of sap. When the snow melted we found we could fit 2 40 qt cans in a child's little red wagon. A bit overstressed maybe but it worked. Dad and a cousin who also sugared for years helped get us started. Made 20 gallons that year.
Chapter 3 - Gradually expanded to a 2x6 Lightning evaporator, 325 taps (mostly wooden), used tractor and truck, and some pipeline and pumps to run sap to the gathering tank. Made 60 gallons 1 year - good money for us youngsters. Sold some in Dad's hardware store. Sugared all through high school and college, 10 years. The neighborhood kids always were eager to help us out.
Chapter 4 - moved away, got a job, started a family, no maple trees around - no sugaring for 15 years.
Chapter 5 - Moved again, place has some acreage, a few maples, and a small sugarhouse! Perfect! Started back up in 1996 with a Leader half pint that the previous owner had, and 12 buckets. Pruned out some of those pesky ash trees so that the maples could grow, and worked up to 30 taps last year. Made 8 gallons in 2013.
Chapter 6 - last fall we bought a 18x48" CDL with flue pan, and received permission from the town to tap some roadside trees. Expect to have about 60 taps, all buckets, some nearly 100 years old. It just wouldn't be Spring withoug sugaring!

Dave

[Cider Hill Maple Farm]

For someone who can't sit still a second, and have the long Maine winters to deal with, I had to come up with a new hobby other than ice fishing, snow-sledding and skiing. All these activities end in March, so I decided to dabble in making Syrup. Starting with 10 taps and a turkey cooker for the first year, then a 2x3 flat pan on a wood fired arch for two years. This had us hooked to go bigger, much bigger, we are now in a 18 x 40 sugar house, running a small brothers 3 x 12 oil fired rig, RO, auto-draw, fiterpress and 800 taps and growing. We got the bug, but this is a disease that's fun to have!

Have fun this year!!!

Best to all,

Shawn

[maplerookie]

I was just curious. I own live on property that has been in the family for generations. the big farm was about 250 acres. I have 5 of them with all woods surrounding the house. My great uncle used to make syrup. As a kid I remember him giving us 2 gallons each year...I wanted to see if I could make it as well. I just wish I hadn't waited so long. Been living here 12 years and only tried it first time a cpl years ago. The final product is worth the time and energy you put in ...and you can go big /small or as a hobby like the backyard garden. Right now I am in the Hobby stage maybe when I retire I will get crazy like some of the guys on this forum. I boiled one year and not the next but collected sap...I missed the boil...so I am gonna do it again this year.

[maple flats]

I moment of insanity got me started, this will be my 12th season following this "money maker, or rather money pit" addiction.

[Sweet Shady Lane]

I was going to do this when I retired when I would have the time, but thought I would try it just to be sure it was for me, well that was the plan six years ago and retirement is five and half years away, started small like everybody else using 50 taps on a barrel set up this year with a plan to by a leader half pint before I retire.

[bees1st]

I don't have a clue ! I do remember it was 1966 or 7 . I got the idea somehow to tap some trees . Made spiles out of 3/8 " copper tubing , drilled holes in trees and pounded them in . I think most trees were in the 4 " dia. range .Hung Dixie cups underneath with nails . Saved all sap in milk jugs until it was thoroughly spoiled , then threw it out . Finally when I was in my early 20's I tried again , the right way.

[Tappy Sap Master]

About 3 years ago, a friend from maine had gave me some syrup he had made on a 275 Gal oil drum. So he shared some ideas with me and i started with a simple grape juice jug on the ground with a ss spile & some tubing running to it. That year i made a half pint of syrup, I was hooked, now i cant get enough of it. Its a hobby gone mad, but i love it!

[elderblack]

I heard a news story about some guy over 't Indiana gettin' busted on suspition of meth cooking. Turns out all them buckets out in his woods were......

That tidbit fired up my passive-agressition, plus what a hoot! :lol:

Ran 40 taps 2013, More this year.

Sugarshack is ready. Charging the drill.

[Michael Greer]

I got started, and learned the ropes, from a neighbor who needed some help. He had several hundred buckets out and some of the first tubing I'd seen. He was one of those guys who was always in a big hurry, and absolutely dedicated to doing it wrong. Whether it was firewood, tractors in the woods, or sugaring, every endeavor turned into either a disaster or an adventure. Everything I learned was through adversity, and had to be learned backwards in order to discover what should have been done in the first place. Despite his total lack of planning, and constant, frantic game of catch-up, we made 200 gallons of syrup, and the money impressed me.
Years later, I tapped some trees in the yard, hung forty buckets, and found a fellow willing to trade sap (and help) for syrup. He was an orderly type, and had put together a nice little sugarhouse operation. It gave me the opportunity to see it done well, and to see how a small operation could grow (without breaking the bank). Getting teamed up with someone who's already doing it is a good plan. Forty buckets turned to eighty, then 150 and now 225 or so. You don't have to buy the whole thing at once. It's fun at any size.

