What Made You Increase Your Operation Size??

[johnpma]

Hobby guy here. This year increasing to 75 taps some on tubing some on bags some on buckets

As I travel all over New England for work I see some operations with thousands of taps and it got me thinking.

What makes a somebody go from say 100 taps to maybe 500 taps to as much as 5000 taps? Is it profit (which the upfront cost seems steep) is it a liking for the work and industry? Is client/customer demand?

Be interested to here why operations grow......

[mudr]

I am more than doubling my this year...from 54 to ~130... Haha. I really can't explain the desire to grow other than "I could" and I just wanted to. I grew up on a dairy farm, so playing around with syrup is my way of getting my hands dirty again and playing outside. I am also viewing this operation as a way to get my kids, currently 4 and 1, outside and working so they learn how "stuff works". While there is a place in the world for kids to learn how to use computers and be well-educated in technology, there is still something to be said for learning physical labor, farming, etc. I think a balance of both sides will be the best for my kids, so I will get them to work with my in the woods.

[scottdevine]

Hobbiest here as well. This is my second year, and i too have decided to expand because i want to push myself and inspire others (50yrs old). Coming off the learning curve last year, got me excited to push expansion, as much as time will allow. I was about 45 taps last year on buckets w gravity tubes, and i am increasing it this year, using 80% bags. I don't have all the numbers yet, as i have not approached all my potential tree donors (neighbors). My pallet shack (see photo album for my journey), has held up remarkably well. My barrel evaporator is cleaned and ready, and i have obtained many larger capacity pots to boil in this year (80-100 qt). I did 985 gallons of sap last year (first timer) and was quite pleased and humbled by the journey. I can only hope this year is just as enjoyable. Looking for 1500 gallons this year, but will be satisfied with whatever i am fortunate enough to collect with no injuries (burns not included).

[johnpma]

Hobbiest here as well. This is my second year, and i too have decided to expand because i want to push myself and inspire others (50yrs old). Coming off the learning curve last year, got me excited to push expansion, as much as time will allow. I was about 45 taps last year on buckets w gravity tubes, and i am increasing it this year, using 80% bags. I don't have all the numbers yet, as i have not approached all my potential tree donors (neighbors). My pallet shack (see photo album for my journey), has held up remarkably well. My barrel evaporator is cleaned and ready, and i have obtained many larger capacity pots to boil in this year (80-100 qt). I did 985 gallons of sap last year (first timer) and was quite pleased and humbled by the journey. I can only hope this year is just as enjoyable. Looking for 1500 gallons this year, but will be satisfied with whatever i am fortunate enough to collect with no injuries (burns not included). 985 gallons on 45 taps WOW!! How many gallons did that yield?

[Bentley Wood Maple]

Started with180 buckets. Then went to 350 taps on lines with75 buckets. Going for 500 taps this year. To many nights running 22-24 hrs a day to keep up. Built a bigger n better evaporator this summer to set next to my old 2x6; gonna run both this year if needed. Got bigger because I enjoy it. Also because we sell all the syrup we make and turn customers away by september.
Got another 1500 taps offered to me a mile down the road. Maybe next year???

[wnybassman]

I think the biggest problem is the hobby producer has WAY too much time to think about stuff while boiling. I know I do :)

[sap retreiver]

Don't tell muma but it's quiet out there. More sap equals more quiet and beer

[mountainvan]

I started just for fun 24 years ago. The 2nd year I actually made enough to sell some and for 13 years maple was a supplemental income for me. Each year I added more taps and most years made more syrup, some years are lean. I went full time maple 11 years ago and add more taps each year. Now I'm somewhere around that 5,000 mark with my product in stores from NYC to Albany, served at the hotel at West Point, local restaurants, Newark airport etc. as Theron says, "you gotta want it". As I say, "you have to work for what you earn".

[Robert K]

I am more than doubling my this year...from 54 to ~130... Haha. I really can't explain the desire to grow other than "I could" and I just wanted to. I grew up on a dairy farm, so playing around with syrup is my way of getting my hands dirty again and playing outside. I am also viewing this operation as a way to get my kids, currently 4 and 1, outside and working so they learn how "stuff works". While there is a place in the world for kids to learn how to use computers and be well-educated in technology, there is still something to be said for learning physical labor, farming, etc. I think a balance of both sides will be the best for my kids, so I will get them to work with my in the woods.

