Introduce yourselves....

[BrooklinPaul]

Hi, my name is Paul and I live in Brooklin, Ontario, Canada and I started tapping last year with my two daughters who are 7 and 5 years old. We were looking to fill some time while Mom was away for the day and I decided that we should go to the sugar bush close by and see if the sap was running. Then I had a great idea. Why don't we do it ourselves and that is what we did. A year later we have 51 taps and spend a lot of time boiling sap in our back yard on our BBQ and two propane burners for finishing.
I have enjoyed lurking for the last couple of weeks so I thought that I should introduce myself.
Paul

[HanginAround]

Hi Paul, thanks for dropping in. Of course 51 is only the start, you'll have a few hundred in no time :)

There's a few more Upper Canadians on here, not sure if any are close to you.

[Pete33Vt]

Welcome Paul,It great to see you have something that you can sare with your daughters. And like Hangin said 51 is only a start. You will end up with more in the future. Feel free to join in and post. There is quite a bit of experiance gathered on this site.

[Sugarmaker]

Paul,
Welcome. I sarted as a kid 45 years ago and have been hooked ever since.
Sugarmaker

[firetech]

Hi to all the folks here on maple trader. I've posted a couple of times since Jan. but have not really introduced myself. This is my first time at this sugar'n I set 66 tappes this year only wanted to do 50 but they don't cost very much. That's where things could have gone bad,but I bought 6 hanging bucket sets (two each)for my granddaughter,and my neice and nephue. The rest were plastic splies,tubing and free 3/5 agl buckets from the bakery or food suppliers. The pan was a 30x82 flat pan borrowd from my son-in-laws family. Put on a concrete arch. We could boil 15-17 gals/hr witch I was pleased with. Finishing on the camp stove,I still have 5 buckets of sap concetrate to do. But everyone loves the syrup that I've made this year,and I never realized how much a social thing this is. My brothers were over several times to help boil(and drink my daddy pop),my granddaughter would bring me her 5 gals of sap every Sun to boil( she likes roasting hotdogs in the fire box) and cryies when they go home, screaming she wants to stay at sugar camp. My dear wife was sceptical at me doing this but really enjoys cooking and baking with the syrup. I believe this is a go again,as my brothers and sons are now looking for materails to build a suger shack in the back yard if I'm lucky it will be the cost of nail and poles. I enjoy walleye fishing deer and turkey hunting. Lake Superior agate hunting in Michigan and Minnisota. We have a flock of reg. Doreset sheep(20 ewes) ,a flock of chickens,and Nancy,a belgiem mare. My wife and I both work off the farm and we have three grown kids. God has blessed us so richly!!!!!!!!!!! Specail thanks to JohnM for his help. He help when ever I was unsure of the next step, Thanks to all the Maple trders for your posts and respones. Herb (firetech)

[Sugarmaker]

Herb,
Welcome hope to hear much more from you in the future. I agree that this is a family thing that almost all family members can participate in. From taping to canning to eating, and visiting.

Regards,
Chris

[Sugarmaker]

Just wanted to say hi to all the sugar makers that I missed in some of the past posts, while I seemed too busy to get on after boiling and or working. I read most of the new maple trader posts and always interested in meeting folks with similar interest. I have learned a lot and met a lot of new friends!

Regards,
Chris

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

Would Like To Say Hi To Everyone At Maple Traders, Stumbled On To The Site In January Of This Year. Eveyone Has Been Very Helpful Here. Been Sugaring The Last 2 Years Since I Have Retired. Used To Help My Dad 50 Years Ago.
Rich Ogden
Capac Mi

[HanginAround]

Welcome Herb and Rich, thanks for the intros!

[Maplewalnut]

I just realized I have never introduced myself. I know I started to once or twice before but never finished and entered. In any case my real name is Mike and along with my wife Lalena and two boys (Ages 5 and 7) we have been tinkering in maple sugaring for the past four years. We live in the Pocono Mountains of NE Pennslyvania

This year we purchased our first evaporator and it is already to small! We tap about 75% sugars and 25% reds. Most on our 20 acre property and others are roadside trees. We are currently breaking ground on a new sugar shack and now looking for a bigger evaporator. Always looking to expand to more trees and find myself straying off the road while driving at times looking for sugar maple trees. This part of PA is not as knowledgeable about the maple process so we have alot of people to educate.

[HanginAround]

Good to meet you MW. Nice to see you're looking to expand already LOL

[Sugarmaker]

Mike welcome from NW PA. Educating the folks in the area will make life long friends and probably some potential customers too. Good luck and thanks for introducing yourself. May see you at a PA maple event.

Regards,
Chris

[dgp219]

Hello all. I,ve been snooping around this site for a while and it high time I jumped in. Doug Payne from Hancock, NH. My wife Pat is incredibly tolerant of my illness (of which I have a few). We have been boiling on flat pans for about six seasons and have gone from the middle of the driveway to a nice 16 x 20 space in our single story chiucken barn. NO CHICKENS. I like me rig, it has been great to learn on but in the immortal words of James T. Kirk "I need more power Mr. Scott!", ie. a flue pan. My 6 year old Hannah helps by drinking prodigous amounts of sap and my faithful dog Guiness sleeps the days away in the truck. After maple season we manage to find a few things to occupy time. Fishing (preferably with a fly), sailing (14 ft Javlin), canoeing, camping, and in winter the 3 S's (skiing, skating, and sledding). Oh, yeh, I forgot we both have to work sometime during the day also. Life is ment to live, and remember less than 300 shopping days till its time to tap!

[Russell Lampron]

Doug,

Welcome to the site. You probably have already found that this site is as addicting as maple sugaring itself. I've got alot to do in those 300 days sugaring season is just around the corner.

Russ

[HanginAround]

Welcome Doug, thanks for the intro.

[maplekid]

hi im nate im going on my 2nd season and have bought a evaporator then sold it and am now building a brick 2x6 arch . we are going to be building a sugar house(leanto type deal)and am hopefuly going to post some pics.if you guys are wandering how i started, it was at school we were reading a book called MIRICLES ON MAPLE HILL and thats whats started it.then i started buying equipment and got books like backyard sugaring and have been up and down the road collecting sap. but in later years i hope to have a bigger operation and to have a big sugar house but guess ill have to wait.

[Pete33Vt]

Welcome aboard Nate. Sounds like you are on your way. Its good to see someone your age getting into and enjoying sugaring. Im sure you will find alot of the help you need right here just by asking.
Good luck

[HanginAround]

Welcome Nate. Yes, it's good to see someone so young getting involved. You'll have lots of time to grow, don't try to rush things. It sounds like you've made a good start though.

[Sugarmaker]

Nate,
Welcome. The book that you refer to is being researched by Jan Woods a member of our Northwestern PA Maple Producers Association. She is having a event in June and some of the folks from the book will be there. You can find Jan's number and address on our web site www.pamaple.org. Miracles on Maple Hill was written about a place just south of Edinboro PA about 20 mile from where I live. The hill in the book is a local ski slope. The book has had a lot of influence on us too. Our new granddaughter is named Marly.

Regards,
Chris

[thenewguy]

Hey guys, I've been watching this forum for a while now. Finally decided to start posting my 2cents also. I'm from Peteroborough, ontario and have been doing the maple thing for 3 years now. I'm a full time diesel truck mechanic, and enjoy the outdoors in my spare time. I tap around 70 trees on buckets and tried a small amount of tubing this year. I have a 2x5 homemade drum style evaporator which works quite well, anyways look forward to chatting with everyone. P.S. how do I change my username?

[HanginAround]

Welcome newguy, feel free to jump in and post wherever you see fit. I think only the admins can change user names... send a private message to Kim, she'll do it for you.

[mapleman3]

I just wanted to say... Have you seen there are over 19'000 views of this thread? Holy Cow !!!

[Revi]

We have gotten the firewood in and are getting ready for fall to really arrive. It's been really nice around here lately. I was at the Commonground Fair today and it had to be 80 and sunny. Nice. It won't be this way for too much longer. Lots of maple syrup vendors at the fair and lots of maple in the food there. It was really fun to check it all out.

[TapME]

Nice to see you back after summer vacation Revi. The common ground fair is as tradition as a fair as you can get. I just finished the Oxford fair last week, small and growing the last three years. My son and I have just secured at least another 100 taps for this coming year. Now the upgrade to the evaporator is next. Think that I am going to boil inside this year ( a 12x24 place at the end of my work shop). Total taps will be around 200 on our new to us 3x7, hope it's big enough

[petersp22]

Whoever coined the phrase "as exciting as watching water boil" never built a sugar house.

When I was probably 6 or so My aunt and uncle showed me a couple sugarbushes near Pulcifer, Wisconsin. That trip stuck with me for a long time and finally last spring I made a little syrup on the back porch with a turkey fryer. What fun! I met a fellow last summer who is tapping in a sugarbush that has been in his family for 100 years. Then through work I found a few maple-mentors. It's a slippery slope and here I am, just wrapped up from my initial test boil in my new sugar house.

I'm just a back-yarder. The sugar house is 8x12 and equipped with a Wesfab 20x36. There's an elevated stock tank behind the house. I'll have about 50 taps from my property and the neighbor's.

I wouldn't be here in this condition without the inspiration from Sandy and Bryce, advice from co-workers Bob and Dick, and all of you! Once I found this site all hope was lost and the information I picked up here has been incredibly helpful.

I invite you to view my online gallery at http://stevepetersen.smugmug.com/gallery/3724037/2#P-1-15

[royalmaple]

Welcome-

You did a nice job on your sugarhouse. I like the bats on T-111. Neat idea.

There are many people on here regularly that have a wealth of knowledge all sharing for free. Don't hesitate to ask any questions you might have.

[PATheron]

Petersp22- Ive looked at a lot of sugarsheds while building mine and that is one heck of a nice shed. I like the maple leaf touch on the peak of the facia. Thats a beautiful shed. Theron

[Russell Lampron]

Welcome aboard Petersp22. Once the maple bug bites it bites hard. That is a nice little set up you have there. You are going to have a lot of fun and be looking for more taps in no time.

Russ

[Sugarmaker]

Steve,
Very nice sugarhouse! Love the details like the maple leaf. Welcome to the trader! The progressive pictures during your construction are great. I like the pavers for the floor too! I have seen this before and makes a really unique nice floor.
50 taps will be a good start. The holding tank looks about right for a good run of 100 gallons of sap.
How is the wood supply coming along?

Regards,
Chris

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

I like your floor cant crack on you. once the sugar bug gets you, you will be adding on. welcome aboard.

RICH

[petersp22]

Thanks for all the welcoming remarks! I've had a lot of fun building it. I've explained it to some people that my job doesn't always show tangible results at the end of the day and so I need a way to be able to say - "I did that".

Firewood is my next task. I've got a few full cords cut already but need to split it.

When I went to see my maple-mentor Bob's set-up he had a maple leaf cutout on his door. My wife insisted that we have a maple leaf on ours too. So that's why there are maple leaves at the peaks. Seemed a shame to cover those nice tight miters ;) .

I'm hopeful the floor will work out for me. It was easier for me to do this than mess with mixing concrete. I've got a good base of packed gravel and sand under it so I expect it will support the evaporator and also drain well.

I'll be around,
Steve

[andyp]

Steve
That is a very nice sugar house. It sounds like you got the bug already.I'll have to warn you though, sugaring is a little like farming its not an addiction its more like a disease once your infected there is no cure. It lasts
a life time.LoL Enjoy it have fun.

Andyp

[TapME]

Nice job on the sugarshack, I like the finishing touches. What kind of evaporator is that?