[CampSNOcook]

About 10 years ago my elderly father got to the point where he couldn't get into the woods when there was still too much snow. It just so happened that my high school aged son was on spring break and the temps were perfect. I told him we are headed to camp to tap some trees and will bring it down for grandpa to boil. At that time, my 3 brothers showed no signs of taking over the syrup making for the family. The sap was really flowing for that week we tapped. I then learned all the steps to boiling and finishing. I was hooked. The few following years I boiled outside on a homemade oil barrel stove with a pan that didn't fit real well. Finally had my one brother help to build a sugar shack. The oil barrel was getting pretty flimsy with holes starting to show, so I broke down and bought a new 2 x 4 arch and pan. Last year I made 7 1/2 gallons after only about a week of sapping. I keep trying to beat the previous year. I will only be able to handle a week or so basically doing it by myself until my husband retires in 2 years. I now look forward to March in Michigan. What a great hobby for that time of year.

[CPlace]

For me, I got involved with making maple syrup 4 years ago by tapping a handful of maples around my house. I soon realized I had quite a few maples and plenty of firewood and was drawn to the process of gathering and boiling down maple sap; I have always been intrigued by the mysteries in the process.

[maplehillbros7179]

For us it's in our blood. Were about the 5th generation of maple producers in our family it's in our blood. Each year we grow a little more and get better equipment but nothing can put the price on sap at 215 or a little higher what an amazing scent in the sap house !

[Run Forest Run!]

Every year I faithfully visited a small local sugar bush to buy syrup and I'd always get a tour. The guy was proud of his set-up, and he deserved to be. It was fabulous. I loved everything to do with the process of sugaring. I went back one year, and he was gone. There were no taps and no tell-tale steam. Nothing. Just a spray painted sign at the end of the driveway telling everyone that there was "NO syrup" and "NO pancake breakfast". I was sad and, most importantly, worried. To this day I've no idea what happened to cause him and his family to leave their dreamhouse and sugarbush. I like to think that he found a bigger and better one. That's what I'm going with.

Four years ago a friend read up on how to tap trees and set up a small cement block evaporator in his backyard. I was so excited about it that all I could think about was how to help out the next year. Later that summer I started asking about what his plans were for the coming sugaring season. When he said he was taking a year or two off to work on a new set-up I was pretty disappointed. Then he asked why I just didn't try tapping my own trees, "You can tap soft maples you know". I don't think I heard anything else that day. I was on a mission to see if that was true, and apparently IT WAS!

For Christmas he and his wife gave me his buckets, spiles, sugaring book and a 20 litre collection pail. He thought I might be offended with "used" equipment as a gift. Yeah right! Not a chance! I was also offered the opportunity to tap any and all maples on their property.Two months later I'm tapping my trees (and 7 of theirs) and trying to make a go of it during the pitiful season of 2012. I kept hearing about how awful that sugaring season was, but I thought I was doing fine. Most importantly I was having a ball!

When 2013 came I realized what a REAL sap run was all about. In retrospect, 2012 was likely a good year to try sugaring. Not much happened, and when it did, it was slow. Lots of practice time and minimal drama.

My friend hopes to finish his fieldstone sugar house this year. With planning and a little luck, his taps should run right into it! It will be gorgeous. This year I'm twisting the knife a little by giving him a couple of brand new stainless steel steam trays and a sap refractometer this weekend for his birthday. His home is heated by propane and I'm betting that he'll not be able to resist the call of the sugar maple this year. I expect to see a small propane burner make an appearance on his driveway - just to tide him over to next year......

I'm a sugaring junkie now and can't imagine a time when I won't be counting down the days until tapping time. Last year I got my brother hooked on sugaring and, at this rate, he won't be the last to be tempted to tap into spring's sweet treat if I have anything to say about it.

[sg5054]

My then 5 year old son. We walked around the yard one summer and he wanted to know what kind of trees were in the yard. We identified each. That winter we watched a show on syruping in ME. He turned to me and said" We have those trees in our yard. I want to make syrup." And so it began....

