You know you're a maple addict when....

[Galena]

...the first thing you do upon waking up is find the phone, dial the local EnviroCan (or American counterpart) for your area and listen to that flat metallic voice reel off the highs and lows for the upcoming week.

Also, if you've ever checked your trees at any time of day wearing only jammies and boots, you're DEFINITELY an addict!!

Your turn! :-)

[Run Forest Run!]

... you hope that the neighbours know you are looking out your windows with a pair of binoculars to check on your sap buckets, and NOT THEM! :o

[Russell Lampron]

I open the weather underground app every time I look at my phone to check the temp and forecast. I have gone out in my robe and slippers to check the sap ladder and turn on or off the vacuum pump. I always look in the sap bucket where my truck is parked even if I know it's too cold for the sap to run.

[wnybassman]

.......spend thousands of dollars so you can save $50 for a gallon of syrup.

[West Sumner Sugar]

....you come to this site multiple times a day just to see what's new...

[lakeview maple]

Cant sleep at night thinking if you ran those mains the right way, if maybe you should have gone with a vacuum system on the new sugarbush, counting taps while driving by a piece of hardwoods...........the list goes on and on wouldn't trade it for nothing

[WI Sugarpop]

You can't sleep at night cause you're hoping the sap runs the next day, and everyone you talk to you bring up the maple season.

[Jal-Bear]

You use all your vacation and personal time from work in March and its not to go some place tropical!

[saphound]

When you check your buckets wearing only jammies and boots and your jammies are just a pair boxer shorts, ha...:o

[Cedar Eater]

You wash stuff that has syrup on it in fresh sap so you won't lose any syrup down the drain.

[optionguru]

your weather underground app doesn't show you the temperature you want so you open up one of the other two weather apps on your phone to see if they show the "correct" temperature.

[WI Sugarpop]

you lick your plate to get all the syrup off.:o

[adk1]

Not being a religious man, start going to church on Sunday to pray for the weather to break!

[Big_Eddy]

You evaluate potential houses based on the number of tappable trees, slope of the land, and direction it faces. Who cares about 2.5 baths? I want 250 tappable trees and a south facing slope.

[nymapleguy607]

There's more chrome in your saphouse than on your truck.

[WI Sugarpop]

You evaluate potential houses based on the number of tappable trees, slope of the land, and direction it faces. Who cares about 2.5 baths? I want 250 tappable trees and a south facing slope. and a shack to live and boil in!!!!!!!!!

[maple flats]

You spend every dollar you can towards equipment or supplies so you can get "rich" making and selling syrup.

[Maplesapper]

Convince yourself that getting a little bigger will make things easier.

[Galena]

....you see a torn old bumper sticker inside an abandoned sugar shack, and know instantly what it said when it was still intact: 11314

AND -

...you dream of someday having an operation big enough to warrant firing up the ol' Grimm evaporator that can, it is said, handle 400 GPH...11315

[Ausable]

You are 74, Cold and standing in two plus feet of snow with drill in hand and thinking - Nope - Not gonna do it this year - This is Insane at my age. But - You do it anyway. Being insane make it a little easier. LOL

[Marcus]

You have a landscape company and you keep trying to sell clients Sugar maples. This is the best thread love the posts.

[collinsmapleman2012]

your truck has no passenger room from January to April
Bush's policy- No Child Left behind
Sugarbush's Policy- No tree left behind!!

[MichtonTree]

When you are driving down a road, you identify all the trees that should be tapped.

[DonMcJr]

You work 8 hours Monday thru Friday and pass up time and a half and double time to make syrup.

Stay up for 24 hours Straight boiling sap and its fun!

After boiling 24 hours straight to keep up you then jump in the truck to get 10 more buckets to tap 10 more trees.

The local Maple Supply Company knows you so well and you say charge it to card ending in xxxx.

When a 70 F degree day is forecast you get pissed and everyone else is happy...

Nope...Im not an addict yet...lol

[lulugrein]

Your idea of March Madness has nothing to do with a basketball.

[Marcus]

Where is the like button? The sad part is these posts are true.

[WESTMAPLES]

when your constantly looking for shinnier and bigger new or good used eqiupment to upgrade too and your used eqiupment has enough resale value to warrant the purchase and not lose your a-- or mind in the process how fun i say !!

[Galena]

...when you almost drive into the ditch as you check out other people's setups and automatically count how many taps they have per tree.

And when you debate whether you should say something or not to the person porcupining a huge old maple, just 'cause it's what their grandpappy or great-great grandpappy did. I'm all for respecting tradition, but some traditions are seriously outdated and often hazardous too.

For a non-maple example...I don't know anyone who now worms their workhorses using a beer bottle filled with turpentine and milk, but that's what they used to do, as recently as the 1940s and 50s!

[crazyjackcsa]

I resemble a lot of these and I have just 17 taps!

You convince yourself that doing small batch boiling inside is a good idea because it's always so dry in the house in the winter.

You count maple trees in your friends' yards and try to convince them about the joys of tapping.

[Galena]

...You count maple trees in your friends' yards and try to convince them about the joys of tapping.

Even better, just ask permission to tap their trees and give em some syrup in return :-)

[VT_K9]

When your Wife calls you the Sap Miser and you spend more time in the woods with your dog than you do your family in the house regardless of the weather. Maybe she gets it from when I slow down to admire other peoples sugar shacks, how the tubing is run, or compare mainline sizes. You'd think women could relate, but no my Wife and Daughters don't have the same views I do.

Mike

[minnisd]

I worked for a farmer that still regularly used that remedy in the late '70s.

[wildwood]

...... When your wife, friends, family and coworkers "don't want to hear another ****ing word about maple ANYTHING" :lol:

[Galena]

re: Minnisd...I take it you mean the turpentine/milk mixture for worming workhorses? Poor things. Well, it definitely would've killed anything inside them. *shudder*

[saphound]

.....When you taste your own syrup for the first time. :mrgreen:

[MustardSeedMum]

...when you almost drive into the ditch as you check out other people's setups and automatically count how many taps they have per tree.

