The cost of having fun!?!?

[gator330]

After ready a few things about priceing and selling and giving away your syrup... I sat down and did some figuring. 75 taps at 1/3 gal of syrup a tap would be 25ish gal of syrup. My evaporator is around 10 gal a hr. (It's small) That is something like 1075 gal of sap to make 25 gal of syrup so I'm looking at 108 hrs boil time or more. This year has been 100% expence evaporator, tube, tools of the trade, scoop, hydromiter, filtering, bottles, building repair and set up ... So at best If I made all I can by the averages I could recoupe about 1/3 of my investment this year. Providing I don't give any away and right my time off as worth nothing. Why do we do this???? Can't be shure but not willing to stop now!!!!

[maple flats]

It's a sickness with no cure. And no one is looking for a cure. Enjoy!!

[gator330]

My cure is when one of these kids takes over a going buisness and is able to stay here and make it off this farm. With a love for what they do and the appreciation of not having to go work for someone else. I just Hope they have a spouse with a good job and a lot of understanding!!!!!

[tessiersfarm]

As far as hobbys go it can't be much more expensive or work than the horses can it. I am going to try my hand at oxen this year because my farm ventures are not loosing enough money already. My wife says I need a second paying job but who has time.

[gator330]

I often thought it would be great to have a team of oxen. At least if they don't pull together you can eat them. American frown on eating your horse????

[Haynes Forest Products]

I could take the family to Disney Land for what it cost to go back to Wisconsin and gear up for sugar time. I have neighbors that go on crazy vacations with the kids and after about A week the ears fall off the hat and the sun tan fades and the kids stop talking. I have a 5 and 8 year old and I dont have to REMIND them how much fun they had. It takes two weeks to scrub the dirt off everything and their already begging to go back before I give my first bottle away.

[tessiersfarm]

I raise beef anyways so there is almost no initial cash outlay. When I decide not to slaughter them my wife will find out about my little scheme and I may have to sleep with them a week or 2, but who knows if its cold enough she may let me back in early.

[tessiersfarm]

I brought my girls snow shoeing today to check on the trees and stuff. They were quite upset that there was no sap and my 5 year old demanded to go back and get the buckets and drill to tap.

[gator330]

tessiersfarm

Rural heritage aways has lot of ox teams for sale check it out. I think there are a ton of them in Maine?

[dano2840]

hey this addiction is better than an addiction to pot, cocaine, extansy and the like, its more expensive than that stuff but better for your body, (unless you have steep sugar bush hills that you are constantly slipping and falling down like me) thats what i tell my mom when she complains about how much money im spending "Yea but Its better than me doing drugs mom"

[markct]

dano, i dunno if its any more expensive than those other kinds of addictions, i have seen alot of people blow alot of money and destroy there body at the same time with those kindsa addictions! atleast sugaring doesnt run the risk or arrest and prison time. and i can quit sugaring at any time i want, well atleast i tell my self that! but yea i think it does come down to the cost of having fun, i have friends that have spent far more time and money on lifted trucks, souped up cars, and all sortsa other hobbies, most of which never have any cash return on investment, atleast with sugaring ya can usualy recoup your cash outlay in a few years even tho your time is rarely covered but hey i would surely be doing some other project that wouldnt be paying my time either so i will just enjoy that sweet smell in the sugarhouse for now!

[KenWP]

Well this hobby can't be any more expensive then hog farming is. Far as I can see a guy can at least have some control over what price he sells his product for. In my case the first and maybe the only liter of syrup I get made this year will be pretty expensive. I can only hope that I can recoup my losses over time.

[gator330]

I raise beef anyways so there is almost no initial cash outlay. When I decide not to slaughter them my wife will find out about my little scheme and I may have to sleep with them a week or 2, but who knows if its cold enough she may let me back in early.

Glade I'm not the only one who is working a "SCHEME". Spent a lot of nights in the dog house over Coon hounds, Little did she know that wasn't punishment, I was going to be out all night any way!!! Might be better if I didn't have them under the bed room window. She took a real burn to my green house, orchard and garden for some time. Not shure why less lawn for her to mow??? I think she had plans to put a tennis court there??? Can't wait till I start on the portable chicken coup ( already have the running gear hide behind the barn) so we can sell farm fresh brown eggs with a little of that free range price on them. She ever catchs me bending a ox yoke!!! I'm shure I'll be done in then. She is comeing around with this maple syrup stuff a little each day. Some one else most of told her it was worth something.

[tessiersfarm]

Well this hobby can't be any more expensive then hog farming is.

You might like this

August 8, 1994
Honorable Secretary of Agriculture
Washington D.C.
Dear Sir:
My friend, Ed Peterson, over at Wellsburg, Iowa, received a check for $1,000.00 from the government for not raising hogs. So I want to go into the "not raising hogs" business next year.
What I want to know is, in your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on and what is the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this endeavor in keeping with all governmental policies. I would prefer not to raise razorbacks, but if that is not a good breed not to raise, then I would just as gladly not raise Yorkshires or Durocs.
As I see it, the hardest part of this program will be in keeping an accurate inventory of how many hogs I haven't raised.
My friend, Peterson, is very joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was $442.00 in 1968, until this year when he got your check for $1,000.00 for not raising hogs.
If I get $1,000.00 for not raising 50 hogs, will I get $2,000.00 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 hogs not raised, which will mean about $80,000.00 the first year. Then I can afford an airplane.
Now another thing. These hogs I will not be raising will not eat 100,000 bushels of corn. I understand that you also pay farmers for not raising corn and wheat. Will I qualify for payments for not raising wheat and corn not to feed the 4,000 hogs I am not going to raise?
I want to get started as soon as possible as this seems to be a good time of the year not to raise hogs and grain.
Also, I am considering the "not milking cows" business, so send me any information on that too.
In view of these circumstances, you understand that I will be totally unemployed and plan to file for unemployment and food stamps.
Be assured you will have my vote in the coming election.
Patriotically yours,
Jean Partridge
P.S. Would you please notify me when you plan to distribute more free cheese?

[tessiersfarm]

I let my wife bring the eggs to work to sell. When she gets that $3.00 in her hand it seams to make it all right for a minute or 2.

[Revi]

My wife is coming around. She resents all that time I spend at the sugarhouse, but she likes the maple syrup.

My business partner John's wife likes it because she makes the syrup into jams and jellies.

It is a great thing to do in the early spring.

What else is as cool as maple sugaring?

[gmcooper]

Wow how did I miss the money for not raising hogs! We were still raising them in 1994. Bet the mailman kept the check! If we had invested the money we spent raising hogs into maple back then we could be setting on a 100,000 tap operation with all the bells and whistles! Of course the price of syrup would have bottomed out at $.50 lb and stayed till after we went broke!