[VT_K9]

Sugaring has been in the family and for the family since the 70's from what I take from hearing stories from my Dad and Grandfather and possibly earlier. We still use the same sugarhouse my Grandfather built in the late 70's or early 80's...while I was alive...we did not live in the area until the mid 80's. I started my sugaring with buckets in the mid 80's and we used gathering stations (about 5 55 gallon barrels) with pipelines on the ground running to the sugarhouse and a gas pump carried to each one. Then we progressed to tubing in the early to mid 90's. Every couple of years we had worked to reduce the number of pump stations and eventually got it down to two. Last year we added a sap sucker, reduced the pump stations to one, and improved the design of the pump line so we do not have to drain it every time it is used. This year the lines will be re-configured to fall within the vacuum theory (5-7taps per line), up size the mainline to 1" and lateral lines to 3/4", and a Hobby R/O. We also thinned out the orchard of hemlocks to improve the sunlight. Next year we will continue to work on the management of the orchard. It would be nice to add a few more taps and look at little things which will improve the operation.

Overall we have a great family operation that has been handed down over the years and the future looks just as good.

Mike

[mjjoutdoor]

Last Year my mother called me at the end of Feb. and asked if I had ever thought about making maple syrup. I said no but I have plenty of trees if you want to try. She bought 8 taps and a roll of sap bags and I cut a hole in a 55 gal drum and droped in a pot. 5 gal of syrup and a year later I build an oil tank evap, have already taped 70 trees and it looks like I'm going to be very busy next week.
Matt

[brikel]

Just curious how the process worked tapped five trees last year and that is all it took.... looking forward to bigger and better things this year.

[Cabin]

A few years ago we took the grandchildren to the county run sugarbush. The kids loved it and my wife said 'we could do that at the house'. I ordered 5 taps and tubing that week and made 3 quarts that year. I have been working my way up one step at a time since. Until I have a better boiling set up I cann't tap too many trees.

[seclark]

When I retired and moved to N.Y.I was looking for something to do so I would not go bonkers with all my free time other than plow or blow snow.I started on a 3 burner propane camp stove and three pots.Went through a lot of propane but the great tasting syrup was well worth the price.That was 10 years ago and now I have advanced to a small sap house and a home made 55 gallon evaporator,but I'm still just a hobby maple nut!:lol:

[backyard sugaring]

Many years ago my son who was in 4th grade came home from tapping some trees in the school yard and asked if we could tap ours. I didn't know the 1st thing about tapping trees went to the library and found the book "Backyard Sugarin" and found this website. We tapped our trees and boiled on a turkey fryer and continued growing every year. Good luck everyone. Lee

[ldick]

In 1965 I learned in grade school about native Americans making syrup in pioneer times. Came home and told dad I thought we should try it with the maple trees in the yard. Boiled on the stove in the kitchen that first year. Just grew from there. Now 49 yrs later still making syrup although with a bit more technology than we had then.

[Pumpkin Village Maple]

My son came home from 1st grade and wanted to make syrup. We had 10 taps and 3 stainless stock pots on a fire ring. We made a lot of changes from stock pots to a barrel evaporator to a 2x5 1/2 Algiers evaporator and everything in between. Both boys help out and the oldest is now 17. Both are hooked and ready to go. How do I know this?
My oldest was in the house with his girlfriend. He told her that Dad's rule was during sugaring if you came to the house you had to help. She told him he wouldn't see her for a bout a month. He told her not a problem it's sugaring season. :lol: Boy has he got a lot to learn!!!
We write a journal with pictures every year and keep them together. It's a good idea especially anyone with kids. Last year we made a movie. Can't beat the memories!!!!

[BaileyHillBen]

4 years ago during a trip to our cabin in northern Pa., I visited a neighbor's sugar house for the first time. I was immediately drawn to the smell, the primitive aspect of boiling the sap and of course the taste of fresh, hot syrup dipped from the finishing pan with a dented tin cup. But most of all was the amount of people visiting, most just stopping in to say hi and to see how sappin' was going. Ultimately, I spent about four hours there that day feeding the evaporator and learning the basics of the process and being the butt of a lot of jokes (a flatlander talking about making syrup??). This will be my 3rd year and I'm more excited than the first. Good luck to all.