And when you debate whether you should say something or not to the person porcupining a huge old maple, just 'cause it's what their grandpappy or great-great grandpappy did.

^^^This.

And you complain and whine about how much work it is and how little sleep you're getting and then turn around the next day (and next season) and put 20 more taps.

Or you tell yourself that this season you'll scale it down so you won't get overwhelmed and end up with more taps than the previous seasons.

[MustardSeedMum]

Jammies and boots here too. :lol:

[Galena]

...when all you can think about on the drive home from work is, how much sap is in my pails? And when you go to check you either a) groan, because there's no sap, so you have nothing to do all evening, or b) because there's way more than you expected, and you're gonna be up til 1am boiling it all to nearup. And your alarm is set for 7am.

Ahh, the life! :-)

[Russell Lampron]

When you change the lyrics to a Beach Boys song to "sappin USA"

I have to give credit for that one to Hop Kiln Road. Check post #43 in his thread.

[Galena]

...When you get up at 7:30 (or earlier) on a Sunday, instead of sleeping in.

And, if someone suggests you go out for brunch, you sneak along a jar of your own maple syrup with you, in case the place you're going serves *pole syrup*...UGH!!!

[js4fn]

when you start in february to immerse hands into hot water and work your way up to holding bottles of boiling water so when syrup season starts you can handle hot bottles of sap without screaming Hot Hot Hot

[handtapper]

You know your a addict when your door handles going inside your house are sticky from going in the house with syrup covered hands

[saphound]

When you change the lyrics to a Beach Boys song to "sappin USA"

Or the one I was singing when I was testing my sap around 1.5:
♪♪ It's all about the sap, 'bout the sap, no sugar..all about the sap, 'bout the sap, no sugar ♪♪♪ :lol:

[Lee]

....you wake up the next morning with a hangover after boiling all night....from drinking nothing but syrup.

[TerryEspo]

Your having a morning coffee/tea checking your lines to see if its warm enough outside for sap to run.

You see a bit of ice in the line and use half your cup of coffee to melt it.

Been there , done that !!

Terry

[Galena]

You can tell, just from walking on the snow and seeing how far you sink in, how cold or warm it is and use that to help you gauge how much sap may be out there :-)

[WI Sugarpop]

You get all excited and nervous when you read on here that everyone around you is getting a big sap run and you haven't been out to your bush yet. Like right now!!!!

[groomer_guy]

When you count how many more trees you can tap next season while lugging two full 5 gallon buckets of sap to your gathering tank. When your wife is saying can't we finish filtering in the morning and you tell her 1 am is morning and it will be done in just a few more minutes ;). I agree with all of the rest of the posts they are all true.

[Cedar Eater]

You become skilled at herding foam with a strainer.

[Galena]

For two months of the year, this site is the first one you come to and the one that's top of your list of favourite sites. Til the season ends, and even so this place is still active as peeps post their plans for the next season! :-)

[Galena]

You know you're addicted when there is a saucepan of something other than maple syrup finishing on the stove, and you wonder why it smells so weird and how long it's going to take to filter it off and get all those big chunks out...then you realize it's the beef stew you were warming up for supper that night :-)

[saphound]

You know you're addicted when your signatures reads something like:

2011 ...6 taps with 3 coffee cans and 3 2liter soda bottles, made 1 liter syrup on a campfire
2012... 30 taps all buckets, 3 hotel pans on block arch made 4 gals syrup
2013...190 taps on gravity tubing, 600 gal bulk tank, Leader half pint, made 30 gals syrup
2014...780 taps on SuperSucker vac, New Flowmaster RO, made 100 gals syrup
2015....4000 taps, 6x20 Leader Welded Drop Flue Modified Inferno arch w/ Steamaway, New 12x20 filter/canner, New JD Diesel Tractor with bucket loader, New Ford SuperDuty 4x4 Dual Axle Truck, New 40x80 Sugar Shack!

[WI Sugarpop]

You know you're addicted when your signatures reads something like:

2011 ...6 taps with 3 coffee cans and 3 2liter soda bottles, made 1 liter syrup on a campfire
2012... 30 taps all buckets, 3 hotel pans on block arch made 4 gals syrup
2013...190 taps on gravity tubing, 600 gal bulk tank, Leader half pint, made 30 gals syrup
2014...780 taps on SuperSucker vac, New Flowmaster RO, made 100 gals syrup
2015....4000 taps, 6x20 Leader Welded Drop Flue Modified Inferno arch w/ Steamaway, New 12x20 filter/canner, New JD Diesel Tractor with bucket loader, New Ford SuperDuty 4x4 Dual Axle Truck, New 40x80 Sugar Shack!
That is a good one!

[Galena]

That is a good one!

Yep, methinks saphound is just pretending to be a noob and that is his actual signature ;-)

Oh yeah you defiitely know you're a maple addict when you deliver some of your second batch to the peeps who are letting you tap their trees, and are astonished that they haven't finished the first batch of syrup you gave em...;-D

[Cedar Eater]

You start a boil at 10 PM with the idea that you'll shut down at 1 AM, get a good night's sleep and start again at 9 AM. Then 1 AM becomes 2 AM, then 3 AM...

[saphound]

Yep, methinks saphound is just pretending to be a noob and that is his actual signature ;-)


:lol:Ha! No, I'm still in the milk jug stage, honest! No idea what my 2016 will say yet...

[The Bee]

When your worried you did not make enough this year,and you still have some from last year.

[Galena]

When you invite friends over to test-taste your latest batches of syrup, and they politely refuse. Maybe cause they've gained about 10lbs thanks to sampling? WTF?!