[Gary R]

Hello,
My name is Gary Regelman. I have a wonderful wife, Laura, no kids and 1 dog. We live outside of Polk, PA. I work for a medical equipment manufacture servicing the equipment in the field. I love deer hunting and spending time in our woods. I was told of this site by Dave Y. I visited his place last spring. I have been lurking since then and gleening all the information I can. I must say this is an awesome site. I have been learning alot and built everything I have by getting ideas from here. I got interested in this from a cousin of mine who lives 2 country blocks from Sugarmaker. He's a small backyarder who's been doing it for a few years. There is something about making something from something (I'm sure you all understand). I started this past spring cooking Birch sap on a turkey fryer. I burnt the syrup (sugar is fructose with lower burning temperature). But I did make wine and Birch beer out of condensed sap. Spent way too much time and money on propane. Sooo, it was time to build. I realized we have a few sugars and uncountable reds so I decided to make some maple syrup. I plan on only 40 taps. We'll keep some and give some away. My entire setup is about 90% complete. I have to mount my smoke stack and steam hood and stack. Then test boil. I hope to meet a few local producers so that I can learn more and share stories. I'm a little computer illiterate so I don't know how to post pictures or use many of the features of this site. I also don't spend too much time on the computer as there are things to do. Thanks so much and hope to meet some of you on the mapletrader.

Gary

[Fred Henderson]

I would like to welcome you to our forum.

[Sugarmaker]

Gary,
Welcome to the trader. Have to get my fix just about every day. As Cheryl says "I have a problem". Give me a P.M. about your cousin, I may or may not know them?
Glad you are not lurking and the future looks good for you. Except that you may spend even more time planning and getting ready to make syrup.
Dave Y is a great asset to our hobby and has really jumped in with both feet. We hit it off right away.
We have several folks on here that can help with computer stuff like loading/ posting pictures too.
Good luck with your 40 taps.
Hope your deer hunting is going better than mine! I will be back out there Thursday.

Regards,
Chris

[Jim Brown]

Gary; welcome! By your address we live in the same neck of the woods! Send me a PM and we can get together and 'talk shop' You will fined great folks on here who are very helpful with a lot more knowledge than I have
Thanks

Jim

[Dave Y]

Gary R,
Welcome to the trader! I sorry I dont remember you by name. I come in contact with many good people in my daily life. Working in the public and being involed with trapping and now tapping. I am very poor with names but your face would jog my memory. Hope you have as much fun as I am. Guess what Gary I just remembered who you are. Welcome!
Chris, Thanks for the complement!

[PATheron]

Gary R- Welcome to the trader. I never used the compute either untill I found this site. Really enjoy it, the amount of available info is amazing and its a lot of fun visiting with people that like syruping as much as you do. Theron

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

Let me start with me, My name is Andy Benware born and raised in the Portland Maine area, moved to Vermont in 2000 with my wife Jenn (who grew up here). I have 2 great kids Adoria age 5 and Mitchell age 3. I am a residental builder here in the upper valley.

I started making syrup in a turkey fryer with 5 taps in 03 because there is nothing to do here in the sping and it sounded cool. In 04 I went to a 2X4 leader and about 35 buckets.

This is about the time the addiction begins..

05-07 I was boiling about 1000 taps in a leased bush on a 4X10 leader. This is the era where I managed to get my best help involved!! I managed to get a arborist and a forester that enjoy to help. They are the saving grace alot of the time.

Well that bring us to today.. I have signed a lease on 4500 taps all piped on vacum. I am still boiling with my 4X10 wood fired evaporator, I have added a 500 gal/hr RO and a dual bank filter press this year.. Oh and let me not forget the extra 20 cord of wood I added this year. (I hope that great help wanted to go big).

My sugarhouse is just off the interstate here in Bradford, It is always open to visitors during the sugar season, and I always enjoy showing what I have and the way I do things.. If any of you want to stop by during the season throw me a note and I would be more then happy to take you through my whole process sugarbush (10 miles away) to the end.

Happy sugaring to all!!

P.S. I think I mite be one of the sugarhouse stops on the Vermont Maple Rama bus tour so I hope to see some of you then!!

[TapME]

nice to have you aboard Andy, and Gary. Sure is nice to have new people addicted as we are. Lou

[HHM-07]

Hi Folk's

I have been on the trader for about a year now and will introduce myself. I am Dick @ HHM_07 My wood is in the shed and i am waiting for spring. I have 170 all on line with a 2x4 lesader wood fired, you think 170 is enough? WE are both retired printers , from East Fairfield Vermont ON 77 acres with plenty of maples. I have noticed a couple of you guys are close tome would like to hear from you and maybe see your operation.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Dick,

Welcome to the trader. 170 taps on a 2x4, no that is not enough for boiling 12+ hours a day. Glad you are retired, so you will have plenty of time for boiling. I would think that would be about the max # of taps you could handle with it.

Have fun and enjoy the site. Lot of great guys and gals on here!!!!!!!

[Sugarmaker]

Dick,
I agree with Brandon, If you have good taps the 170 will keep you busy on the 2 x 4.:) Welcome to the trader! A fun place to exchange maple ideas and get you 2 cents in. I have learned a lot form the folks on here!
Regards,
Chris

[jemsklein]

hello my name is James Klein i live in peterborogh on canada i am 16 years old and i have been sugaring for 3 years going on my 4th i had a freind that got me started with 80 taps on buckets and 4 pans on blocks and finish the season with 70 Liters of finished syrup now we have 300 +/- taps on gravity lines hopfully 500 by 08 and we have a 2'x10' evaporator that we built this summer we also got a 384 leyland tractor and a old gmc suburban that we turned into a pick up.
I got 2 brothers that don't help at all and my mom and dad support me we own 100 acres of land full of sugar, silver, and red maple plus i tap my neighbors trees.
hopfully in summer of 2008 we will have are sugar shack built.
i am currently in grade 11 with a part time job at tim hortons that has mostly paid for all of my opperation to get started.
my other hobbys are growing about a 1000 pumkins cleaning drive ways and i love to work with wood and build things.

[PATheron]

James- Nice job on the evaperator. Pretty darn good fabrication. I like the woods too. Looks likes theres some nice trees and the creek looks nice running through it. Good luck in the spring I hope you make tons of syrup. Theron

[royalmaple]

James nice job. Keep up the good work.

You'll have several thousand tap soon enough and a new evaporator.

What do you have rigged up for your 5/16 manifold entrance to your mainlines? I couldn't tell from the pictures.

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

Welcome Dick and James glad to see new people joining. It is really great to see young people James!!! This is a piece of our heritage that could be lost in a short amount of time....

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

James,

Great to see a young man like you into sugaring and with such a great work ethic!

[PATheron]

James- I think putting the steel plate on the one section of your evap is a real good idea. on my homeade one I had to lift the pan off the arch sometimes right at syrup becouse I couldnt regulate the fire. Mine was pretty basic. Your idea is good becouse maybe youll have to take it off just before syrup, who knows, and you could finish it easy on that plate seems to me. Have you done a test boil to get some idea of how much sap an hour itll boil? Lifting it off like I did is a bad idea becouse its real unsafe. I think yours is going to work better than mine I think. Theron

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

JAMES
you sound like a nice young man also a good addition to the work force. good to have you with us in the sugar business. good luck

RICH

[jemsklein]

i just posted some clearer pics for you and to answer you question patheron we have done about 3 test boils with water and it takes 10 min to start a good boil and we evaoprated abot 300 gallons in about 10 hour with it going full steam wich is about 30 gph

[royalmaple]

I must have been looking at something else or it just wasn't clear. Looked like some fitting but lots of black tape all wrapped around it.

I think 10 hours certainly qualifies as a test boil. Your doing good work, keep it up.

[jemsklein]

yah there is black tape around it to keep it up right so the end of the pipe dont curl up in to a loop again

[Russell Lampron]

Welcome aboard new guys. This hobby is a good one for all ages. It is a lot of work and it always good to see how someone else is doing it. This is the place to find the answers to your questions. If you are going to try something new chances are someone here has already tried it and can give you first hand advise as to how it worked for them.

Russ

[PATheron]

James- 30 gals per hour is darn good for homemade you ask anybody on here. Do any of your pans have flues in them? I couldnt find where I could look in the pans. Your going to be set for spring with that rig. Nice job on the fabrication. Theron

[jemsklein]

nope no flues yet i got some quotes for a flue pan and i almost droped dead of a hart attack for a 2x6 flue pan cost $6000

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

James,

You must have misunderstood quote as you can pick up an entire 2x6 evaporator brand new with stack and everything for a little more than $ 4000.

[jemsklein]

no for a costome made 7" drop flue pan 24" wide and 72" long with the float box and the fitting cost $6000 and the 2x3 finish syrup pan with 4 carpatments is $1800 with transer box and fittings

[H. Walker]

Jemsklein, you must have got that quote from Atkinson, they are crazy on custom made stuff. Try www.lsbilodeau.com they quoted me $4105 for a new 4' x 8' x 7" flue pan with float box, a drain and a sight level tube.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Definitely sounds like they are trying to rip you off majorly. My 2x5 welded Leader pan with 7.5" flues was $ 2100 about 3.5 years ago. I know the price has went up, but I would guess it would still be under $ 3,000.

[GOwin]

Hi. I'm Erwin from the Philippines.

I'm new in the board and hoping to learn about how you process your maple sap, and hopefully adapt them so we could improve our own palm sugar processing.

I just wrote an overview of tapping palm trees and making sugar out of its sap (http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?p=36988#post36988). I hope to hear your comments soon.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Welcome and your information and pics are very interesting!!!!!!!!!!!!

[GOwin]

Thanks WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER. I'll try my best to learn from you guys. :)

[the old guy]

I Am "the Old Guy". I Joined This Forum About A Year An A Half Ago. I Live In Southern Indiana And Have Lived Here All My Life. I Am 64 Years Old And A Retired School Teacher. I Had A Crude Introduction To Sugaring When I Was About 6 Or 7-years Old. My Grandmother Showed Me A Giant Old Sugar Maple. She Took A Hatchet And Cut A Deep Gash In The Side Of It And Fashioned A Trough From An Old Piece Of Galvanized Metal And Directed The Flow Of Sap To A 3-gal Pail On The Ground. I Collected The Sap For About A Week And We Boiled It Down On An Old Cookstove We Had Sitting On The Back Porch. All-in-all I Think We Might Have Wound Up With About A Quart Of Syrup. I Was Not Impressed. But As I Grew Older And Had A Grandson Of My Own I Began To Rethink The Importance Of Passing Along One Of The Richest Of American Traditions -- Maple Sugaring. It Has Provided All Of Us Around Here With A Link To The Past When Life And Times Were Simpler And Taught Us That Not All Good Things Come From The Grocery Store Or Walmart.

[jemsklein]

welcome the old guy looking forword ton hearing from you

[Maple Restoration]

Hi every one My name is Mike just stumbled upon your site while surfing the web for more maple tips found your discussion very informative, so I thought I would join and I’m always looking to learn more. This is My 7th season and slowly getting ready for this years run, 4 weeks to go and counting down.I hope things run well for all of you this season and I look forward for any input.

[H. Walker]

Welcome Maple Restoration, are you up near North Bay?

[Maple Restoration]

Yes I'm 45 min. south west from North Bay

[H. Walker]

I maybe up that way next fall at the big Plowing Match.

[Maple Restoration]

Thats great where and when is the match?