[farmerfletch]

I started because my oldest brother tapped about ten trees on our property about ten years ago and he never took the buckets down so one year I took a walk in our woods and saw the buckets so the next year I asked my parents to buy me some taps and I tapped the same trees he did plus a few more into milk jugs and boiled on our BBQ grill, made about a quart of syrup. The next year I moved up to about 80 taps boiling on a flat pan my dad bought for me on a barrel stove a friend of his rigged for us, made about 6 gallons. Then last year we dove in head first bought a 2x10 arch built a saphouse and put in about 180 taps. This year were looking towards 200ish hopefully a few more with expansion on the horizon


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[Oddmott]

I've been attracted to sugaring and many other pioneering traditions my entire life. Every year from kindergarten to grade 4 we'd take a class trip to a sugar bush - it was always my favourite class trip. When i was a pre-teen my 20 yr old cousin and his friends had a sugar shack near our own property and I'd visit often after school.

Once i was in my 20s myself, my girlfriend's family was into it with about 200 buckets and a very spread out line of trees that would take 3 hours to collect, even with ski-doos. They had a very inefficient half-oil tank boiler that would take FOREVER to boil off 60 gallons each day. But it was nearly heaven lying on the wood pile in the late March sun, listening to the sap gurgle and hiss.

3 years after breaking up with her, I was absolutely jonesing for sugar season and forced my entire family into it - my fiance, her daughter, my aging parents, my brother and his fiance... lol - with an unplanned announcement that I had all the stuff, except an evaporator. Let's get to it! I literally just showed up with hundred$ worth of used buckets and spiles and lines and lids... they couldn't just let it all go to waste, right? lol

I got a lot of grumps and groans and curses throughout the preparatory stages, as it's pretty tough to find a boiler and dry firewood in the middle of February. But by the time we tapped the trees and started collecting the first sap of an abysmal 2012 season... they were all just as hooked.

And then my parents went nuts.

This year they built a 20x22 sugar shack, have a custom made 2'x8' evaporator, plans to tap 160 but equipment to tap 250, and an army of friends who love to stop by to "help" (aka: drink all the delicious sugar tea we're so kind to keep warm for them over our big oven). My parents don't have any money, and I'm sure they'll retire destitute in 10 years... but sugaring and the family time it provides is all that matters to them. And I completely agree.

The way my 4 yr old step-daughter's (formerly an urban princess) face lights up when she hears those first drops tinging in the buckets mid-morning... is indescribable. Our race to the bush to see which tree is running first is the only time I ever let her win. And it's my absolute most favourite time of the year... Xmas is a distant 2nd. :-D

[happy thoughts]

I tell people that if you want a hobby, smoke crack cause it's gotta be cheaper and less labor intensive.

I've enjoyed reading this thread but think it's title should be changed to "What was your gateway drug" lol. It's certainly addicting. For me it was a way to chase away cabin fever, get outdoors more in the cold months, and extend my backyard cropping and the pleasure of freezing and canning into another season. Also a love of buckwheat pancakes:)

[Yellzee]

started building a new house on my 35 acres of forest about 11 years ago, and in the spring while we were clearing the lot a buddy who was helping decided to try tapping some of my soft maple nearby to entertain his 12 ish year old boys. Started with about 5 trees and a turkey fryer. Fast forward and I've now got my own boys 9 and 11 who help set up the pipeline in the hard maples every spring. I look at his 25ish year old sons and can't believe that they were my kids size at the time. Unlike the others I can't seem to get my wife to share in this hobby though.... feel free to pass on any tips here...

[psparr]

started building a new house on my 35 acres of forest about 11 years ago, and in the spring while we were clearing the lot a buddy who was helping decided to try tapping some of my soft maple nearby to entertain his 12 ish year old boys. Started with about 5 trees and a turkey fryer. Fast forward and I've now got my own boys 9 and 11 who help set up the pipeline in the hard maples every spring. I look at his 25ish year old sons and can't believe that they were my kids size at the time. Unlike the others I can't seem to get my wife to share in this hobby though.... feel free to pass on any tips here...

Tell her that you actually make money at it... she might buy it.

[Quagmire33]

one year back about 2010 or 2011 i was bartending and talking with my buddy, he was telling me that he was going to have to dump 30 gallons of sap because he wasnt going to have time to boil it. i told him it would be a shame to dump all that sap he spent the time to collect. I said I'd take it and figure out a way to boil it. I was thinking concrete blocks and some foil pans. He said I could have it but I should just use his evaporator and his shack. So I did. Two days later later and 53 gallons of sap evaporated I had about a gallon and a half of finished syrup. I was hooked. I spent the rest of the season helping him in his shack. The next year I made myself an evaporator from a 55 gallon drum and some steam pans, tapped about 10 trees and the rest is history. I now have a 12x12 shack that I just finished this year, bought a used leader half pint evaporator, 20 taps running right into the shack and about 25 taps into buckets. My wife might hate the time I spend doing this hobby but she absolutely loves the syrup.

