littleTapper
12-31-2015, 07:13 AM
When I was a baby/toddler (I'm still a kid at 36 now), my dad was making syrup on the family farm. He'd procured an old steel shed (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c2x_y5g99N8/VoUh0cmbx7I/AAAAAAAAYsY/-EJt6geq1I8/s720-Ic42/IMG_20151226_091055.jpg) from the mine he also worked at (yes, farming, mining, and sugaring) to be be out of the weather while boiling. His evaporator was a simple, but quite effective wood-fired unit. It just had a flat pan. Made the whole works himself.
Once more kids came along and farming became the sole income for a while, sugaring was put aside.
I remember seeing a sketch on the inside of the door of the shack when I was quite young, but it didn't mean much until I got bit by the bug when I was about 13 years old. I resurrected the old evaporator. Dad helped me get it set back up in the shack as the little shed had been repurposed after he stopped making syrup. During my first season making syrup on my own, I learned what the sketch was. Dad explained the divided pan etched in the door.
It's still there. 30+ years later. He never got around to making it. Snapped this while there for Christmas.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y_sEHU7O6MA/VoUh0d9DNOI/AAAAAAAAYrw/xkbyfKjW8kE/s720-Ic42/IMG_20151226_091041.jpg
Fast forward several seasons of making syrup myself, but then moving away to college and all that fun stuff put a hold on that. Now I finally have a little woods of my own. I hope the Smoky Lake pan I bought for my homemade arch (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?26638-littleTapper-s-2x4-Arch-Build) continues the bug to the next generation and maybe more. Dad thinks that pan is pretty cool :) Maybe he'll once again tap some trees after he retires in a couple years...
Once more kids came along and farming became the sole income for a while, sugaring was put aside.
I remember seeing a sketch on the inside of the door of the shack when I was quite young, but it didn't mean much until I got bit by the bug when I was about 13 years old. I resurrected the old evaporator. Dad helped me get it set back up in the shack as the little shed had been repurposed after he stopped making syrup. During my first season making syrup on my own, I learned what the sketch was. Dad explained the divided pan etched in the door.
It's still there. 30+ years later. He never got around to making it. Snapped this while there for Christmas.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y_sEHU7O6MA/VoUh0d9DNOI/AAAAAAAAYrw/xkbyfKjW8kE/s720-Ic42/IMG_20151226_091041.jpg
Fast forward several seasons of making syrup myself, but then moving away to college and all that fun stuff put a hold on that. Now I finally have a little woods of my own. I hope the Smoky Lake pan I bought for my homemade arch (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?26638-littleTapper-s-2x4-Arch-Build) continues the bug to the next generation and maybe more. Dad thinks that pan is pretty cool :) Maybe he'll once again tap some trees after he retires in a couple years...