Couldn't have said it better myself 
Better to teach common sense in a world were it seems it is becoming less common.

In my neck of the woods, my kids love to help and I just love to boil and make syrup. The big changer has been updating to an evaporator instead of the pot-belly stove. Might add a few taps this year ��

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Nothing better than being in the woods on a fall or winter day working on sap lines. Great exercise and outdoor fun that can pay you back if done right. You gotta love it or you're wasting your time....big or small. Between 2 operations we maintain 5800 taps and boil/bottle/sell from 400 of them. Suck sap!

[johnpma]

I started just for fun 24 years ago. The 2nd year I actually made enough to sell some and for 13 years maple was a supplemental income for me. Each year I added more taps and most years made more syrup, some years are lean. I went full time maple 11 years ago and add more taps each year. Now I'm somewhere around that 5,000 mark with my product in stores from NYC to Albany, served at the hotel at West Point, local restaurants, Newark airport etc. as Theron says, "you gotta want it". As I say, "you have to work for what you earn".
Congrats! I love stories like that

[DASH]

My wife and I purchased the family farm and doing so we determined we couldn't afford to let any acreage lay unproductive. We talked about selling our timber but I love the woods and had a tough time thinking about loosing my trees. We decided to try making syrup, we tapped 25 the first year and have increased every year sense. We have a small fruit and vegetable stand that's open the summer months and our syrup sells very well there, we have yet to get through July with syrup left. We keep putting in more taps! We love it! planning to put in 500 this year.

[sugarman3]

Sales,can't seem to ever make enough,have expended every year the last 10 yrs

[MISugarDaddy]

My wife and I started with 130 taps in 2008 and will have about 600 this year. We sell all our syrup retail and expanded to keep up with demand. We never thought we would be over a couple hundred taps when we started. We had a few friends that wanted to help, but when they found out how much work it was, they never offered again. Gotta love it.
Gary

[The Sweet Spot]

Hey Mi Sugar Daddy where are you in northern Mich?
We bought our land almost 12 years ago. Started making maple syrup the first year with about 30 buckets. We didn't live there and hauled the sap in coolers in the back of my jeep the first 2 years. We wanted to live a sustainable lifestyle, and hauling sap 6 miles to boil it down wasn't it. 10 yrs ago we bought our used evaporator and a lot of used line with some very nice tanks. In fact the Coors family took very good care of all our equipment. They allowed us to make payments for 3 yrs as we built our home, and they stored it for us. I remember the then 82 yr old women telling me that she and her husband had sold maple syrup at the local co-op. She remembered when the co-op was in an upstairs apartment and they would deliver syrup in wooden barrels. She told me that he would be on the top pulling the cart handles and she would be pushing from the bottom. She said that was because she had the good legs, and laughed. Our first year boiling with a real evaporator it was 82 deg. in early march. We keep putting everything back in to our shack and woods. In 2015 we were at 540 taps, 2016 we were up to 740 taps and made 117 gallons of syrup and 12 gallons of mead. This year we are up to 1200 taps and shooting for 2000. I heard through the grape vine that Ms. Coors passed a few years back. That was when I found out that her husband was a veteran and had lost his leg in the military. "I had the good legs" and I laughed with her.

[MISugarDaddy]

Sweet Spot,
We are about 3 miles north of Gaylord. I remember that "warm" March well, as do most area syrup producers. Sounds like your equipment has quite a history/story behind it. You have expanded into quite a good-sized operation. Good luck this coming season.
Gary

[BAP]

In my blood, at least 3rd generation, addiction, obsession, disease, desire for more and better and so on.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

I started a few years ago when a friend met me for a morning of fishing and he handed me a bottle that he told me he had made. I was actually a bit taken back, because I just didn't know about making syrup at all and I just didn't know anyone who did it or could do it. He mentioned to me that my yard had some maples and I should try it the next year. So I did...started with 5 buckets my 1st week. Collected a whopping gallon of sap after 5 days. I knew that was never going to work, so I looked on Craigslist and found a guy not to far from me selling buckets and taps and lids and by that Sunday I was up to 45. Made a WHOPPING 3 gallons that season on Turkey fryers.