[H. Walker]

Maple Restoration, the plowing match is always the 3rd week of September, but I was mistaken, it's in New Liskeard in 09 not this year.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome Maple Restoration, (Mike)
Does the name imply that you are restoring equipment to make maple syrup or restoring your desire to make maple syrup? Either way hope you find this forum rewarding and useful, most of us do! Great place!
Regards,
Chris

[Maple Restoration]

Thanks Chris Yes it dose mean I'm slowly restoring everything from the ground up, when the wife and I move out here and took over the old farm house and started exploring our back yard we found the old sugar shack. Every thing was pretty much rusted out and falling apart so I started back in 2001 rebuilding it from the ground up. That spring was my first syrup season, we made about 4 gallons that year black as could be but still tasted great.

[tapper]

Maple Restoration,

Hello and welcome, I have been past Trout Creek many times headed to our fishing spot in Quebec. I havnt been there for a few years now because of expanding syrup business. Wow I cant think of anything more fun than finding an old sugarhouse and bringing it back to life like you are. Good luck and have fun with it!

[Maple Restoration]

Thanks John it has been very fulfilling, my wife and three teens keeps reminding me it is suppose to be a hobby turned out to be more of a passion.

[thenewguy]

Maple Restoration, feel free to post some pictures if available. I think we would all like see some of your projects!

[Maple Restoration]

I will gladly post some pic's of the porject for all of you's as soon as i down load them to a site.

here are a few pic's follow this ulr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23014564@N02/?saved=1

[DaveB]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum but I have been sugaring for over 17 years. I started in 1990 with a few buckets and a brand new wash basin on cement blocks and quickly moved to 2x4 VT Special the following year. I expanded to 150 taps and then my work changed and I could no longer spend time doing it. Got back into a couple of years later using a flat pan on a turkey fryer burner. Moved up to a double burner and a larger pan before building a cement black arch and buying some standard pans.

I've never worked in a sugarhouse and hope to build one after this season. Being dependent on the weather is not good. I'm hoping to pipe everything to the sugarhouse.

Once I get settled with the new sugarhouse and maxing out our land, I'd like to expand to leasing some trees.

Anyway, that's my brief history. You guys have lots of tips and I hope that I can add my own, but you all seem so knowledgeable!

Dave

[Father & Son]

DaveB,
Welcome to the Trader. Good luck with this maple season and your future expansion plans.

Jim

[Riverdale]

Hi all,

I've been reading on here for about a year, figured I'd better introduce myself before I started posting more.

I'm located in Delhi, NY. Delaware County. I'm 23 and a 4th generation producer, still boiling in the sap house my great-grandfather built on the farm. I've been into it my whole life, from when I dipped my hand in the evaporator as a little one to collecting buckets with my lawn mower and milk cans in a cart to most of the boiling now that my Dad has recently moved out of the area. My grandfather still does alot in the saphouse, can't keep him out of it no matter how much grandma scolds us! If it's in your blood, you can't help yourself.

Tap numbers have been down the past few years due to extensive damage on our largest bush by caterpillars. We were right above 400 last year and will be again this year, if fully tapped more in the area of 700-800. All gravity lines aside from 50 buckets or so along the road. I plan on making syrup the rest of my life and want my kids to carry on the tradition, so the development of some new bushes is becoming a priority for me. Some of our trees are coming to the end of their production and there's not much coming up underneath.

Aside from syrup I've got 20 Herefords, pigs in the summer, chickens coming soon, and we sell hay and firewood....plus a 40 hour/wk. job. No wife yet, but that'll be coming soon.

Anyway, I enjoy reading on this site everyday and want to try and contribute more if I can.

Take care, and may everyone have a great season!

-Gideon

[jemsklein]

welcome daveb and Gideon we look forward to hearing from both of you

[Sugarmaker]

Daveb,
Welcome,
It just sounds like we know what were doing! Follow us around for a while and you'll laugh!

Gideon,
Welcome also, Glad to here from a 4th generation sugarmaker. I am sure you will be able to contribute.
My Great grandfathers name was Gideon. I have a picture of him making syrup about 1912.

Regards,
Chris

[Riverdale]

Sugarmaker,

Gideon is a family name rich in history around here. Gideon Frisbee, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather was the first judge and a pioneer in Delaware County here in NY. My folks named me after him.
Interesting that your great-grandfather was named Gideon! It's not a name heard often

[Sugarmaker]

Love the historical aspects. Gideon Draper Stump ( my Great grandfather) came up here from West Virginia in about 1905 I think. Anyway way bake not sure how many greats Michael Stump (originally form Germany) was host to George Washington as George surveyed portions of Virginia.

Chris

[Mac_Muz]

I am Mac.. I live in Tamworth NH, and am making a simple sugar rig from a 55 gallon barrel, which will be mounted on skis, since dragging a light stove on skis is easier than moving a wood pile.

I had a rig like this before with a simple flat pan made of mild steel, and it worked ok for home uses.

I am looking forward to seeing ideas for simple maple makers like me, and maybe one day getting or building a better rig.

This year 10 or so taps will do it for my needs and wants..

Everyone askes me about the user name.. Mac is me, and all mac's were taken when I came on line. I also shoot flintlocks; hence the muz...

mac suits me as well as Mac_Muz, so suit yourselves..

Thanks for giving me "speech".

[Maple Restoration]

Welcome Mac Muz to the site hope you enjoy the topic's and info as much as I have.

[jemsklein]

welcome to the trader we hope you can learn as much as i have and we look forward to hearing from you

[troes30]

Hi, i'm tim from carthage, ny. thats about an hour from the canadian border. im 29, and have been sugaring with my family since early 90's. Our family runs a 4500 tap bush with 6x16 leader rig with a steamaway. just got an RO this winter so looking forward to mastering that. we also boil about another 2000 taps for neighbors. cant wait to see how much fuel oil that RO will save us. all our taps are tubing on vacuum. we have 3 seperate woods so i am busy gathering while my father tries to keep up boiling...he shouldn't have any trouble this year though. gonna start tappin presidents day week...hopefully can get done in a week, hopefully. hope to hear from you all. does anyone know how big a diesel generator i need to run a 5 hp motor. im brainstormin. thanks in advance.

[jemsklein]

welcome troes30 we look forward to hearing from you

[hard maple]

Welcome new traders
That history fascinates me

[tapper]

Welcome Mac and Troes30! This is a very fun and informative board.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome new maple traders! Hang on its sugaring time!
Chris

[tony brown]

hello everyone ,im tony,i got to tell you i love this site,anyways from all small town in upstate new york cincinnatus,been making suryp since i was a little kid.we have four of us close friends that have invested together.herb ,eli ,and al we have a 3by8 leader.bout 450 taps and alot of fun.love hearing all you have to say ,thanks

[tapper]

Welcome Tony Brown. Enjoy the board!

[Yorkholomaple]

Hi everyone i joined last spring but my computer went crazy and i was not able to get on the trader for awhile. But anyway lately i have been getting on everyday and reading the different threads and really enjoy the site. So to introduce myself I am Tom from NE PA and I have been making syrup since I was 14 so this will be my 6 year. i started with 15 taps and im going for atleast 300 for this season boiling with a 2x8 drop flue. Everthing gravity besides a few buckets. Im working on putting some photos on photobucket of my set up so they shoud be posted soon.

[Sugarmaker]

Tom,
Welcome! Nice to have some more folks from PA join in!
Chris

[Yorkholomaple]

Thanks for the welcome Chris, I like the sap house its real nice, talk to ya soon. Also i posted a few pics for everyone of my set up so far. I plan on taking more soon here when i start tapping and boiling. Matt, let me know if you get to see my pics if not i will prob email them to ya. Tom

[royalmaple]

Tom-

Looking good. Might try to resize some of the pictures to get them a bit larger. You need to go over to theron's and show him how to split some wood. Looks like you got some rocket fuel there. He's over there burning saw logs. We still got it going though. I think today was the 1st day I felt like I was coming out of the fog. You should have stopped by earlier in the weeks and done some more marathon nights, that was the longest night for sure. But the others were only a couple hours earlier. You have to Waaaaaant it.

Theron's gonna be getting his wet suit out for Monday. Might have to get the arm floaties too.

[PATheron]

Tom- Nice looking sugarhouse. If you need some tools come on over. Im doing all different things this weekend so we can share whatever you need. Im hoping to have our first big boil on monday night maybe so come over anytime you want. Might be running good tomarrrow night and you can see the releaser dumping. Theeeron

[peacemaker]

added some more pics

[WestCoast]

hi all

I've just really developed an interest in sugaring and found this board. I tapped a few (4) big leaf maples out here on vancouver island and made a small amount of syrup on my woodstove. good enough that I will try to build a small evaporator this year for next season or at least a modified wood stove. the sap runs intermittently from november to late february here

greg

[Yorkholomaple]

Matt, I know what ya mean by you got to want it.i have run into alot of problems over the past couple of years learning on my own but i just keep going. I think i have some sap running through my veins because the closer to spring we get each year the more i get ichy to boil some sap and i love it! Thanks for the input on my photobucket i was just hoping i did everything right so everyone could view it but when i add more i will work on the pic sizes.

Theron, I will deff stop over soon. my dads gonna help me do some washing tom. morning so maybe i will get over in the afternoon. Also i will stop over monday night or when ever your boiling to give you a hand at what ever since im not gonna be tapping till late next week if everything isnt still froze up in my bush. Tom

[tuckermtn]

Hey Westcoast...welcome to the trader...nice to have another BC sugarmaker on the trader...I seem to remember reading some study the US Forest Service did about the feisability of commercially tapping big leaf maples. I think their conclusion was that the sugar content was so variable amongst trees that were litlerally right next to each other that it was too hit or miss..

where are you on Vancouver Island?

again- welcome...

[WestCoast]

hey tuckermtn

I'm in the cowichan valley, just outside of Duncan
There's a couple up in Ladysmith, Katherine and Gary Backlund, who wrote a book about sugaring the big leaf. They say that during their testing sugar content does not vary too much between trees on the same day, but that it does vary over time.

[jmbinventions]

Hello

My name is Justin I am a new maple tapper and I just love it so far, I have 15 taps that I tend to. I am still in school waiting to get out to start saving for some more maple tapping equipment. I have 15 sugar maples tapped and hope to increase to 30 by next year.

[jemsklein]

hi justin welcome to the trader are you in high school or college

[Brookhaven Maple]

Might you have additional photos of your sugar shack? What are its overall dimensions? I'm in the process of builiding one and would appreciate any advice and information I could get.

Thanks,

Doug

[jemsklein]

Are you talking about me.

[Brookhaven Maple]

No, my question was directed toward "Tuckermtn."

Sorry for the confusion!

Doug

[redbuc1]

I am new to maple trader. I have a 2X4 home made arch- wood fired. I have about 30 taps to start out. I started last year with just a turkey fryer and I'm hooked. I have made a couple of gallons of syrup so far and it gets better each batch! My arch is currently portable on a frame with wheels. I intend to turn my shed into a sugar shack this summer and hope to have about 100 taps next season.

[ArnoldSugarBush]

I found this site as I was looking forward to this season. The pictures of the smallest to the biggest operations are very cool. This site is great for what it offers to a variety of users. I get a kick out of how different people have started. For us it was an old pan on a coleman stove. That didn't work very well, but is evolving as we enter season 4 in central WI.

Thanks to all for their input to make this a great site.

[musicfreak46290]

Well, I'm an north central ohio sugarer. This is only my third year doing it. Me and dad started with a few taps and a turkey fryer. Now we have 60 and a half-pint. Best of luck to everyone with their sugaring.