[asknupp]

My story sort of coincides with happythoughts but with a little background. When I was young 7-8ish my grandparents took me to a sugarcamp somewhere in somerset county, pa. At that time I thought that's where all of your store brands came from. Little did I know. But last year I was staring out the kitchen window watching a squirrel concentrated on one area of this tree. He was drinking sap from a sugar maple growing right in my backyard. Told the wife what I was going to do. She rolled her eyes. Now I've got something to do after hunting season and before the morels start poppin.
Just wanted to add for any PA fellas my grandparents were Vernon and Dorothy st. Clair and were dairy farmers around friedens and jennerstown. I saw a few names that looked familiar from pa maple producers association from somerset county.

[eustis22]

on a lark I spiked 4 trees with homemade copper spiles and hung coffee cans from them. much to my surprise they filled with sap. I knew that I needed 4X as much sap to get syrup so I collected about five gallons (5 gallons X 4 quarts/gallon divided by 40 equals 1 pt of syrup, right?) and hauled out the old coleman campstove and spent 2-3 tanks of propane boiling it down on a turkey roaster pan. Of course, when I got near the end I looked away for a minute and the pan overboiled and wrecked the pan, the syrup, and the old coleman. Didn't matter. I was infected.

[antelope76]

I would have to thank my grandparent for getting me into sugaring. When I was a kid they would always go to the maple festivals and stock up on syrup and maple crème for the year. They would always get me a half gallon for myself. I would hoard that gold liquid as it was the sweetest treat I ever experienced. So basically I've been addicted to maple products since I was a young boy. I would also always hear my grandparents talk about their maple operations on the family farms back in the day and my Uncle also boiled when I was a kid.

So in a nutshell I've been around maple my whole life and love it!!

[CampHamp]

Walking through my woods with a forester, he explained that the two parallel rock walls we were crossing used to be a road in the "old days" and all of the old trees along these walls were spared by settlers so that they could be tapped for making maple syrup. That road is now being used again...

[Trevor5]

My grandparents have a sugar shack in Maine, and as an elementary aged kid through college we would get up there to help set up buckets in the early days and then help pull out the tubing from the 4 feet of snow and ice to help get the hill side flowing. Generally spent one day boiling with them during the visit. We made at least one video to bring back for show and tell at school.

Fast forward 10 years and had been staring at the few maple trees I have in my yard and wanting to tap them just to see what I could get. This will be my third year and I have added taps and pan sizes every year. It certainly is an illness, my wife wishes I put as much thought into other things around the house as I do into making syrup.

[220 maple]

My father purchased some spiles and tubing at a estate auction in the summer of 1997. I had no idea what this stuff was and what we were going to use it for? By the end of March 1998 I had learned a lot, we used cast iron kettles that spring and made 45 gallons, The maple bug bite hard as all that are on this site everyday knows. We started with two uncles and aunts, my parents and myself and several cousins also.
Basically a six week family reunion. Lots of boiling, one time it took us 24 hours to boil 250 of sap. We didn't know any better we thought that was good! maybe it was using three kettles. We had a evaporator for the 1999 season. I will continue this story later if anyone is interested.

Mark 220 Maple

[psparr]

Thought I would bump this to see if I could get more replies.

[lyford]

I got started helping my dad and uncles in '90 or '91, i was 10 or eleven years old. My grandfather and now my dad owns 28 acres in In Cattaraugus County, SW NY where we went. The camp was 1.5 hrs away and we would drive down for a weekend tap the trees (around 50 taps) on a thursday and collect and boil all the sap we could til we had to leave sunday night. I remember them leaving my younger brother and I sitting in the dark woods at nite when they would run the sap back to camp on snowmobiles. We thought that was cool. Still have the camp, which has the potential for 100s of taps, but now we make syrup all season in the woods behind my house, and a few taps at my fathers. Camp is just too far for us to drive back and forth all season long. I wish we could find a way to may it work. Still sugaring with my dad and one uncle and now my little boy and girl.

