New sugar 'mansion'

[stoweski]

Thought I'd pass along this article I found in the local newspaper in Glens Falls. Quite a nice sugarhouse! Wish I could have one similar but 1/8th the size. :)

Hopefully the link will work. If not go to poststar.com and search for 'new sugarhouse'.

Keith

http://poststar.com/business/local/article_4cc4d1d6-e444-11df-8840-001cc4c002e0.html

[Tapmealot]

wow thats a really nice place id love to have something like that

[tuckermtn]

I think in the article the guy who is building it says he was building it on a "shoe string budget". would like to see those shoes...

looks like some nice joinery... and 4000 sq ft!

[driske]

Awesome,
people like that amaze me. Dream big; plan it out; and it sure looks like they are getting it done.
Build it and they will come!!:)

[red maples]

Size 200 shoes or 200 shoe laces tied together. but wow!!! definitly the wow factor.

[Thad Blaisdell]

Maybe instead of a big new sugarhouse they should spend some time in their woods. According to the article and their website --

"Over 100 acres is actively managed for maple production with over 4000 taps on a vacuum assisted tubing collection system"

They produced 900 gallons is what it also says. Holy smokes, now lets see, if I had the money to build the Taj'maple Hall or make my woods perfect to increase volume,,,,,,, hmmmmmmmm.... hands down woods. Lets see I had 4900 taps and produced 2200 gallons. Before making the super fancy shed I would work on some pipeline.

[driske]

Guess it depends what a fellow chooses to emphasize-promotion or production.
My own leanings have always been towards to production. It suits my hermit like tendencies. For the extroverts amongst us the lofty sugar house , and lots of company, will be well received.
By the way, Thad. You're on the right tack with the sap buying. It's a quick way to build your numbers. Just be proactive, and really emphasize timely delivery and sanitation procedures.
DR.
1850 Oliver
6x16 Grimm: wood fired
3x8 Small Bros. Finisher
and lots of other stuff accumulated over 3 decades of sugaring.:cool:
11,000 taps of our own, and 10,000 taps from sap patrons.

[Thad Blaisdell]

By the way, Thad. You're on the right tack with the sap buying. It's a quick way to build your numbers. Just be proactive, and really emphasize timely delivery and sanitation procedures.


This will be the easiest delivery system ever. Its my neighbor. His sap is pumping directly into my gathering tank. From there it is pumping directly into my sugarhouse. That sap will be as fresh as my own.

[3rdgen.maple]

What I got out of that was they sell out of 900 gallons of syrup. Their website shows they make cream, candy, sugar and wedding favors to boot. How much syrup do they use for that? I agree with their process of choosing to upgrade building and equipment before getting more sap out of them woods. 2000 gallons of oil to process what they produced in the past, that is alot of money. What good is fine tuning and adding more taps if you cant process it? Its like buying all the taps and drilling holes in the trees before you have an evaporator.

[jcb]

Sounds like they sell all they make from the farm. So the wow factor will be a good sales tool.

[Homestead Maple]

Drove by Bruce Limlaw's new sugar house in West Topsham, Vt. yesterday and his sugar house looks like a palace compared to most I've seen.

[ToadHill]

Just thought I would chime in here. I'm the guy building the sugarhouse in the article this thread is about. There is a lot of background info that this article doesn't include. Keep in mind that it was written for the general public and not experienced maple producers.

That said, thanks for the positive comments. This sugarhouse has been a dream of mine like I'm sure it is for many of you. I had always planned to do something in a few years when I retire. Yes, my wife and I both work fulltime outside the farm and that limits some of what we are capable of doing.

With regards to production, we have 1650 of our own taps on vacuum with a wet/dry line system and we maintain 23-26" of vacuum. The production from that is closer to what you would expect, but we haven't had very good seasons in this area the past few years. We are switching to the Leader check valve adapters this season. The balance of our taps are in a sugarbush that we buy the sap from. This sugarbush suffered serious damage from an ice storm 2 years ago. The new owners are not maple producers and the combination of ice damaged trees and their learning curve has held them back. We usually produce twice as much syrup from our bush (1650 taps) as they have been doing (2200 taps). Also, of the hundred acres in our bush, we currently only tap about 35-40. We are thinning the balance under the guidance of a forester and I hope to have most of it tubed by the 2012 season.

The construction of the new sugarhouse should be mostly complete in the next 6-8 weeks. Our new equipmnent will be delivered on Nov. 29th. I will spend the next few weeks hooking things up and testing them.

As for the budget on a shoe string comment, we've done a fair amount of the work ourselves and a lot has been done through bartering. For example, we did all of the site work/excavation and utilities ourselves, e.g. water, septic, underground electric, etc. We traded a piece if property for the foundation. We harvested all of logs for the timbers, framing lumber, paneling, siding, etc. from our own property and hauled the logs to the mill ourselves. We also traded logs to the mill in exchange for the milling. Also, we were approved for a REAP grant to upgrade our equipment. In addition, Leader offered us an excellent trade-in value on our old evaporator. Those last two things are what triggered this whole thing combined with a very agreable and hardworking wife. She works right along with me on everything except the logging. I haven't taught her how to run a chainsaw or skidder yet. That said, we still have a pretty hefty investment in this, but considerably less than what it would be if I paid out of pocket for every last board and all of the labor. Shoe string was probably not the best choice of words to describe the financing.

If anyone has any questions let me know. If anyone would like to visit just give us a call at 518-623-4744.

Randy

Toad Hill Maple Farm
Athol, NY

[BryanEx]

Keep in mind that it was written for the general public and not experienced maple producers.
Good on you ToadHill. Your reply could have very easily been defensive in nature but instead you just laid out the facts for your situation... classy IMO. All I can say is best of luck in your venture and that you are building the sugarhouse 99% of us can only dream about. Let me know when your book on post & beam building is available because I'm interested. :D

[stoweski]

Hey Randy,

My father sent me the original article in the PS. He lives in Lake Luzerne - and actually knows you from golf up at 1000 acres. It came in the mail a week after I finished my addition and was trying for an amateur timber frame type of addition. Your building is quite impressive. Hope you weren't offended by my sugarmansion comment, I'm just impressed by the size and craftsmanship. It's a beautiful looking building in picture. Can hardly imagine how it looks in person! I also like to share local articles I find in papers here.

I'll eventually make my way up there. Even though it's an hour drive I'm just too busy to make it up that way.

Happy sugaring!
Keith

[ToadHill]

BryanEx: Thanks for the comments.

Keith: Not offended at all. About 75% of the people who see the new sugarhouse for the first time tell me it looks like a church/cathedral. Who is your dad? Make sure you stop up to visit with him.

Randy