Shayne

[Dill]

I've toyed with the idea of sugaring for a number of years now. I've helped lots of friends boil but never got around to doing it myself.
So this year a week and half into the season, another friend called up and asked why we never made an arch.
So it began 4 days of scrounging and I had 50 buckets from my brother in law and a 2x3 flat pan. A bag of 100+ taps from my father who had them socked away in the barn for 20 years, which I never knew about. An old Grimm 2x2 syrup pan that a coworker had sitting around. And a bunch of woodstoves, and no idea what the heck I was doing.
We spent a week of late nights cutting apart a woodstove without the aid of torches or a plasma cutter. Just cutoff wheels and elbow grease. And then a few more late nights welding on dump sourced angle iron (bed frames) and a barrel from the same place. Always be friendly with your local dump guys.
I fired it up this weekend and with some minor adjustments and lots of slab wood, boiled some of my own sryup finally.

So anyway a little about me. I live in Northwood NH, I'm am insurance guy, which is about as exciting as it sounds. I do mostly farms and small businesses. I'm a selectman in town also so I get to hear how bad the roads are on a regular basis, but I know where to get free firewood. I farm part time with my folks, hay and heifers. And its nice to have some production out of my house now. My wife and I have a beautiful 7 month old daughter and both are having fun with this new venture.
Hoping to do about 100 taps next year.

[Maple Restoration]

Welcome to the site Dill I do hope you enjoy all the info the site has to offer, I know for us every one has been quite helpful with any of the questions we have had and most like more to come. All the best to you and the family in your new venture.

Regards form the north.

[MapleME]

Hello- Im following protocol and using this place to say a quick "hello". Im from Brunswick Maine (just north of Portland) and this is my first year with, what im calling, " the maple syrup experiment". Its been an absolute blast learning about a new hobby, making some new connections etc.

I have 15 taps in and things are moving fast. Last weekend I boiled two batches on my homemade evap over two propane burners. Its a SS 2.5'x4.5' pan which is 20 inches deep. It was (many moons ago) a lobster boiler) but hasnt been used in many years and doesnt smell one bit. I bought it for 60 bucks.

I got over 2 gallons last weekend and it was a blast- but in true style im always looking to improve the operation.

So, I just wanted to say hello and look forward to maybe meeting some Mainers on here.

MapleME

[Al Makwa]

Read MapleME's Thread so let me follow his lead.

I've finally found the courage to actually tap this year, following the oral teachings from up home in western NY.
Currently staying near the Allegheny National Forest, Marienville,Pa. Not far from Dave Y whom I met a week ago. We are using very primative methods, 13 plastic buckets,3 SS pots, and a propane Turkey Burner.Started the end of Feb. and managed to obtain two gallons from our efforts. Having lots of fun, enjoying every moment, and very grateful for everyones comment on this forum. Would have shared a few words earlier, however could not figure out how to respond. Sent out e-mail over weekend, receiving a very quick response from Kim, which was very helpful.

Being a 'newby' I'm on a big cloud .... oh yea, read someone's comment about wall paper too late! After using the kitchen stove and discovering that all our walls were covered with moisture we moved our process outdoors to porch. Everyday we are learning something new, another reason why we appreciate all of the comments we've read. Glad to give all of you a laugh ...
Nya:weh Thanks
Al Makwa

[Maine4me]

Just wanted to say hello to everyone.

This is my first year boilin'. Got turned on to it by a guy I work with and 2 guys in NY who I used to work with. I have 20 taps on my property in Leeds, ME. 10 on tube and 10 on milk jugs. My evaporator is a concrete block setup with leftover stove pipe and aluminum foil steam table pans. I just expanded and am now 2 blocks high with an arched bed, really helped to improve evap rate. Anyway, I have made 4 qts this year and can't wait till next year.

Looking forward to learning from everyone on here.

[Dave Y]

Al,
Welcome to the Mapletrader! It is always nice to have some one to share your interests with. If you get tired of boiling on the turkey fryer I am still boiling. you can come up and visit. I hope to finish up this weekend. Hope you continue to have fun.

[TapME]

welcome to the trader maple4me. Look forward to your posting. Lou

[SV Sugarer]

I’ve been reading posts on this site for well over a year now, so figured it was time I finally introduced myself. I’m from Ashby, MA and just built my sugarhouse over this past winter. Put out 88 taps this year and managed to make about 30.5 gallons of syrup. Found myself wanting more sap every time I boiled. Guess I’ll be putting out more taps next year. I originally caught the “bug” over 15 years ago. I used to go to my neighbor’s sugarhouse when I was younger to help pick buckets and watch them boil. Last year I tapped some trees and brought the sap to a friend’s sugar house and helped them make some quality product. This is when I got “hooked” again. So, I decided it was time to build my own sugarhouse.

I boiled on a 2X6 bought from a trader on this site. I couldn’t have accomplished what I did this season without all the helpful information in the posts on this site (and the understanding and patience of my better half). Everything from the size of the sugarhouse to the clean up of equipment came from these posts. Thanks to everyone for this information. I just finished cleaning all the buckets and equipment, and already I find myself looking forward to the BIGSAP next season.

Hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable season.

SVS

[Haynes Forest Products]

I smelled up the house the first time as a kid in a huge pot on the stove back in 64. Watched the farmers in the area do it and was overwelmed at the prosess. Caught the bug really bad in 88 and havent recoverd sense. Started in a old kettle in the driveway. Asked a friend to look out for a old shed to move into. He called and said he found one problem was it was full junk but for 600.00 I could have the bldg and contents. In 91 with the help of family and friends and a very large tractor trailer I was the proud owner of a complete suger shack with cupla 2X6 English tin drop flue pans with arch 200 buckets with lids pail of spouts and all the trimmings. I still cook in that bldg and added a large kitchen. Have a 3X10 Waterloo small cook with oil and filter press all the stainless one person should have. Im married with a daughter and 2 little sap suckers 4 and 7 and yellow lab called maple the color of boiling sap. Could Have the best bass boat ever built with what I have invested. BUT try and give the fish away after a good day aint gunna happin.
I hate to tell you but I live in Colorado and travel back to Wisc. every spring. Own 10 acers and tap 1100 on a friends farm. I remember when I orderd my new cooker from Roth Sugar bush in Codot Wisc and Maple pro called and asked for a shipping address and I gave them Denver Colo I had some explaining to do.

[tuckermtn]

Hayes- I had you beat this year for "commuting" to my sugarbush...we are in western Canada (BC) for the year and I had to get my fix so I traded some frequent flier miles to get back to NH for a week in March..."miles well spent"

-tuckermtn

[Haynes Forest Products]

I lived in Chicago for 29 years and moved to Colo before the bug hit me. Every year I try and hit the start of the season. Been lucky March 15th every time I might miss a run or two but not bad. Last year big job came up and i coulnt go and it turns out to be the worst year they could remember.

[Old Farmer]

Been making maple syrup for as far back as I can remember. My dad started making syrup in the 70's, in Michigan's upper peninsula, and has been making it almost every year since. I finished college, got married, and moved away in the late 90's. I didn't make syrup again until I got a few acres with maples in 2005. We can tap about 50 trees. Not a big operation, but it sure is fun and the kids love it. The first year, I used a concrete block evaporator with 2 pans I got from my dad. The second year, I cobbled together a barrel evaporator with the same 2 pans. Last year I rebuilt the barrel evaporator, made a bunch of improvements and added a third pan. This year, I am hoping to make a flue pan to improve boil rates. I found some large sheets of stainless steel at a junk yard ($80 for a 60" x 65" sheet of 17 gauge).

[Jeff E]

Just found this site a few days ago, and am thrilled to be tied in. The maple syrup process can be so simple, or very complex, depending on size and desires. I am tending toward the complex and look forward to the learning that can happen here.
I cook on a 2x8 Leader Vermont and a 2x4 GBH. 350 bags and buckets. I am looking very hard at expanding to take advantage of all 1700 maples on my 40.
Vacuum, RO, bigger evaporator, new building, it goes on and on!!!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

JEFF has been bitten by the maple syrup bug good luck and yes this is a great site for all kinds of info. we got everything here

RICH

[Haynes Forest Products]

There goes The IRA.............No really honey I can make money at this.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome All new maple traders, I have learned a lot from these folks and they have totally converted me to tubing in just two years after using buckets for about 40. Strange folks these maple people:) Great site for us to chat!

Regards,
Chris

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

oh sugarmaker i remember saying i would never go to vac and tubing. guess what this year i did it and wonder why i didnt do it sooner.

RICH

[green4310]

Hope I'm in the right place. Finally decided to try and reestablish the connection. The wife and I retired 98. We had always made some table syrup in a open kettle and had no idea of what we were getting into when in 2002 we decided to get 20x66 hobby evap. Well that got sold and replaced by a 2x8 raised Inferno and preheater and hood and auto draw and 16x32 finisher and filter press and,and...
You know how it goes. Last year 07 I decided to try building a RO. I read everything I could find online and anywhere else I could gather info. I finally put together something I could use for the season. It worked fairly well and I cut my boiling time considerably. This past season 08 I converted to oil and by a little nozzle experimetation got the thing to really cook. I added two membranes to my redneck RO and got it to around 350gph @ around 70 gal concentrate. We are now at 500+taps all gravity, no more pails, ever. We managed a little over a hundred gallons of finished product that we took up to Bascoms for open house.

[TapME]

Welcome aboard green4310. hope you enjoy the site.

[Jim Brown]

green4310; were in western Pa are you? we are also in wesyern Pa.

Jim

[Mike]

Hey Jim! How's it going? I have a question for you on your auto draw! Can ya tell me what model you have?? Am getting ready to order one and am looking at the full feature auto draw....thanks..Mike

[Jim Brown]

Hi Mike; We bought the Marcland utility one and are VERY HAPPY with it.Sugarmaker bought the one with all the bells and whistles you may want to ask him about that one. We didn't need all the bells and whistles.I would not try to make syrup at the rate we are now with the RO with out it There are too many things going on-sap flow-firing rate-float boxes to watch-Ro to run and the list goes on as you know. it was money well spent as far as we are concerned.

Jim

[Mike]

Jim, Thanks for the info.......I bet you like your RO!!!! I wish i would of bought one sooner.....Have a great day....Mike

[green4310]

We're in southern Erie county. Thanks

[Sugarmaker]

Green4310,
Welcome Yea you found the right place! I thought that sounded like a Deere Number but you have a 4320?
Well we are in west Erie county near Albion. Sounds like we have similar problems! Come visit some time. We also are not looking back towards the buckets!!!

Hey Jim I did not get the all the toys on my Marcland. I only got one step above yours, which is a 3 degree over set point temp alarm ( buzzer) and extra plug for a alarm light (which I have never used the light yet.!) . But I did have the alarm go off once or twice when I forgot to flip the auto switch on the draw off box to the AUTO position. Darn new-fangled gadgets. Why cant we just go back to letting it drip off a ladle:)

Chris

[green4310]

We're about a half mile out of Union City, Corry side. Owned a 4310 for three years. Sold it last year and picked up the bigger one last July.

[Clan Delaney]

This looks like as good a place as any to say Hi!

I feel a little bit like I'm standing up at an AA meeting (or would that be MA?)

Hello. My name is Patrick and I've been sugaring for 4 years.

Five years ago my neighbor knocked on my door one spring and asked if he could tap a few of my maples. He had a couple acres across the street and not a single maple on it. Strangely, I've got a third of an acre with 10 beautiful sugar maples. He said he'd be happy to give me some of what they made in return. Instead of taking him up on that offer, I told him to tap what he needed and I'd tap a few of my own. I bought 2 gallon plastic paint buckets from Wal-Mart and hung them up on 2 or 3 trees. I kept no records. I burned my final batch of syrup.