[Ghs57]

When you figure out that the syrup you made this year cost you about $1,000 per gal due to all the new equipment, new shack, labor, etc......then you realize that it all will probably last for the rest of your life....unless you decide to go bigger next year....then just hit the repeat button.

[Ghs57]

People you don't even know save their empty maple syrup containers for you.

[Galena]

When you decide you want to boil up some pasta to go with supper, and after finally finding a pot that isn't already been used boiling down nearup or syrup, realize that your pasta tastes like maple anyway, cause you boiled it in sap :-)

[WESTMAPLES]

when every time you go to buy any maple related eqiupment you think of how many gallons of syrup it will take to pay it back like when i bought a scoop and skimmer, hydrometer cup and so on i would think to myself ` that`s only 1 more gallon of syrup to cover the intial cost` funny how it adds up in real dollars once i come out of sweet dream land

[Galena]

...you start to dream of being caught in a swirling vortex of maple sap and syrup, then wake up in the morning, go downstairs and turn on the burners beneath waiting pots of sap and nearup so you can get a few litres boiled off before going to your day job. Then you come home from your day job, turn on the burners, go check and collect sap, come home and realize that maybe it wasn't a dream after all...

[bagpiper]

When you finish your first year and already are researching whether to go gravity or vacuum and can you get natural vacuum with 3/16th and trying to figure out what the hell is a "lunchbox" and a "bender releaser" and what does ropey mean and looking out your windows and thinking about clearing out all those small pine and fir trees between the maples and how you've just got to double your production next year................

[huxta]

When you haven't even tapped your first tree yet and already fall into many of these categories.

[saphound]

When a box of pancake mix only lasts a week now instead of 2 or 3 months...

[Galena]

...when it's Valentine's Day and all you can think is, 'Good! Three more weeks til I put the taps in!' :-)

[blissville maples]

addicted- ask my old lady!! maple to me is like heroin to an addict!! ive been eating sleeping thinking dreaming it for 4 months straight, 6am to 10pm!! its a disease

[Cody]

When you do the wash and instead of finding money in the wash or pockets of jeans it's tubing supplies.Your favorite new magazine is your suppliers new catalog.

[wbreitbarth]

Anyone else spend hours at a time on YouTube watching people boil? Then end up going to Fleet Farm to buy more supplies that you don't need, because it help you cope until the season starts?

[Cedar Eater]

When you decide to build a firewood drying shed for your winter's supply of home heating wood and you think to yourself, "You know, Self, that will be almost empty by the time sugaring season comes, so if you build it just a little bit bigger, and stuff a little more wood in, you can move your evaporator in, throw some tarps on the sides, and use it as a sugar shack."

So that's the plan.

[maplestudent]

when you're vacationing at the ocean and while the rest of your family is watching the waves crash on the rocks, you're scoping out the available tree selection to see how many taps you could put in if you lived there.

[Big_Eddy]

You're reading posts about freezing and storing sap, and you're thinking - "You know - if I were to freeze enough sap now, I could still be making syrup well into the summer!"

[DoubleBrookMaple]

You come down with your first round of "Tapping Fever"
Early symptoms include sleepless nights of planning your season projects, and can only be alleviated with days of sugarbush management and tapping until your testosterone levels peak, your significant other complains about your various obsessions, and you become so exhausted from exercising these, that you collapse one night at the end of the season and wake up planning next year.

Or..

When MapleTrader shows you as a "maple addict"

[maplestudent]

when you realize that you're always on the lookout for "one more tree"

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

When you buy your wife a new tubing tool for Valentine's Day........which is how the fight started.

[Klonce]

When every night you go out and check the buckets and empty that sweet goodness into holding drum.

[Snappyssweets]

You sit in front of the computer before sunup in the spring reading and going over the forum with coffee. While nibbling maple sugar candy from last years work. Wondering what your days results will be with the run about to hit today with a high temp thaw.

[jpcole]

You sit in front of the computer before sunup in the spring reading and going over the forum with coffee. While nibbling maple sugar candy from last years work. Wondering what your days results will be with the run about to hit today with a high temp thaw.

AMEN Brother!

[Galena]

...when it's still too cold to tap yet, going nuts and not afraid to show it in an entry (for a photo competition site, whose theme was Obsession)...and enter this13443....and people understand what's going on!!! Came 12th out of about 50 entries, happy :0

[steam maker]

Hey where did u get that hat galena???? I want one

[Russell Lampron]

When you go down to the sugarhouse at 2 am in your pj's to start the RO machine and turn off the vacuum pump.

[Galena]

Hey where did u get that hat galena???? I want one

Hehe maybe I should get some real toques made up...that one in the pic is Photoshop trickery. Plain black toque, photo of a maple-leaf shaped cookie cutter on a black background, and a friend came up with Tap Me. Would be easy enough to make into a design, just may look into costs etc!

[saphound]

Let me know if you do Galena..my wife could use one...with or without the maple leaf, ha *whistlin at the ceiling smiley*

[Galena]

Let me know if you do Galena..my wife could use one...with or without the maple leaf, ha *whistlin at the ceiling smiley*

I think it kinda needs the maple leaf, looks more legit :-)

[saphound]

I think it kinda needs the maple leaf, looks more legit :-)

Well... maybe.. but the tappin I'm talkin about has nothing to do with maple trees :evil:..unless we happened to be under a maple tree at the moment. :lol: I bet the guys knew what I meant..;)

[Maple Man 85]

When you finish your 2nd shift job at 11pm, come home cook till 6am, get 2 hours of sleep (because you've passed out next to the evaporator), curse at your lost time, rebuild the fire and frantically collect just to do it all over the next day (while the neighbors think you run a drug house cause the lights never turn off:lol:)

Maple Man 85

[Galena]

Well... maybe.. but the tappin I'm talkin about has nothing to do with maple trees :evil:..unless we happened to be under a maple tree at the moment. :lol: I bet the guys knew what I meant..;)

I know what you mean, I grew up with 3 older brothers!!! And actually got a reasonable quote on the toques so I may get some done up.