[JoeJ]

I was 5 years old in 1955 when my parents moved into a house built in 1804 that had 7 or 8 big roadside maple trees. The next spring, my maple journey began. My father put out a few taps using ball glass canning jars. My mother boiled the sap on the kitchen stove for a couple years, then out the door we went. My father bought a flat pan, built a block fireplace and we used that until I was old enough to guess what? EXPAND the operation. Of course, we had graduated from the glass jars real quick. I moved up the road to a friends farm where we boiled for 5 or six years. The older we got, the more trees we tapped. The last year there, 1972, we set out 100 buckets around 2 town cemeterys and neighbors trees and quickly found out what sap overproduction was all about. Then I was lucky enough to get married to a wonderful young lady who would and still understands my uncontrollable condition. I skipped maple production for 12 years or so until my son got old enough to understand the fun of drilling holes in trees, tasting the first drops of sap, building sap huts, working with fire, staying out late on school nights and of course, tasting the fresh product of all that fun. I built a 10 x 16 real sugar house in 1987, tapped 30- 50 trees, and boiled on a real 2x4 Leader evaporator for the next few years until 2003 when I stumbled upon a 29 acres piece of land with and old sugar bush on it. ( I didn't really stumble onto the land, I was truthfully looking for it) Built a 20 x 24 sugar house and tapped 475 trees on gravity pipeline and buckets. Made 122 gallons the first year. Now the sugar house is 20 x 45, the buckets are long gone, I tapped 3,100 trees on vacuum pipe line in 2014, made 1055 gallons of syrup, my son still helps,and after over 40 years, that wonderful young lady is still nursing my uncontrollable condition along. The saga continues.

[unc23win]

For me it all started when I was about 5 or 6 yrs old in 1982 when my parents were talked into putting in tubing by a friend of theirs we had about 1200 taps. We hauled it to another producer. When I got older I took over the tapping and hauling. I took a hiatus from tapping trees for quite a few years.

After I finished college and started my career moving back home for good I starting tapping trees again in 2010 with a neighbor as a partner he had the evaporator and I had the trees and we had 900 taps. The partnership ended after the second year as my partner wasn’t as willing to invest the time and money I was. Quite simple he wasn’t the addict I was.

I went back to hauling sap to another producer for shares and expanded to 1300 taps and I got some vacuum going (500 taps). I hauled for 2 more seasons and decided that I wanted to expand more and realized I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the hauling.

For the 2014 season I built my own sugarhouse and got a 3.5x14 evaporator and a 600gph RO both used and had 1380 taps and made 310 gallons of syrup. For 2015 the expansions continue (more taps on vacuum and more taps period) with the support of my wife (married in August) and my parents who help. I look forward to sharing it with my kids someday.

[Ridgeland Farm]

I grew up in a small farming community where maple is a big deal! There were 3 big producers (big for our area) within a mile of me. So the winter time scenery for me was more shiny buckets and blue tubing than houses decorated with Christmas lights! I had always LOVED maple syrup so one day during maple season about 7 years ago I decided to tap a few trees. I knew very little about maple then. Well as tapped those first trees I discovered more and more trees! So of course I couldn't let them just sit there, so back to the store I went to get more tubing! I think I ended up with around 40 taps that first year. Way more than my little 2 burner propane stove with a couple big pots could handle! So up the road I went to give my extra sap to the farm. That was my one big mistake! When I got there and saw that 2000 gallon tank full of sap and the big evaporator chugging away with a steady stream of syrup coming out I knew that's what I was supposed to do! I walked the rest of the property that spring and discovered a good chunk of what was there was maples. That summer I had pieces of paper everywhere with costs of equipment. I was going for gold! I quickly realized however that the equipment for this was actually more expensive than gold and my dreams were shattered! That's when I got a little help. That farm that I had taken my sap to helped me out and bought me some equipment to get some trees tapped on vacuum and I would pay it back with sap. Not every day you find someone willing to do that. I owe a lot of my knowledge and success to those guys. For the next 4 years I worked with that farm bringing my sap and learning the ins and outs of the maple world. The last few years I have help out on the other 2 farms near me as well just trying to get as much experience as I can. Its been 7 years since that first spring I tapped a tree and this will be the first year I will be in my own sugarhouse on the farm I bought across the street from where I grew up and I could not be more happy! Although the riches we all once thought we would have from tapping trees turns out to be a fairy tail I wouldn't trade what I do for anything!

[jrgagne99]

I got started when we bought our first house and there were lots of good maples in the woods out back. Seemed like a fun hobby to get into and my buddy had done it before so he got me started...