Year Two: I graduated from a cast iron propane camp stove to a propane fired turkey fryer setup, borrowed from my brother. I operated out of the car bay of the garage. I bought some proper 7/16 taps and tubing and abandoned the paint buckets for 5 gallon plastic water bottles from Wal-Mart, set on the ground. I tapped maybe 4 trees, then a few more weks later when I realized I could handle more volume. Nothing got burned, nothing got recorded.

Year Three: I have no idea what I was doing, but I never got around to sugaring.

Year four: I got serious. I built me a shack...-like thing. That story is here (http://clandelaney.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/fire-it-up/). I bought a turkey fryer of my own and borrowed one from my brother again. I learned that I'd been over-tapping my trees (Diameter and Circumference: not the same thing!) Again, no records. At least none I can find now.

Year Five: last year. 2008. I built a much more respectable shack (http://clandelaney.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/industrial-strength-plastic-wrap/), though lacking the full respect of a coat of red paint, and having plastic for walls. This year I tubed everything. I tapped every tree (with the correct number of taps). I switched to 5/16 tree-saver taps. I added a third propane burner and borrowed two more propane tanks from friends. I finally kept some records. The first thing I noticed...my fuel was two thirds of my entire costs, and I'd bought all new tubing, taps, collection barrel... Oy. I vowed to switch to wood for 2009.

And so here I am. And I've got a LOT to do to get ready for the upcoming season. I need to build a new shack, the final shack, the one that won't get torn down in the off-season. I need a new evaporator setup. I'm thinking of going the way of the barrel stove (got me a barrel!), but then I look at what's available in the realm of professional evaporators - even "hobby" sizes - and I think, I could tap enough trees to feed that. Somebody talk me out of it (or into it!) Either way, I was able to come by a cord of free seasoned cherry to feed whatever I decide on.

So, that's me. In part, anyway. More to come! But first, I have wood to split. :)

[Father & Son]

Patrick,
Welcome to the Mapletrader, home for all of us with this maple disease. There is another trader in your hometown you might want to look up if you already don't know him, mapleman3. He has a website with his address. Again, WELCOME!

Jim

[Gary R]

Hello Patrick,

Welcome to the trader! Your up to the cupalo stage. Nice:) There is lot's of old threads for information on upgrading. All kind's of idea's to chose from. I know what you mean as far as propane cost's. Good Luck!

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Hi Patrick,
Welcome aboard. You have found the place to feed your addiction. Everyone here is full of info and eager to share. There are differences of opinion but that makes this thing work. That dry cherry should split nice.
Doug

[paul]

Welcome to the trader Pat.
I`ve been told by some old timers that if you don`t burn your not a sugar maker, so your in.From reading your thread i can tell you`ve been bitten by the maple bug,You have no idea what your in for.I`ll tell you this, all the time, money,and some times blood you will shed in this addiction are all worth it come spring. good luck Pat

[Clan Delaney]

Patrick,
Welcome to the Mapletrader, home for all of us with this maple disease. There is another trader in your hometown you might want to look up if you already don't know him, mapleman3. He has a website with his address. Again, WELCOME!

Jim

Mapleman3 (also Jim) turned me on to this group here. I found him a few years ago through another hobby we both have in common. His is the setup I'd dream about while hunched over my turkey cookers.

[maple flats]

Welcome aboard! Have you got an idea how many taps you would like to do for 09? From there go to the classifieds in this forum, and to Bascom, and to any other place you can find anything and look for an appropriatly sized evap. You can also make an arch and just start with the pan or pans. You will learn and as you learn you will want to grow. This means you will likely pass thru several stages before you settle if that ever happens. Get a used evap or set of pans to match your needs for the season ahead and maybe one past that. Then expect to grow.
I started with a 2x3 hobby evap (1yr) then a 2x6 for 2 yrs, then a 3x8 for 2 so far. Now I am adding taps and improving the evap rate by enhancements. My next move will be an RO, still with the 3x8. You will find out it never ends, but it is always exciting (THIS IS OUR ADDICTION). Enjoy!
Dave

[maplebabe]

Hi every one i new to site and by the looks of it i may be the only women on her so here it goes 12 years ago at the age of 16 i took over my dads sugar house after his passing he had 500 buckets and a 3x8 grimm over the past 12 years i have built it to where it is now 5500 taps 5000 on vac 500 buckets 3x10 leader new max flue pans on there way for 09


So here it is am i the only women of here with there own sugar house or is there more out there

[paul]

Welcome Maplebabe, I`m sure your not alone here in maple world.

[Gary R]

Hello Maplebabe! There are a couple other women on here. Traffic really picks up during the sugar'in season. Where about's are you located in PA?

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

Welcome all newbies to the "I have a maple problem" website... Its great to see new people with fresh ideas join the crew..

Andy

[mapleman3]

Hey Pat... Great to see you on, I know you will have tons of questions answered here and you will even give us help on things too.... :)

Pat and I met through Geocaching! we have a lot of fun doing it, a great family hobby during the off season.. (whats that a week each year LOL )

Hopefully I will stop in during boiling for a minute or 2 often as I drive by picking up sap in the north bush.

keep me updated on your progress on that project too ;)


Welcome Maple Babe... always nice having some female input here especially with the experience you have :)

[maplebabe]

Gary my sugar house is near Erie

mapleman3 i don't know how much i can help you out on the female input my father had 3 girls no boys so me being the youngest i was like his son

[Clan Delaney]

Hey Pat... Great to see you on, I know you will have tons of questions answered here and you will even give us help on things too.... :)

Pat and I met through Geocaching! we have a lot of fun doing it, a great family hobby during the off season.. (whats that a week each year LOL )

Hopefully I will stop in during boiling for a minute or 2 often as I drive by picking up sap in the north bush.

keep me updated on your progress on that project too ;)


Welcome Maple Babe... always nice having some female input here especially with the experience you have :)

Jim, I stopped in to the Town Offices to day to find out if I need a permit to build my shack. The answer: no, as long as I keep it under 10'X12', and 10 feet from the edge of the property. I think that size will do just fine. Time to get out in the yard with a tape measure!

[warren yoder]

We are in our 40s/50s. I am a pediatric oncology nurse and my wife, Marla, is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I work at my for pay job 3 days a week and Marla 4...we always take Wednesdays off together...mostly catching up with our place. We are rural folks but had lived in the city for 7 years following Marla completing her masters work. Bought a little 5 acre place 30 miles north of Indy 4 years ago.

We have decided to be significantly "locavores"...actually produce most of our own food. We have registered Angus cattle, chickens for eggs and meat and turkeys...we "share" freezer-beef, brown eggs, chicken and turkey meat with our friends and neighbors and folks they brag our to. We produce our own apples, cherries, peaches, rhubarb, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes. These items along with our regular garden stuffs have our freezers and canned good shelves over-flowing here at the end of summer.

And then there is maple syrup! Our house sits several hundred yards off our county road in a grove of 9 sugar maples. Last year I tapped for the first time in my life...5 of them...quite the results! I started tapping the day after Christmas...on a whim. December had been very cold but we had several beautiful days is the 40s...I drilled a hole "just to see"...and it was flowing like crazy!...maybe ignorance is bliss??? Collected over 300 gallons of sap from my 13 taps. Made about 7 gallons of syrup by boiling on kettles on the stove in the summer kitchen we built when we moved out here. After I got the sap close to finishing state I would put it in a pan over our fire pit and "smoke it" until the fire died then filter it and finish it over the kitchen stove. Great stuff!

This winter I am hoping to find ways to improve efficiencies. If anyone (nearby) has a 2 X 3ish pan they are willing to part with...I am interested.

Gotta go get that last cutting of hay in...any volunteers:)

[3% Solution]

Hi Warren,
Welcome aboard!! :-)
There are some real fine folks here.
There are also some great ideas on here.
I've tried a few and have found great success!!!!
So, chime in and have fun!!

Dave

[Tweegs]

Hello folks!

Last spring my wife and I bought a 26 acre farm near Howell, MI.
We have enough maples for 125 taps, another 50 on border property if we can secure permission.

Our last place had 1 sugar and 1 red maple that we tapped, so we are at least familiar with tapping the trees, gathering the sap and making syrup. Beyond that, we are pretty much clueless when it comes to producing on a larger scale.

This coming season we plan to run only about 50 taps. Figure we need to start small and work the bugs out. This is especially important as we are both just either side of 50 and it will only be the two of us and a little Ford 8n running the show.

To date, I still don't have a shack built, nor do we have an arch, but we are in the market. Better be....we are way behind schedule.

Of course I am loaded with questions, many of which are likely already answered here. I'll spend a good deal of time poking around first and if I can't find it, I'll ask.

Hopefully the trials and tribulations of us rookies can provide a little comic relief for you folks. I've always thought myself somewhat eccentric and have tried to present my follies in a less than serious light. Never minded being the brunt of a joke...I like to laugh, especially at myself. Life is too short for me to think otherwise.

Anyhow, I appreciate being accepted as a member here and look forward to gaining a unique insight to the process and the folks that make it happen.

Good luck to all this season, it's good to be among you.

Tweegs

[3% Solution]

Tweegs,
Let me be the first to say "Welcome"
We here at MapleTrader are very sick individuals and need as much company as possible!!!!
You will no doubt be infected soon!!!
Get that arch, pans and the other stuff you need and let's get going, spring is just around the corner!!!
Now, on a serious note; you will find it very cozy here, many nice people that are willing to pass along ideas.
I have picked up some good info from these folks!!
Again, Welcome!!!!

Dave

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

welcome aboard TWEEGS aways good to see another face from MICHIGAN dont be afraid to ask questions. the answers are definately on this site.
RICH

[jcb]

Just wanted to take a minute to say hi. We are a small operation in Shelburne Ma. We are building a new 24 x 24 sugarhouse with a 3 1/2 x 10 evaporator. A big step up from the 8 x 8 shed with a 1/2-pint hobby rig. We are also building a new web site www.countrymaplefarm.com you can see some pictures of the sugarhouse construction in the photo gallery

Jim

[brookledge]

Welcome to the site jcb I'm just down the road in Whately
Keith

[Clan Delaney]

More Mass maplers! Mass! Mass! Mass! Welcome to the site jcb. Be careful when you call yourself a small operation... your small makes my small look, well, small. I checked out the pics of your old and new shack. Very nice. I happen to be in the market for a used evap setup. You planning on keeping your old one?

[Russell Lampron]

Welcome jcb,

Nice pictures and it will be nice to boil on a real evaporator.

[jcb]

Thanks for the welcoming coments

The old evaporator will be for sale we just need to come up with a price

Send me a PM and I will let you know

thanks again

[Sugarmaker]

JCB (Jim)
Wow nice construction on the new sugarhouse. Looks like you paid your dues on the half pint now for some seroius boiling on the new rig. Hang on its a different animal!
How many taps for 2009?
Chris

[jcb]

Thanks Crhis,

We are shooting for 800 to 1000+ taps for 2009

Jim

[Sugarmaker]

Jim,
Wow thats a jump into the maple business! Prices are up, so your timing should be good. I am assuming you will be wood firing?

Chris

[mapleman3]

Welcome to the greatest maple place on earth. Hey how close are you to Bruce Dubrule? he sugars in Shelburne/Buckland also.

your old system would be perfect for the Clan ! he's looking for that size!

Great Job things are looking great!!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

J C B very nice sugarhouse going up. good luck in 09

RICH

[jcb]

Welcome to the greatest maple place on earth. Hey how close are you to Bruce Dubrule? he sugars in Shelburne/Buckland also.

your old system would be perfect for the Clan ! he's looking for that size!

Great Job things are looking great!!