Oh yeah, I'm suffering from lack of tapping - TREES - and we're getting snow and more stoopid weather tonight, but Sunday onwards looks promising. So finally I get to take down my sap bucket fort and put it to good use!!

[saphound]

Lol..ok..it was hard to tell if you were catching my drift...sorry for my doubting that.;) Still put me down for two of them..better odds, lol
Yeah, the last couple days here were pretty good but now it's turned cold again until maybe Sunday too.

[steam maker]

Put me down for one

[Galena]

I have to work out pricing...thinking it'll be $15 USD/toque (black only) plus taxes and shipping. Howzat sound to you guys? Oh and it will be a very limited run...I'm thinking a dozen. May go to more if peeps express serious interest - messaging me would be good so I know you mean it!

Now back to the thread...you know you're a maple addict when you start shovelling paths out to your trees even with heavy snow coming down, so you're all set to tap on the weekend :-)

[Run Forest Run!]

Now back to the thread...you know you're a maple addict when you start shovelling paths out to your trees even with heavy snow coming down, so you're all set to tap on the weekend :-)

I just came inside from doing that. :lol:

[Galena]

Hehe glad to see my cold hasn't affected my Jedi mind skills! :-)

[Galena]

You know you're a maple addict when you willingly get up at 6:30 am on a Sunday and are here online by 7am :-)

[Michael Greer]

You know You're a maple addict when you hang every bucket you own, go buy 25 more, hang them, and go buy 25 more....

[psparr]

When your first year you only had 15 milk jugs for sap and that surely isn't enough, so you hang red solo cups from spiles and run from tree to tree emptying them every 15 mins.

[bagpiper]

You "work from your home office" every day that you think the sap will run. Your boss thinks that maybe you're having a "fling" but he doesn't know it's with a bunch of sap buckets.

[Cedar Eater]

...you wake up at 8 AM, looking forward to the day the run is supposed to start and by 1 PM you confirm it. Then at 6 PM you devise a plan to collect sap by flashlight at 2 AM in the middle of a boil.

[Paddymountain]

When you start the next fire in your
evaporator from the coals of the previous
fire

[js4fn]

When in between firings you figure amount of wood burnt to produce days worth of syrup add in cost of bottles plus label and your Only $30.00 dollars in the hole not bad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

When you're a hobbyist, you save the electric stove for the boiling of sap, and use the hotplate of the woodburning castiron stove for cooking!

[js4fn]

When. You ponder if it's healthy to have pizza two night in a row Heck yeah


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Galena]

...when you wonder how pizza would taste with some maple syrup drizzled atop it :-0 With something like meat lovers', probably pretty good!

[Russell Lampron]

...when you wonder how pizza would taste with some maple syrup drizzled atop it :-0 With something like meat lovers', probably pretty good!

Believe it or not one of my co-workers did that and said that it was good. I prefer chasing a shot of hot maple syrup with a cold boiling soda.

[js4fn]

Syrup the heavy stuff now is good on

Mashed potatoes
Hot dogs
Bacon or course
Ham ,squash.pumkin pie
Fresh bbq venison blackstrap syrup heated and used as dipping sauce
Ice cream
Put 1/3 black coffee 1/3 syrup 1/3 whisky microwave it for 50 seconds mmmmmmm



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Islander]

You're caught licking a tree and swear its to determine if its weeping sap and needs to be tapped right now, or if its rain or snow melt and should be left a few more days and not because your some maple addict crazy lady

[Ghs57]

Your feet stick to the floor in front of the stove...

[Sunny]

You visit your child's school, spot a big maple and start planning how you will institute a syrup-making unit for her kindergarten class.


2016: 24 taps on 12 fabulous Silver Maples
Buckets from the best Amish Doughnut place in Indiana

[saphound]

Believe it or not one of my co-workers did that and said that it was good. I prefer chasing a shot of hot maple syrup with a cold boiling soda.

Hey Russ, Sorry to go off topic a bit, but I've been meaning to ask for quite a while now...what's "boiling soda"? :)

[WESTMAPLES]

boiling soda`s are beers.... i would believe . we call them " cold one`s " down my way

[Russell Lampron]

Hey Russ, Sorry to go off topic a bit, but I've been meaning to ask for quite a while now...what's "boiling soda"? :)

Boiling soda's are beer's. Take a drink of your boiling soda to cleanse the pallet then drink a shot of hot syrup and chase that with the boiling soda. It's a combination that goes surprisingly well together. A boiling soda while fireing the evaporator helps to cool you down and quench your thirst. I can get quite parched when I am boiling.

I came up with the term "Boiling Soda" because a friend of mine used to call them road soda's and I felt it appropriate.

[saphound]

Ahhh...I shoulda guessed that! Been partaking in boiling soda's all this time and never knew it, ha. Thanks Russ and WESTMAPLES.

[Burnt sap]

Nice, I like that. I'll have to start calling them Boiling sodas so the wife won't know what were up to in the sugarhouse.:cool:

[littleTapper]

When you're cooking pasta or rice and go to grab the defoamer...

[Run Forest Run!]

When you're cooking pasta or rice and go to grab the defoamer...

Hysterical. :lol:

[saphound]

When you bring a bottle of syrup into the bedroom for any reason.

[bprifle01]

When you look at the maples in the village park or the courthouse lawn or the town square and wonder????????

[Zucker Lager]

You loop an audio of syrup boiling for background music. Jay

https://youtu.be/ECGC4kzJgAI

[Maple Man 85]

When you cook by lantern because dumping sap breaks the 11th commandment.

[Sugarmaker]

When you sample some of the maple sugar candy you just made and it melts in your mouth. But you remember that great maple candy your dad made 50 years ago.
Regards,
Chris

[abbott]

You see a sugar maple log in your neighbor's firewood pile and you get angry.