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

I've been around sugaring on and off since I was young. I purchased my property in winter of 2005 and a buddy of mine had me put ten taps in, the old lamb style tubbing no drop. Collected around 70 gal of sap and had more taps in lake George on tubbing. We boiled at wild Wild West in LG on a (if I remember correctly) 5x12 evap it was a lot of work hauling the remote sap by 15 gallons at a trip but a lot of fun. Move forward to 2012 and me and my son put out ten taps and boiled on a logwood stove and hotel pans. Batch boiled syrup is the best, but the bug got me and expansion and efficient ways to do this started in 2014 purchased a flat 2x6 and built a 12"x20" filter/canner put in 102 taps on gravity and ten buckets.2015 built a new sugar house and looking at 180 on gravity and 20 buckets and let my son do more and more each year........ This is definitely a sweet addiction !!! Take care

[n8hutch]

I guess I was "born" into it, great grandfather sugared had 300 acres mostly pasture And tapped all the Trees on the Edge of the fields, lived upstairs in his farmhouse when I was Growing up, when my Dad took over he bought A new rig and put 2,000 on tubing , I was only 7 maybe 8 and that Arch would get so hot that the doors were Red, I couldn't hardly walk past the front without singeing my hair but my 85 year old great grandfather would watch that sap boil all day about 5' away on the stool. Needless to say I had to be there with my Dad & Great grandfather that was the place to be. Well Dad bit off more than he could chew with the Dairy & the farm is long gone, but I always wanted to start my own operation and after 5+ years of sugaring with friends I Finally started taping my own last year, 20 years since the last steam came out of my Great Grandfather's shack. I'm sure he was smiling somewhere.

[Shawn]

Got started when three of us were bored during mud season and started with fifty taps on buckets built a small sugar house and then I retired and built a large sugar house on my land and now ended up with four hundred plus taps on gravity feed and buckets and more each year on pipe line and loving it its a full time job no fancy stuff yet as far as RO or vacume and we dont sell it we divide it up and have a great time a lot of work but fun and pass it on to son and grandsons etc. That is what its all about

[log cabin luke]

While building my log cabin in the woods of Maine when I was 23 I took a walk to my closest neighbor Yukon Jim. He was making syrup and it tasted real good,I had not had syrup just about ever. I tapped the trees around my cabin and tried boiling while building. didn't go so well. Made enough to fill a 20 oz mug root beer bottle.Fasts forward 3 years. I spent almost 2 years in the hospital and at home taking care of my dieing wife almost every day. After she'd past or maybe a little before that I figured that life was to short to be working a 9 to 5 job that I didn't. So with almost know maple knowledge at all I decided to try and make a full time living out of playing around in the woods. I am glad to say that I am almost their and things are going very well. I should be up to 2300 taps this year and selling all syrup retail. To top things off the new wife loves it too!

[Marvel26]

Last winter, my son and daughter asked how "they" make maple syrup one morning over pancakes. Once we finished the explanation the kids looked out the window and asked if the maples in our yard had syrup in them....My wife and I looked at each other and we agreed to tap the trees around our house and that of the "outlaws" in the spring, 6 buckets and 4 coffee cans. The kids were in charge of checking them every day, I was in charge of carrying and boiling on a turkey fryer. We only collected for a few weeks with only two real days where the sap ran....season last year was horrible, ~ 10 gal of sap (40L) gathered and 0.42 gal (1.6L) of syrup made. Kids went through it in about a month.

Next year will be a bit different..... I hope

[watsey]

Growing up I had heard stories that my grandfather and his brothers sugared when they were younger. Sadly I never really talked to him about it in any detail before he passed away. Last year on the way back to the firehall after a call ( I volunteer as a firefighter as a primary hobby) I got talking to one of the other firefighters about sugaring. She is also a neighbour and her grandfather sugared back in the day as well. The next day I made the trip to the local supply store and bought a starter kit. I tapped 8 trees, collected 355L of sap and made 7L of syrup. This year I am moving indoors to the neighbours sugar shack, using a 2 x 3 flat pan made by my brother. I will be tapping 60 trees (told the wife 50) and hoping to have a lot of fun! On a sentimental note, while doing some thinning in the bush I came across some tap holes in some wood I was splitting that would have been from 60+ years ago when my grandfather sugared. I have cut lots of firewood in the bush before but never seen any old tap holes before. It was pretty neat that the first year I sugared I found remnants from the last time the bush was sugared.

[DrewCP]

Great topic. Not sure how I missed it last year.