Thanks mapleman we are happy with the way it's going so far. As for Bruce I'm not sure I know him, I may and if it is who I think, he's in Charlamont 2 towns away

[PATheron]

Jcb- Great looking sugarhouse. Your going to have so much fun. Any thoughts of vac down the road? Theron

[jcb]

Jcb- Great looking sugarhouse. Your going to have so much fun. Any thoughts of vac down the road? Theron

Thanks, as far as vac most of my sugar bushes are small so it would be hard to do. but you never know

Jim

[firetech]

Tweegs welcome as Rich says its good to see more Michgan folks doing this. You are not alone there are several folks making syrup in mid Mich. Kirk is in Chealse, Rich in Capac, Roshoo in Mt Pleasent,I"m in Perry, Mark in Grandledge and there are more. We all have stories of modest begins to where we are now and can share ideas and mistakes so don't be afraid to ask questions, theres no need to reinvent the wheel.

[evansglenn]

Hello everyone! My name is Glenn Evans. I live in Northern Wisconsin, and am new in the Sap Biz. I have 10 acres (mostly Maples) on a hillside, and have been tapping trees for a few years now. This year, I started a pipline of 300 trees. Up til now, I just tapped a few and hung buckets. That got to be a little more work than I had time for, so I expanded, and went to the pipeline. The first couple of years, I cooked over LP just to get a feel for things, but now I cook with wood, with a home-made stainless evaporator. Next year, I hope to get the shack put up, and take things to the next level. This is all new to me, and I got a lot of learning to do. So far things have been just trial-and-error, so there are still many kinks to work out. I am up for any advise, and won't be offended by any of it.

[lpakiz]

Glenn,
Welcome to the Trader...
LOTS of great info available here.
Also, are you aware of the open house each late winter put on by Roth Suger Bush people in Cadott, WI? They buy syrup, sell equip and supplies, and put on a few seminars on that weekend. They also have tours of their bush and their tubing system. You can Google Roth Suger Bush to find out more.

[evansglenn]

Thanks Larry.

Caddot is only about 3 hours from here. I will have to check it out. There are also a couple of Open Houses around here as well. I get my supplies from Merril from Maple Hollow. Those folks are great to deal with, and can answer almost any question you can come up with.

[Gary R]

Glenn,

Welcome! Let's see now. You had a few bucket's and it was becoming too much work. Now you have 300 on tubing. You must have that disease that is common on this site:) . Great info on the site. I hope you have a wonderful season.

[stevepipkin]

My name is Steve. I make maple at the farm of my friend Dan Berger. We made 110 gallons last year on 325 taps. My wife helps when the weather suits her. I love it whatever the weather.

[mapleman3]

Welcome Steve... 110 gals is sure a respectable amount, we will love to here of your endeavors and draw on you for knowledge as well as offer to you what we can.... careful though, this place gets addicting, you'll find yourself checking new posts when you wake up in the morning even before the first cup of coffee.... ok so I described my habit but.........

Enjoy!!!

[Russell Lampron]

Welcome Steve, unlike mapleman3 I get my cup of coffee first. You will enjoy this site. It is the best source of maple info on the web.

[Specklefield Farm]

Been coming here for a while, finally took the time to sign up. Maple bug is itching me and it isn't even January yet! We started out with a 5 gallon pot over an old steel grate on top of a duece and a half wheel about 8 years ago, have slowly (I stress the slowly) graduated to the frankenevaporator which is an old woodstove with the top cut off to hold a turkey frier and a 300 CFM squirell cage blower force feeding it! Hope to upgrade to more modern equipment this year as the hay barn has now been converted to serve as a dual purpose building come February. There is really no reason for me to remain so maple-ignorant as I only live about four miles from The Maple Guys. Maybe one of these days, I'll get down there to see them again!

[shortround]

Greetings from Weather Dry Creek Farm in the sprawling metropolis of Avilla, AR.
While very much removed from sugar bush country, we do grow a bit of sweet sorghum here. While the sorghum syrup is very much different from maple syrup, many of the techniques are similar.
With that said, I hope to be exchanging ideas/information with y'all since hopefully, I'll be cooking syrup next fall, if remnants of hurricanes don't come this way and blow the cane down.
Good looking site. Hollar at y'all soon.

Bruce and Rock
Weather Dry Creek Farm

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Welcome ShortRound,
Several of my Amish neighbors make sorghum syrup here in Northern NY. There are 2 that I know of that just use a different set of pans on their maple arches. Hope we have information that is of use to ypu.
Doug

[jtthibodeau]

I've lurked around this forum for a couple of years now. I may have even said hello to all before. But, just in case I haven't....Hello to all of you posters from Weare, New Hampshire. And, Christmas wishes of power to all those of you who are still in the dark.

[gator330]

Well lets give this a try. My name is Brian I live in Lyons, Wayne County, New York. Wife, five kids, a farm, Horses (Draft and Riding), A hand full of "Coon" dogs?? Started a few years back with a few buckets and a turkey fryer. Going for broke this year! Picking up a evaporater From the Maple Guys at this years New York Show, small one for now. When we get things going a little more down the road I'll go for a larger one. Chicken House is soon to be a Sugar house... I Have nine years till I can retire from a job in Corrections law. Should be able to build up a buisness in Syrup by then. Be a great change going to the woods. Speaking of we have a Wayne county drumlin (hill type that you can only find in Wayne county, New York, It's a Glacial formation). It is host to a great number of sugar maple and beach as well as ash, cherry, elm and oak. Spent most of deer season counting taps rather then sitting still looking for deer. Thats when I realized how bad I have been bitten by the maple bug. Just here in the main woods I think I can come up with a good 1,000 plus. This year the hope is 50-60 taps gravity tube. The other woods I own is small but all side hill maples easy three hundred there. Runs down hill to a road, perfect set up. Lots of thining to do lines to run and wood to cut. All adds up to fun for me. Not That going to work in a jail can't be fun!!!! So there we have it. Looking forward to talking to all of you. I have been reading for a short time now and learnd a lot from you already. Thank you Maple guys for a great forum!!!!

[jason grossman]

Be careful there gator330, my brother and i were small for a long time, flat pan on a 2 burner gas stove top and 20 taps, then bang, sugarhouse, 3x12, 800 taps(still looking for more), vacuum tubing, and i quit my job to do tubing installs and sugarbush management. once you get bit your done!!!!!! luckily my wife knew of my addiction before we married!!!!

[gator330]

Its a bad bite!!! I still didn't tell my wife about the evaporator, Or that her horse barn may be the next sugar house! After I outgrow the chicken house that is. It's 36X64 board and batten, Green steel roof. A big stack of steam on top shure would look good!!!!! Thanks for the worning but I'm afraid it's to late for me. Good thing I have a big Dog house, you can bet I'll be in it real soon!!!!

[jason grossman]

well all i can say is good luck to ya!!! I am sure there are many people on here that well gladly help you on your way to the dog house!!!!! If your lucky maybe you can infect your whole family??? then it's a legitamte excuse to spend the money and time because then it's quality family time!!!!

[NH Maplemaker]

gator330, you will know when you have it made,that will be the day your wife begs you to take her horse barn for your new sugar house!! LOL Jim L.

NH.Maplemaker

[mapleman3]

Welcome Gator330,jtthibodeau,Shortround and Specklefield Farm, Glad to have you enjoy the MapleTrader, and welcome others as well....

[davey]

Nice to hear about other Maple makers in Wayne County, NY. I'm in Macedon and to the best of my knowledge there are now at least 4 producers here in Apple country, 2 in Macedon, 1 in Marion and now one in Lyons. Feel free to drop me a line if you ever want to stop out and trade ideas.
Dave
Macedon NY

[gator330]

Thank you all for the warm welcome. Looking forward to meeting as many good people as I can through this adventure. By the way any of you NH guys here of "Bob " the guy that left Deerfield with his 4 horse hitch pulling a "Camper" to see the world. Wagonteamster.com???? He traveled throught this area and spent a few days here at our place resting the team. Nice guy, interesting story.

[shawk]

After years of talking about taping a few of the tree's available to us my sister took the initiative last year and bought a few taps and we ended up taping 6 trees. We experimented with several methods of evaporation before I ended up finishing with some of my home brewing equipment. We had such an enjoyable time last year that I am working with my son-in-law who is a welder by trade to build a wood fired evaporator. If it all comes together in time we are looking to tap 25-50 trees this year. Love the the wealth of information I have found so far at this site and I have only scratched surface.

[mapleman3]

Welcome Shawk.... you will enjoy being bitten by the maple bug... this is a great place to learn! now I may pick your brain from time to time on brewing!!! I'd love to make my own ales!

[Clan Delaney]

Shawk-

What do you brew? Beer? Wine? Mead? I'm thinking about trying to grow my own hops and grains this year, just to see if I can, and then attempt a beer. Should be fun.

[shawk]

My main focus is ales but have made a few lagers. I have also made 2 batches of mead as I have a few bee hives. The wife is the wine maker in the house but does make anywhere near the amount of beer I brew. Growing your hops is great as I have 4 different types growing. I usually only use them as the aroma hops toward the end of the boil because I cannot be certain of the IBU's(International Bitterness Units) in them.

[Sugar Sue]

We are Kevin and Susan. We live in northern Indiana (Southen St. Joe Co.) on 34 acres. We just moved here in July of 2008. Kevin is a controller by day and a father and farmer by night. Kevin and I have been married for 17 years and we have 6 children that are homeschooled. Aaron 14, Grace 12, Rachel 11, Mark 9, and Justin and Emily 8. We raise our own beef, pork and eggs. The beef is also a 4-H project for 3 of the kids and the fourth is a part of the lamb club. The youngest 2 are not old enough for 4-H yet. Kevin and I coach soccer for the kids in the spring and we love to garden. We put up our beans, onions and potaotos.
There is a sugar shack on the property with a 2x6 Leader. I have ebayed to get some spiles and the previous owner left us some buckets. Don't know how many we have to do to keep the evaporator running but don't want to many and make ourselves crazy the first year. We have identified about 50 trees and counting.

Any tips or advice welcome ;)

Susan

First timers
2x6 leader wood fired
Who knows how many taps

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Sugar Sue,
Welcome to you, Kevin and the rest of the family. You have become a member of a great site with lots of great sugar folks. If you have questions, fire away, someone here will have the answer. I hope your sugar enterprise becomes as much a family thing as it always has been for my family!
Doug

[mapleman3]

Welcome Sue and Kevin... I am truly Jealous, 34 acres... homeschooling, mini farm w/animals! you have the start of a great life there! and a sugarhouse to boot!! well there is all you need here for information.... years of it, browse through, but I may warn you... it will get addicting this Maple thing!! so be careful ;)

[gator330]

Sugar Sue

If your this far it's allready to late for you!!! There is no saving yourself!!! So tap every thing you can, make syrup and build traditions with those kids. I have 5 kids hear in NY on a 175 acres and large garden and horses and we just have a lot of fun with it all. Best to you and Keven in your new addiction. I'm new to the trader and can't stay away!!!! There is so much to learn here you'll be reading for days.

[Jeff E]

Hey sugar, ;)

A 2x6 leader, I am assuming the set up has a back pan with flues, increasing the surface area, and a float controlled inlet to feed sap from a tank. And then a front pan to finish the syrup in.

You will be able to evaporate about 25 gallons an hour if you keep the fire going hard on a set up like that, and if you can boil 5 hours a day on average, that means you want to have 125 gallons of sap. if you figure about 3/4 of a gallon per tap, you could tap about 100 trees.

Of coarse this is all averages, and there will be days with no sap, and days with double the average.

Have you or Kevin been around syruping before, or is it all new?

[maplenaddy]

Hello all, I am new to maple sugaring. I am a bee-keeper and have a few chickens, and am looking to diversify...!

