Getting ready in Iowa

[Belshee Creek]

Hello, first log on to this site. been reading quite a bit and like all of you I too am getting ready for the season to begin. Two years ago my wife and I decided to tap one of our trees in the back yard and see if we could make a bit of syrup. We did pretty good for first timers, got 36 gallons, made about 3/4 of a gallon. Turned out enough to give family and friends. This year we have decided to enter the big leagues, we have about 12 acres of wooded land in East Central Iowa and enough trees to give this year a good try at making syrup. Will see what the weather holds and may tap soon. Nice to be on board!

[michaelh05478]

Welcome to the site!! As you have all ready read, many of us started out small....YOU WILL GROW!!!!!!!!12 acres should give you plenty of room for growth!!! 8O ....Good luck to you this year and keep us posted......Mike

[mapleman3]

Welcome to the Trader.. it's an addicting place so be carefull :lol: and cool to see another state added to the mix too!!

[Belshee Creek]

Thanks for the Welcome! :D Lots of information on this site that I'm sure will be handy as we go along. Picked up a couple of 100 gallon tanks for the coming sap runs, still got to line the 2x4 with fire bricks I also picked up, will do this Monday. All lines, taps, and collection equipment standing by at the ready. The temps here in Iowa have been playing tricks as you well know in your areas, but with luck will get out to the Ranch (Belshee Creek Ranch) soon and get this crazy infection started. Excited about the whole thing and then again like they always say, "Don't count chickens before they hatch". I've spoke to folks about boil overs, ....not good. I am a novice with a big learning curve ahead. I do have a hydrometer so will not guess or shut down at temp only. Never used a hydrometer when we made syrup on our first try, guess there's always a first time for everything 8O ! I will post our adventures, the Good, the Bad, and yes, the Ugly. Good to be here, thanks again!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Welcome to the trader and it sounds like you have a very nice setup. The best thing for your first year would be to spend about 20 hours on the trader reading as many posts under evaporators and other subjects related to boiling. You won't learn everything, but you should know about everything you need to know and the amount of info in old posts is awesome. Under some of the Categories, there are several pages and questions and each question may have several pages, so good luck! :D You could probably learn as much on here in 2 days as you could in 10+ years doing it on your own. :D

[Brush Buster]

I read your post and was interested in what your up to. I am north of Waterloo and have made maple syrup outside a few years. I stopped in the Indian Creek center today in CR to check if they had started yet. Private message me so we can compare notes. We need to get more from Iowa on board.