I owe my interest and knowledge (or lack there of!) to my parents. The two hippies from the city bought a 2.5 acre lot in country in the mid 70's, built a house and a family and wanted to do everything they could "naturally". They knew nothing about making syrup but had a copy of, I believe, Harrowsmith magazine that had an article on backyard maple. They scrounged up a few old galvanized buckets, brace and bit, and taps from a local farmer and made their first maple syrup on a Coleman stove. Dad made syrup every year from 76/77-98. We were hit by the 98' Ice Storm that took a huge toll on the property. Between that and a busy life we took a decade off....
Fast forward to 2009. I decided to give it a try on my own. Dad was kind of on the fence but within a day of seeing his trees tapped for the first time in 10 years he was all in. We still boil on a temporary block arch and are obviously amateur at best, but every year we add something new. Last year was a new 2x4 pan. This year will be a 5gal Mini Filter Tank / bottle filler unit. We only aim to make 5-10gal per season. Keeps our family in syrup and enough to give away too.
I now have a soon to be 4 year old son. He's grown up his whole life making syrup with his dad and his grandpa. He loves the time out in the bush and is quick to tell anyone that will listen exactly (according to him) the whole process from tapping to bottling.
It's also a time to see all the neighbours that you haven't seen all winter. Pretty much impossible not to drop in to check out what we're doing it you're walking or driving by. Plus we always have some form of "hospitality" to offer!

Anyway, That is how I got started and why I'll keep at it! It may seem weird to some, but my family is truly better off by making syrup. The time spent with family and friends is irreplaceable.

[jonesjco]

This is my first post I have been watching from the sidelines for a couple years and decided it was time to join up. I got my start early our first shack was built in 1973 my grandfather and 2 of his brother in laws tapped 35 trees and boiled it down on a fawcett cook stove. things continued on like that over the years with the numbers going up to 100 trees and a variety of stoves used. I was born in 1976 and as long as i can remember there was a maple syrup operation. In 1992 we purchased a new small brothers 2x8 evaporator and increased our numbers to 200 cans by that time the original crew were getting up there in years with one passing away in 2000 we kind of lost our momentum we tapped in the spring of 2000 and made sugar to put on the tables at our wedding reception and didn't tap again until 2011 when I took over the operation with my wife and kids we are up to 500 taps 200 cans the rest on gravity pipeline. A big improvement from 25 Javex jugs in 1973 one of our original crew is still around not able to do much at the age of 96 we don't expect much work from him he shows up from time to time to sit by the evaporator and tell me what I'm doing wrong. I can't imagine all the mistakes i would have made without the guidance of the 3 of them over the years. As much as technology is changing the game and new methods are being developed there is still a lot to be learned from the older guys

[beaglebriar]

I'm in the process of building a small 2x3 arch. You can check it out over in the homemade forum. I got started making syrup with my father in the late 70s. He boiled on and off until the early 90s. We used a 4x6 flat pan that was built by my great grandfather on a block arch and a 2x3 or 2x4 flat pan on a tank arch for semi finishing. He probably put out around 100-150 taps. I remember long days of boiling in the cold creek bottom below our house. I haven't boiled in 20 years and have never done it on my own. I'm looking forward to boiling with my two kids and some friends. Just waiting for the weather to break so we can be started. Thanks to everyone for all the great info here!

[Islander]

I had been complaining for many growing seasons in MN (which are short to begin with) that I have so many mature maples on my property that I can't grow a 'real' garden because no square inch of dirt got full sun. Then one week my local co-op grocery had a sale on organic maple syrup. It was so good. It was like a light bulb - why work so HARD to grow stuff when i can let the TREES do the work for me. I spent months learning what i could in advance, mostly from this website. Last year was my first season with 9 taps producing 2 gallons of lightest syrup i have ever seen let alone tasted. I got my neighbors on board and I hope to double production this year. Now i only grow tomatoes and my friends and family never miss brunch with my backyard maple syrup, wild vine grape jelly, and homemade bloody mary mix.

[optionguru]

Grew up in my parents restaurant in central NH. One year when I was about 10 dad tapped a couple of trees and boiled it on the stove top in the house (dumb), I remember there being sticky stuff all over every surface in the kitchen. Never did it again but then 28 years later looking for some wisdom to impart on my kids and to share a memory I've always cherished we decided to tap a big red maple in the front yard. We boiled it on the back deck with a turkey fryer and then moved to the stove to finish (lesson learned). The whole family got bit by the bug and the second year we upsized and invited friends and family. When Dad saw the "right way" he was bit by the bug too, He is now the chief wood feeder. Now, a few years in and we're going to tap about 100 and hopefully make 20 gallons. We give it all away to family and friends. Nothing better than relatives you only see a couple of times a year coming to visit and dropping hints about their running out of syrup :) Makes it all worth it.