Since then I purchased a homemade evaporator, sold that, built a homemade 2x6 evaporator and a 6x10 shack, sold that off, then got a "real" 2x6 evaporator and had to expand the shack to 9x11, have an RO as well for my 1st time this season. I am hoping I will have 300 taps this year with the goal of 50 gallons of syrup. I made 28 last year, so we shall see!!

Some pictures of my progression LOL
Turkey fryers in the drive way
14943
Homemade evaporator
14944
Homemade evaporator #2
14945
Real 2x6
14946
My NEXTGen Maple RO
14947

[scottdevine]

985 gallons on 45 taps WOW!! How many gallons did that yield?

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[lakeview maple]

Pure insanity , started with 10 buckets and a serving pan over a cement block arch, went to 25 buckets and realized this is crazy. Went and purchased the next year a used 2x6 leader and since we had a bigger evaporator why not go to 110 on tubing and the buckets. The following year we were kicking the door on 400 taps on tubing and spending 10 hour plus days boiling . Rethought the insanity and bought a new D&G 3 x 10 with AUF , you would have thought I would've learned something ,nope added another 200 taps and now I'm converting it all to 3/16th and adding more. I should hit 700+ this year , my sugarbush drops from the top tap to the sugarhouse 300 ft , I get crazy vac on the 3/16th lines . Its a great way to break up long winter and it goes along with our Blueberry farm and now Bee hives.

[johnpma]

I would think (I know little about tubing) that switching over to 3/16 tubing would minimize the requirements for additional taps?? No??

Great stories!! Love hearing about the expansion

[scottdevine]

Pure insanity , started with 10 buckets and a serving pan over a cement block arch, went to 25 buckets and realized this is crazy. Went and purchased the next year a used 2x6 leader and since we had a bigger evaporator why not go to 110 on tubing and the buckets. The following year we were kicking the door on 400 taps on tubing and spending 10 hour plus days boiling . Rethought the insanity and bought a new D&G 3 x 10 with AUF , you would have thought I would've learned something ,nope added another 200 taps and now I'm converting it all to 3/16th and adding more. I should hit 700+ this year , my sugarbush drops from the top tap to the sugarhouse 300 ft , I get crazy vac on the 3/16th lines . Its a great way to break up long winter and it goes along with our Blueberry farm and now Bee hives. I LOVE this post

[VT_K9]

Our major expansion came after the 2012 heat wave which yielded nearly nothing (if we did not have a leak in a old holding tank we would have had about 5 gallons). We normally made 18-30 gallons on gravity with about 275 taps.

We stepped up to a sap sucker running with old school thought of sun up, run it, sun down shut it down (also depending on being above freezing). Made about 35 gallons.

We revamped the lines the next year and added about 20 taps. Then came the R/O (a 250 Hobby) a little concerned about volume so some studying and finding this website I spent time re-running laterals and mainlines to resemble that of vac systems using the sap sucker running how a vac system would run...all the time when it is not dropping more than 2 degrees below freezing for the night.....55 gallons on 300 taps. Thanks to the R/O wood use and boiling times were down.

Next was another 30 taps and a real vac system. We moved our gathering station to the lowest part of the property in that area. This was 65 gallons.

Last year added about 40 taps and a ladder for some of them. Ran the vac more (so says the electric bill) and netted 105 gallons.

This year we'll split off part of the main line to reduce turbulence and probably add about 20 taps. Hopefully more syrup than last year.

The first expansion with the sucker was to avoid a zero year....never had one in the several generations of tapping. Need fresh syrup every year. The next expansions were to cover all property taxes and recover simple annual costs of sugaring. It would be nice to go one more step to set some aside for new equipment.

In all reality there is a science which has general rules, but Mother Nature is the boss. You'll never best her, but you'll have fun trying new things.

Mike