I grew up in upstate NW, within a long stone's throw of the St. Lawrence River, and ate plenty of maple syrup but never took advantage of learning how to make it from all of the local sugar yards. Now I live in SW Wisconsin, where sugaring isn't done much and there are no native sugar maples. However, a friend suggested I find some maple trees in people's yards and ask permission. I have found a few in a local village park that would be easy to access.

I am planning on using a propane BBQ grill and an as-yet-to-be-procured pan for evaporating. Also, based on research I did in graduate school, I am very interested in experimenting with freezing the sap to concentrate the sugars.

Thanks for allowing me to join.

maplenaddy

[Clan Delaney]

Sugar Sue-

Your property came with a sugar house and Leader evap? I am so jealous.

Maplenaddy -

Lots of us get our fix by tapping neighbors' trees. I'm of the opinion, well, you're not doing anything with them... mind if I do? Just ask. The worst they can say is no.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome new sugarmakers!
This site is just about as addictive as making good syrup. We dont have all that answers but we have a lot of good opinions. Have fun and be safe!

Regards,
Chris

[bobsklarz]

Well, I'm a lot better with a chainsaw than I am with a computer, but here goes. My name is Bob Sklarz from Medina, Ohio. Retired from Brunswick Schools as Elementary Counselor. Have wife and helpmate, Sue; and TEN grandkids.
Am new to sugaring and this site. this is great! Boiled for the first time in 08 and made 26 Qts. on a Half pint set up. Had 30 taps. Have a possible 200, so looking to upsize. Was contemplating a 2x6 Leader Patriot, then got brochure from place in Wisconsin about a 2x6 Kodiak thats supposed to boil off 60gph. Now, I'm all confused. Will bring that up on another thread.
Built a 12x16 Sugar Shack w/ 4x8 wood shed attached. Collect w/ a Yamaha Rhino.
Really enjoy reading all the stuff you guys (gals) post on this site. Hope to talk w/ many of you in future. Thanks for making this available. bob

[Russell Lampron]

Welcome to the site Bob. I would like to know more about the Kodiak evaporator. I have never heard of that brand before.

[bobsklarz]

Thanks for the reply Russ. The Kodiak is out of GBM products; e-mail there is;
gbmllc@yahoo.com. In your neighborhood of NH, the dealer is The Maple Guys,LLC Chris & Kim Pfeil, Lyndeborough 603 487 3292. They sent me a catalog of all different evaporators, all sizes. I never heard of em before either. I'm gonna ask my dealer of Leader stuff in Ohio about them as he's also listed as a dealer for these. He's an Amish guy though, no phone, so I'll let ya know what he says when I see him. Thanks bob

[JohnsSugarShack]

Hello all, my name is John Bennett been married 23 years to my wonderful wife Tami. Raised a son who is 22 and on his own and a daughter who is 20 and graduating from college this spring. Both kids think I'm crazy and say I can have my sugaring to myself, but they love to eat it. My father did some sugaring when I was a young teenager collected sap with the old steel milk cans and a snowmobile. Then boiled it on a 55 gal barrel stove. Ten years ago I started making syrup on coleman camp stoves then a propane cooker and then had a leader half pint for 3 years which my wife and I enjoyed very much. Spent many hours sitting in the shack watching the steam and stoking the fire. Haven't made syrup for 2 years now, have 6 gallons left in storage and can't wait any longer need to get another evaporator. Plans are to enlarge the shack this year and get a new evaporator installed for next spring. Looking at 2x6's not sure whether to go drop or raised flue. Well enough rambling for one night. Just want to say thank you for a great forum the information is priceless to say nothing about the humor.
John

[Clan Delaney]

John, everyone here has to check their humor at the door... check to make sure it's on! (I think I just made myself laugh)

So, kids grown up and out of the house... time to get crazy with the maple! Absolutely.

[Jim Brown]

Well the predicted snow HAS arrived here in NW Pa. 4-6" on the ground now and still snowing hard.they are talking 6-10 more by morning Not going to get any outside work done today only plowing!!

Jim

[3% Solution]

Jim,
I bet your going to send it right this way too!!!!
We'll be waiting!!!

Dave

[Jim Brown]

Yes we are! I thought what you have must be getting dirty by now! and you need some fresh!

Jim

[Maple bug]

Hi every one my name is Bob Hullihen I live in Baltimore MD . I'm a Ravens fan they're looking good.a little beat up from the Titans game.We need 2 more win's for a great season. My brother in-law is a member he is wvsugarshak. I made 2 pans for him-2X2 24Ga 304 S/S front pan/2X5 400 series back pan we will try them this year. Not much to tap here in Baltimore MD but 5 sliver maples in the back yard. I'll travel to WV to help him in the sugarshack. I'd like to say thank you for a great forum the information is great.



Bob Hullihen
Baltimore MD
Ravens fan

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome Bob,
Look for some sugar maples on neighbors front yards! Still time to get a arch set up. If you are in to pan building there are always folks looking for custom tinsmithing!

Chris

[Hurdhaven Farm]

Hello All,
I have been lurking as an guest for several months and decided this was such a great resource I should make my presence known and say thanks for the great information! I was a Dairy Farmer until selling the cows five years ago after which I went back to school and became a Respiratory Therapist. We kept the farm and rented out the land until selling the farm this past spring. The house we bought has 11.5 acres, most of which is never been tapped sugar maples mixed with yellow birch, hemlock, beech,pine and some cherry. Between the outdoor wood furnace and evaporator I have plenty of use for the stuff I have been clearing/thinning out.
We did a bit of sugaring on the old farm. My dad did most all the boiling, but stopped due to failing health about 5 years ago. Once we moved here he started talking about boiling for me again. We built an addition to the shop and moved the evaporator this fall. I am sorry to report that my dad died last month. This will be the first time I will do the boiling instead of dad, so I hope that between knowledge gained from this forum, maple publications and meetings and things I remember for what little boiling I have done we will be okay. Once again, thanks for the considerable collective experience and knowledge this forum represents. You'll be there in spirit dad.

[Clan Delaney]

Steve, we'll always be here to help, but I'm sure your Dad taught you everything you need to know to make great syrup.

[KevintheHobbit]

Hi all!

I've been jonesing to make syrup for a long time, but I never had a place of my own. Last January my pregnant wife (we had another boy in April), 3 boys (ages 2, 5 and 6), and I moved into our house (3 bedroom cape on 3.1 acres in Essex, VT). One of the things I loved about the property was the row of old maples lining the road. Well, to make a long story short, I tapped four of the trees I was sure were maples (using milk jugs) and boiled it up outside with an old cast iron stove and a tin foil lasagna pan. It took about twelve hours, but it made the most delicious syrup I have ever tasted. I was hooked. Even if I wasn't hooked, my boys insistence that we keep a jug of sap in the fridge ("Just for drinking, Daddy" the 5 year old said) would have kept me going.

I've marked all the maples on the property and I could run about 40 taps or so this year if I get the right equipment. I've made friends with the neighbors and I could triple that total if they let me tap their trees.

Anywho, I'm in the market for advice, equipment, and stories. Judging by what I have seen, I've come to the right place.

Your fellow addict,
Kevin

[brookledge]

Kevin and Steve
Welcome. You both have great stories and remember there is no dumb question so if you are hung up about something either do a search or post the question and we can help. Before you know it you will be answering the questions for others.
In this business even the old dogs can learn new tricks
Keith

[MapleBud]

Hi all, My name is bud,Age 54 years young, I'm from Mesick .Mi I have been making syrup now for 4 years and if it wasn't for this web site and all you guys experience and knowledge . I would have not tryed it but ya know what i'm hooked. Went in bought a 2x8 rasied flue frist year this year with it going to be alot dif. then flat paning on a 36x30 flat pan with a 1x30 preheat pan made 66 gallon's 2008 season with it in about killed the wife and me to. Aging thanks alot

[Clan Delaney]

Welcome, Bud. If you've got this far by just reading what's here, wait till you get us talking. There's no turning back now!

[NNYfamilymaple]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce you to my family. My name is Jennifer and my husband is Darin. We live in Croghan, New York where everyone makes maple syrup. We have been married for four years and have three small daughters 9, 7, and 4. My husband's family has been making maple syrup for years and all three of his brothers have there own operations. We decided that it was about time we did it on our own so this summer my husband built a small shanty and we began purchasing supplies. Right now just trying to find a decent used evaporator. We love the whole experience of making syrup and for us it is all about the family and we have many wonderful memories from helping out our brothers and sisters. So glad to have found this site with all the wonderful people from all over. It is a very exciting time for us and we can't wait to share that with you. Please feel free to give us any advice you might have

Jennifer Halko

[Dave Y]

Welcome to all new members! This is the place for all things maple! Anything you ever wanted to know about making sugar and some thing you didn't. Enjoy!

[michiganfarmer]

My name is Max. Im 39. Ive been married 17 years, and have three kids who are 8,12,and 16. Im in Kingsley. 20 miles south of Traverse city, MI. My brother and I share 80 acres next to my dads 70 where I grew up on a dairy farm. We have 12 acres of maples, and dad has about 8.

I remember my dad and grandfather making a little syrup in the mid 70s. When I was a teenager, I wanted to make some, so dad got grampa's 3x3 flat pan out, some old spiles, some 3 gallon cherry tins, handed me a brace and bit, and said "here ya go".I scrubbed up a cow water tank, and put it on the hay tines on the 3 point hitch on our jonh deere 720 to colect. I taped about 50 trees, and we made about 10 gallons per year untill I noticed girls. I was all done then.

After I got out of the marine corps and my first kid was about 5, or 6, I wanted to share that experience with him, and my wife who grew up in NC. I got gramp's pan out, and the spiles. The cherry tins were all rusted so I got some plastic 4 gallon pumpkin buckets from a local bakery, and made 3 gallons.Next year I made 7 gallons. I was hooked. The third year I had another 3x3 pan made, and I made around 20 gallons. That was the begining of my insanity. The 4th year I bought a new stainless 2x6 raised flu waterloo/small, tubed around 200 trees, and bought a 400 gallon plastic tank that I put in a trailor made out of a pick up truck box. I pulled it with my alice chalmers D19. I added about 200 trees each year for a cuple years.

Somewhere around 2005, I started around the first of feruary, and tubed the rest of my 12 acres, and bought a 1500 gallon collection tank to put in the woods. I laid my tubing on the ground like the Olds brothers, who make 2000 gallons per year do. I had no vacume yet, but it was a good year, and I got 1200 gallons per day. My dad would start boiling at 4 am. My wife would take over at 9, and boil till I got home at 5:30, and I would boil till 11 pm. We could only get about 400 galons of sap per day through that 2x6. I sold lots of sap. I did that for a couple years, boguht a 3 diaphragm vacume pump, and another 1500 gallon tank. I would rinse the tubing with water, and tie it up above my head to the trees, and leave it out all year.

In march of 08, I got my wife to borrow against her retirement that didnt pay much interest anyway, and I bought a used drop flu 3x12 King, and a couple more 300 gallon tanks. We lowered the tubing, tapped the trees, then found that the squirels had absolutely destroyed all of it. It all leaked like a sieve. I was pretty discouraged. A neighbor had around 80 road trees along a fence line, and he let me tube them, and I put vacume on them. I didnt make much syrup last year.

Now I have tanks, and a 3x12, but no tubing. I dontknow what Im going to do. I have to start all over re-tubing. I have a few hundred bucket that I will hang, but it wil take me a few years to come up with the money to re-tube my 1000 trees. Ive heard of people making lots of syrup with only a few hundred taps on vaccume. I might try to get a few hundred on vaccume this spring.