[blissville maples]

your up at 430 tossing and turning for 2 hours waiting for it to be warm enough to go turn pump on, like a 6 y/o on xmas eve

[Maple Man 85]

If you have religiously donated blood to finance growing your tap count.:o

If you donate blood 2x per week over the course of a year that's a 5k pay check!!! Hello filter press and bottler:cool:

[Super Sapper]

That would be plasma 2 x's a week, blood is once every 6 weeks I think. I did my 977th plasma donation yesterday and yes most goes into my maple addiction.

[Cedar Eater]

That would be plasma 2 x's a week, blood is once every 6 weeks I think. I did my 977th plasma donation yesterday and yes most goes into my maple addiction.

Blood is 8 weeks between donations. And, at least in Michigan, you can't be paid for it. Plasma selling is legal and we called it plasmating when I was in college. It takes a lot of plasmating to get a $5K check. So yeah, I think that qualifies as a symptom of maple addiction.

[Galena]

Time to wake this thread up again! You know you're a maple addict when....

You break your promise to not tap til first week of March, but oh the trees are so ready for you! :-)

[bprifle01]

January 18th rolls around and you can't keep your finger off the drill trigger!

[Cedar Eater]

You tell yourself that you already have enough trees tapped to give you more sap than you can handle, but you find another maple and start working out how you'll tie it into one of your saplines.

[Michael Greer]

...you've already maxed out your equipment, but go out and buy fifty more buckets.

[Trapper2]

..... when you spend $3000 a year on land tax, beer, snacks, equipment, chainsaws, gas and improvements to get $500 of syrup that you mostly give away.

[Cedar Eater]

..... when you spend $3000 a year on land tax, beer, snacks, equipment, chainsaws, gas and improvements to get $500 of syrup that you mostly give away.

:lol: Ain't that the truth. If it wasn't for the fact that you also hunt on that land to get $100 worth of meat after spending $1000+ on gear and licenses, it would be darn hard to justify it. :lol:

[bagpiper]

Making syrup is right up there with trout fishing ($200/lb.), grouse hunting with a dog ($300/lb.), smelting and clamming. I forgot to mention all the money saved deer hunting ($50/lb.) and keeping chickens ($10.00/doz.).

[RollinsOrchards]

When you put on a coat for the first cool day in the fall and find the pockets full of spiles, tee's, connectors, and whatnot, and instead of taking them out you decide to leave them there so that coat is ready to go in the spring.

[Maple Man 85]

When your wife has bought you a blue tooth because you've dropped your phone in a bucket of sap more than once.:lol:

[Urban Hillbilly]

Walking through the woods in the pitch dark in a suit and wing tips with your iPhone light on to find and empty the fuller buckets so no sap overflows and is wasted while you're at the office for the day.

[Islander]

...when you decline an expense paid trip to Florida after a long, dark, cold, snowy MN winter because you will be gone 1 day longer than your unattended bucket capacity can hold IF things were to be running while you were gone.

[BSD]

every where you drive you just pick out sugar maples along the road side, even at 50 mph.

[Ed R]

When you drive out in the country and at every farm you pass you envision how you can convert an outbuilding into a sugar shack.

[Stiets]

You use all your vacation and personal time from work in March and its not to go some place tropical!

That one is so true. My buddies save their time for hunting and I save my time for syruping.

[Galena]

When even on a sick day, you somehow manage the time and energy to go collect sap :-)

[Michael Greer]

...When you spend 15 hours gathering and cooking, and make 10 gallons of syrup and then say something as goofy as, "Heck, I made $500 dollars today, Not bad eh?"

[William B]

When you deny you are an addict but carry a spile in your front pocket for good luck!:lol:

[Galena]

When you bring maple syrup pie to Christmas dinner - despite strong opposition like 'Oh nobody will eat it, we're not frickin Quebeckers' - and 2 pumpkin pies, an apple pie and a cherry pie all go completely totally frickin ignored and uneaten partly cause a) they're cheap storebought s**t, and b) your homemade maple syrup pie vanishes within 5 minutes....sweetest revenge ever.

[psparr]

Galena you've got some sweet toothes in your family. I love the pie, but boy is it rich.

[steam maker]

When u have a frozen valve on the sap tank at the collection spot and u dont have a heat source so u dig thru the truck find a sheet , make a tent then stick the sap pump in there to thaw it out!!hey it thawed valve out and now mom has one less sheet to wash !!!! Muffler on pump gets hot👍🏻👍🏻

[sap retreiver]

When for your 10 year wedding anniversary she books a trip to aruba and you make her get trip insurance cause it might run and I ain't missing it. We'll see if I make it to 11😉

[Galena]

Galena you've got some sweet toothes in your family. I love the pie, but boy is it rich.

Actually more of an adoptive family, not birth family, but they do tend to be a little narrow in terms of their taste preferences. I also served it with creme fraiche which is slightly acidic, to counter the richness of the pie.

[Bruce L]

You know you're an addict when your buddies riding in the vehicle with you are checking out the women you are driving by and all you see are the roadside maples wondering how much and how sweet the sap would be from them if you could tap them!!!!

[BAP]

You know you're an addict when your buddies riding in the vehicle with you are checking out the women you are driving by and all you see are the roadside maples wondering how much and how sweet the sap would be from them if you could tap them!!!!
That's is definitely a true addict.

[sap retreiver]

Or your watching a live feed on YouTube. Drip. Drip...Drip....Drip..

[bagpiper]

You go down to your vacuum pump and just watch the sap and the bubbles running through the laterals and you stand there without a thought in your head and then you look over at your dog patiently sitting on her haunches staring at you and you finally snap out of your "sap trance".

[Russell Lampron]

You go down to your vacuum pump and just watch the sap and the bubbles running through the laterals and you stand there without a thought in your head and then you look over at your dog patiently sitting on her haunches staring at you and you finally snap out of your "sap trance".

Watching the releaser fill and dump never gets old.

