Tradition

[ADKMAPLE]

I am planning on startign my own sugaring operation. I do not intend for it to be big or to even make money at it. I have a small stand of sugarmaples that I consider my sapbush. I am working on clearing out hte hemlocl/pine. I still need to retro a shed for my sugarhouse or better yet, 1/2 of my garage which I am still contemplating on doing. I have not a single piece of sugaring equipment to date. Planning and planning. In the end, I hope to starta family tradition, before my parents are no longer and my kids are young. That is my goal

[Ausable]

All lofty goals and to be admired - So time has passed and you now have the Sugar Shack of your dreams - but - included in the mix of life are memories and what your kids will remember will go something like this ------- Hey Bill - remember the first time the old man tried to make maple syrup on Ma's new kitchen stove and the stuff boiled all over the place - what a sticky mess - and Ma must have hollered at him for a year and every time a bug would land on one of her kitchen walls it just stuck there like on flypaper - now that was fun.........................poor Dad -- hahahahahaha. Yep - like it or not - thats what they will remember along with the Family Traditions.

[waysidemaple]

My best memory of my grandpa making syrup is when my mom and i pulled in the driveway and i saw alot of what i thought must be steam(I think I was 6 or 7 at the time)....I said "Wow, Pops really got that boiling" Mom said, "No thats not steam its smoke!" My grandpa had fallen asleep and smoke was just rolling out of the pan.

[3rdgen.maple]

Yes sir it is the one time of the year the family spends the most time together for me. Then they all go to bed while I keep going and goin and going. Gotta love it.

[adk1]

anyone do a pancake breakfast in their sugarhouse?? Sap dogs?? Sugar on snow (when there is snow)..How about dinners in the sap house? Would love to hear about them

[wally]

sap dogs every year, later in the season.

i've also cooked pork chops in the syrup pan, with potatoes boiled in the sap pan. my grandfather used to use hot sap for tea.

[3rdgen.maple]

Yep cook a few different items in the sugarhouse. First I have to mention not in the syrup pans or flue pans. I have a propane cooker and just put some almost done syrup in it and cook dogs, eggs, sometimes bacon, by the time im done the syrup is up to density or close enough and pour it on the pancakes I cook on the electric griddle in there as well. Inspector said it is a big no no to do it in your pans if you are selling your product.

[wally]

Inspector said it is a big no no to do it in your pans if you are selling your product.

good thing we only give it away or use it ourselves, eh? :D

[adk1]

yeah that is what I would do, Iwont sell any per say, hell I will probably just make enough for us!

[Ausable]

sap dogs every year, later in the season.

i've also cooked pork chops in the syrup pan, with potatoes boiled in the sap pan. my grandfather used to use hot sap for tea.

Sounds good to me Wally - The wife and I aways make our tea from hot sap when doing a boil. Also keep a large old perc. coffee pot in the shack and use sap to make a pot of coffee - on the old kitchen stove I have hooked up on propane. (haaaa - the one that used to be in the kitchen - I ruined making syrup on). Usually - at a pancake breakfast - they do a boil at the same time and the shack is used more as a warming house and you eat outside. Everyone is tired of Winter and it seems nice to eat outside - Of course we wear Winter clothing and watch the weather forecast. Yep and the sausage is cooked in maple syrup - with lots on the table for the pancakes, biscuits and scrambled eggs. --- Mike

[Haynes Forest Products]

The first drawoff in my sap shack was recorded by filling a bottle and hanging it on the rafters and every year after. If you look at my Photo bucket you can see the differances in them and yes I still hang an empty one for the years we dont make any. I also record the sap collected and syrup made on the wall.

[wally]

I also record the sap collected and syrup made on the wall.

good point. i've got records stapled to the side door of the sugar house going back to 1983, recording tap dates, seasonal sap volumes, and total syrup volume.

[KenWP]

I would need a wall first. I have a roof so far but walls are sort of scarce. I am not a person to worry about records. Just watch me fight taxs each year.

[Ausable]

I would need a wall first. I have a roof so far but walls are sort of scarce. I am not a person to worry about records. Just watch me fight taxs each year.

Yep - I remember the no wall thing - had the pole frame up and the roof on - but - no walls -- got real windy - so we put up the famous Blue plastic tarps that are visable from miles away - Did the job for a season - but always hard to find our way in or out of the shack -- would forget where we had the opening....got a lot of kidding on that one... Mike

[adk1]

Here is a question, I alrady know Ausables answer..Who allows alcohol in the sugarhouse?? When the grandfather of the family I help out was around, it was a 100% no..Now that he is gone and the younger generation has taken over, its allowed but its never too excessive!

[Ausable]

Hahahahahaha --- I was not going to respond to this one ---- But You leave me know choice..... Well ADK1 what are You PLANNING now A large Wet Bar with a Hooters theme--- Bartender! give me a large whiskey with a maple syrup chaser...... A good thing would be - if the Visitors to your sugar shack got really smashed - just get a good rolling boil going and you could sweat the booze out of them and send them home sober....... Good Luck with the latest Plan ---- Mike

[adk1]

haha, no plan for me there. although at our hunting camp we mix up some maple syrup with some canadian whisky at the start of every season. That is the ticket!

[ennismaple]

The occassional boiling soda gets consumed at our camp but you need to pay attention to so many things I won't have more than a few or the consequenses could be expensive!

We've tapped the same tree first for a number of years now so I guess a habit has turned into a tradition!

[Yellzee]

must be the advantage of being a small guy without the fancy equipment to worry about. Many many sodas get consumed in my shack.

The entire point of sugaring for me is to bring on the spring with friends and family visiting, and my friends might not visit with a zero tolerance policy.

[adk1]

haha, so these so called friends bring their own beverages or do they comsume yours! some Friends they are! haha

[BryanEx]

The title for this thread is "tradition" and that's exactly what got me into sugarin' in the first place. My wife had not seen a sugar operation but after taking her to several commercial operations she had seen nothing but miles of blue tubing, poly storage tanks, gas powered pumps, and stainless enclosed evaporators only to be shuffled into the gift shop. We decided to do it ourselves using the old school methods and have found a niche market because of it. Truth be told... I'd do it anyway with buckets and an open outdoors wood fired evaporator just for fun because it's what I remember from my parents taking me to the sugar bush in Quebec.

[Ausable]

BryanEX -- I agree -- It is fun and I avoid the temptation to expand - I'm happy to stay a backyarder and have the ability to do most of it myself. I canned the syrup by myself (Once) just to see if I could do it - but - am glad my wife works with me on that. Went from open pan to a small, home-made arch and evaporator that my son and grandson built for me and that has been fun to play with - but - keeps me hopping. -- Mike

[ADKMAPLE]

I hear you there. I am seriously considering purchasing all sap sacks to start out with, cant beat the price overall. I wouldnt say they are traditional, would rather see the buckets but overall it makes sence for me this way.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The only money I made the first 15 years was from the recycle of beer cans. If I banned beer from the sap shack Id lose all the help:lol: I have a bottle of Early Times that was left from my partner before he passed and its tradition to take a snort every year as a tribute to him:cry:

I do have the advantage coming from 6500 ft to sea level:o

[3rdgen.maple]

Haynes the only way you made money on beer cans is someone else bought them when they were full. Tradition for me is to lose money every year they expand it a little more so i lose even more the next year. Im not a big drinker and the 2 young boys in the house paternal father is an absolute drunk and they are very ashamed of him so we made a decision to keep the alcohol to a minimum here for their well being.

[adk1]

Good idea there. Did I change my own thread to something else here? back on track everyone, tradition!