I hope to buld up to make 700 gallons of syrup per year by the time Im 50. My shack is a retired 24 foot long insulation truck body.

[michiganfarmer]

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/5339/boilingsap2004jw9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1369/picture183dd2.th.jpg (http://img244.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture183dd2.jpg)


http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6205/meandevaporatorog6.th.jpg (http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=meandevaporatorog6.jpg)

[mapleman3]

The trader has been busy, lots of new sugarers and those interested in maple are signing up every day !! Tis the Season for Maple.
I'd like to thank you for joining and welcome you to MapleTrader.com a great Maple community where you can browse, post and answer questions, post pictures and just enjoy the camaraderie of everyone here, whether your just starting and boiling on a kitchen stove or running 20000 taps and making thousands of gallons of syrup, your welcome here! please enjoy and if you have a question, don't hesitate to ask!

New members be sure to confirm your registration via the email link sent to you, and also please read the forum rules, here is the link to that thread.

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=5094

Thanks and have a great Maple experience!!

[SWEETSAP]

Hi,
My brother (Dick) and I (Dan) decided to do some sugaring when he purchased a buffer zone of 75 acres around his house in Dunbarton, NH. When I asked him if he had any maple trees he said he never noticed any. Well 4 weeks after he closed on his new property I walked about a third of the lot with him and found about 300 tapable sugar maple trees. This was the day before all leaves were blown away by 40 knot winds. He also has quite a few hickory and birtch which we hear can be tapped too. This will be our first attempt (mighty rough) this year but maybe next year we will have 500-1000 taps on tubing. Time will tell!

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Sounds like he bought a small piece of heaven on earth and something that most of us would love to have. Enjoy it and have fun and before you know it you may have 1,000 taps on vaccum and cranking out 300 to 400 gallon of syrup per year!

[maplejeff]

hello all just a few lines abought my self. my name is jeff and have a great family. 2 kids and a lovely wife that puts up with my maple season shanaigans. i have been doing maple syrup for 5 years and have had some good times and not so good. this will be my 6th year maple sugaring.im going to try to get my kids into it more this year.

[NH Maplemaker]

Sweetsap, Welcome to you and your brother!! This a great place to learn about maple syrup. There is so much knowledge and experience here that it will blow your mind!!
First off,Yes they do make a syrup from birch trees. But not at the same time or together with maple. It is total different!! I Don't know anything about hickory except it is not mixed with maple sap! Next thing is that 500-1000 taps is a lot of sap!! This will take a good size evaporator to keep up with that much sap!!.To say nothing of the time it will take to boil it all down to syrup! Then there's all the other equipment and supplies you will need. So my advise to you is read as much as you can here, ask questions and take your time building your operation!! There is no since or profit in doing things more than once because it was done wrong the first time!! (we have all done it! But most of all have fun and enjoy yourself. Involve your family's as much as possible!! Remember all you haft to do is ask!! Everyone will do there best to help!!

Jim L.

[maple-bubba]

Just thought I'd say hello. I am married with 3 kids and a paitent wife. We atarted sugaring last year with a few taps , a gas grill and a turkey cooker. Within a short time with gallons of sap i upgraded. I bought a used Leader 1/2 pint pan and home made arch. Used the turkey cooker to finish. Got alot of help from the wife and a buddy who tapped a few of his trees. We ended up with 8 gallons finished and learned alot (like how to make sugar, ooops) We went to the Mass Maple meeting this last weekend and heard about mapletrader. So here i am

[brookledge]

Maple Bubba
Welcome to the site. You will find alot of knowledge here and resources
Keith

[Mackdaddy]

Hello to all my new diehard sugar maker entrpreneurs. My name is Josh and I grew up in Skowhegan, Maine. I have noticed here that there is another gentleman signed in that also lives there, I would love to talk sometime to catch up with how home is. My grandfather and his brother won awards back in the day for the quality of syrup that they made back home just north of Skowhegan in Cornville, Maine. Somehow the love that they had passed throught the genes so to speak and has created a passion in my soul to make syrup. My wife thinks I am out of my mind, but still supports my cause. We have two children 10 and 7 who are hopefully starting to get the buzz as well.

Currently live in Central Ohio and my daily schedule has me travelling all over Central, Western, and Southern Ohio as a packaging distributor. Along with selling packaging equipment and supplies, I have been trying to sell sugar makers in my areas of travel with sugarin supplies.

I started making good quality syrup three years ago on a small 18" x 24" syrup pan that I brought back from Maine one summer. My first year I built my evaporator out of block, but these last couple of years was able to make a small evaporator of a 55 gallon drum. Due to many years of use, my pan gave up the ghost on me so I am having Phaneuf custom build me a new set. Really anxious to get it as sugarin season could start here within a week or two. Anyway, we as a family decided that we would do this as a minsitry to help others in need, so for the second year in a row, all monies raised from our syrup and candy will be donated to a worthly cause. This makes the sugarin season that much more special. Last year cranked out 12 gallons, which was awesome, not sure if I have the time to do that much again this year, time will tell.

Looking forward to getting to know many of you better!

Josh
(Mackdaddy)

[KenWP]

Hello. Names Ken and am so new to Maple syrup I havent figured out how to tell the trees apart yet. I have maybe 30 trees total on my property and will try and tap about 20 of them this year. My better half gives me a hard time about us haveing to ration the few drops of syrup I might make this year.
I am starting out from scratch and trying to make a evaporator out of a barrel for now. I have redesigned it about 10 times already and hopefully this will be the last think job on it.
Going to use buckets for some trees and tubes to buckets for some of the trees in the yard and way out in the bush. Hopefully can make at least a liter of syrup. That is my goal for this year anyways.

[maple-bubba]

seems to be a common theme here, that our wifes think we're crazy. Or as she likes to say "you're tapped"

[Clan Delaney]

Hello to all my new diehard sugar maker entrpreneurs. My name is Josh and I grew up in Skowhegan, Maine. I have noticed here that there is another gentleman signed in that also lives there, I would love to talk sometime to catch up with how home is. My grandfather and his brother won awards back in the day for the quality of syrup that they made back home just north of Skowhegan in Cornville, Maine. Somehow the love that they had passed throught the genes so to speak and has created a passion in my soul to make syrup. My wife thinks I am out of my mind, but still supports my cause. We have two children 10 and 7 who are hopefully starting to get the buzz as well.


I think it's Revi (http://mapletrader.com/community/member.php?find=lastposter&t=4875) you're looking for. Or tessiersfarm (http://mapletrader.com/community/member.php?u=1150). Disney was right... it is a small world. It's an even smaller maple world.

[tessiersfarm]

My name is Josh and I grew up in Skowhegan, Maine. I have noticed here that there is another gentleman signed in that also lives there, I would love to talk sometime to catch up with how home is. My grandfather and his brother won awards back in the day for the quality of syrup that they made back home just north of Skowhegan in Cornville, Maine.
Looking forward to getting to know many of you better!

Josh
(Mackdaddy)

I too am from Skowhegan Maine, I never left. I live within a mile of the cornville town line on the Malbons Mill Rd. The family home is the big green house in the fork of Malbons Mill rd, Notch rd and West Ridge rd. Shoot me a PM if you would like.

Revi is also from skowhegan and another is from norridgewock although I can't remember his screen name.

[tessiersfarm]

While i'm here I might as well introduce myself.

I am mid thirties with wife and 2 daughters age 2 and 5. We own a small hobby farm with a horse, a couple of beef animals, some poultry, hogs in summer, ect. We both work full time jobs as well, I in construction and her in healthcare.

The Maple just fit right in. Can't seem to shake the bug now.

Last year we tapped 75 or so trees this year we plan to go over 100. Currently building a new evaporator with homemade (sort of) flued pan. If evaporator works out as I hoped I will expand to fit it.

The company I work for has a multi million dollar Fabrication shop which I took advantage of as well as some very talented sheetmetal fabricators and welders.

[Mackdaddy]

Wow, that is pretty cool. The farmer that I sugared with as a kid is on the Molunkus Rd. I still send him samples of our syrup each year since he was so instrumental in my life. Sounds like you have quite the hook up with your company.

[Sugarmaker]

Welcome new and seasoned maple syrup makers! From all over! Great to have you here and will watch for your posts as the season progresses!

Q. Why do the folks seem to be getting younger that come on here???:) Maybe its just me!

Regards,
Chris

[turfman]

I luckily stumbled onto this forum a few days ago and have been really excited to find so many folks that are involved with Maple and that are willing to share their knowledge with simpletons such as myself. I am 38 years old and along with my wife, two children (daughter 11/son 8), and my mother, operate a restaurant/bed & breakfast in Southern Kentucky that is located in a maple grove. I am going out on a limb and am going to be placing about 100 taps next week. Any hints on how to be more successful in the southern reaches of maple country?

[brookledge]

turfman
Welcome to the trader. The best thing you can do other than read up on some of the topics and ask questions is to see if there are some other traders near bye that would be willing to help you or at the very least let you look at there set up
keith

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Andrew Martin is his username and he made around 100 gallons of syrup last year on aprox 400 taps if I can remember correctly. You may try to get in touch with him or look under the tapping update for Kentucky and read all his post for the 2008 season.

[turfman]

I appreciate the recommendation and will try to get in contact with Andrew asap.

Thanks,

Turfman

[40to1]

Just wanted to introduce myself as the most micro-micro sugaring operation around....
I live in suburban Boston area and last year to entertain my three kids, I tapped two of our maple trees (4 taps ...whooppee!). The entire project was bewildering and eye-opening ...and so much fun - for me. And it really gave be the bug.
Man, when the sugaring bug bites, it bites hard.

This site and all its information has been great.

In the interest of full-disclosure, I should tell you all that I am very envious when I read of all the dozens, even hundreds of taps you all have. Please keep it up. When four taps aren't enough, I have to get my sugaring fix vicariously through all of you.

[gator330]

40to1

Welcome to the madness. Weather you have 4 or 4,000 it's all about the fun you have making syrup!!!! Doing it with the kids is even better!!! Look around maybe you can pick up a few more taps in others yards. Maybe double that tap count every year. Before you know it you'll be selling bulk!!! Dable a little till the bug really sets in and you'll be building, buying, selling working as hard or harder then ever and not even know you're doing work. Best to you.

[3rdgen.maple]

Just wanted to introduce myself. I live in central NY I am the 3rd generation maple producer in the family. My dad and myself enjoy our time together plus the time he gets to spend with his grandchildren in the woods and sugarhouse. This year for christmas I got my brothers and sister to go in a new evaporator for him (us) mostly him! Ended up getting 2x6 drop flue from Patrick Phanuef. I just wanted to say what a fantastic job he did for us. Yes he was a little late on delivery but the work he did and the upgrade he made was worth the wait. His work is exceptional. I will not hesitate to deal with him again. I caught my dad sitting in the sugarhouse just staring at it late at night one night. I guess the bug rebit him again. The mapletrader has been a great place to visit and see what is going on in the maple world.

[Sugarmaker]

3rdgen,
Welcome, Lots of folks like your dad just set and start at the evaporator.:) May the maple bug reside in your family for several more generations!

Regards,
Chris

[3rdgen.maple]

Sugarmaker thanks for the welcome. The bug bit my 14 year old daughter awhile back she plans on keeping the tradition going in our family. Loves maple syrup, maple candy, maple butter anything maple. I think her favorite thing to do is hang out in the sugarhouse and play cards with her grandpa. What a great way to spend time as a family.

[TapME]

welcome to the trader and may the bug reside for 3 more generations.

[Bucket Head]

"What a great way to spend time as a family"

Yes it is!

Steve

[3rdgen.maple]

Thank everyone for the welcome.