[Cedar Eater]

I got this one from my wife. We were discussing selling our house and sugarbush and moving to another property that we own. I reminded her that it would mean that we didn't have as many trees to tap and she was ready to call off the move and live with all the negatives that are slowly making our current place less desirable. She was so happy when I took her there and showed her that we would have enough tappable maples to at least feed our own jones.

[Maple Man 85]

After 36+ hours of no sleep, collecting by bucket and boiling on a flat pan with no RO the only thing that stops you is it got too dark to see... And then you remembered there's a lamp in the corner GAME ON!!! (yesterdays adventure)

[littleTapper]

When a lateral pokes out of a line of evergreens on the edge of your front yard to get to the maple in the middle of that yard.

[Hkb82]

When you haven't even got through your first season and your ordering a 2x4 foot pan for next. I'm hooked

[DaveB]

Or your watching a live feed on YouTube. Drip. Drip...Drip....Drip..

:lol:

Just trying to help everyone out. It's hard when you're at work and all you can think of is how the sap is flowing. Now I have a way to actually see.

[5 Oaks]

:lol:

Just trying to help everyone out. It's hard when you're at work and all you can think of is how the sap is flowing. Now I have a way to actually see.

Is there a "how to video" on how to set up a "sap cam"? I keep driving 30 minutes north to collect sap. My Mom says "all of the bags are almost full!!!" I get there and I don't know which bags see is looking at, but when I collect 45 gallons from 31 bags.....They aint all full! A web cam would be AWESOME

[DaveB]

Not to hijack the thread but there are a couple of approaches that were discussed here:

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?29134-Remote-Monitoring-at-the-sugar-orchard!

Basically, if you have Internet available it would be as simple as setting up a WiFi Webcam and if it's not available use a mobile hotspot device to create one. The above thread goes into more detail but your motivation is the same one that prompted me to do my project. I just took it another step to make it live stream for everyone and not just me. I guess that makes me a maple addict...lol.

[littleTapper]

When you're 7 years old and get excited for boiling box elder sap too.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170309/d19aa877377b7983427fd0cc75d2b023.jpg

[Hkb82]

When your 8 and get caught drinking from the sap pail. 16138

[Galena]

When you can go outside, look in all the buckets and know exactly much sap you've got before you bring it in and measure it.

[saphound]

When you pray for below freezing temps in April.

[TRAILGUY]

when saps not running so you go to check out of sugar shacks all day. I need help!

[Galena]

when saps not running so you go to check out of sugar shacks all day. I need help!

Nah, you're perfectly normal. Carry on!

[Russell Lampron]

when saps not running so you go to check out of sugar shacks all day. I need help!

Thank you for stopping by! It was nice to see you again.

[Drew Pond Maple]

Use the kitchen table to assemble your drop lines

[Michael Greer]

When you wish you could own land in Kentucky and Ontario, and could sugar for 12 weeks.

[Galena]

When you wish you could own land in Kentucky and Ontario, and could sugar for 12 weeks.

Hehe I hear ya! Let me know if you want to go in on a land deal in KY and ON ;-)

[Run Forest Run!]

When you see a faucet dripping, you can't stop yourself from taking a moment to imagine how many gallons per hour you'd get. And to make matters worse, you find it oddly satisfying to know that's an educated answer and not a wild guess. How pathetic is that? You KNOW you've all done it. :emb:

[Twisted Minds]

When you watch the weather channel and hope they're off by a few degrees so you may be able to get a few more runs out of the season, (or at the beginning of the season that it will get a little warmer than they predict to get the run started).

[BAP]

When you watch the weather channel and hope they're off by a few degrees so you may be able to get a few more runs out of the season, (or at the beginning of the season that it will get a little warmer than they predict to get the run started).
Or you have multiple thermometers hoping that one will be colder/warmer than the others.

[Paddymountain]

......when you need to bump this forward for the new syrup season!!!!!

[Maple Man 85]

When it's -10 but you stop to take a selfie with your trusty tubing tool and the latest drop line you installed!!!16980

[Sugarmaker]

That picture reminds me of myself about 10 years ago when I first went to gravity tubing. I was gung ho and the weather was about 5 degrees. I had a ball, laying out new tubing in the cold and snow! Great shot!
Regards,
Chris

[Maple Man 85]

Thanks Chris! It's not cold when you're having fun!


That picture reminds me of myself about 10 years ago when I first went to gravity tubing. I was gung ho and the weather was about 5 degrees. I had a ball, laying out new tubing in the cold and snow! Great shot!
Regards,
Chris

[wlatrout]

When you put maple syrup on everything from Butter Pecan ice cream to sweet potatoes.

[Mikemartin274]

The bank just foreclosed on the house. Momma's moving the bed set into the sugar house while your on the way back from Leader with a new bigger badder evaporator. I'll get the house back someday, heading out to tap for now.

[Galena]

...When the first site you check in the morning is the local 2-week forecast to see if temps are ideal for tapping :-)

[tbear]

....your watching the Waliking Dead cast walk through some woods and all you can think is, "I'd tap that, and that!" then run it back and say," I thought so, I'd tap that one too!" Ted

[Haynes Forest Products]

When you have 2 bottles of syrup on the night stand one labeled His and the other says his.

[DonMcJr]

...when you can hear the sap dripping into the sap tank and no one else can!

[Galena]

When the first thing you do at 7am on a cold, brisk Sunday morning, is roll out of bed, put on your dressing gown and wellies, and get the fire in the sugar shack going. Then you go visit the trees to see what they've produced since Saturday evening, not knowing or caring if the neighbours walking their dogs (and wearing about 4 more layers than you) see you or not :-) Then you go inside and start to get on with your usual day!

[Haynes Forest Products]

When you find time to respond to 4 threads a day but don't have time to send your wife a quick birthday card.

[Haynes Forest Products]

When you have time to respond to 4 threads but cant find the time to send the wife a quick thank you note.

[Russell Lampron]

When you go out at bed time in your bath robe and slippers to turn off the vacuum pump.

[Maple Man 85]

When you go out at bed time in your bath robe and slippers to turn off the vacuum pump.

When breakfast is on the stove and you run out to turn on the vacuum pump (and try to get back before it breakfast burns).

[littleTapper]

Probably mentioned somewhere in this thread...

When your wife stops out in the afternoon to see how boiling is going, and as she leaves she says, without missing a beat, "See you tomorrow!"

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Galena]

When you wait and wait and wait for the sap to start flowing. Then it starts flowing and doesn't stop, and you can't wait for it to freeze up so you can catch up. Rinse and repeat ;-)

[Sugarmaker]

I sure hope Gary R replies to this thread!:)
Regards,
Chris

[OakFarm]

When you’re a total newb and you have more taps than buckets and you frantically search for ANYTHING that will hold a gallon of sap

[Russell Lampron]

We got a late freeze so I went out in my bathrobe and slippers to turn off the vacuum pump at 3:00 this morning.

[billyinvt]

You have five weather websites bookmarked on your work computer and check them often enough to know when the forecast high temperature four days from now has changed.

[MT Pockets Producer]

When you nearly have a car crash because you are thinking about the trees and buckets you just drove by a mile back rather than watching the traffic merging onto the highway in front of you.

[littleTapper]

When you nearly have a car crash because you are thinking about the trees and buckets you just drove by a mile back rather than watching the traffic merging onto the highway in front of you.Try racing a mountain bike through a woods thick with beautiful maple trees. I have to force myself to focus on the trail.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Islander]

When you get excited because your friend drops by with a new steel drum with the burn barrel kit already installed that he found on the side of the road with a 'free' sign on it. You instantly start planning on how to get rid of the drum you've re-lined twice before, and how you are going to budget for a 'real' pan with a valve next year to put on it since you get to cut a new hole.

[Maple Man 85]

When home schooling the kids has to be done in the sugarhouse to get orders filled!

[Clamer33]

When all you do is talk about Maple Syrup (or sap) during the season, or people ask how your season is going and you go on telling them the whole story, only to look at them and wonder if they are in left field cause they have no clue what we are going on about or what we do to maple syrup and how it's a love hate relationship with making syrup

[VTnewguy]

When you have to follow leads on free wood stacked up on the side of the road.

[smokeyamber]

When you can't go for a relaxing walk on your property without thinking about how you would run the lines or thin the trees....

[sap retreiver]

When you get busted by the Turkey you've been waiting for cause your checking out all the trees behind you. I'm worse than the kids I holler at to sit still.

[Maple Man 85]

When your 40gal canner is delivered to your place of employment and a crowd of people gather to see what the "crazy maple guy" had sent to work this time!:lol:18657

[Haynes Forest Products]

Mapleman85 I can relate when I had my Lapiere Water-loo small evap sent to me back in 2012 I had them ship it to me in Parker Colorado and I got a few phone calls from factory asking me if they had the address right and what I knew that they didn't. I had it sent to the local lumber yard for the forklift service and when I pulled up to get it people were looking at it like it was a Mermaid in an aquarium. Come on boys get er loaded I need this thing in my garage ASAP so I can stare at it for the next 10 days.

[Maple Man 85]

Mapleman85 I can relate when I had my Lapiere Water-loo small evap sent to me back in 2012 I had them ship it to me in Parker Colorado and I got a few phone calls from factory asking me if they had the address right and what I knew that they didn't. I had it sent to the local lumber yard for the forklift service and when I pulled up to get it people were looking at it like it was a Mermaid in an aquarium. Come on boys get er loaded I need this thing in my garage ASAP so I can stare at it for the next 10 days.

That's awesome! I used our car hauler to pick up our 4x16 Leader Vortex. To get it off the trailer I backed the end of the trailer into the garage, put machine dolly wheels under it, hooked it to the UTV wench set the parking brake, and chained the UTV to the truck to ensure it wouldn't it dragged. Then used the jack on the trailer, raised the front end up and very carefully lowered it in our sugarhouse. Redneck ingenuity at its finest!18660

[Maple Man 85]

You know you're a maple addict when you and your wife spent your 12 year wedding anniversary bottling syrup, making candies and suckers to restock before upcoming sales.18716

[Ultimatetreehugger]

When your about sick of farming and want to call it quits but you remind yourself sugar season is coming and things seam better.

[VTnewguy]

All you can think about is finishing up the current sugarbush so you can get to the new sugarbush and add more taps.

[Woody77]

You know when your looking at a real good remodel job and all you see is all the goodies you can use in the sugar bush. I got a new blower for the new arch, new stainless triplewall flue pipe, kitchen cabinets, lights, a deck of cards, a new wood stove, a range. and sold syrup what a score. And I got payed for demo and removeal . The fact i was more excited about the salvage than the 50k job says it all.

[Paddymountain]

…....Is being mesmerized watching sap gush into a releaser!!!

[Chickenman]

........you cry when the woodpecker holes in the tree are draining more sap than you are collecting.

[Galena]

This is for all of us maple vampires :-)

http://thewinooski.com/index.php/2018/02/24/maple-vampires-begin-ancient-treed-blood-rituals-in-preparation-for-annual-harvest/?fbclid=IwAR3dyZ13pI0PR_sMO41bkOjz_yINS7Xd8L3q9094 7ttB50RTUsQHK4upCHg

[DMF]

....when you dread going to a social event because you know that no one there will want to talk Maple.

[Maple Man 85]

when you're too busy cooking to check in on Maple Trader...:o Gotta have priorities!

[UB29]

You're doing an outside nighttime boil, in 50mph winds, like Wednesday night.
When you have your pick-up truck, tractor, every piece of plywood you can find..........trying to block the wind so the draws don't go sideways :lol:

[Galena]

You put in a full day of work then come home, get the sugarshack fired up, go get a bite to eat, go back out to the shack, chuck on more wood, run out to wood storage to get more wood, come back to find sap either a) not boiling at all or b) boiling like snot. Run outside to sap storage and bring in more sap to dump in. Sort wood while sap boils/doesn't boil. Stoke up fire. Go inside, say hi to family members, grab a cold bevvy, go back outside to shack. Check temps, curse, stoke fire more. GO get more sap. Open and drink half of cold bevvy in one swig.

Rinse and repeat as often as necessary...either until backup arrives to take over from you or you fall asleep in shack or spouse comes out and yells at you to get to bed, you have to get up in the morning to go to work ;-)

[Ultimatetreehugger]

When there hasn't been a post on maple trader in a few days and you feel like your social life is lacking because of it.

[BAP]

When there hasn't been a post on maple trader in a few days and you feel like your social life is lacking because of it.
Thumbs up to that!!!!

[VTnewguy]

Thumbs up to that!!!!
No doubt I was wondering the same thing!

[Galena]

...when you get twitchy cause there hasn't been a new post on MT for 5 days...and sugaring season is 8 months away ;-)

[maple flats]

looking at your sap/syrup ratio, you have some real good trees there Galena! That's over 4% sap, impressive.

[Galena]

looking at your sap/syrup ratio, you have some real good trees there Galena! That's over 4% sap, impressive.

Thanks maple flats, I love my sugars :-) and most of them are big trees, though my three little 1-spilers in the bush also did their share of the work!

[Galena]

....when you pay close scrupulously close attention to the rules for entering syrup for a fair, turn up and enter it...then watch someone waltz in with an entry that violates at least three rules for entering at that particular fair. And you want to yell at them for not paying attention to the rules of entry, but you don't. *SIGH*

[Mead Maple]

....Maple Trader is the only form of social media you use...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bprifle01]

Amen to that!

[Delta Glen]

I'll second that.

[Galena]

MT is certainly the sanest form of social media out there, if not the most active :lol:

[Galena]

...when you get a new toy, a grading meter in the mail and it's like Christmas :-)

[christopherh]

When you polish your evaporator instead of your Harley 😃

[Bruce L]

...when you get a new toy, a grading meter in the mail and it's like Christmas :-)
Susan,did you get the new Hanna?

[Galena]

Susan,did you get the new Hanna? Hi Bruce, mine is the mauve-y one, model # H1759. Seems to work fine :-) Certainly didn't want to fork out $300+ for every other model they seemed to have!20283 Oh when would be a good time for me to come and visit?

[Bruce L]

That’s the one

[Galena]

Seems to work fine, of course I pulled out every open jar of syrup I have and tested them :-) Glad to see that my Amber is definitely an Amber (66) and my Dark scored I think 34. Great little toy, thanks for telling me about it!

[DrTimPerkins]

The syrup checkers are nice and we also use them quite regularly, but folks should be aware that they have a +/- 4% accuracy (when used properly) and that syrup will darken when exposed to air (even in non-coated plastic), so take care if the reading is close to the line between syrup classes.

[Bruce L]

So should still double check with the Lovibond? Have an updated expensive one that I will just keep for reference

[DrTimPerkins]

A Lovibond is considered a "permanent" check (assuming you don't leave it in strong sunlight), but is only as good as the eyes (and technique) of the person using it. Under good conditions, it is a better tool when you're close to the line. Again, syrup won't (legally) get lighter with time, but will tend to darken.

[Galena]

The syrup checkers are nice and we also use them quite regularly, but folks should be aware that they have a +/- 4% accuracy (when used properly) and that syrup will darken when exposed to air (even in non-coated plastic), so take care if the reading is close to the line between syrup classes.

Wow good to know...thanks Dr Tim!

[Galena]

Time to bring this thread back to life! How do you know you're a maple addict? Well, what kind of things do you, as a sugarer, do in the course of making liquid gold that may cause so-called *normal* people to raise their eyebrows?

For example, I make no secrets about the fact that I talk to my trees. And give them all a loving pat on the trunk and say thank you to them each time I go out to walk the bush, whether I am collecting or not. Often I'll even go out at night for a last check and say goodnight to them to, and bring them coffee in the morning....'-)

[BobU]

You carry a tap in your pocket all year, just because.

[Ghs57]

You carry a tap in your pocket all year, just because.

I've done that. There is one in one of the bedrooms right now, but I can't explain how it got there, and no, it's not for anything weird. Although it's weird it's there,

[OneLegJohn]

This is hilarious.

[Swingpure]

You know when you are a maple addict when your friends won’t let you talk about Maple Syrup anymore because that is all you talk about. You then proceed to tell then that you did something today that you can not talk about, but then go ahead and talk about it.

[OneLegJohn]

Yes to this. A thousand times, yes!


You know when you are a maple addict when your friends won’t let you talk about Maple Syrup anymore because that is all you talk about. You then proceed to tell then that you did something today that you can not talk about, but then go ahead and talk about it.

[CanterburyMaple]

.... people wish you "Merry Christmas" in December and you respond, "yes, and only 2 months until maple season! Oh and Merry Christmas to you too..."

[Galena]

I can make a roomful of people go silent when I start talking about my microbush and how much I love tapping :-)

[Someclown]

You know it when when you stand around for countless hours every year at about the same time and continuously feed the fire to watch water evaporate.

[Swingpure]

I can make a roomful of people go silent when I start talking about my microbush and how much I love tapping :-)

You know this thread is almost therapeutic.

[Galena]

You know this thread is almost therapeutic. That's the idea! Share the craziness and have some fun :-)

[ebliese]

....your kids find left over tubing the best chew toy in the house.

[GWebb]

When you've got 4 gallons bottled for sale and not sold any and just keep a making it.

[Russell Lampron]

When you retire, sell all of your stuff, move to the south and then come north to help a friend make syrup.